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by Michael Laughlin
I once asked my father what color to paint the new Valence Band Productions studio after we moved. The room was sky blue and ugly and was in dire need of some paint. He was working from memory because he hadn't been in the room for awhile, but, without hesitation, he knew the perfect color for the walls: "Fawn Gray".
That sort of thing came, seemingly, out of nowhere. I mean, Fawn Gray? How many people know what Fawn Gray looks like? He had a gift for design that was truly uncanny.
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Denny, circa 1938.
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Whether it was Fine Art, set design, billboards or newspaper ads, he was absolutely amazing. His work never looked dated; it always looked fresh. He was a master with a bewildering array of materials. As far as my sisters and I were concerned, this was fantastic: we always had the finest looking school projects ever seen by the South Bend Community School Corporation.
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Denny played football for Central Catholic High School.
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He was born
in South Bend, Indiana, and really never left the place. He
grew up with his two older brothers, John and Jim, in an area of
the city populated by professors and coaches from the University
of Notre Dame. Denny's father loved The University of Notre Dame -- to such an extent, in fact,
that when the renowned college football coach Knute Rockne converted to Catholicism, Denny's
father was one of Knute's Godfathers. This love was passed to his
sons, and to Denny in particular.
I
asked him when his love for art developed and was surprised
to learn that he exhibited little artistic talent in grade school,
though things began to change while he was a student at Central
Catholic High School. His mother sent samples of his artwork to
Notre Dame's Art Department and everyone agreed he had the talent
to become an artist. |
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I don't know what kind of student he was at Notre Dame, but certain
stories were told to me over the years.
To pay for school,
for example, he worked at Drewry's, a local brewery, and his professors
often had pity for him because he seemed so tired from the late working
hours, but it was probably the beer. He also worked at the
school library where he had access to books before the rest of his classmates. He
was an honorary member of a Purdue University fraternity following antics
that culminated in him waking in a laundry chute. He had been
in the Notre Dame ROTC program, but was thrown out because he was caught
driving his car down a campus sidewalk. Judging from the "sketches" discovered in the margins of his school books, it's a miracle he managed to get through college. Even so, he graduated
from Notre Dame in 1955 with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art.
View Take up thy Palette, written and illustrated by Denny in 1952.
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Denny as a High School Senior, 1951.
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After graduating from Notre Dame, he immediately began working for WNDU-TV
in South Bend as a cameraman and an assistant to the Art Director, but the Army interrupted this new job by drafting him
and placing him with recruits who had never graduated from high school. The Army taught him to use his steady hands to fire
a rifle with amazing accuracy. It also cultivated his disdain for authority
with sometimes comical results: he once painted a fake cigarette butt,
trompe l'oeil style, on the floor of his barracks and then had to explain
to his Sergeant that he could not pick it up.
After basic training the US Army assigned Denny, handily enough, to a
unit in New York City that produced a 52-week musical comedy television
series called "Get Set -- Go!". It starred Jonathan Winters,
Richard Hayes, Denise Lor, Dorothy Collins and Sue Ann Langdon. Denny
served as the Art Director, a role that suited him perfectly, but, as
Denny said, the show "laid an egg".
Details are sketchy and nobody's talking, but while working on Get Set -- Go! in 1956, Denny met my mother and they were engaged on St. Patrick's Day, 1957. Denny and Joan Knussman were married at The University of Notre Dame, of course, in the small
chapel at the back of Sacred Heart Basilica, in August, 1958. The plan might have been to find a job in New York City, which would have changed things considerably, but Denny still had a job with WNDU-TV in South Bend, so that's where he stayed.
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Denny Laughlin and Kelly, 1962.
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Denny and Joan settled into a scary apartment in South Bend, struggling to make ends meet. Denny would occasionally find time to paint, but everything changed for Denny and Joan in 1960, when their first daughter, Kelly, was born. No more time for fine art or being a hippie; he had a family to support. To complicate matters, I was born in 1963.
I know now that money must have been tight for the young couple; he used to earn extra money by hand-drawing diplomas for graduates of Stanley Clark School in South Bend, IN. I'm imagining all those hundreds of diplomas sitting in drawers somewhere, forgotten. |
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In the late 1960's, before my sister, Erin, was born, Denny was convinced by Dave Williams, the promotions manager at WNDU-TV, to participate in a Junior Achievment Company called "Beyond Our Control" (You can read more about Beyond our Control here). This turned out to be an eye-opening experience because it helped Denny retain a connection with young people that enabled him to keep his art, set designs, billboards and print ads fresh and relevent. This was critical to his professional success.
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