Anyone got photos of Leeteg himself? - General Tiki

UB Unga Bunga Tiki Socialite CaliTikifornia Joined: Jun 06, 2003 Posts: 5878	UB Unga Bunga Posted posted on Tue, Jun 17, 2008 9:51 PM Leeteg was born in St Louis in 1904 and, by the time the Depression rolled around, he was working as a signwriter and billboard painter in California. When he received a letter from a friend living in Tahiti, telling him that a new theatre was opening and the proprietor needed a signwriter who could double as decorator and general hand, he stole a fistful of brushes from work, filled a dozen jars with paint and hightailed it to the south seas. The theatre soon went bust and he eked out a living doing odd jobs. He also started painting the local girls and selling the results to sailors for a few dollars apiece. A self-confessed "gin-soaked dopehead", Leeteg was having a hard time of it. The girls were gorgeous, the climate was idyllic, but he was short of cash. After the war, Leeteg's ship came in and on board was "Aloha" Barney, a tattooed, former United States Navy submariner who was to be for Leeteg what Colonel Tom Parker was for Presley - a first-rate hustler. Aloha had a small gallery in Honolulu and travelled around the Pacific buying curios and paintings to sell to tourists. He knew straight away that Leeteg's velvet paintings would be a winner, and Leeteg was impressed because Aloha could play Over the Waves on a piano accordion, accompanying himself on the mouth organ while also drinking a beer and eating a ham sandwich. Leeteg described the feat as "a pinnacle of human achievement"."The first shipment of paintings sold quickly and soon Leeteg was churning out two a week. Aloha created the myth of Leeteg, "the American Gauguin". In the last 15 years of his life, Leeteg painted more than 1700 nubile ladies and, by the late '40s, they were selling for up to $US10,000. He had four wives; built his dream house, the Villa Velour, with a 10-seat Italian marble outhouse and a circular bar set in an aquarium. He started to go a little nuts. But Leeteg had hit the big time. This was the era of South Pacific, of a postwar fascination with the islands fuelled by the stories of thousands of returning GIs and idiotic war movies. The Seven Seas bar in Hollywood and the Tonga Room in San Francisco were festooned with lurid Leetegs. In 1953, at the age of 49, Leeteg was diagnosed with VD, hit the bottle hard and went off the back of a speeding Harley-Davidson into oblivion. "

Leeteg was born in St Louis in 1904 and, by the time the Depression rolled around, he was working as a signwriter and billboard painter in California. When he received a letter from a friend living in Tahiti, telling him that a new theatre was opening and the proprietor needed a signwriter who could double as decorator and general hand, he stole a fistful of brushes from work, filled a dozen jars with paint and hightailed it to the south seas. The theatre soon went bust and he eked out a living doing odd jobs. He also started painting the local girls and selling the results to sailors for a few dollars apiece. A self-confessed "gin-soaked dopehead", Leeteg was having a hard time of it. The girls were gorgeous, the climate was idyllic, but he was short of cash. After the war, Leeteg's ship came in and on board was "Aloha" Barney, a tattooed, former United States Navy submariner who was to be for Leeteg what Colonel Tom Parker was for Presley - a first-rate hustler. Aloha had a small gallery in Honolulu and travelled around the Pacific buying curios and paintings to sell to tourists. He knew straight away that Leeteg's velvet paintings would be a winner, and Leeteg was impressed because Aloha could play Over the Waves on a piano accordion, accompanying himself on the mouth organ while also drinking a beer and eating a ham sandwich. Leeteg described the feat as "a pinnacle of human achievement"."The first shipment of paintings sold quickly and soon Leeteg was churning out two a week. Aloha created the myth of Leeteg, "the American Gauguin". In the last 15 years of his life, Leeteg painted more than 1700 nubile ladies and, by the late '40s, they were selling for up to $US10,000.

He had four wives; built his dream house, the Villa Velour, with a 10-seat Italian marble outhouse and a circular bar set in an aquarium. He started to go a little nuts.

But Leeteg had hit the big time. This was the era of South Pacific, of a postwar fascination with the islands fuelled by the stories of thousands of returning GIs and idiotic war movies. The Seven Seas bar in Hollywood and the Tonga Room in San Francisco were festooned with lurid Leetegs.

In 1953, at the age of 49, Leeteg was diagnosed with VD, hit the bottle hard and went off the back of a speeding Harley-Davidson into oblivion. "

Post #387741 by Unga Bunga on Tue, Jun 17, 2008 9:51 PM