Posted by Mike Jackson on July 17, 2002
Raymond ChapmanFactoid-n.: An interesting, but basically useless piece of information.
Steven Parrish was an old school Gold Leaf specialist who traveled around the central plains states doing reverse glass work, mainly for banks. That was, of course, "where the money was". Along with his skills with a brush, he was also a world class "bullshitter" (please forgive me!) and he maintained a long list of stories and factoids. One that I remember clearly was dealing with the production of gold leaf.
Once small strips of gold has been pounded flat into sheets of gold, it must be transfered to the tissue sheets in a book of gold. When asked, Steven would tell you that the "tool" used for that purpose was "the left hind foot of a female Belgian hare....softest material know to mankind". Okay, I can buy that I guess, but I always wondered why it was only the LEFT hind foot and not the right hind foot, too? We used to laugh about that one.
Mike Jackson
Ah, Steven Parrish memories!
Those tales are legend. Mike and I used to compare Parrish stories trying to find mistakes (actually "lies") but he always told the same "facts" over and over.
When we had a Letterhead meeting here in Texas back in 1983, Steven was not able to attend because he had fallen and hurt his knee (remember, we was already over 80 years old at the time), but he made a phone call and talked to just about everyone there. His phone bill must have been tremendous.
Steven was never happier than when he was on "stage". He loved to have an audience - either watching him work or listening to his tales. I have a picture of him being interviewed for TV at Mike's Oklahoma Bash. He was quite a site in his suit and Russian hat.
At Boise in 1982, Noel had a Letterhead gathering at his house and invited folks from all over to come. Right in the middle of the meet up drives Steven in his old Ford LTD (with about 250,000 miles on it). He had driven all the way from Nebraska and makes the statement, "I heard you boys were getting together and thought I would drop in to see what was happening". And he was 79 years old at the time.
One of my fondest memories of that weekend was seeing Steven do a gold leaf demonstration. He would take a whole leaf on the tip and start to lay it on the glass when someone would ask a question. Of course, this meant a fifteen minute story - all the while he was gesturing and talking and the full leaf was still attached to the gilder's tip. We were paying more attention to the leaf than the story. Eventually the story would end and he would turn and lay that leaf as smoothly as you can imagine.
Lots of stories - like why he always wore a white shirt, and how his wife made all his clothes, and why he did banks. He was on "On The Road" with Charles Karault one time. I have a copy of that program. Seems like I remember a baby faced guy from Oklahoma on there too.
Thanks Mike for jolting the memories.
Kent Smith
D. Bernhardt - Incredibly InterestingI have lots of fond memories too, Steven visited here 2 or 3 times when he was "in the area", like Scottsbluff. I also have some footage we too of him at the 1983 Kansas City meet.
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