Grecian Guild Press published this obituary for Lyle Frisby in 1958, and it is quite interesting. I didn't previously know that Mr. Frisby had served in the Army, nor did I know that Falcon Studio managed some of his work after he passed. The piece mentions an illustrious career and leukemia, both of which are accurate. What they don't mention is the fact that Lyle Frisby was convicted on obscenity charges and sent to a California prison facility where abuse and lack of medical care accelerated his disease.
I don't recall where I got this page, so if it appeared on your blog or you sent it to me,
please let me know and I will immediately credit you as the source.
Lyle Frisby seems to have had a very much idiosyncratic use of lighting and contrast which is perhaps the hallmark of his work. He died so tragically young that it would have been very interesting to see how his definite talents would have developed. Another life cut short. Bigotry does not just beget bigotry. Sometimes it kills.
ReplyDeleteBigotry can indeed be lethal. My grandmother was an educated, cultured woman who was known to drive herself over 200 miles in the late 1920s and 1930s to attend lectures by Aldous Huxley, John Dos Pasos, and other literary figures. She hated racism, saying, "It holds us all back, you know. We have people who could be so productive and brilliant, but we don't educate them or let them succeed because of color. Think how prosperous we could be if everyone had a chance!" Oh, and she figured out I was gay before anyone else did, telling me she would always love me and had a favorite uncle who was a "confirmed bachelor."
DeleteVery nice. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteHere are links for my (distant) cousin, who I never knew:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149899996/lyle-george-frisby
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9N46-GQ6
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Frisby-624
He's directly related to me through his mother. His middle name is George, like another of our cousins who was also in the Army, George Custer!
His father is also independently related to me through marriages.
Thanks for this, Jim. The one and only message left on his findagrave.com page is from me.
DeleteYou likely got this scan from an ebay listing by seller titanusgallery (a leading authority of physique photography, and established artist in his own right.) He references the magazine it came from when he lists photos by Lyle
ReplyDeleteThanks. I can't recall where I found it, but I was pretty sure that it was someone else's content.
Delete