THE AUTHOR’S GRANDMOTHER, ROSE ZAHLER, PUSHING HER SON, GORDON, IN HIS BABY CARRIAGE IN 1920s L.A.

THE AUTHOR’S GRANDFATHER, HOLLYWOOD SONGWRITER/MUSICIAN LEE ZAHLER, REHEARSING ACTORS.

 

LEE WITH HIS SON, GORDON, IN THE LATE-1930s, WHEN GORDON’S FUTURE DIDN’T REQUIRE A WHEELCHAIR.

THE WEDDING PICTURE OF NAT AND HIS BRIDE, ACTRESS/DANCER AUDRENE BREIER. DURING THE MID-1930s, NAT DID WHAT HE DID BEST: HE DIRECTED MOVIES.

 

AN EMACIATED GORDON RECUPERATING FROM HIS BROKEN NECK IN SIERRA MADRE IN THE EARLY-1940s.

GORDON GETTING ATTENTION THANKS TO HIS HORMONE-RAGING, LIQUOR-SWILLING CHUMS.

GORDON AND HIS DOLLED-UP FRIENDS AT HOLLYWOOD’S TROCADERO NIGHT CLUB MUGGING WITH SOME CROONER NAMED NAT KING COLE.

 

THE AUTHOR’S PARENTS, MILLARD AND MURIEL JACOBS, COURTING IN EARLY-1940s L.A. – A TIME OF PATRIOTIC SIMPLICITY AND GALACTIC HEADWARE.

MURIEL AS A FETCHING NEW WIFE.

WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T TAKE HOLLYWOOD SITTING DOWN? GORDON (CENTER LEFT) ON THE SET OF THE SEWING SHOW HE DREAMED UP.

GORDON AT THE WRAP PARTY FOR THE SYNDICATED WESTERN 26 MEN. BOMBSHELL BRUNETTES LIKE THE ONE HE’S OGLING TO THE RIGHT RARELY WOULD BE SEEN WITH SOMEONE LIKE HIM.

 

BOOK-COVER SHOT OF GORDON TROLLING FOR DEALS WITH FRIENDS IN SWANKY 1950s HOLLYWOOD. COULD THEY JUST HAVE PITCHED NBC?

GORDON SHOWING OFF HIS CADILLAC TO THE AUTHOR’S BROTHER PAUL IN THE EARLY-1960s. AGAINST HIS CPA’S ADVICE, GORDON USUALLY BOUGHT A NEW CAD EVERY YEAR.

GORDON AND HIS WIFE, JUDY, THE DAY AFTER THEIR NUPTIALS IN SANTA BARBARA IN AUGUST 1962. THE MAIN PERSON NOT INVITED WAS THE ONE WHO GOT GORDON THIS FAR: HIS MOTHER.

 

GORDON, JUDY AND HORACE JACKSON AT THE PREMIERE FOR JACKSON’S EARLY-1960s FILM, LIVING BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. JACKSON RAZZED GORDON AS HIS “TOKEN WHITE.”

GORDON AND HUGO GRIMALDI, MOVIE IMPORTER AND DISPUTED MONACO ROLYALTY, LYING ON GORDON’S BED TALKING SHOP. TOGETHER THEY PUT THE BEST GLOSS ON ATROCIOUS SCI-FI.

 

HUGO INSIDE HIS SUMPTUOUS HILLTOP ESTATE BUILT BY HOLLYWOOD’S ORIGINAL BAD BOY, JOHN BARRYMORE.

GORDON AND RUSSELL HAYDEN (A.K.A. “HOPALONG CASSIDY”) SCANNING THE TRADES. NOTICE GORDON’S “HANDS-FREE” PHONE.

GORDON WITH FAMED CARTOONIST WALTER LANTZ, IN THE EARLY-1960s. GORDON CLEVERLY PLOTTED TO MEET LANTZ, WHO’D BECOME A BUSINESS PARTNER.

 

WALTER AND GRACIE LANTZ ON THEIR YACHT.  IT MADE GORDON’S BOAT LOOK LIKE A DINGHY.

THE HUMBLE ENTRANCE TO GENERAL MUSIC CORP., THE COMPANY GORDON WANTED TO SOUND LIKE A DOW JONES CONGLOMERATE.

GORDON AND HIS FAITHFUL ATTENDANT, JIMMY GILLARD, SHARING A LAUGH BETWEEN MEETINGS IN EUROPE. 

GORDON’S DEALMAKING LIEUTENANT, BOB GLENN, ON A BUSINESS TRIP. TO BOB, THERE WAS NOTHING CRIPPLED ABOUT GORDON -- UNLESS YOU SAW HIM SHIRTLESS.

 

GORDON’S TRUSTY FRIEND/EDITOR, JOE VON STROHEIM, AT THE HELM OF THE BOAT HE CO-OWNED WITH GORDON. TO JOE’S DISMAY, GORDON MADE THE BOAT HIS OCEANIC HOT ROD.

GORDON WITH IVAN TORS, THE LANTZES AND OTHERS AT HIS 1968 HOLIDAY SOIREE IN BEVERLY HILLS. HE DIDN’T KNOW IT, BUT HIS LUCK WOULD TURN SOUTH FROM THERE.

ROSE SLAVING AWAY, AS WAS HER NATURE. THE FOUR CALAMITIES SHE SURVIVED MADE HER KEEP BUSY.

 

WORLD-RENOWNED BLACK ARCHITECT PAUL R. WILLIAMS POSING DURING CONSTRUCTION OF GORDON’S HOUSE ABOVE THE SUNSET STRIP IN 1965. SUPPOSEDLY, IT WAS THE FIRST HOUSE TAILOR MADE FOR A QUADRIPLEGIC.

 

AUTHOR AS A YOUNG-IN WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER ROSE AT THE BEACH IN THE EARLY-1960s.

AUTHOR AS TEENAGER WITH HIS BROTHER PETER IN THE MID-1970s. STUCK IN A FAMILY WITH HIM AND GORDON, THE AUTHOR CRAVED NORMALCY.

 

. GORDON AND JIMMY WAITING WHILE JUDY SHOPS IN THE FAR EAST. SOME THINGS ARE TIMELESS.

YULETIDE GORDON WITH HIS PRECIOUS POODLE, CHICKEN. THE AUTHOR HAD CARNAGE IN MIND FOR THAT POODLE.

: GORDON WITH FINANCIER DIRK BRINK SHOWING OFF THEIR AFRICAN CATCH. JUST BECAUSE GORDON COULDN’T MOVE AN ARM DIDN’T MEAN HE COULDN’T REAP THE OUTDOORS.

 

GORDON BEING ENTERTAINED BY AFRICAN DANCERS ON A BUSINESS TRIP TO REINVENT HIMSELF AS THE KINGPIN OF SOUTH AFRICAN TV.

GORDON AND HIS SISTER, MURIEL, ON GORDON’S BOAT, WHERE THE SCORCHED PAST DIDN’T COME UP.

GORDON WITH AN UNIDENTIFIED MAN ON AN AFRICAN MARSH. THE ONLY THING GORDON WORRIED ABOUT CAPSIZING INTO WAS BOREDOM.

 

GORDON WITH AFRICAN MONKEYS SCAMPERING ON HIM IN THE EARLY-1970s. HIS SMILE BROADCAST THAT LIFE WASN’T CHEATING HIM.

 

Fudgicle- eating Mickey Rooney & friends - Mickey McGuire series, possibly

Lee Zahler (bottom left, with arm up) at unknown Hollywood shoot

Lee Zahler & others on set of The Plastic Age (1925 - Preferred Pictures Corp. et al)

Lee Zahler at birthday for Roland de Gostrie (a.k.a. Roy William Neill)

Lee Zahler at his organ on unknown set

Lee Zahler on set of Daughter of Crooked Alley

Lee Zahler on set of With This Ring (1925 - Preferred Pictures Corp. et al)

Lee Zahler on unknown set, March 1930

Lee Zahler performing, probably at a silent picture

Lee Zahler shooting unknown Universal Pictures movie

Magda Zahler action shot

Mickey Rooney & Shirley Jean Rickarts, Mickey McGuire series, possibly

Mickey Rooney playing football, possibly in Mickey McGuire series

Postcard from Mickey McGuire fan club

Promo for Darmour Studio

Wampas Orchestra in Asian getups

Warner Baxter's signed autograph to Lee Zahler - 1943