It was a moment I’ll never forget.
I was in Times Square amongst all the hustle/bustle of that place and I’d just spent the summer morning showing my art school portfolio around to ad agencies. With no luck.
As I was standing near the street in front of an arcade, a fellow asked, “Is that your art portfolio?” I nodded yes.
“May I see some of your work please?”
I thought, right here in Times Square? “Really? Well, OK!”
So I pulled out a few of my good drawings from when I went to the Art Students League and this fellow looked on.
All of a sudden, a fat bald guy from inside the arcade yelled, “Hey kid!, is that your work?”
I nodded again.
He said, “Y’want a job?”
I replied, “Doing what?”
He said, “Portraits in copper- come with me.”
He led me thru the arcade with its noisy games and tourist junk for sale and we went upstairs where he had an office and it was quiet. He sat me down and handed me a clipboard with a sheet of thin copper foil on it.
And a ball point pen.
He said, “I want you to draw a profile of me with the pen on the copper foil. Start with the profile and then add the top and back of the head and put in the collar.” I knew 2 things right away. This was a test. And there was no chance of erasing. “Then he said, “2 minutes, tops!”
Two minutes? Well, OK. I saw that he was bald, a big nose and a fat chin. So it wasn’t too hard. I finished under the 2 minutes and he looked at it- no reaction. “You’re hired.” He mentioned the pay, the hours and told me I could start tomorrow.
It was one of the most fun and different art experiences in my young life.
Every day, I sat at the edge of the arcade hawking people off the streets. “Hey, you’ve got a nice profile. Let me do your portrait in copper. Only $1.”
They were reluctant at first but what the hell, $1? So they sat down with passersby staring at them, then at my drawing, and nodded approvingly to the victim. I finished in 2 minutes, I was good for that now and they got up to pay. The owner charged them $2.50 for the cardboard mat (that ticked them off) and off they went showing it to their friends.
I did about 50 each day. From 11:a.m. thru 6 or 8 whenever it got slow.
The boss paid me cash each day, no taxes, just cash. It was fun. I was an artist whether the word “con” could be applied to me, I didn’t care.
It was an opportunity, and I jumped on it.
