Tags
biography, entrepreneur, father, history, Kingswood Films, s.
The intellectual astronaut
My father worked at cape Canaveral in the fifties. He was hired to make movies; mostly technical, for Martin Marietta. I remember about twenty big boxes he brought home to study. He had top-secret clearance way back in the Second World War when he was General Counsel of Raytheon electronics.
Bob enlisted in the royal Canadian air force like many strong-minded Americans before we were even in that war. But, as fate would have it, he was plucked right back by the United States Government and given the classification II-B, Men necessary to national defense. Raytheon was an electronics corporation engaged in weapons manufacturing.
Yes, he was a lawyer, but he also held an engineering degree.
Robert Bailey Cumming was an outstanding student in Evanston, Illinois, from grade school right through college and law school he was a straight A student. He was president of the Senior Class in Evanston High School and Captain of the Debating Team. At Northwestern Law School he was the Editor of the Law Review. With a 4.0 average in high school, college and university of law, (he had four years of Greek and eight years of Latin) he graduated with the highest honor possible, summa cum laude, Juris Doctor, and Master of Electrical engineering.
My father always was a liberal democrat, agreed with Mahatma Gandhi, and always championed the ‘little man’. He litigated the first rent strike in Chicago. He was also a capitalist and created the first buyers co-operative in the country; American Buyers Cooperative, a new idea; by buying in bulk, club members would cut out the middleman and save 50%. Of course once it was established he sold it. Think Costco.
In 1948, when I was five, we lived in Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles where my father was negotiating a contract with MGM to distribute films in the United States that his company, Kingswood Films Ltd., would produce in Jamaica, BWI. He also flew to England to obtain a British Franchise. (He was allowed to rewrite British Law to establish exclusive rights to make movies in Jamaica. While he was in England, he negotiated distribution rights with The Rank Organization.
This is From the Daily Gleaner, Kingston’s main paper. “The advantage Jamaica enjoys includes its excellent climate and its LOWER PRODUCTION COST FACTOR BY COMPARISON WITH HOLLYWOOD”.
This was all very amazing for a man still in his thirties. The first movie he made, “Sunken Treasure” with Errol Flynn, Robert Preston and Linda Darnel, went over budget and just like it’s title sank Kingswood. Altogether there was a loss of 5,000,000 dollars. It seems that buildings and equipment don’t sell for what they cost. And this gigantic failure caused his divorce from our mother, Nancy, but it didn’t daunt Bob for too long, though he took to drinking heavily for a while.
Back in Chicago, licking his wounds, he got a job as a Desk Clerk at the Drake Hotel. I was nine and my brother Bobby was ten. We lived in a tenement at 1223 North State St.,
Our Grandfather Robert Cumming Sr. paid our tuition at Bateman, which was a private school. At night I used to go around to all the bars on State St. and shine shoes with my little kit I got for my tenth birthday. I would come home with both pockets bulging with quarters, nickels and dimes. Once I was tipped ten dollars but the bartender took it from me.
To be continued:
mean bartender!your dad is exceedingly handsome. two cute boys. your dad sounds like a rising star- were you close? you didn't mention your relationship.
Interesting post Scott. I'm 'copy and paste'-ing in my pendrive in order to add a comment later.
thanks jill. yes, very close. i was trying to keep me out of this portrait of my father as much as possible. but the next installment will include a few anecdotes which illuminate our relationship.
*sits and waits in anticipation for next installment*
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
:up:
Oh! I do love your story, Scott. It looks like all of a Hollywood-style film itself. Thanks for disclosing it for us. I'm also waiting the next part :wait:
Fascinating memoir installment. I'm about to read part two in just a moment. Thank you for sharing this vignette from your early years. ~ Janean
I decided to wait till the second part before commenting. I respect you deeply for showing the courage to write this protrait of your father. I am struggling with writing about my father myself and have been since my dad went to the other place two years ago. The way I see it, I owe it to the old man. I am the only memeber of his family who has the talents and the time to do it. I wrote an obituary for the newspaper when he died, but that was so short I almost dismissed it before publishing it. Putting a man's entire life into half a column is somehow wrong.I like it very much, Scott. Also, because it shows a period of American history that is substancial for all memebers of modern Western Society.
Originally posted by Aqualion:
totally agree with that martin. i wouldn't even read my father's obituary. i knew it would be bullshit.also, martin, you picked up nicely on the 'flavor' of the 50's. :happy:do you realize that if i was 10 now they wouldn't even let me in the bar?
glad you could come janean. working on III now. maybe tomorrow. :happy:
Hooray to part III being in progress! As to the flavor of the 50's, I noticed what a hard worker you were, even though your father is the focus of this series. I loved the visual of you walking home jiggling from the sound of money you'd earned in your pocket. Smart boy!
yeah, i always loved that feeling… pockets so heavy with coins they were almost pulling my pants down. 😆
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
It is the feeling of money earned, even as you dream of all the ways to spend it. A lot more tangible and tactile than a paper check, even if the check has more cash value. My sons love the weight of their money jars and every so often pour them on the floor and count their coins in $1.00 piles. Coins add up. They still spend. The Tooth Fairy here (me, but don't tell) brings four quarters and places it bedside in exchange for teeth that go missing. ~ Janean
a great american tradition for sure. i remember how exciting that would be to wake up and find money under my pillow and the tooth gone. :happy:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
I remember too, though the going rate for teeth has skyrocketed. $1.00 per tooth is on the low end, but the most THIS Tooth Fairy is wiling to pay.
He became a soul and mind astronaut too.here´s some music to go with the storyhttp://youtu.be/6ij590_buAQsome good mind astronaut music! :happy:
excellent nic. saved it for my google wanderings… my new vice: earphones with a playlist. thanks for the link.intelligent and meditative sounds… :up: :happy:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
Yup! like your words Scottie :up: :happy:
he he he… o.k. nic, what do you want? borrow some money? ha h a ha a hano, really i can take it. :happy:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
Nope, just want one of your great meals, if I pop by one day :chef: :p
yes. you do that anytime. bring a couple of lobsters with you. 😆
Sure..there´s a harbour nearby, right?! 😀
we used to snorkel in the shallows of the florida keys. we gigged a dozen spiney lobsters, boiled them on the deck of the boat, and ate them ten minutes later with a chilled chablis and watched the sun go down. :chef:
yeah. they call it san pedro. it's big. but you won't get any good fresh lobsters here. you will have to navigate your lear jet to bangor, maine, to pick them up fresh. ahhhh, we can dream…. 💡
Oh..good rich life that is. I miss drifting 😀 . If I put the jet down in Bangor, Maine it means trouble…it´s Stephen King land :insane:The Elsinore Harbour is my second home. Looking forward to spring next year when the water is hot enough for diving. I´m a chicken and a hot water diver 😎 😆
Originally posted by nopanic:
i'm with you on that. this pacific is downright uncomfortable. and it hurts my ears it's so cold. give me the Caribbean any time. 🙂
I love the Caribbean. For the swimming, but also the glorious shades of blue.
turquoise shallows. :up:
:happy:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
Yes. That's it exactly. 🙂