I just completed a “novelette”… essentially a story or small book of about 21,000 words. It’s a careful summary of my first book written in the 1970s. I went through the original book, carefully extracted all of the gems, polished them up and set them in a story that is, well, unbelievable. How could one man have experienced so much?!
This is one story I think you’ll enjoy. From the preface:
… This is the condensed life story of Eugene George Standingbear as he told it to me in the 1970s. He’d had a colorful life…
- … from his childhood in Wild West Show arenas on both sides of the Atlantic, to his parts in wild west movies and TV shows…
- … from his life among the richest of the rich (riding in limousines, winning golf tournaments, and crossing paths with Presidents) to a decade on skid row (panhandling for enough loose change to buy a jug of wine)…
- … before finding peace at last, returning to his ancestral roots and capturing the old ways of his people in his sketches and paintings.
Eugene’s story is presented below in 12 bite-size pieces.
And here’s a link to the story:
Macy Afterlife: The Beacon 
Mark,
I enjoyed reading a good bit of this very interesting novelette. I recall your friendship with Standing Bear. What a whirlwind of a life!
“Fortunately it was a silent movie.” Can’t have no cussin’. These days they can’t get through making a movie without a goodly number of F bombs. Gotta have some F bombs. What is it about F bombs, anyway?
Reminds me of a YMCA gym I attended in Baltimore. There was a huge banner across the wall of the gymnasium that read, “He knew not what else to say, and so he swore.”
Om-A-Ha…never thought of it quite in that light. Now I won’t be able to think of it any other way.
Some good history in this novelette….thanks!
Johnny-tonga
Thank you, Mark, for posting this story of Eugene Standingbear, quite unusual and even an extraordinary life. What I enjoyed most was the detail and more than that, was the way of life of American Indians, people I know next to nothing about. Your article is giving me much insight into the history aspect of these people. I will read it again in slower time and learn more. Here in New Zealand the indigenous people are the Maori race, different again.
Hi John and Liz… (and Paul–I found and approved your comment this morning, but it’s still ‘pending’ with WordPress, whatever that means, as I write this reply…._
John, I thought about you several times while rewriting the part about the OmAHa and Johnny-tonga. 🙂 Eugene made it clear that the tribe emphasizes the second syllable of Omaha, hence my spelling of it with the big AH. I think the Omaha people themselves use a fancier spelling with special characters that I don’t understand, so I think that the OmAHa spelling at least gives an idea of the correct pronunciation. And I agree, the F-bombs and general moral decay in the movies has been pretty intense in recent decades.
Thanks Liz, I imagine the Maori people have a lot of fascinating stories too. I’ve read a little bit about them, but don’t know much. I’m glad there are books and movies that help keep some of the indigenous histories alive.
Paul, it’s been a busy few weeks. If you want to repost your comment on ITC 06 or someplace else, things are easing up a bit now.
Mark
PS – – my intent for this brief notice (here on macyafterlife) about the revised Standingbear story (that’s posted over on my noblesavageworld website) was just to let readers know the article was there, since that site doesn’t get many readers.