People, Places and Things
NORMAL, ILL. — Police in Illinois say actor and playwright Sam Shepard was arrested early yesterday on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving.
Police Lt. Mark Kotte said officers stopped Shepard, 65, in the central Illinois town of Normal. Kotte said Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit, and a breath test indicated his blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit.
Shepard told police he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel, on his way to his home in Kentucky from Minnesota.
Shepard won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play “Buried Child.”
He posted bail in Bloomington.
WINTERPORT, Maine — A Winterport man has made a short movie that’s No. 1 in downloads of films in the Xbox LIVE horror series.
John Clisham’s film, “Janitor,” premiered two days before Halloween and received 16,000 downloads the first week. The 28-year-old Clisham said Xbox LIVE has 15 million subscribers.
“Janitor” tells the tale of a high school girl who must stay late for detention. That’s when a creepy-looking janitor spots her walking down the hall. Clisham describes “Janitor” as a film in which “horror meets comedy.”
NEW YORK — What better place for books than a university?
About 200,000 items in a collection from Gotham Book Mart are getting a new home at the University of Pennsylvania.
The book mart, which closed in 2007 after more than 80 years in existence, was a haven for writers including Arthur Miller and John Updike. Customers included Charlie Chaplin and Katharine Hepburn.
An anonymous donor purchased the store’s inventory and gave it to the university.
RAMSEY, N.J. — Edward D. Cartier, 94, whose illustrations graced “The Shadow” and numerous other science fiction and mystery publications in a career that spanned several decades, died Dec. 25 in Ramsey, after years suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
His artwork appeared in works by authors such as Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, but he is perhaps best known for the hundreds of illustrations he did for “The Shadow” in the 1930s and 1940s. Written by Walter B. Gibson, “The Shadow” novels appeared in pulp magazines and detailed the exploits of a mysterious, black-attired crime fighter.
Cartier turned down an offer to be an assistant to Norman Rockwell. In addition to more than 800 illustrations for “The Shadow,” he drew hundreds of illustrations for science fiction magazines and was the premier artist for the Fantasy Press and Gnome Press book publishing houses in the 1950s. At left, a calendar illustration.