Rush Limbaugh book proposal

I lost count long ago on the number of book proposals that I've done that never saw the light of day. This was one of them, but it was a very close call. I worked with noted New York editor, Judith Regan. I did the proposal in the mid nineties, at the height of Rush Limbaugh's popularity. Judith was Rush's book editor. She said, "I have a dozen Rush Limbaugh proposals on my desk...this is the most interesting." So she took Rush to lunch and showed the book idea to him. For whatever reason, the idea tanked. So now it's taking up space in my book proposal file.

One odd thing that I remember about Judith. For some reason we were talking about Mickey Mouse Club on the phone, and we suddenly burst into song and sang a duet of the Mickey Mouse Club theme.

One thing that strikes me about these images is that they were done way back when I was working on watercolor paper with colored inks. At the time I would've never imagined that I would be working in Photoshop. I haven't bought a sheet of watercolor paper in a long time.

Perhaps from time to time I'll share with you some of my other failed attempts. Maybe I'll even share the story of how I lost the audition for the weathercaster spot at NBC. I almost got the job... I got a "call back" for a second audition, but it went to a guy named Pat Sajak. I wonder what happened to him.

I remember in the studio that night Tom Brokaw was anchoring the news. I called the sportscaster, Bryant Gumble, at home for some reason, and I woke him up from a nap.