Hey, Campers!

Did you know that the straight-talking owner of the 2011 NBA championship Dallas Mavericks went to summer camp in his younger days? He’s also the owner of Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and chairman of the HDTV cable network AXS TV; but you probably know him best as one of the sharks on ‘Shark Tank’—the extremely popular reality TV show on ABC—Mark Cuban.

An incredibly clever investor and wise businessman, Mark has worked his way up  the rungs of super-success—a ladder he started climbing when he was only 12 years old. Born to a working class family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mark understood how the world of money worked from a young age.

Mark also knew how to have a good time and still does today! He attended Emma Kaufmann Camp, a residential camp located on Cheat Lake in Morgantown, West Virginia, just 70 miles south of his hometown. His summer camp experience certainly guided him well and showed him how much fun life can be. These lessons are extremely apparent through his successful lifestyle and general comfort in his own skin.

When he was 12, Mark wanted a pair of really expensive basketball shoes. He knew they were too pricey for his parents to buy for him, so he started selling garbage bags to turn a profit. And four years later, as he learned more about the world of business, he ran Cleveland newspapers out to Pittsburgh throughout a strike of Gazette writers to take full advantage of the situation.

While attending Mount Lebanon High School he held a good number of different styles of jobs. And after his junior year, he went straight for his GED and immediately enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh. He then transferred to Indiana University one year later and, in due course, he graduated from Kelley’s School of Business—this school in particular for the sole reason that it was the cheapest option!

After his graduation in 1982, he moved to Dallas, Texas where he found work as a bartender before becoming a salesperson for Your Business Software which was then one of the first PC software retailers in Dallas. Eventually, he started his own company called MicroSolutions. It was a success and by 1990, he sold it for $6 million!

Mark Cuban is now a household name, watched with admiration and adoration on our TV sets. Summer camp was surely a great influence for him. How will it influence you? As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Campers!

Who went to summer camp at Herzl Camp in the summer of 1957 and was discovered sitting on top of a cabin roof strumming his guitar? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, but you can also find it right here on today’s Everything Summer Camp Blog post. It was Bob Dylan who made his way up there nearly 60 years ago at Herzl Camp.

Herzl Camp welcomes their campers to 120 acres in Webster, Wisconsin on the shores of Devils Lake. Just two hours north of the Twin Cities, this beautiful land is where Bob Dylan took his first steps towards independence. But he wasn’t called Bob Dylan back then.

He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman, but just because he wasn’t always known as Bob Dylan doesn’t mean that he wasn’t interested in music from an early age (as the image of him playing guitar on a Herzl cabin rooftop). He listened to a lot of radio when he was little, gathering an eclectic taste for blues, country, and rock and roll.

He formed a few bands in high school and, during a talent show performance of Danny & the Junior’s ‘Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay’ at Hibbing High School, he and the band played so loud the principal cut the microphone in the middle of the song!

It must have been pretty loud!

He moved to Minneapolis after his high school graduation and enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Though he had been very drawn to rock and roll in his teen years, his college days introduced him to American folk and he began writing his own folk songs that offered more depth and dimension than most songs of the time were able to convey.

He started performing at a coffeehouse nearby campus called the Ten O’Clock Scholar. It was a popular place for college students to hang out and it quickly proved to be the perfect venue. His popularity expanded fast. Always wanting to travel, he went to New York City where his popularity grew even more as he appeared in clubs and discovered a network of other folk singers.

Not always appreciated for his voice which is commonly considered “scratchy” and “raw”—Bob Dylan himself would begin his shows by excusing himself for his voice. However, his highly influential, innovative songwriting brought fame and success to the young star and his music is still celebrated today. Unlike most of the pop music you’ll hear on the radio today, Bob Dylan wrote extremely honest music.

Bob Dylan explored and discovered the work he was capable of contributing to the world. With roots in summer camp, what will you be capable of? And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Ford Fans!

I’m not talking about the car company—I’m talking about Indiana Jones and Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford—recognized the world over for such extremely famous roles. Born in Chicago, Harrison attended summer camp not too far from home (and not too far from Everything Summer Camp) at Camp Napowan in Wisconisn.

Sandwiched between two beautiful lakes in the Pine Woods of Central Wisconsin, the excellent Camp Napowan has offered its campers the beautiful scenery of piney foliage and serene bodies of water for the last 65 years. Harrison’s camp experience focused on outdoor education. He was rather active in the Boy Scouts of America and ended up receiving the second-highest rank there is, Life Scout.

After his time at camp and his education—completed at Ripon College in Wisconsin—he went on to pursue a career as an actor. He moved to Los Angeles in 1964 looking for work. For a long time, he didn’t have much luck, but he collected a slew of bit parts on his résumé.

He was hired by George Lucas, creator of ‘Star Wars’ to read lines with the actors who were auditioning for parts in the original Star Wars films. George Lucas eventually realized the talents in Harrison as well as those auditioning. He was cast as Han Solo.

Starring in each of the original trilogy films of Star Wars, Harrison is surprisingly reprising his role as Han Solo in the new Star Wars movie, ‘The Force Awakens’! Harrison isn’t the only returning cast member from the old movies, though—these films will also star Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO).

But back to Harrison—along with a whole bunch of other films, he also stars as the rugged archeologist, Indiana Jones in the ‘Indiana Jones’ trilogy, a split project between George Lucas and director, Steven Spielberg. While his role in Star Wars declared him a star, his role as Indiana confirmed his superstardom.

Camp did Harrison good. What will it do for you? Enjoy the trailer for ‘The Force Awakens’ below and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Campers!

11 million people go to summer camp every year; it’s certainly no surprise to discover the loads upon loads of famous folks who were once summer campers just like you. Celebrities, such as athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, and actors, have all been spotlighted on our Blog’s ‘Celebrities at Summer Camp’ posts. Film directors are often considered celebrities as well.

You know what film directing duo attended summer camp? The Coen Brothers! That’s right! The makers of such popular movies as ‘Fargo’ and ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ were once campers at Camp Herzl, a Jewish camp that sits on 120 acres in Webster, Wisconsin on the shores of Devil’s Lake. There, the boys spent a number of summers with other campers and staff from all over the country and beyond, learning about community as well as themselves.

The boys had great childhoods, growing up in St. Louis Park, a Minnesotan suburb in Minneapolis. When Ethan’s older brother, Joel, saved up enough money which he was earning from mowing lawns, he bought a Vivitar Super 8 camera for him as his brother to play with. It quickly became their new favorite toy!

They loved recreating movies they’d seen on TV, starring their neighborhood friend, Mark Zimering or “Zeimers” as they called him.

The brothers both attended and graduated from St. Louis Park High School—Joel in 1973 and Ethan in 1976. The two also attended and graduated the same college—Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. However, the seemingly inseparable duo went their separate ways after college.

Joel went off for four years in the undergraduate film program at New York University while Ethan went to Princeton University where he earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy.

After their schooling had come to an end, Joel and Ethan wrote and directed their very first commercial film together in 1984.

Making joint films, the brothers share film credits for editor under the alias ‘Roderick Jaynes’—a made-up name with no real meaning behind it. The Coen brothers have received nominations for twelve Academy Awards together, as well as individual nominations separately. They’ve won Best Original Screenplay as well as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Coen brothers have been into filmmaking since their childhood. What are you into? Let summer camp help find that out for you and, as always, thanks for reading.

-  John

Hey, Camp Enthusiasts!

So many people have gone to camp and we get really excited, here at Everything Summer Camp, when we find out about famous or successful people who are also former summer campers. That’s why I’ve posted about nearly 60 celebrities who were once summer campers, just like you. Certainly don’t ‘curb your enthusiasm’ for Mr. Larry David—a summer camper himself, once upon a time.

That’s right! The man responsible for the classic ‘show about nothing’, went to camp when he was little. Full name: Lawrence Gene David—Larry was born and raised in Brooklyn. Long before the days of Seinfeld, when Larry was 13, he attended All-American Camp in New York—the same time (and age) of a fellow, contemporary comedian named Richard Lewis.

Finding it hard to get along with particular people all throughout life, summer camp taught Larry at a young age that even though you don’t see eye-to-eye with somebody, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get along. It took them both a long time to set their troubles aside, but they are friendly to another now as mature, grown men.

After his camp days, he enrolled in Sheepshead Bay High School. And after high school, he went to the University of Maryland, graduating with a Bachelor’s in History. Before he developed a talent for comedic scriptwriting, he did a lot of stuff between his college graduation and finding work as a writer.

In the meantime he did stand-up; during his time as a stand-up comic, he enlisted in the United States Army Reserve and found work as a store clerk, a limo driver, a television repairman, and more around midtown Manhattan. It was there, living in the Manhattan Plaza—across the hall, lived Kenny Kramer, the man who sparked the idea for the legendary sitcom character Cosmo Kramer from ‘Seinfeld’.

After his ‘odd jobs’, Larry found work as a writer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. He only wrote there for about a year and, in that time, only one sketch of his was actually shown! After quitting the show in the middle of the season, Larry wasn’t the type to fret about his situation. Instead, he teamed up with comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and the two of them made one of the most acclaimed sitcoms ever made.

Continuing his work after ‘Seinfeld’, Larry wrote and starred in his own television series, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ which has been met with a similar applause and fandom.

So, enjoy your time at summer camp and see what it has to teach you! As always, thanks for reading.

- John