Dogs Playing Poker
The only thing larger than the eyes she paints are the size of the balls she must have to charge money for her paintings. I spotted Woman with Chihuahua going for $29,000 earlier today on eBay. If there's any question regarding her artistic talent, one need only look at the family portrait commissioned by Jerry Lewis back in the 1960s. The work must have taken immense patience and displays Jerry with his wife, their three cats, four dogs and five sons resplendent in harlequin gear. It's oil on canvass, although I'm sure there was serious consideration given at some point to black velvet.
I am speaking of course about Margaret Keane who was the subject of the latest cinematic triumph "based on a true story" entitled Big Eyes by Tim Burton. Margaret and her husband Water began their visual assault on the general public in the 1960s by flooding supermarkets, department stores and greeting card racks with cheap reproduced portraits of big-eyed, much-maligned, forlorn children. The formulaic approach in addition to glaucoma often included, thumb sucking, tears rolling down cheeks and cradling a small pet.
When I heard Tim was making the film I was sure we would be in store for another comedy-fantasy along the lines of his Beatlejuice. It turns out Tim is one of many elite Hollywood tastemakers that have been collecting Keane paintings. The movie, beyond being categorized as a drama, is God forbid, a dead serious tribute to the woman. Among Tim's collection of Keane works is a portrait of his girl friend Lisa Marie also holding a Chihuahua. Take note: When your grandfather or great uncle dies, be sure to grab onto the prints in the den of dogs playing poker – the next generation of tinsel-town literati will make sure they hang in the Louvre.
Tim Burton's film portrays Margret Keane as a subservient schmuck cut off from the outside world by her husband, where she performs as an art slave, pumping out schlock paintings sixteen hours a day to meet an ever-increasing demand. The husband, Walter Keane, is shown as an over-the-top con artist who adores women, alcohol and himself. Walter passed away in 2000 and can't offer anything in his own defense.
In an official statement released by Susan Keane, a daughter from Walter's first marriage, there's no disagreement that he could be an asshole. However, she and Walter's nephew argue not all of the work was done by Margaret and that Walter was supporting himself as an artist several years before he ever met Margaret and big eyes was one of his trademarks. They also claim he trained Margaret to paint after they were married as her only prior experience was painting names onto neckties at $2.50 a pop. Their primary issue with the film is that the movie credits Margaret as the sole creator of the paintings. Susan and her cousin insist works were produced by both Margaret and Walter during their 10-year marriage. Their point is clearly supported by newspaper articles such as one printed in the Village Voice in 1957. One would have thought they would be thrilled to relieve Walter of any responsibility for the horrid stuff, but of course financial considerations may have put things in a different light.
When Margaret and Walter broke up it didn't make much of a splash. It rated scant media coverage such as the brief article in the back pages of a 1965 edition of the Fredericksburg, Virginia Free Lance Star, where it was announced their divorce was finalized ending ten years of marriage. The item was placed directly below a recipe for Pineapple Tea Cake and to the right of the daily Ann Landers' column where Ann responded to a letter from a distraught wife by wisely instructing her to take hubby to the local YMCA for marriage counseling services.
Twenty-one years following their divorce, Margaret sued Walter for slander because he publicly claimed he had done the paintings instead of Margaret. Of course he had been making this same claim since the early 1960s so one wonders why she waited until 1986. Perhaps she began to see through Walter's threats to have her wacked by the mafia which she claims kept her in line for so many years.
To settle matters, the presiding judge for the Honolulu Federal Court employed a "paint-off" where Margaret and Walter were provided materials and given an hour to paint a portrait. Margret finished in the allotted time but Walter declined to participate due to a sore shoulder. Margaret won the suit and the jury awarded her $4,000,000 in damages which was later overturned on appeal. During the trial a psychologist testified that Walter would have to be clinically delusional to believe he was the real artist. I found it rather unfair that Margaret avoided the same label given her conversion to Jehovah's Witness.
What's done is done I guess but it's a shame that Tim Burton completely missed the movie he should have made instead. The part of the true story that Big Eyes ignores is as follows: A decade prior to meeting Margaret, Walter was working real estate in the bay area with his first wife Barbara. Over a period of seven years they made enough money to buy a huge home in Berkeley and take two years off in Europe to study art and fashion. The Berkeley home was actually a mansion built in 1906 by a well-known architect and featured its own ballroom. This was where their daughter Susan spent her early years.
When Walter and Barbara returned from Europe they launched their new enterprise - Susie Keane Puppeteens. The puppets were sold with records and a book - all of which were intended to teach children how to speak French. The mansion's ballroom was converted into a production area with assembly lines for the hand painting of wooden puppets and the cutting and sewing of puppet costumes. The product was an educational toy that was offered exclusively by upscale retailers such as Nieman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, FAO Schwarz and the like.
Puppeteens On Broadway is the movie that Tim Burton should have made. It would of course be a musical like the ones back in the day before color and with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. The idea for the product comes to Judy and Mickey while on a hayride. Lionel Barrymore plays a loan shark who fronts them seed money to get started but they don't read the fine print. Judy and Mickey scratch and struggle to make a prototype and desperately try to get picked up by a quality retailer.
After failing to catch the interest of a single store, out of desperation they start performing puppet shows in Central Park and passing the hat to cover the vig. Burgess Meredith, the CEO of Saks, is out for some fresh air with his grandkids who flip over the show and granddad agrees to carry their line. Soon the other major retailers follow Saks' lead. Mickey delights in meeting again with all the store's buyers who told him "no way" the first time around but are now lining up to kiss his ass.
A new crisis looms when Judy and Mickey realize they can't possibly produce enough product to fill the Xmas orders from all of the retailers. A snow storm drives them into an abandoned warehouse where many of the homeless have taken shelter. Here they meet John Garfield, a former aircraft plant manager down on his luck. One thing leads to another and Judy, Mickey and John form a co-op with the band of street bums. Together they transform the warehouse into a smooth-running machine amidst a flurry of dancing and singing and appear to save the day.
But wait, John Garfield reads the fine print in the Barrymore loan and discovers it transfers the patent rights to Lionel. Gloom descends as Judy bellows out a tearful moon-lit number on the back loading dock. Edward G. Robinson is passing by, takes in her song and tells her it makes him think of his sick daughter. Then he asks her what's troubling her and Judy spills her guts and gives him one of the toys for his ailing daughter. Edward G. Robinson is overwhelmed by this gesture and he tells Judy and Mickey that he is very impressed with their operation. He then confesses that he owns the warehouse with a couple of other mob goons and, "Furthermore, cut me in for 5% and there won't be anymore Barrymore, if you know what I mean."