From Ohio

Adele Bertei’s is truly a Cinderella story. She grew up poor. Her mother was schizophrenic and her macho, heavy gambling father was bisexual. Neither had much interest in raising a family. She and her brothers became wards of the state and were separated. Adele was shuffled between foster homes and reformatories. Coming of age in the heat of the early ’70s music and gay scenes in Cleveland, Bertei was inspired by art photographer Nan Goldin, who she connected with while Goldin was in town photographing members of the local gay community. Soon afterward she was also mentored by the brilliantly talented, alcohol-fueled, gun-toting, guitarist Peter Laughner, the founder of Pere Ubu, an influential band hailing from the city. Bertei dove deep into the art world, establishing herself as a multi-disciplinary creative soul — a musician, performance artist, film director and writer. During a career filled with music, chaos and success on the road less traveled, she was signed by two major music labels and performed and/or collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno, Thomas Dolby and Tears For Fears. Beyond music, Bertei authored two books: Peter and The Wolves is about her brief, but intense, friendship with Laughner, who died at 24 due to alcoholism; and Why LaBelle Matters, the story of LaBelle, the all-girl trio made up of Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash which served as a model for girl groups like En Vogue and Destiny’s Child as well as being stalwarts of the LGTBQ+ community and Afrofuturism. Bertei is currently at work on a memoir of her childhood set to be published in 2023. 

Her story takes us from Cleveland to New York City, from London to points beyond and finally, to Los Angeles, her current home.

Proud to say Adele Bertei’s rich journey all started from Ohio.

At just 27, Myesha Evon Gardner is blazing a trail through a heretofore white male-dominated landscape.
A recent graduate of The New School/Parsons School of Design, she’s already worked with Beyoncé, secured representation (Büro Represents) had a Times Square billboard (Hip Hop/R&B singer-songwriter Jasmine Sullivan) art directed and photographed the Nordstrom’s Black Owned Everything campaign and assembled a client list that includes Nike, Sony Music and HBO to name a few. In addition, she has editorial credits with The New Yorker, Citizen and NicOtiNe magazines.
Her elixir is the connection to her East Cleveland roots and family that fuels and inspires her distinctive vision, which resonates with viewers. Gardner relishes seeing the beauty in the unheralded and exalting them to rightful representation. As she says, “my favorite model is a non-model.”
A model creative, Myesha Evon Gardner is From Ohio!

Euclid's Mike DeCapite self-published his first novel, Through the Windshield, in 1998. A Rust Belt potpourri of characters, weather, and stories that DeCapite experienced as a cabbie in ’80s Cleveland, the novel established his quotidian style and was an underground success. His novel Jacket Weather was published this fall by Soft Skull and is set in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The book compresses ten years of weather, anecdotes, and dialogue while telling the story of how, 25 years after meeting June in New York's downtown music scene, Mike reconnects with her and the two find love in the shadow of their mortality.

DeCapite’s advice to young writers is to write a book they’d like to read. Reading  Jacket Weather reminds us that we all have a story to tell... 

Todd Stephens is a writer, director and instructor at the NYC School of Visual Arts.
His 1999 debut film The Edge of Seventeen is based on his life as a queer youth growing up in the conservative, middle-American Sandusky of the 1980s. Its attention to detail and spot-on musical score effectively contribute to a tender story of the struggles, pain and ultimate freedom of a young man coming out at a time when Boy George, The Eurythmics and Prince celebrated sexuality fluidness. It’s the story of how many current-day, middle-age gay men came of age.
Stephens followed that with Gypsy 83 in 2001. It’s a film that tells the tale of a young goth couple who travel from Ohio to New York City to attend the Night of a Thousand Stevies celebrating their idol Stevie Nicks. Encounters and obstacles ensue ultimately uncovering the truth about main character's estranged mother. Sara Rue plays the role of Gypsy. John Doe, founder and frontman of the punk band X, plays Gypsy's father. And the late Karen Black is Bambi LeBleau.

Swan Song, Stephens latest film, is part three of this “Ohio trilogy.” Released by Magnolia Pictures, it stars Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Evans and Michael Urie, Swan Song is the story of Sandusky's local avant garde hairdresser Mister Pat (played by Kier), who blazed a trail of truth and authenticity. Based on the life of Pat Pitsenbarger, the movie opens with him in a nursing home where he's taken up residence following the death of his lifelong lover. With his purpose evaporated, Mister Pat spends his days intricately folding the napkins that he steals from the cafeteria and smoking contraband cigarettes.
Things take a turn when the lawyer of a recently deceased, wealthy client visits Mister Pat and informs she requested that he do her hair for the funeral. To put things right following a falling out between them, she stipulated a fee of $25,000 be paid upon completion of the task.

Swan Song takes viewers on a journey of realization that it's never too late to sparkle. All three films are available on demand.

On April 18, 1946, Jackie Robinson — signed by Brooklyn Dodgers’ executive and Ohioan Branch Rickey — effectively broke professional baseball's color barrier when he suited up for the Montreal Royals, a Dodgers’ farm team. Many, including teammates, wanted to see him fail. Opposing pitchers often aimed for his head. And, Robinson even dealt with death threats.
In the third inning that afternoon, against the home team Jersey City Giants, Robinson hit a home run over the left field fence — the first ever by a Black man in a minor league baseball game. The two men on base at the time crossed home plate and made a beeline for the dugout without a nod to Robinson. But standing on deck, ready to bat next, was Youngstown's own George “Shotgun” Shuba. Shuba earned the nickname Shotgun for his compact, effective swing — he was only the second person in history to pinch hit a home run in the World Series (1953 vs. the New York Yankees).
Noticing nobody was coming around to congratulate the rookie, Shotgun warmly welcomed him at home plate by reaching out his hand and saying, “That's the way to hit ’em, Jackie.”
It was the first interracial handshake in a professional sports game. Captured by a photograph, it would come to be known as “a handshake for the century” and serve as a beacon of civility and unity long before the Civil Rights, Black Power and Black Lives Matter movements.
Acclaimed artist Marc Mellon sculpted a seven-foot statue commemorating the joy and significance of the event. It was unveiled on the 75th anniversary of the handshake in downtown Youngstown in 2021.
Robinson made his major league debut on April 15, 1947, which now is celebrated as Jackie Robinson Day and observed by all players across the league by wearing Robinson's number 42. Shuba would join Robinson on the Dodgers major league roster in1948 and go on to play eight seasons for “Them Wonderful Bums” before retiring in 1955.
Both played on the 1955 World Series championship team against the crosstown rival Yankees. The Dodgers decamped for Los Angeles the following year.  That magical era was the subject of Roger Kahn’s seminal book The Boys of Summer. Kahn was so impressed with Shuba that he devoted and entire chapter to him recalling a trip to Youngstown to visit George, speaking with him about his time in baseball and the secret to how he had obtained such a beautiful and powerful swing.
Returning to Youngstown, Shuba lived a simple life, working for the U.S. Postal Service and raising a family in the city he loved. He put into storage all the baseball glitz and glamor and moved on, save for one item. Hanging above his recliner in the living room was the legendary black-and-white photo of a Black man and white man shaking hands — one, perhaps, that Shuba himself knew was one of the greatest contributions to baseball, and maybe humanity.
Shuba summed up the moment with this quote now flanking the newly minted statue, “If you are ever put on the spot, just do the right thing and everything will work out fine.”
George Shuba was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1924. He died there in 2014 at age 89.

Austin Pendleton, a native of Warren, is the quintessential actor's actor … ubiquitous and very busy at 81. Lauded by Meryl Streep, Ethan Hawke, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (whom Pendleton is credited with discovering) and Olympia Dukakis (in the 2011 documentary Starring Austin Pendleton), he's worked with the best in showbiz over his nearly 60-year career.
Primarily known as a character actor, Pendleton has appeared in scores of movies, television shows and plays since his acclaimed 1964 Broadway debut as Motel in the original cast of Fiddler On The Roof.
Save for a dry spell in the ’70s, which had the silver lining of raising his daughter with wife, the actress Katina Commings, he’s worked consistently. Movie fans may not know know his name, but they certainly know his face, voice and the characters he has played — from The Muppet Movie, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge and  Finding Nemo to My Cousin Vinny, The 4th Floor, The Sound of Silence, What's Up Doc (with Barbara Streisand) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (directed by Streisand). It’s an exhaustive list!
As a director, Pendleton earned a Tony award nomination in 1981 for his work with Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. In 2009, he directed Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard in the Classic Stage Company’s Uncle Vanya. He has also served as a director for Steppenwolf in Chicago, where he remains an ensemble member. 
One of the three Off-Broadway play's Pendleton has written, Uncle Bob, attracted the unexpected admiration of childhood friend and Fox News founder Roger Ailes (who is also from Warren). The critically acclaimed dark comedy starred George Morfogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, telling the story of a hermit uncle dying of AIDS who gets an uninvited visit from a directionless nephew from the Midwest to take care of him. So impressed was Ailes that he invited Pendleton to talk about it on his then radio show.
When not acting, writing or directing Pendleton teaches acting at HB Studios and directing at The New School, both located in New York City’s Greenwich Village. 
Pendleton was born in Warren, Ohio, on March 27, 1940, just two moths before Ailes. His father owned a tool company, and his mother was a former professional actress. Together with his brother, the family would often perform simultaneously in local theatre productions. Pendleton would go on to graduate from the Yale School of Drama. From there it was on to Broadway. This month he returns home to play the role of the grandfather, Ben, in Broadway Bound at the Beck Center of Performing Arts in Lakewood. Performances run on weekends Sept. 10 to Oct. 3. For ticket information visit beckcenter.org In between performances Pendleton will be teaching master scene study classes in his hometown.

In the 7th grade, Jaysin McCollum was plucked from traditional public schooling to attend Cincinnati's renowned School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) with an impressive list of alumni that includes Sarah Jessica Parker, Carmen Electra, 98 Degrees and Rocky Carroll.
McCollum started out in art, but quickly switched to dance and musical theatre. It wasn't long before he landed a role in The Nutcracker with the Cincinnati Ballet.
As a football player at the time, the part forced a decision to exchange his cleats for ballet slippers. From there, McCollum kept on dancing.
Upon graduation from SCPA McCollum danced with The North Carolina Dance Theatre, the Cincinnati Ballet, Chautauqua Ballet, and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, with a quick gig on a cruise ship for good measure before landing a role in the Las Vegas company of The Lion King. Two years later, he was called to join the Broadway cast.
McCollum, a practicing vegetarian, has also appeared in Broadway Bares, a vaudeville-like burlesque show featuring broadway actors and dancers with proceeds benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. His toned, athletic body also makes a “July” appearance in a new calendar by New York City portrait photographer Warren Giddaire, also known as Warrenpiece. 
From Ohio caught up with McCollum as he was about to start rehearsals for The Lion King's reopening on Broadway.

Nearly every day for the past 22 years — in blasting heat, sub-zero temperatures, rain, snow, sleet, and the all-but-complete shutdown of midtown Manhattan during the early stages of the pandemic — Robert John Burck, 50, has stripped down to his cowboy boots, underwear and hat, strapped on his guitar and appeared on the corner of 45th and Broadway as Naked Cowboy.
His may very well be the longest-running, most-successful, one-man show on Broadway. Burck is an actor, singer, songwriter and his Naked Cowboy persona is as much a pop cultural landmark as any other in the city. 
It’s also a multifaceted business. Naked Cowboy Enterprises now encompasses licensing agreements with oysters, scallops and wine, along with franchises of other Naked Cowboys and Cowgirls — including his wife Patricia Cruz. Fees for personal appearance can fetch as much $5,000, plus travel expenses. Then there are co-branding ventures and other merchandise.
Burck was the child of divorced parents. His desire for attention drove him to lead a bad-boy lifestyle tempered by a Jesuit education. While running a stripping service, Sensations Entertainment, out of his apartment, Burck earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati. He later entered Xavier University to pursue a master’s degree. His poly-sci studies came into play when in 2010 Burck announced a run for president as a Tea Party candidate.
As an aspiring model, actor and country singer, Burck got inspiration for The Naked Cowboy while being photographed for Playgirl Magazine on Venice Beach, California, after the photographer suggested he play guitar in his underwear. Burck returned to Cincinnati and debuted the new persona in the city’s Fountain Square. 
The uproar it caused — which included his arrest — landed him on the local Tricia Macke Morning Show. From there, Naked Cowboy set out on a multi-city tour before landing as a fixture in Times Square.
Burck's approach with tourists, admirers and, well, gawkers, is disarming, polite and professional. He exudes, of course, a Midwestern dose of equal parts warmth and earnestness. Whether patiently posing for pictures with female admirers, humoring “bros” indulging in a goof or having a laugh, he maintains his composure with respectful, playful elan.
After all, he is from Ohio.