Assignment Earth

In the summer of 2000 we went to New York and had a great trip.    Did a lot of things.    Basically met the entire living cast of the original Batman series.    I remember Thelonius Monk’s widow died that week.  Read it in the Daily News at 3:00 in the morning in the bathroom of the room I was sharing with three other people.  Ate a lot of great places.  Saw The Producers.  Stood my ground in Harlem visiting a restaurant we’d seen on Food Network when we got an unfriendly welcome from some of the locals.   Made a lot of memories.   Lotta things went on that trip.  But the highlite of those two weeks was our last task; the holy grail of quests…a trip to the Frank Frazetta museum in East Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania.

We rented a car after two weeks of shows and restaurants and this was the capper to our trip.  We got lost along the way and I called the house.   Frank himself answered the phone  and tried to give us directions.   I think I heard Ellie in the back ground helping him.  We made it there and it was just as idealic and peacefully otherwordly as I dreamt it would be.

We didn’t get to meet Frank that day but Ellie greeted us and let us in the front doors of the museum.   This woman, his wife, was the model for many of his women through the years in his work.  When I met her I said, “So, you’re the girl I’ve been seeing all these years”.   She pointed a finger and went “Ah ah.”   And laughed.   The museum and the Frazetta’s were great.   So cool to see all his original works right there on the walls.

Frank was one of the great ones.   I hope the children get their stuff together now that he and Ellie are gone.   I heard the news May 11, the day after he died, during my lunch.  In Robert E. Howard/Conan fashion I raised a glass to his shade.   It was tea but I made a toast to him.

Here’s to Frank.

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010