One of the nicest, best people I ever met died this morning at a hospital here in Los Angeles. Steve Sherman had been in failing health for some time, spending way too many hours of his life hooked up to dialysis equipment. The last few years, he had good days and bad…and I am so happy that on one of those good days last year, we spent some time recording a video chat. I've embedded it below so those of you who never had the joy of knowing Steve can spend a little time with him. You might understand why I feel blessed that I met this fellow back in 1968.
Steve was a writer, an artist, a photographer, a puppet-maker, a puppet-performer…if it was creative, he did it. He was my partner for several years working first for a crooked mail order firm and then for the most amazing man either of us ever met…Jack Kirby. During our years with Kirby, we had amazing adventure after amazing adventure, moments of joy and anguish and the chance to bask in the enlightening aura of one of the few humans I heard called a "genius" who was actually deserving of the title.
I do not recall Evanier and Sherman ever having an argument, then or since. When we disagreed, we disagreed like gentlemen and that was way more Steve's influence than mine. As we were learning from Jack, I learned a lot from Steve.
We met in '68 when he and his brother Gary showed up at a local comic book club that I was the President of. All three of us got along great from the start. Steve and I worked together until we stopped working together…and then, as fate would have it, we continued occasionally working together.
When I left Jack's employ, Steve stayed on and continued to be a great friend of the Kirby family. But being Jack's assistant didn't pay all that well because…well, Jack didn't really need an assistant. Steve wanted to get into the entertainment industry so he got himself hired by the cartoon studio Filmation for a few years, then segued into the world of puppetry.
That led to him working for Sid and Marty Krofft. But it had nothing to do with the fact that I was working for Sid & Marty Krofft. After several years there, Steve and another fine puppet maker/performer Greg Williams struck out on their own and formed Puppet Studio, building and operating puppets for TV, movies, commercials…everywhere. When ABC needed someone to build and operate a puppet named O.G. Readmore to host the ABC Weekend Special series, they hired Steve and Greg. And it had nothing to do with the fact that they'd hired me to write it.
Puppet Studios did puppets for Pee-wee's Playhouse. They did them for a show I liked called Riders in the Sky. They did puppeteering of all kinds, melding into new technology and animation. There are a lot of folks in the puppetry field who cling to the way things were done back in the days of Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Not Sherman and Williams. Their creations were very much Today — with a few rooted in Tomorrow — which is why they were so much in demand.
You can read all about this fine enterprise and see a longer bio of Steve on their website. The bio will tell you some of the other things Steve did of a creative nature. There were a lot of them.
Here's a photo of Steve, me and Steve's brother Gary. If we look morose in the photo, we probably should. That was taken in Jack Kirby's studio right after we attended Jack's funeral. Gary died in 2009.
I guess the thing I want you to know most about Steve is how in over fifty years, I never found even a teensy-tiny reason to be annoyed with him or to think he was being dishonest or foolish or anything of the sort. He was smart. He was industrious. One time when I was asked to write some "roast" jokes about him, I couldn't think of a damned flaw to base them on. I think I settled for kidding him about not being very talkative when he had nothing to say…which of course is not an insult. It's a compliment.
I could go on and on about this fellow and I guess I have. So I'll just post the video of our conversation last August. It may give you some idea of what a terrific guy he was. It will give me a reminder of what it was like to know him and I intend to watch it from time to time for that reason. Just as soon as I can do so without crying.