Edward Summer

Edward Summer has been an award winning painter, motion picture director, screenwriter, internet publisher, magazine editor, journalist and science writer, comic book writer, novelist, book designer, actor, cinematographer, motion picture editor, documentary film maker, film festival founder, and educator.

Among his better known works are the ground-breaking collection of Carl Barks stories "", the "Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette" (one of the pioneering online magazines), the first motion picture based upon Robert E. Howard's character Conan The Barbarian, the novel "Teefr", and a prequel "The Legend of Teddy Bear Bob".

Early Work

Born in Buffalo, New York, Summer studied painting at the Albright Art Gallery (now called the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright Art School, and with the noted water-color painter Sandra Chessman. He was also acquainted from childhood with another noted water-colorist, Robert Blair. [Conan The Phenomenon by Paul Sammon, Dark Horse Books, 2007.]

Charles Summer, his father, was an amateur photographer who owned a then uncommon Exacta single lense reflex camera. The world-famous photographer Milton Rogovin was a family friend and early on exposed him to fine-art photographs.

At fifteen, Summer had a special one-man exhibit of his drawings in a group show at the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Theater

Studio Theater (now called Studio Arena Theater ), Buffalo, NY. appearance in Many Moons, based on a James Thurber book, choreographed by Michael Bennett. Director: Roberta Sharpe circa 1961.

Worked with Fred Keller and Neal Du Brock as actor and stage manager. Also Joe Krysiak founder of Project Artaud. [Interview with Edward Summer http://artaudsf.org/Archives/EdSummer.html.]

Motion Pictures

Encouraged by experimental film maker Peter Adair, Summer ultimately attended the first year of the New York University School of the Arts (then under the NYU School of Education and called the School of Television, Motion Pictures and Radio). Haig Manoogian, instrumental in starting the career of Martin Scorsese by producing the film "Who's That Knocking at My Door" headed the school and was one of the main instructors.

At NYU, Summer continued painting and studied with, among others, acclaimed photo-realist Audrey Flack. Harry Hurwitz, director of "The Projectionist" was also an instructor and personal friend.

His student film "Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon" not only won multiple awards, but was shown worldwide at many film festivals. It was the first film shown at the now famous Film Forum movie theater in New York City when the Film Forum was only a tiny loft space on West 88th Street in Manhattan. Hervé Villechaize, then unknown was one of the stars of "Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon" Villechaize went on to fame in The Man with the Golden Gun and as a recurring character in the television show Fantasy Island. A co-writer of the film, John Byrum went on to write and direct numerous other films. Both Manoogian and Scorsese were advisors to the project.

Other early films included:
Solstice (1968) - Film Editor
High in the Wind Rivers (1970) - Cinematographer, Film Editor
Street Scenes 1970 (1970) - Cinematographer, Sound Recording, Film Editor

As a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, Summer received a grant to produce a documentary about the history of American Comic Strip and Comic Book art. This unfinished film covered, among other people, Jack Kirby, Milton Caniff, Carl Barks, Chuck Jones, Ray Bradbury, Dick Huemer and Ralph Bakshi.

He worked with CBS Camera Three on a two-part series covering the history of comic books and comic strips.

In 1975, Summer helped his friend Brian De Palma re-do all of the promotional materials for Phantom of the Paradise. As a result, producer Edward R. Pressman approached Summer for other projects. The result was Conan The Barbarian which took nearly seven years to bring to the screen. The original treatment/screenplay was written by Summer with some collaboration by Roy Thomas who had written and edited the Marvel Comic Book series.

Comic books

Gold Key Comics Several science fiction adaptations for "Starstream". Born of the Sun. Shaka

Marvel Comics Plot Red Sonja Issue One. Red Sonya and the Unicorn. This story largely defined Red Sonja's personality and "inner nature."

Plot: The Invaders Involving the revival of the Golem to defeat the Axis.

Plot: Conan The Barbarian "The Devourer of the Dead" Story about origin of Egyptian pyramids.

Editor: Superman the Movie Magazine, DC Comics

Summer was instrumental in beginning the process that resulted in Shuster and Siegel receiving lifetime financial benefits from their creation of Superman.

Magazines

Founding editor and co-publisher: "The Dinosaur Times"

Contributing writer: "Written By", "Time Magazine", "New York Times", "Circus", "Films in Review", "The Perfect Vision", "The Absolute Sound", "Home Theater Magazine", "Skeptical Inquirer", "Skeptical Briefs", "The Monster Times".

Digital Nitrate Prize

In 2005, Edward Summer founded The Digital Nitrate Prize in order to encourage the research necessary to properly transfer and preserve the worlds motion picture heritage using the developing digital media. Based upon the X Prize, the Digital Nitrate Prize will offer a cash prize for the first individual, group or corporation which is able to exactly duplicate the look of nitrate film (nitrate motion picture film) using digital transfer and digital projection.

Constructive Living

Edward Summer is a certified instructor of Constructive Living. [A Handbook For Constructive Living by David Reynolds.Morrow, 1995, page 266.] He studied with David K. Reynolds in Los Angeles, New York, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Filmography

1968 - "Solstice" - Producer, Editor
1968 - "DeFeet" - Producer, Director, Cinematographer
1970 - "" - Producer, Director
1970 - "Street Scenes, 1970" - Director/Cameraman, Editor
1970 - "High in the Wind Rivers" - Director/Cameraman
1982 - "Conan the Barbarian" - Associate Producer
1989 - "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland" - Screenplay
2005 - "Silent Music" - Producer, Director (In Production)
2005 - "The Magic of Magic" - Producer, Director (In Production)
2006 - "Clicker Clatter" - Producer
2007 - "Sirens" - Producer (In Production)
2007 - "Calvin of Oakknoll" - Executive Producer, Consulting Director (In Production)

References

* [http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/rri/srri/sum.htm Partial Comics Bibliography]

External links

*imdb name|id=0838598|name=Edward Summer
* [http://www.dinosaur.org The Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette]
* [http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com The Buffalo International Film Festival]
* [http://sumstuf.blogspot.com/ Summer Stuff Blog]
* [http://digitalnitrateprize.googlepages.com/home The Digital Nitrate Prize Website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/eddie_bowers/edsummer.html Article: Richard Williams: The Animator Who Never Gave Up]
* [http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/comments/OW0684-Summer.pdf Library of Congress: Orphan Works Legislation Advocacy]