#paul lore

[4thelonghaul]

Here we have the great Canadian actor and writer (Sprung Rythm) Paul Gross from the series "Due South", which debuted in 1994. Ten years earlier, in 1984, I met up with him in Toronto to begin this portrait of him for my Canadian Author Series (1 of 32).

Four years later in 1988 he would marry his actress sweetheart, Martha Burns. Here is my portrait of Martha's father Jim Burns, I painted for Great West Life, through Power Corporation in Montreal. Power Corp. sent a private limo with chauffer down to Ottawa to pick me & the portrait up to bring to their head office at Victoria Square, looking at the portrait, with it's red background, there was blank silence, which I did not understand. Power Corp. is owned by the Desmarais family. Mr. Burns asked Andre Desmarais to come in and give his opinion. It was the red background. Mr. Burns was a Conservative (Blue, not Red). I quickly said I could make it pink. Odd looks, then I quickly said salmon. Somehow, that was okay.

I wouldn't see/meet Andre Desmarais again until the unveiling of his father in law's portrait Jean Chretien, in 2010. I don't think Andre would have remembered me, but he was happy with Mr. C.'s portrait and commissioned an exact copy, as well as purchasing 2 of the other Chretien portraits (There are 7 in total.). As for the Paul Gross portrait, it is privately owned, along with the two small studies. That day in Toronto, after meeting Paul Gross, I later met W.P. Kinsella, to begin his portrait for my author series.

One other thing. Jim Burns and Mr. C. were friends. During my visit to Shawinigan, the phone rang. It was Mr. Burns congratulating Mr. C. on receiving The Order of Merit from his friend Queen Elizabeth. There are more serenddipitous connections. At my portrait meeting with Jean Pouliot in Montreal, I mentioned painting Jim Burns. They had recently bought the Jim Burns house, Loved the house, but were left angry. Jim Burns had imported the wood for the floors and doorways from Scotland. The sale was made, and Mr. Burns took all the Scottish wood flooring, etc. with him. True story! I would have typed this up as it happened. All housed in the Mt. A. Archives.

[beatlessideblog]

Chatting the other day to one of the beadles (the Piccadilly shopping arcade's beautifully-uniformed security force), I learned that Paul McCartney - until now the only person allowed to break the ban - has been joined by a young chap from East London.

The story of how the ban came to be introduced in the 19th century was covered in a previous blog post, but essentially it was because the whistle was a coded signal to pickpockets warning them that the beadles were approaching. One day in the 1980s a beadle asked a shopper to stop whistling, only to discover that it was Paul McCartney. He granted Macca a lifetime exemption from the ban. (The beadle I spoke to the other day told me that when McCartney was first showing his current wife Nancy around London he brought her to the arcade and said: ‘Go on - tell her I'm allowed to whistle here.')

So the Beatle was the only person permitted to break the ban ... until now. In 2011, a young boy was brought to the arcade by his uncle. ‘He was only a strip of a lad,' the beadle told me, ‘about six years old. He was going through a tough time on the family front, and because of that things weren't going too well for him at school either. We started chatting to him, telling him about the arcade and its history and everything, and he loved it. Eventually we said to him: “Tell you what - if you can get a good report at school, you come back here and we'll give you a permit to whistle."'

Then earlier this year the boy's uncle returned to the arcade. He told the beadles that the boy (by now about ten) had indeed been working hard, and had received a good school report. So the arcade printed up a document with his name on it, confirming that he is allowed to whistle while on the premises. ‘His uncle brought him along again, and we reminded him what we'd promised. Then we gave him the permit. You should have seen his face. Lit up, it did. '

Today I learned Paul is one of only 3 people allowed to whistle in the Burlington Arcade in London (a World Champion Whistler was also given permission earlier this year) 😄

[paultherodeoclown]

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