FATHER GEEK says Goodbye to BARBARELLA and MINNIE MOUSE!

FATHER GEEK here with the sad duty of reporting some uncool, but necessary, news. Ruth Clifford Cornelius, age 98, has died in Los Angeles, California. Ruth appeared in over 70 films starting with Thomas Edison's studio in 1914. In 1916 she started a long time association with Universal with her role in the drama POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON. She appeared in 6 more for the studio in 1917 and 9 films in 1918 including THE BEAST OF BERLIN with the great Lon Chaney. As Ruth Clifford she starred as a leading lady in dozens of silent motion pictures through the 1920's. In the sound era she continued to score character actress parts in some of the best movies Hollywood was producing for the silver screen. A couple of those early "talkies" were STANDUP AND CHEER with Shirley Temple in 1934 and Spencer Tracy's 1935 classic DANTE'S INFERNO. In the 40's she continued to garner roles in such great features as the Academy Award winning HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY in 1941, 1944's KEYS TO THE KINGDOM, and Preston Sturges' fantastic UNFAITHFULLY YOURS in 1948. In her fifth decade as an actress she landed parts in such landmark motion pictures as 1950's SUNSET BLVD. and John Wayne's THE SEARCHERS in 1956. In the 60's she appeared with Jimmy Stewart and Richard Widmark in TWO RODE TOGETHER, filmed down here in Texas.

Ruth is one of those many great character actors whose name is basically unknown to the millions of film fans around the world whose lives she forever enriched. Her passing marks the end of a golden era. She was truly one of the last of the pioneer American film women, an actress whose career spanned 6 full decades from 1 reel B & W silent Edison experiments to 14 reel Technicolor, hi-fi, widescreen epics. But to old FATHER GEEK she will forever be remembered for, to me, her greatest role, that of the voice of MINNIE MOUSE. Yes, fellow geeks, Ruth Clifford Cornelius was the voice of the lovable Disney mainstay in those classic color Mickey Mouse cartoons produced for the big screen from 1946 until 1953, such classics as MICKEY AND THE SEAL in 1948 and one of my personal favorites 1951's phantastic PLUTOPIA. Seeing that theatrical Technicolor masterpiece on the giant screen of San Antonio's great movie palace The Majestic on my birthday when I was 6 years old knocked my socks off, curled up my toes, and forever made me the Geek I am today.

Good-bye Ruth, they may not know your name, but generations of children of all ages will forever miss your talents, and a voice that touched us all through your alter-ego Minnie Mouse. FATHER GEEK sends his love to you at whatever heavenly soundstage you may now occupy.

On another sad note FATHER GEEK must inform you that Jean-Claude Forest the creator of the incredible fantasy/science fiction comic character from France, BARBARELLA, died last week in Paris of a respiratory ailment. Jean-Claude further designed those phantasmagorial sets for Roger Vadim's 60's cult fantasy film starring Jane Fonda as the sultry space agent we all know and love. He co-wrote the screenplay with Vadim, Terry Southern and others to reflect the silly, comic world of his books. He story- boarded much of the film and with others designed those wonderfully naughty outfits Jane, Anita Pallenberg and the other other-worldly babes wore in the film's lewd, sadistic world.

FATHER GEEK started collecting and dealing in comic books and its related art in the mid-1960's and I was familiar with Jean-Claude and his planet hopping skittish teenage voluptuary before the movie came out in 1968. French comics were and still are among the best and most revolutionary in the world and his BARBARELLA was a pathfinder as a newspaper strip as well as in comicbooks. An early American edition of these was put out by Grove Press. If you can fine one of these square bound editions it is well worth picking up, it and a few remaining original French strips are some of the prizes of my personal collection of comic art. It is ironic that on the very day this French visionary artist died Harry and I found and purchased a copy of the difficult to obtain BARBARELLA sound track on CD, it has been blasting through GEEK HEADQUARTERS ever since, and then today I was told of Jean-Claude Forest's death. We here at our Austin, Texas offices will be playing that score cranked all the way up for Jean-Claude tonight, maybe Marcel Marceau and Jean-Claude will listen in with us for a while.

BON VOYAGE, from FATHER GEEK, oh yeah, and LOVE!