"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Tanner Smith meets the Mummy

Opening August 1, is the MUMMY 3 with Brendan Fraser. As an apreciator of dead guys in suits I can get behind three thousand year old dead guys in a suit. I didn't care for the first one when I saw it but it has since grown on me as a late night cable flick. Mummy 2 blew. This one looks like the first installment with a change of geography but I may check it out. So what does the Mummy have to do with this blog? I'm getting there... thoughts of horror films turned to memories of the local monster movie host in Detroit Sir Graves Ghastly. I remembered one segment where he would show monster art work sent in by kids. What a great idea thought I, so I would like to announce the first annual Dead Guys in Suits art contest. Any budding artist who wants to send in a pic of a dead guy in a suit will be entered. First prize is a signed copy of Bad Seeds in the big Apple. Second prize, a set of steak knives, third prize is you're fired...wait, thats something else. First prize a book. All (tasteful) pics will be posted on this blog. A panel of celebrity* judges will decide the winner.

Rules:

All pics must be of a dead gangster, real or imagined, but the time frame must be 1900-1940. Medium is up to the artist, crayon, pencil, paint- It's your call. All entries must be received by August 31, winner will be chosen shortly there after.

One possible subject for someone out there is today's Dead Guy; Westside gang leader Thomas "Tanner" Smith. 89 years ago tonight Tanner was playing cards in the gang's rendesvous, the Marginal club, when Robert Shaw (Shore) came up behind him and sent a couple bullets into his back and then fled. Shaw got his a few nights later in Hoboken, NJ by some Tanner Loyalist. Gangster City owners can check out the full story pgs 88-94

* Pat Downey's definition of celebrity is basically whomever he chooses to be a judge.

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