Summer Fun 1999

Originally published July 23, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1340

And now, as part of my ongoing self-delusion that you folks are interested in what’s going on in my personal life, I’m updating you as to what’s been going on in and out of casa David during the summer.

Shana, 18, has just graduated high school and is preparing to begin college in September to study vocal performance. Determined to display her own style through the end of the year, she sported gossamer fairy wings on the back of her prom dress. This gave her a Drew Barrymore Ever After look, although she went Cinderella one better by also carrying a wand with a star at the end so that she could spread prom happiness wherever she went. As for graduation, while other kids were content with complaining about the length of their gowns (to say nothing of the innate dorkiness of the traditional mortarboard), Shana chose to shorten her gown to mid-thigh length, trim it with faux leopard fur, and decorate her chapeau with little red gemstones (which certainly made it easy for her to locate after they all tossed their caps into the air).

Gwen, 14, no slouch in the unique department, attended her moving up ceremony (junior high to high school graduation) wearing her Gromit backpack (as in Wallace and Gromit). There’s something rather strange about watching one’s daughter marching down the aisle in the processional, and a round-eyed plush British dog sporting a raincoat is staring back at you. At present, she has a part-time job at a local bakery, which is in keeping with her life’s goal of being a baker. Although recently it’s been slightly modified; she now wants to open a bed-and-breakfast which would be renowned for its dazzling homemade baked goods. Sounds like a plan.

Ariel, 7, had no graduation or moving up this year, which, considering the logistics for all the ceremonies of her older sisters, was something of a relief. She is presently attending her beloved summer daycamp, and every so often Gwen and I will take her along to a rehearsal for Li’l Abner. Displaying the same frightening facility for memorization that prompted her—during rehearsals for 1776—to learn the whole opening monologue and much of the score of that show, including the entirety of the opening number “Sit Down, John,” Ariel is already capable of singing most of “Jubilation T. Cornpone.” When I was having trouble getting harmony down for one part of one song, Ariel got tired of hearing me sing the wrong notes and started correcting me.

I’m hardly attending any conventions this year, as opposed to two summers ago when I was so omnipresent that you couldn’t spit at a convention without hitting me (and Lord knows I found that out the hard way). All three girls live with me pretty much full time now, and I’m not inclined to just ditch them for weekends at a time. My priorities have shifted. After all, why should I go to conventions and have thousands of strangers telling me how much they like my work when I can be at home and have three children who love me saying, “Daaaad! You’re so embaaarassing! When I go off with my friends, do you have to stand at the door and shout, ‘Have fun stormin’ da castle!’?”

So, by and large, I try to stick with conventions that will bring all of us (including Kathleen) out. This becomes slightly problematic, since the number of conventions that are generous enough to provide transportation and hotel for myself and the entire brood are few and far between. So this year I’m at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, at Mad Media in Wisconsin, and Windy Con in Chicago, and that’s pretty much it. The kids like going to conventions. They like going around to dealers and saying, “Hi. We’re Peter David’s daughters. Can we get a discount?” It usually works, which is pretty impressive considering that I go around with my name badge that reads “Peter David” and with rare exceptions I wind up paying full price.

Still, it’s not as if I have nothing to do this summer. Li’l Abner opens at the Bayway Arts Center in East Islip, Long Island, the weekend of July 10 and runs through the rest of the month there, and then moves to Molloy College in August. I’m running a couple of our publicity stills here. Since they’re early shots, the costumes are purely temporary. One of the pictures, I’m posed with our Daisy Mae, played by the fetching Sarah Wilbourn (as in, back home she can generally get guys to fetch, roll over, beg—whatever she wants them to). In the other, I’m with Abner, portrayed by future opera star Daniel Cafiero, who has a tenor voice that can be heard halfway down the Southern State Parkway. Also take note of the brilliantly crafted prosthetic double chin I’m wearing to give me that Stubby Kaye appearance. Almost looks real, doesn’t it? Bet I had you fooled.

As for Kathleen, she is presently working her “day job” at Borders Books while continuing to make puppets. She also spent a week and a half in Italy, staying with her folks at a rented villa in Tuscany. Upon unpacking there she discovered that she had inadvertently brought along a puppet she’d made of South Park‘s Mr. Hat, so she decided to have him tour Italy with her. Here you can see Mr. Hat visiting an Etruscan Arch in Pisola, and also graciously positioning himself so that CBG can safely run a picture of a statue of Neptune from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Hope your summer is going well.

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)