AHOY, MATEYS!

Yes, it really is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It is an actual holiday.

There are lots of pirates but my love for pirates begins and ends with Treasure Island. Robert Louis Stevenson created the proto pirate -- the Ur Pirate -- with his marvelous creation of Long John Silver. Silver has most famously been depicted by the artist N.C. Wyeth, and has been played in the movies by many actors including Wallace Beery, Ivo Garrani, Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Lance Henriksen, Anthony Quinn, Tim Curry, and Jack Palance.

For me, though, there is no other John Silver than Robert Newton who played the pirate in Disney's Treasure Island (1950) the company's first completely live action film.

I remember seeing it in  my elementary school gymnasium on a special Sunday screening. I was very young, maybe six or seven and couldn't count money. What I gave to the ticket taker wasn`t enough and I cried all the way back home. My parents bundled me into the car and drove me back. It was about half an hour into the movie and my tears were forgotten as I was drawn into the exciting adventure.

From that moment on I was in love with pirates and particularly with Robert Newton`s Silver. He played the pirate in a couple of more Disney films as well as in a short lived Australian TV series, but that original adaptation will always be the best for me.

So, me hearties, I rase a mug of grog to all ye pirates out there, ye scurvy dogs who sail the briny deeps in yer imaginations.

Aaarh!

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
www.mdjacksonart.weebly.com
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio