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"Go home and get your shine box....", so said ill-fated Billy Batts in Goodfellas (1990). However, Billy Batts is better known to a legion of crime-film fans as the talented actor, musician, and comedian Frank Vincent. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, but was raised in the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey. Frank studied music at St. Pauls Grammar School and became a keen drummer at a young age, while his father introduced him to the dramatic arts. Vincent went on to became quite an accomplished musician and played with some of the key 1960s recording artists including Trini López, Del Shannon and Paul Anka. In 1975 Vincent appeared before the camera for the first time in the low-budget The Death Collector (1976) where he was noticed by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese, who cast Frank in three iconic American films: the first saw Frank play the insolent Salvi in Raging Bull (1980), secondly as the aforementioned made man Billy Batts in Goodfellas (1990) being bumped off by Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro, and once again as Frank Marino in Casino (1995). Frank Vincent appeared in over fifty movies, and set the pace as one of the cinema's most versatile and resourceful character actors. With the recognition of his talents, various new opportunities work followed, and Frank lent his skills to contributing and appearing on video games, in television commercials and even rock-music clips with artists including DMX, T-Boz and Hype Williams. He also had the role of gangster Phil Leotardo in the legendary HBO series The Sopranos (1999).

Frank Vincent was also the proud recipient of the Italian American Entertainer of the Year Award, and was also acknowledged with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Back East Picture Show.

Van Hansis was born on 25 September 1981 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for As the World Turns (1956), Eastsiders (2012) and Kiss Me, Kill Me (2015).

Martin Melcher was born on 1 August 1915 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer, known for Pillow Talk (1959), That Touch of Mink (1962) and Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962). He was married to Doris Day and Patty Andrews. He died on 20 April 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Peter Laird is an American comics artist and writer from North Adams, Massachusetts. His main claim to fame is co-creating the hit series "Teenage Mutants Ninja Turtles" with his then-partner Kevin Eastman.

Next to nothing is known about Laird's family background and his early life. Unlike Kevin Eastman, he has rarely spoken about his background in interviews. He was born in 1954, and he was in his early 30s by the time he became a professional comics creator. In the early 1980s, Laird worked as an illustrator for a newspaper located in Dover, New Hampshire. His rates at the time were 10 dollars for each new illustration. To supplement his meager income, Eastman also created illustrations for fanzines.

In 1983 or 1984, Laird met aspiring comics artist Kevin Eastman who was searching for a publisher for his work. Laird was also interested in becoming a comics artist, and the two men decided to collaborate on creating their next works.

In 1984, Eastman and Laird had a brainstorming session in an effort to find ideas for their own comic book series. They decided to parody elements from four popular comics series of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' "Daredevil" (about a super-powered mutate with ninja training) and "New Mutants" (about a team of teenage mutants), Dave Sim's "Cerebus the Aardvark" (about an anthropomorphic aardvark who has sword- and-sorcery style adventures), and Frank Miller's Ronin (about a long-dead Japanese ronin who is reincarnated in a dystopian version of New York City). They combined elements from all four series into the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (TMNT for short).

Eastman and Laird decided to self-publish the first issue of TMNT, founding the publishing company Mirage Studios to do so. The company was funded through a loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin. They chose the name "mirage", because their company was more an illusion than a reality. The company mostly consisted of its creative duo, and lacked actual offices.

The first issue of TMNT was published in May, 1984. It was a black-and-white publication, only 40 pages long, The duo had the idea to advertise their product by sending a four-page press kit to 180 television and radio stations, to the Associated Press and to the United Press International. The result was that the comic book received much publicity, unusually so for a product by a fledgling publisher.

The initial print run for the first issue was 3,275 copies, and they were quickly sold out. Due to high demand from market, three additional printings were published the Summer of 1984 and September, 1985. Eastman and Laird had a sales success in their hands. There were advance orders of 15,000 copies for the second issue. Eastman and Laird earned a profit of 2,000 dollars each. They decided to quit their day jobs and to become full-time comic book creators.

Eastman and Laird made deals with other companies, granting them the right to create TMNT tie-ins and merchandise. Within a few years, there was a high demand for more TMNT stories and material. Laird has stated in interviews that he did not expect either the TMNT's rapid success, nor the pressures involved in trying to run both a company and a media franchise. For a while, Laird struggled with artist's block. He also realized that he no longer enjoyed drawing.

One solution for Laird's problems at the time was to hire more creative staff to help with the workload. Among the early additions to Mirage's staff were letterer Steve Lavigne, inker Ryan Brown, penciler Jim Lawson, and cover artist Michael Dooney. The company gained its first real offices in Florence, Massachusetts, in order to properly house the new staff. The Mirage creative team produced most of their work in-house, instead of relying on freelancers.

Further additions to Mirage's staff in the late 1980s included writer and artist Eric Talbot, writer Stephen Murphy, and inker Dan Berger. Murphy would eventually be promoted to managing editor of Mirage, shouldering much of the workload.

By 1990, Eastman had grown tired of working exclusively on TMNT and wanted to expand to new projects. Laird refused to either help him or to finance these projects. Eastman founded his own company, Tundra Publishing, while Laird remained at the head of Mirage. From this point on, Laird was de facto Mirage's only publisher, while Eastman progressively distanced himself from the company.

In 1992, Laird founded the nonprofit corporation Xeric Foundation, headquartered in Northampton, Massachusetts. The corporation's main goal is to grant funds to comic book creators who want to self-publish new projects. Laird felt that he owed his success as a self-publishing writer and artist to the loan he had received from Quentin Eastman. He felt that other aspiring creators could have a chance at success, if they have sufficient funds. Over the following decades the corporation has helped fund projects by many writers and artists.

In 2000, Laird partially bought out Eastman's ownership rights on Mirage and the TMNT franchise. According to the terms of the deal, Eastman was left with a small continuing income participation. In 2008, Laird purchased the remaining rights from Eastman, and briefly became the sole owner of the TMNT franchise.

In 2009, Laird sold the rights to the TMNT franchise to media corporation Viacom. Mirage became a subsidiary of Viacom. The rights were mainly handled by Viacom's subsidiary Nickelodeon, which was interested in financing new adaptations of the franchise. By the terms of the deal, Laird maintained the rights to annually create and publish up to eighteen black-and-white comics based on the TMNT franchise.

By 2021, Laird was 67-years-old. He infrequently writes or draws new comics projects, and is otherwise semi-retired.

Harry C. Browne was born on 18 August 1878 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Scandal (1917), The Heart of Jennifer (1915) and The Big Sister (1916). He died on 15 November 1954.

Marshall Goldberg was born on 18 December 1930 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. Marshall was a writer, known for Dr. Kildare (1961), Young Dr. Kildare (1972) and The Critical List (1978). Marshall died on 20 January 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

11/7/2018

Patrick Lescarbeau was born in North Adams Massachusetts but currently resides in Apex, North Carolina. Acting since the age of nine in Theaters in New York, Vermont, and Texas he recently made the crossover to Film in late 2015 with the Short "Rare Model". Since then he has acted on film in Texas, California, New Mexico, and Tennessee. When not in front of the camera he writes shorts and series episodes and spends time with his 3 daughters. He is currently represented by The Boysen Agency.

Will Durant was the left-wing philosopher-historian who labored on his epic, multi-volume "The Story of Civilization" by himself, and then with his wife Ariel, for half a century. The son of French Canadian immigrants from Quebec, Durant first planned to study for the priesthood, but an interest in socialism and biology thwarted those plans. He became a teacher and a writer. "The Story of Civilization" evolved out of a series of pamphlets he wrote for the education of workers.

For "Rousseau and Revolution" (1967), the 10th volume of "The Story of Civilization," Will and Ariel Durant were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. They died within two weeks of each other in 1981.

James Dargie has been involved in CG production since 1995. Receiving a degree in Industrial Design in June of 1995, he was hired by Take Two Interactive where he eventually became a lead artist and technical director on full motion Video Games and PC titles. His talent for visual story telling naturally lead him to film production where he was a lead artist on Square Pictures' CG film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) in 1997.

Specializing in modeling, texturing and graphic layout he was able to contribute to designs, concepts and finished products. After this project he has been involved in other great titles working for top game companies and films like the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. In addition to personal projects and work, he has also been an instructor at the Academy of Art College. James lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and daughter.

Travis Pinsonnault was born on 21 May 1981 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. Travis is known for Ra.One (2011), Surrogates (2009) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Marcia Manners was born on 14 January 1904 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for It Pays to Advertise (1931) and Caught (1931). She died on 12 April 1991 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Mary Newcomb was born on 24 August 1893 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), The Marriage Bond (1932) and The Masque of Kings (1946). She was married to Alexander H. Higginson and Robert Edeson. She died on 26 December 1966 in Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK.

Ben Raymond was born on 11 January 1979 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He is a producer and production manager, known for American Wedding (2003), Great News (2017) and Retired at 35 (2011).

Paul Farmer was born on 26 October 1959 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Didi Bertrand. He died on 21 February 2022 in Butaro, Rwanda.

Chip Radaelli was born on 29 November 1947 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was an art director and production designer, known for Odd Thomas (2013), Let Me In (2010) and 2 Guns (2013). He died on 15 May 2017 in the USA.

Martha Coakley was born on 14 July 1953 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. She is married to Thomas F. O'Connor, Jr..

Thomas MacLarnie was born on 20 December 1870 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man Trail (1915), The Blindness of Virtue (1915) and The Masked Menace (1927). He died on 1 December 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Ira Menard was born on 24 October 1982 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009) and Eastbound & Down (2009).

Charles A. Levine was born on 17 March 1897 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 6 December 1991 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Amy Lee was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. She is known for Jimmy Buffett: Scenes You Know by Heart (2009), Jimmy Buffett: Live at Wrigley Field - The Labor Day Weekend Shows (2006) and Jimmy Buffett: Mini Matinee #1 (2003).

Jody Kordana was born on 3 October 1972 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for A Stranger Within (2003).