Jack Kirby logic

[fpb]

I have long known that Jack Kirby designed the costumes for a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by a Californian student troupe. I did not know one detail, though. The producer had been pointed at Kirby by Stan Lee, and when he approached Kirby, he tried to say something about payment. "You couldn't afford me," said the King. "So I'll do it for free."

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[thefish30.livejournal.com]

that's class

[fpb.livejournal.com]

When people who met Kirby talk about him, their eyes shine. He was generosity incarnate. You could go visit him at his own home, and he would let you stand around and talk while he drew his immortal masterpieces, and then his wife would invite you to dinner. At one convention, a little disabled boy asked him to sign his own (the boy's) work, and then sighed and said "I wish I could draw it better" - so Kirby sat him down and gave him an impromptu drawing lesson.

Great artists are not always necessarily great people, but I think there is a certain kind of correspondence between supreme artistry and generosity of spirit. Back in the nineteen-thirties, the most famous and best-paid musician in the world was the classical conductor, Arturo Toscanini. He was also an implacable enemy of Fascism and Nazism who had gone into exile from his dearly beloved country rather than bow to Mussolini (whom he knew personally).

In 1937, Toscanini offered to conduct the newly formed Palestine Philharmonic - now the Israel Philharmonic - in yet another poke in the eyes of Nazis and FAscists everywhere. The orchestra was barely able to support itself and certainly could not afford the living legend's enormous fees; but when that issue was delicately mentioned, the answer was - tush, tush, who ever said anything about money? Maestro Toscanini will conduct for free.

What is more, when the living legend came, he surprised - and even worried - the orchestra, by keeping his legendary temper under complete check for two days straight. When, on the third day, there was an eruption, some players actually felt relieved: thank God, he was now treating them just like any other orchestra.

The impecunious Philharmonic showed its gratitude by voting Toscanini a lifetime supply of Jaffa oranges.