Memories of West Graphics from Miss X
“This isn’t real modeling, it’s COMEDY modeling!”
In the spring of 1982 we were performing a revamped version of “Sluts A Go Go” which was then retitled “Blonde Sin – The sin they left out of the Bible” at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco. The cast included Doris Fish, Timmy Spence, Tippi, Frieda Lay and Sister Boom Boom, a member of the The Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters had modeled for a couple of greeting cards put out by a local company called West Graphics, headed up by Randy West. Randy canvassed the Sisters to find a model to go solo, but there were no takers as the Sisters were already fully engage with their many charitable endeavors, and Sister Boom Boom (Jack Fertig) planned to end their theatrical run in “Blonde Sin” and begin a political run to get elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. So Boom Boom recommended Doris, Tippi and I as possible models due to our makeup expertise.
Doris’ first two images were one of her looking fabulous in a beauty parlor chair and a yellow wig [ This time you’re going to need more than a comb out ] and a birthday card featuring her as a bag lady rifling through the trash [ I’m still picking out your gift! ]. I remember she came home from that bag lady shoot rather disenchanted. “This isn’t real modeling, it’s COMEDY modeling!” Regardless it turned out to be a partnership made in heaven. Randy West and his partner David Lindsay were absolute angels. Over the nearly ten years we all worked together,: fluidly, seamlessly, no spats, all collaboration. No matter how unflatteringly she was shot, Doris always insisted on at least a few “glamour shots” usually at the beginning of the shoot when she was still looking fresh and before she was doused with water [ Sorry you got dumped on ] or covered in oatmeal [Today the shit hit the fan ] or some other combination of ingredients [ Your name came up at lunch ]. We were paid per each image used and occasionally even for those not used. We met 2 or 3 or 4 times a year, each of us with a short list of characters and usually the line they intended to put on the card. There was always a lot of laughter and brain storming between Randy and David, the models and the photographer in attendance. The photographers (Mala, Ken Towle, John Edwards, etc.) were all darling and so supportive. It was usually Randy and the attendant photographer who offered direction to the models. Early on ( 1983?,1984? ) I got a cake for my birthday with an Oscar on the top and “Happy Birthday To Our Chameleon” in icing, a reference to their nickname for me, as I was less concerned about the glamour of my image (unlike my cohorts) and therefore more open to any number of “roles”. Speaking of roles, in 1987 I was presented with another Oscar bearing the engraved message “Best Neurotic in a Male/Female Role”, referring to my first card a bizarre image of someone in white face, crazy new wave makeup a wig that stood straight up and was hacked off at a sharp angle and black gloves with long silver nails [ High On Stress ] as well as the other nutty characters I inhabited. Honestly, such dear boys.
Doris also received awards and accolades despite her original quasi trepidation, and she went on to become “The face of West Graphics” when she traveled to greeting card stores across the country making personal appearances, signing cards and making appearances on a couple of talk shows ( Pittsburgh Today was one of them ) along the eastern seaboard.
We became a community of our own with many little (and not so little) parties and dinners. I recall being invited to their home to watch movies; Randy and David had quite a collection of these 12 inch video laser discs. The anniversary parties were were often massive; they’d take over an entire restaurant or nightclub and Doris Tippi and I were usually the entertainment, singing dancing and “lip syncing for our lives”!
As the decade neared its close Randy’s health slowly declined. Doris, as busy as ever, was losing weight, not noticeably at first but it was easier for her to portray women of a certain age: Barbara Bus, Nancy Regan and a brilliant progression of six stages in one woman’s life from preteen to crone [ Some things get better with age…and some things don’t ]. These were to be some of her last cards. The company was sold after Randy’s death.
