Tim Bush, artist/kind soul, RIP

In 2011, in trying to convince editors that a widely rejected nonfiction picture book manuscript I wrote was marketable, I called upon both kids and professional illustrators to read it and then create a mock cover for what would become Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story. 

One of the seven generous artists who agreed to do this was Timothy Bush, whom I had met in person only once or twice. 

His contribution was striking, and one that kids routinely single out. (Every summer I teach creative writing camps, tell the story/backstory, and show the mock covers.)

I recently learned that Tim passed away. He and I had not been in touch in years. 

I was always be grateful to Tim for taking time to create a work of art for no pay and for me, a person he barely knew.

Obituary: Nedra Nobleman, my mom, 1944-2023

Nedra Nobleman, 79, a technicolor dreamcoat of a woman, passed away in Hamden, CT, on August 28, 2023, with her two children by her side, loving her deeply.

The upbeat attitude she maintained despite considerable challenges throughout her life was all the more inspirational because she was charmingly unaware of the willpower this took.

Born Nedra Michel in New Haven, CT, on May 27, 1944, she was only three when she lost her mother Beatrice. She attended Hillhouse High School and graduated Wheelock College in 1966 with a BS in Early Childhood Education. That summer, she visited Europe for the first time, keeping a travel journal peppered with choice comments including “By mistake, we sat through a Greek lecture. On what? Who knows.”

Her father Morris, who owned Michel’s Art Shop in New Haven, passed away in 1970. After working as a freelance portrait artist, teaching elementary school for several years, and writing and illustrating a picture book that was never published, Nedra and then-husband Howard had a son, Marc, and a daughter, Darby. Nedra took them to Sears to get their photos taken a lot. She believed the act of artistic creation should start from nothing, so she gave her kids blank paper rather than coloring books.

When she returned to work, she reinvented herself as a top salesperson for high-end jewelers (Peter Indorf, Sykes-Libby) and eclectic galleries (Wave, Endleman) in the New Haven area. At the same time, she designed and sold note cards and custom jewelry. Her workshop was the dining room table, except on Passover and Thanksgiving.

She was a gem brighter than any she wore.

She nicely ran a mean garage sale.

She could beat you at Scrabble.

She habitually scribbled often indecipherable notes on any scrap of paper within reach, clipped them together in arbitrary groupings, then rarely if ever looked at them again.

She pursued a rich array of cultural activities, from finding treasures at crafts shows to ushering at Long Wharf Theatre. 

She didn’t like cats till she loved them and opened her home to several, starting with Teva.

HSN really stands for “Here Spends Nedra.”

T.J. Maxx should name an aisle after her.

Think of 20 colors. Her signature outfit featured all of them.

Emotionally intelligent, she was willing to learn from her children and laugh at herself. 

She outlived most of her best friends, losing several way too young: Mickey, Andrea, Sandy, Colleen, Barbara.

May her memory be a blessing…and a beacon. She did not think of herself as a leader but led by example her whole life. 

Nedra will be kept alive by Marc and Darby, Marc’s wife Daniela, Darby’s husband David, and grandchildren Lara, Asher, Rafael, and Jonah.

last photo of Darby and me with our mom, 8/9/23

She would not miss the chance to buy herself a chair shaped like a giant shoe or a third Kindle though the first two were unopened, but she took even more pleasure in giving gifts. The best one was her presence among us for nearly 80 years, which was not nearly long enough.

#KidlitForUkraine author killed in Ukraine

Victoria Amelina was killed in Ukraine last week. 

She was one of the authors who participated in our #KidlitForUkraine Stories of Hope benefit last year. 

I knew little about her and it adds to the sadness that we learn more of her greatness because of tragedy.

Despite grim news left, right, and sideways, hope you are all finding ways to focus on the positive.

Kevin Conroy, iconic voice of animated Batman, 1955-2022

The Bat-Signal is at half-mast.

Kevin Conroy, the actor who iconically voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne for decades, died yesterday at the terribly young age of 66.

Starting with the debut of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, I was a fan. Starting in 2014, we became friends…and I became an even bigger fan.

Like his Juilliard classmate Christopher Reeve, Kevin was a superhero not only for a living but also in real life. 

Before the Bill Finger credit change, I did all I could to bring about a Bill Finger credit change. That included pitching the Paley Center in New York a panel to celebrate Batman’s 75th anniversary. We booked four Batman notables and I inserted one Batman nobody—me, so I’d have a high-profile platform to spread word about Bill.

One of those notables was Kevin, who then became a fellow Finger advocate.

When the Bronx renamed a street for Bill in 2017, I invited Kevin to attend/speak. It was frigid, it was unpaid, it was far—but he came. 

When I asked Kevin if he would ask his colleague Mark Hamill (who voiced the Joker to Kevin’s Batman) if he would add his autograph to a thank-you gift for Derek Wolfford, who runs the Bill Finger Appreciation Group, Kevin (and then Mark) obliged—even though people like them are likely asked for favors like this far too often. Both agreed partly for Derek—and largely for Bill.

But these are not the heroic acts I’m referring to.

At the Paley event, the other Kevin on the panel (Smith) told the audience that Kevin Conroy had volunteered to do what he could after 9/11. Smith had not cleared this story in advance with Conroy, but Conroy was gracious. His role? Cooking for first responders in a makeshift kitchen near Ground Zero—for two weeks. And, appropriately for Batman, Kevin took the night shift.

I knew nothing of another aspect of Kevin’s heroism until this year when a story he wrote about his past was published in DC Comics anthology honoring Pride Month. (Kevin was the first openly gay actor to portray Batman.) 

Please read it. 

My last email exchange with Kevin was about that story, on June 8. I did not know he was sick. His last words to me: “stay safe and see you soon.”

Peter Scolari, Emmy-winning actor, 1955-2021

Emmy-winning actor Peter Scolari, who co-starred with Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies and later appeared on Newhart, Girls, and the Batman-adjacent show Gotham, died 10/22/21. He was only 66.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter about his guest role on Family Ties. This man had 1,844 more important things to do yet he took the time to leisurely answer questions about a 24-minute show he appeared on once in 1986.

After, he wrote "Do you think you could send me a copy of that book about Mr. Finger? Think of it as a late birthday present...oh, and if you could sign it, that would be so cool." 

Then he actually read it, and made a point to tell me. What's so cool now?

Of the hundreds of pop culture figures I've interviewed, he was one of the most genuine and most gracious. A bosom buddy I never met in person. Thank you and RIP Peter.

Emily Manasch (Bill Finger's younger sister), 1918-2018

This week, I learned that Emily Manasch, Bill Finger’s younger sister, died on 9/27/18, a week shy of her 100th birthday. (Biologically, she was his half-sister.)

In 2006, while researching for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, I was stunned to learn that Bill had a sibling (stunned because I’d misinterpreted a statement in a 1941 comic book article). 

Seven months later, I was stunned to learn that she was still alive. 

I was stunned yet again when I found her, then stunned for the fourth time when she explained she and Bill had been estranged since before Batman (so before 1939). 

She declined to answer even the most basic of questions, as did her daughter. (Her son had predeceased her.)

Over the years I tried to earn Emily’s trust in multiple ways, including by speaking pro bono at the schools her daughter-in-law and granddaughter taught at, but she never agreed to talk with me. It is frustrating to think of the knowledge she chose not to share. 

RIP Emily.

Stun #5: in 2012, upon the release of the 1940 census, I learned that Bill had a second younger sister, Gilda. 

I still have not found her…

Henry Grimes, jazz pioneer and subject of "Vanished," 1935-2020

In 1968, a gifted and beloved session musician named Henry Grimes—who’d played with Thelonious Monk and Benny Goodman, who helped pioneer free jazz—strapped his double bass to the roof of a car and drove from New York to San Francisco to find new work. The desert heat cracked his instrument, and he did not have the $500 required to repair it—so instead he sold it for the same amount. 

Then Henry Grimes vanished. 

His family stopped hearing from him. At least twice in print, he was reported dead. But in 2002, a twentysomething fan named Marshall Marrotte put his homegrown detective skills to work and found a Henry Grimes living at a rundown, single-room-occupancy hotel in Los Angeles. Marshall reached out to find that it was indeed the Henry Grimes whose music he loved.

Henry had been getting by on a series of odd jobs. He had not been playing or recording music—he had not even seen a compact disc—but all along he had been creating music…in his head. Word spread. A fellow musician generously donated a double bass. Henry got back to practicing. 

In 2003, at age 68, and after an absence of 35 years, he re-entered the music scene. Later that year, All About Jazz named Henry “Musician of the Year.” And he kept on playing. 

On 4/17/20, Henry Grimes died at 84 from complications due to COVID-19. 

He is one of the subjects of my book Vanished: True Stories of the Missing.

I can’t say I’m a big jazz fan. But I became a big fan of Henry Grimes. RIP to a man whose impact will never vanish.

Lyn Simmons (Bill Finger's second wife), 1922-2018

One of the last of Bill Finger's generation who knew him personally has left us: his second wife, Lyn (originally Edith) Simmons. On 5/2/18, she passed away at age 95.

Lyn in the 1960s

She was a mother, a grandmother, an artist, an advocate, and other things I don't know about. To me, she was first and foremost a critical living link to an important and emotional untold story.

When I started my Finger research in 2006, we knew Bill had been married…to a woman named Portia. We did not know that Bill and Portia divorced and that Bill remarried Lyn later in life. Bill's second wife was the second person I found in my research (after Charles Sinclair, Bill's longtime writing partner, who died in November 2017 at age 93). 

Surprisingly, I was the first author to reach out to Lyn about Bill.

But I was not the first writer.

While making the documentary Batman & Bill, I was asked who the heroes of the Bill Finger story are. One of the first who came to mind was Lyn. In 1989, in the run-up to Tim Burton's film Batman, Lyn almost single-handedly lobbied Warner Bros. to include Bill's name in the credits. She apparently also contacted some journalists.

As that paper trail shows, her son Steve helped and she got close…but was ultimately unsuccessful. That made it no less inspirational because Lyn did it solely for Bill. She wanted no money and offered to sign a waiver to that effect. 

What makes this even more admirable: by the time Bill died in 1974, Lyn was his ex-wife. They'd met in 1954, married in 1968 (no photos were taken, alas), and divorced in 1971. Another of Lyn's three children, Andrew, had a serious car accident in California at age 22; Lyn decided to move there to help take care of him but Bill did not want to go. (In fact, he was averse to flying and never went on a plane in his life.) Perhaps there were other factors contributing to their separation, but Lyn told me that she and Bill stayed in touch, regularly speaking on the phone. Had he lived, she felt they would've gotten back together. Lyn stayed to help her son for 12 years.

Lyn's oldest child, Steve, and her youngest, Eve, proved invaluable in my research. 

I found Lyn via Eve via her high school in Great Neck, NY. (The person I spoke with there said they are not at liberty to provide information about their graduates, but when I said this was about the secret history of Batman, he made an exception.) I left messages on the answering machines of more than one Eve or E. Simmons in New York and by chance one of them was the one I needed—and by chance she took the time to call me back. I asked what she remembered about what her mom told her about Bill, and she shared a recollection or two. Then she said "Why don't you ask her yourself?" I said "Oh, I didn't think she was still alive!"

Lyn and I first spoke almost immediately after, on 6/23/06. She was a delight from start to finish, each time we spoke. And though I did not need further motivation to pursue this story, Lyn sure infused me with a greater sense of urgency (and poignancy).

again in the '60s

She told me that Steve had a great photo of Bill that Steve had used in a birthday slide show for Lyn, so I emailed Steve to ask if he could email me a scan. He kindly said he'd first have to look for it. Seven months later, he found it. I was so excited that I emailed him several questions including "Where do you live?" Turns out Steve lived in…the exact same town as I did at the time. Meaning the photo was five minutes away from me the whole time.

That photo is of one of the clearest (and definitely the quirkiest) of the 12 "new" Bill Finger photos I uncovered: Bill fertilizing the lawn at Lyn's house in Roslyn, NY—topless (the photo is in Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman). Lyn told me "One of my neighbors objected to Bill not having a shirt on even though the temperature was about 100 degrees. We ignored [that person]."

In that first talk, Lyn expressed gratitude that I was doing this. I told her I'd like to get Bill a proper burial; she didn't know he didn't have a headstone. She later said she'd like to cover the cost for one.

A few days later, in our second talk, she said she'd found her Bill file, which included a letter she'd written him (most likely in the early '70s) in which she said she was on her third Scotch. "If you publish the book," she said, "please change it to 'second.'" (No mention of alcohol made it into the final draft of the picture book aimed at young readers.)

On 7/30/06, she emailed "How old are you, Marc? I'm just curious because you're involved now with the 80s generation [meaning people in their eighties] and you seem to be handling it all very well." It wasn't hard, Lyn. Certainly not with you.

Lyn remembered Bill's scarab paperweight that Charles had given me. She had bought it for Bill (or possibly the other way around) at a New York museum gift shop.

Thanks to Lyn, we learned Bill's birth name was Milton, which enabled me to find his high school yearbook photo, the earliest known Bill Finger photo in existence. Knowing his given name also confirmed that his family does indeed appear in the census. At first I missed them because I was looking for a Bill (not Milton) Finger but saw none. And in confirming which census listings were his, I discovered that he had not one but two sisters, Emily and Gilda. 

For all Lyn knew, there were two big things she did not know. One: Bill had siblings. It appears he never told her. Two: Bill had a granddaughter. But that makes more sense as Athena was born two years after Bill died.

In 1974, after Lyn had not heard from Bill when she expected to, she asked Charles (whom she called Charlie) to look in on him. The way Charles found Bill dead is devastatingly recreated in the documentary. Charles asked Lyn if she was psychic.

I met in Lyn in person for the first time on 6/7/07, at a Starbucks. She said she hoped she'd still be alive when my book came out. (At that point, I had not even sold it—and wouldn't for three more years.) We filmed her twice for the documentary—first in 2008 (for an attempt that would implode), next in 2016. Clips from both interviews are in the finished film and the difference in Lyn in those eight years is striking.

2008

Bill the Boy Wonder is dedicated to three people: Athena, Charles, and Lyn. I called her the "heart" of Bill Finger. She was also the heart of my book, and I am one of many who will miss her.

2014, the last time I saw Lyn in person

Thank you, Lyn. It took 25 years longer than you had hoped, but mission accomplished.

The secret origin of a Bill Finger obituary

As I've missed no chance to mention over the past decade, Bill Finger did not receive a mainstream obituary. He did receive two obituaries in DC Comics publications but not in multiple series as is done today; both were one-offs. I've also mentioned these several times before.

The first appeared in the corporate fanzine Amazing World of DC Comics #1 (July-August 1974) and featured Batman art.

During my research, in 2007, I learned that this was Superman art retouched by a one Carl Gafford.

During the 1970s-'90s, Carl worked for publishers including DC, Marvel, and Topps, primarily as a colorist. 

Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing from Sam Gafford, a fan of comics and Bill Finger. Turns out Sam is Carl's brother. I did not contact Carl during my research (I did not note why but presumably because I simply could not find him) but thanks to Sam, ten years later, I can share a bit of the backstory of this obituary.

Carl: "The Superman figure [from a] cover drawn by [Neal] Adams [for] the imaginary story of Supes and his super-daughter mourning Lois Lane at her gravestone is what I changed into Batman. Suspect Paul Levitz wrote the obit."

This was Superman #215 (1969):

Thank you, Andrew Maniotes, for identifying it!

Carl had no personal experiences with Bill and knew "nothing more [about Bill] than anyone else knew at the time"…to be specific, "the most writing Bob Kane ever did was his name on all the Batman stories."

Sam asked his brother if Finger's involvement with Batman was just a widely-known fact though never officially acknowledged by DC.

Carl: "I can't be sure. Once Bob Kane sold his last piece of Batman to Steven Ross and Kinney National Services in 1967, DC's obligation to credit only Kane was gone, with his byline last appearing in Detective Comics #377 (the last month new episodes of the Batman TV show aired)."

Then: "Finger worked mostly with Joe Orlando in the 1970s. He briefly worked for Julie Schwartz with the 'New Look' Batman, but he was too unreliable with his deadlines for Julie to keep."

Carl suspected that the infamous "Kane contract" never existed and was used by DC only as a means to avoid giving credit and money to Finger and his descendants…a speculation I tossed out in the documentary Batman & Bill.

Now retired, Carl remains active in CAPA-alpha, "the longest running comic book amateur press association (APA) in history."

Thank you to the Gafford brothers for mining memory and taking time to add a bit more to the Bill Finger tapestry.

Charles Sinclair (Bill Finger's longtime writing partner), 1924-2017

This one hits especially hard. 

While researching the book that would become Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, I found and interviewed eight Golden and Silver Age comics creators who knew Bill personally, plus two outside of comics who knew him even better: his second wife Lyn Simmons and his longtime writing partner Charles Sinclair.

Of those ten, Lyn is the only woman—and now the last man standing. On 11/15/17, Charles passed away at age 93. 

Charles was a writer and journalist. Charles and Bill co-wrote radio serials, television shows (most proudly for Charles: 77 Sunset Strip), B-movie scripts (The Green Slime, Track of the Moon Beast), and a two-part episode of the 1966 Batman TV show (featuring the Clock King). Charles was the hustler who got many of the gigs; Bill was the only Batman comics writer to make the leap to Batman TV writer.

Charles was the first person I found in my research, the first of three people in the book's dedication (along with Lyn and Bill's granddaughter Athena), and now the first of those three to pass away.

I found Charles on 6/15/06 (at 1 p.m., I noted) after searching for hours. I learned of him on IMDb (he was listed as a co-writer with Bill), then combed People Finder records. This led me to call dozens of people and production companies in Los Angeles, where I assumed a former TV writer would be living. 

When that failed, I tried searching his name nationwide on People Finder, that time including his middle initial R (which appeared only on the Writer's Guild "missing writers" page). I called the first guy on the list—and struck gold. We talked for 1.5 hours. I was the first person who interviewed him about Bill. He said he would buy a copy of my book.

In 2010, I told him that I sold the manuscript. He suggested a title: Crusader Without a Cape.

Thanks to Charles, I learned the following (not a complete list):

• Bill had a "lady friend" named Lyn Simmons who, it turns out, became his second wife (and later became as invaluable in my research as Charles was)
• how and where Bill died
• details about Bill's legendary gimmick books (including what kind of notebooks they were and examples of entries)
• how Bill got to write for the Batman TV show
• visual details about Bill's workspace (from the make of his radio to the Klee print hanging over his desk), which I shared with Ty Templeton, who illustrated my book

Also, Charles connected me with his second wife, Nancy H. Cole, who was the first person to produce a decent, previously unpublished photo of Bill (from their wedding).

Charles was married three times and had six children. 

His first wife, Cory, worked for DC Comics. It was through her that he and Bill met. Charles and Cory had two children, Lorna and Scott, and divorced in 1963.

His second wife was the aforementioned Nancy. They married in 1964, had three children (Kim, Jennifer, and Jason), and divorced in 1969.

He met Gayle Sanders in 1973 and married her 1978. They had a son, Peter. Gayle has been a friend to me almost as long as I've known Charles. Charles didn't email so everything digital went through Gayle.

Charles adopted three of Bill's belongings: a desk, a small sculpture Bill made of his then-wife Portia (which Charles would later give to Athena), and a paperweight (which he kindly gave to me, in July 2006).

I found out about Charles's death two days before the Bronx renamed a street "Bill Finger Way." I contacted him (via Gayle) to remind him of the sign unveiling, but wasn't expecting him to attend (he wasn't able to make the last event I had in New York, in February 2016, because the trip from Brooklyn to Manhattan would've been too exhausting). 

Unfortunately, Charles did not get the chance to watch Batman & Bill (which came out in May) and probably didn't know about the street renaming. It was similar to how Robin co-creator/early Batman ghost artist Jerry Robinson died only six months before my biography of his old colleague and mentor came out. Both men would've been so proud to see their friend get long overdue recognition. 

At school visits, after emphasizing how Bill's story took place a long time ago, I was always so touched to tell kids that both Charles and Lyn were still alive. In a way, I felt their longevity was in part to bear witness to a story that should not be lost.

I interviewed Charles numerous times for the book and twice on camera for the documentary, first in 2008 (for the first iteration, which did not come to pass) and again in 2016. His recall was astounding. His diction was crisp. His geniality was ever-present.

Jim Amash conducted a great interview with Charles, published in Alter Ego #84. Charles is the star of many posts on this blog.

Please read them. 

He, too, deserves to be recognized, and not just because he was always willing to take time to reminisce about Bill (for no gain for himself). He didn't help me because he was old and desperate for something to do. He had plenty to do. At times when I called him he asked me to try again later because he was on his way to the gym.

He helped me because he was a good man. I knew from the moment he first told me a Bill Finger story that I would dearly miss him one day, and that day has arrived. Meeting Charles was the closest thing I had to meeting Bill himself, and he ended up being a friend beyond that.

 2008

 2012

 2013

 2014 (with Athena)

2016 (last time I saw him)

He was a good man.

Charles, I will always be grateful to you. I will speak of you as I do Bill—without fail, with fondness, and with an eye on legacy.

Jay Emmett, negotiated Siegel and Shuster’s Superman settlement, 1928-2015

Twice in a two-week period, I was too late.

My list of pop culture figures to track down and interview was reduced by two with the deaths of actress Amanda Peterson and former Warner Communications (now Time Warner) executive Jay Emmett, who passed on 6/22/15. (Yes, this is the world’s only post that mentions both of them.)

I’ve already quoted Jay here (in 2014), and that quotation is worth reposting at any time, not just in light of the circumstances. In 1975, when Jay was Executive VP of Warner Communications, he said of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster: “Legally, nothing has to be done. Morally, I think something should be done, and we will do it out of compassion.”

And they did. And ever since, fans have debated how fair the settlement was. In one of my earliest blog posts, I sketched out ways (according to me) in which Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were “right” and “wrong” and the ways in which the company that is now DC Entertainment was “right” and “wrong.”

When I quoted Jay last year, I also asked out loud where he had gone. Then I immediately tried to answer my own question, surprised that it took me that long to think to do so. Thanks to fellow Superman author Larry Tye, I did reach out to Jay with an interview request, but did not hear back. I followed up, but again, no reply. I now know that he was not well of late, though perhaps he would not have responded in any case; another Superman author/friend, Brad Ricca, said it’s possible Jay was bound by a NDA.

Whatever you think of the Siegel and Shuster settlement, it was something—far more than Bill Finger got. If you’re a Superman fan, you owe Jay a debt of gratitude. Apparently he was a heckuva guy in his own right.

Amanda Peterson of “Can’t Buy Me Love,” 1971-2015

Like many people my age, I saw Can’t Buy Me Love in 1987 and then an untold number of additional times on cable. I even bought the DVD probably five or six years ago, though I did not watch it till this week when news broke that its female lead, Amanda Peterson, died at age almost-44.

In my self-appointed role of “pop culture archaeologist,” I keep a list of people I want to track down and interview, and Amanda was on that list. Her last appearance in a film was in 1994. Over the years, I’ve seen more than a couple of posts by people asking whatever happened to her.

Now we know she had rough patches. This is always upsetting to learn, but in this case more so because she seemed to fall victim to some of the traps she presumably left Hollywood to avoid.

Upon rewatching CBML for the first time in more than 20 years, I felt it hasn’t aged particularly well. But Cindy, the character Amanda played, is the least clichéd part of it. Her performance is charming and assured.

The world learned of Amanda’s death on 7/6/15, and the morning after, I contacted Ryan Hartsock, the Colorado photographer who took the last known professional photos of Amanda, in 2012. They’d been online since then, apparently, but didn’t come up when I searched for Amanda a year or so ago.

photos courtesy of Ryan Hartsock of KR Productions/

Twisted Pixels Photography

Unsurprisingly, at least one outlet much larger than me also interviewed Ryan, and beat me to posting it. But I am running mine anyway, as a tribute to the star of a movie that meant enough to me at one point that I wanted to own it. Thank you for your time, Ryan. If you were suffering, Amanda, I’m glad you aren’t anymore.

How is it that you met Amanda?

I met Amanda through a friend while planning an event to help models and photographers in May 2012.

Did you meet her family, too?

I never had the opportunity of meeting her family other than her daughter.

What was her initial response when you asked to photograph her?

We spent quite a bit of time on the phone leading up to the event and never once mentioned taking her photo. On June 3, 2012, she and I talked and it was decided that she was willing to shoot on the conditions that she choose the photos and “don’t Photoshop the hell out of me.” The images I took that day were only released at her discretion and on her time frame. She was very careful as to how they were released.

The snake...was she immediately cool to pose with that? Or nervous?

She loved the snake, as did her daughter. She spent a great deal of time playing with it and I think had a genuinely good time.

Why did you photograph her? How aware were you of her movie past?

She wanted to get back in front of the camera on her own terms and I accepted. I jokingly say it took convincing but in reality, although she was hesitant because it had been so long, she was totally open to the idea. I knew of her role in movies but to date I still haven’t seen them, other than Annie when I was young.

Updates on Amanda were virtually nonexistent online, but apparently you’d posted the photos back in 2012? Before she died, did anyone stumble upon them and ask you about her?

We had agreed to post the pics and just see the response without advertising the shoot. People were able to send emails through the website that she and I would read when we were able to meet up. She didn’t have her own email so she would sit with my computer and read through the fan mail that had been sent to me. That always brightened her day. There have been several people that have been in contact over the years with various interview offers and requests but she wasn’t ready and had hopes of starting her own blog and website that unfortunately we never finished.

Did you ask why she left the film business and/or if she had plans to try to break back in?

No, it was kind of a non-issue. I base my opinions of people on the present and how they treat me and those around them. I was there to listen to various stories as she brought them up but her past to me is irrelevant, she was a great person while I knew her and that’s what matters.

Did you see/communicate with her after the impromptu shoot?

We did stay in contact every few months over the years but it definitely wasn’t all the time. We would go months without any contact and then spend hours at Starbucks while she read the latest gossip about herself or spend time texting back and forth regarding offers or ideas. I was a go-between basically, I would send her the info and she would go over things with her manager and get back with a yes or no. She was cautious to keep her whereabouts as private as possible.

Anything else about Amanda you’d like to add?

I would love to get all of the photos from that day to her family but the only number I have is her cell. If they could contact me, that would be great. [MTN: They since have.] She had an effect on so many people and I think it would be nice to get all these emails and messages to them so they can see the good versus all the media spin and gossip that seems to flood the headlines. She was a great individual and it’s disheartening to see how cruel people can be. She had also sent me cell phone pics of her and some of her friends backstage at concerts, etc. Although she wanted them to be seen, I don’t feel that this is the time now and I’d like to pass them off to her family.

In the time I knew Mandy, she always treated me with kindness and respect. Although I was just breaking out in photography at the time, I’ll always feel honored that of all the great photographers she could work with she chose lil ol’ me.

Robert Porfirio (interviewed Bill Finger in 1972), 1938-2014

On 10/19/14, Robert Porfirio passed away. I never met Bob and know little about him. What I do know is that he was wonderfully kind...and one of the most important people in the story of documenting Batman co-creator Bill Finger.

Bill’s legacy is lousy with people who—like Bill himself—have not gotten sufficient credit for their contributions:

• Jerry Bails—the fan who “discovered” Bill, was the first to interview him (in 1965), and singlehandedly spread word to other Batman fans
• Tom Fagan—another pro fan who interviewed Bill, also in 1965
• Jim Steranko—the only author to publish an interview with Bill in Bill’s lifetime, in 1970
• Thomas Andrae—the primary writer of Bob Kane’s autobiography (1989); it was Tom who urged Bob to give Bill as much credit as he could in the book

And Bob Porfirio.

On 5/20/07, which was at the tail end of my research for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, a generous novelist and popular culture historian named Will Murray contacted me (what follows is a consolidation of multiple emails):

I have discovered there exists an unpublished Bill Finger interview. Probably substantial. I and another researcher and looking at trying to get it into print. The interviewee is retired, but interested. The interview is at a university and will have to be released.

It shapes up like this. Robert Porfirio interviewed Finger late ‘60s or early ‘70s. [It turned out to be 1972.] And others. Never did anything with the interviews. He had worked at DC as office help, and through DC got this [entrée] to numerous comics people. Then went into teaching. When he [retired] from teaching, he left his papers at the university where he taught. They were forgotten.

But one of his other interviews fell into my hands in a strange way. I contacted [Robert]. Learned of these [other interviews].

On 6/30/07, thanks to Will, I first spoke with Bob. Nice as all get-out. He’d interviewed Bill at Bill’s place in New York. He remembered that Bill was a gentle guy who made Bob shut off the recorder for certain anecdotes, i.e. how editor Mort Weisinger would haunt Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, calling him at odd hours to rip apart his scripts.

When Bob left his job at California State University, Fullerton in 1980, he left the interview there and kept no copy for himself. Upon hearing from Will in 2007, Bob asked Fullerton if they could track down the interview and they tried—but they found neither tape nor transcript.

In early 2008, when considering going to my first San Diego Comic-Con, I asked Bob (who lived in San Diego at the time) for advice on scoring a hotel room in the ultra-competitive crucible of Comic-Con booking. Though he barely knew me, he graciously offered me to stay with him. (I didn’t end up going.)

On 11/25/08, while packing for a transcontinental move, Bob emailed “I found some of the tapes I made of comic industry people back in the seventies.”

Then:

“I do see one tape marked ‘Finger.’”

JACKPOT.

On 12/2/08, Bob’s son-in-law emailed me a digital copy of the 28-minute interview—the first time I’d heard Bill’s voice. It is only one of two known audio recordings of Bill speaking, the other being his 1965 panel at a New York comic convention. Bob’s full interview was subsequently transcribed in Tom Andrae’s book Creators of the Superheroes. And a clip of it is in the book trailer I made for Bill the Boy Wonder.

Bob, thank you for interviewing Bill Finger and for taking the time, 25 years later, to look for that interview for me. I know you had other accomplishments worth noting, but this is the way I knew you. I regret that we never met in person. You were a good man.

 

Special thanks to (and photo courtesy of)

Lareesa Mumford-Pope.