The Ken Smith Chronicles
posted:
Like Tim and John and Hanoch and Roberto and the many other illustrators who worked for the great Ken Smith, it was always a pleasure and an honor.
I used to do Calvin Trillin and Notebook spots for Ken. Perhaps the most memorable one was about two months after we'd moved home from Maui. We'd left our old beater car there, so I bought my first new car, a Honda Civic. It was awesome. We didn't have a garage then, so it was parked out in front of our warehouse on the street, in Oakland CA.
It was Friday afternoon, Ken called with a job. I accepted it. He began explaining it to me when all of the sudden I noticed a loud screeching outside, followed by a horrific BANG.
"Hey Ken, can you hang on a second?"
"Sure."
I looked out my front door, and saw that a police car had just slammed head on into my lovely one month old parked Honda. It had been chasing a stolen car hi speed through the neighborhood, and misjudged the turn.
"Ken, can I call you back?"
"Sure."
Here's me and my neighbors surveying the damage. Notice the cop car in the foreground.
The first time I met Edel was when Cynthia and I came to the Time offices to have lunch with Ken. Remember Edel? You seemed deep in the middle of some art director thoughts at the time.
