Hey, Summer Camp Fans!

More than five years ago, I posted on this Blog about Mr. Agent Paul Kellerman in the television series “Prison Break”—also known as Paul Adelstein. In his previous post, we learned that Paul attended summer camp at North Star Camp in Hayward, Wisconsin. But we only scratched the surface in that last Blog post. Let’s dig a little deeper and talk some more about former summer camper Paul Adelstein right now:

Waiting for Fame
Prior to gaining meaningful and steady employment as an actor, Paul Adelstein still had to pay the bills. To put food on the table, he took a job at the Cafe du Midi in Chicago as a server. At the same time he was working at this job, he was training as an actor at the New Crimes stage ensemble. Through hard work and dedication, he has finally made it to his goal.

The Musical Side of Adelstein
Paul joined a band that was established in the late 1990s, called Doris. He was the lead singer of the band as well as a guitarist. In addition, he is a songwriter and has composed many of the songs that the group performed. On top of all of this, he plays the piano. He’s a very talented fellow! He recorded several albums while he was with the band.

Paul’s in Plays?
There are many actors who start out in the theatre as stage actors. His first professional acting job was with New Crime Productions, founded by none other than John Cusack. After this, he joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This is a totally different type of acting because there are no retakes if you don’t get it right the first time.

The road to success in life isn't always easy or necessarily what you imagined it would be, but determination and resilience can get you there in the long run. You can check out North Star Camp for your own summer camp experience and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Jake Gyllenhaal

We’ve previously covered former summer camper Jake Gyllenhaal before here on the Everything Summer Camp Blog. We discussed his camp history with his sister, Maggie, at Camp Walt Whitman as well as her path that led her to the big screen. But that previous post only scratched the surface about this star! Let’s dig a bit deeper about Mr. Gyllenhaal right here on today’s post:

All in the Family
As we covered in his last post (as well as the posts we’ve published about his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal), Maggie and Jake are siblings who have acted in lots of movies—one that starred them together! Most people know that they’re brother and sister, but did you know that the whole family is in the biz? His mom produces and his dad directs. His godmother is Jamie Lee Curtis and his godfather is Paul Newman. Jake is close to Paul Newman who took Jake out for his first drive.

What Kind of Bird was That?
A self-proclaimed bookworm, Jake reads a lot! He’s shared with folks in the past that the classic novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is his favorite book. It meant enough to him that he named his two adopted hound dogs after characters from the story: Atticus and Boo.

The Peeing Hero
Though he started acting as early as ten years old, Jake held a number of jobs before his acting career really took off. He was a lifeguard on a busy beach for one of his jobs. He never faced anything too dangerous, but on one of his more exciting days he had to rush over to a woman who’d been stung by a jellyfish and pee on her leg—which is exactly what you should do for someone in that situation. Well done, Jake!

Hopefully, you learned a little more about this cool actor and the life he leads. If you haven’t already read it, you can hop over to the first post I wrote about him by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Foley Fans!

Not the first time I’ve posted about Mr. Scott Foley, we looked into Scott a handful of years ago on this Blog and learned about the time he spent at Red Arrow Camp when he was a kid as well as his acting career in which he’s portrayed television roles such as Bob Brown from ‘The Unit’, Henry Burton from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, and Sean Kelly from ‘Scrubs’.

But we only scratched the surface in that last Blog post. Let’s dig a little deeper and talk some more about former summer camper Scott Foley! What makes this man tick?!

If Scott had a Hammer
Like only a few other famous celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Nick Offerman, Scott Foley has an affinity for woodworking. “I love working with my hands,” he’s said. “If it's broken, I can usually fix it.” Sounds like another natural talent he has along with acting!

Home Depot Away from Home
Where do you go when you need to get away? The park maybe? The beach? Scott Foley enjoys escaping to the home improvement retail giant, Home Depot. “Sometimes,” he’s mentioned, “I go to Home Depot just to walk around.” We all have our sanctuaries…

Habitat for Who?
Putting those carpentry skills to good use, Scott traveled to Thailand after the tsunami in 2004 and stayed for a month, building houses with Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit organization that helps put up affordable housing for families and communities.

These tidbits about Scott maybe aren’t quite what you expected of a famous actor, but I think they make him a pretty interesting guy. I wonder if he took the Woodworking activity offered at Red Arrow Camp back in the day! Check out Red Arrow Camp for yourself by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

People my age remember Kirk Cameron from his long-running role as Mike Seaver on the classic television sitcom, ‘Growing Pains’. And this isn’t the first time I’ve posted about him here on the Blog. In his first post, we explained that though he never attended camp, he obviously knows what a positive influence camp is since he launched his own Camp Firefly!

That last post, however, only got things started with Kirk. Let’s take a second look at the more spiritual side of this TV star.

Now Kirk’s a Believer
Though he wasn’t raised with any specific religion and adamantly denied any existence of God, it all changed when he agreed join a friend at church one day. The service made him ask a lot of hard questions he never thought of before like ‘Who created the world?’ ‘What happens when you die?’ ‘Does anything besides survival of the fittest matter here on Earth?’ Now Kirk’s a believer!

Cameron Christian Ministry
Kirk was 17 by the time he left atheism behind him. His sister, Candace Cameron, however, was around 12 years old when she joined Kirk and accepted God into her life. You may know his little sister from her highly recognizable role as DJ Tanner on ‘Full House’—a character she recently reprised in ‘Fuller House’. She operates her own ministry while Kirk also co-founded an evangelical ministry.

Why Must I Play a Teenager in Love?
On ‘Growing Pains’, Kirk’s character Mike started dating a girl played by Chelsea Noble. In real life, Kirk ended up marrying Chelsea and, together, the two have a family of six kids—four of whom were adopted!

A big salute to Kirk for starting up Camp Firefly and everything else he’s achieved throughout his life. And, to everybody else, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

He’s been held in high regard as one of the finest actors to ever come around. I wrote about Burgess Meredith in a previous Blog post from a handful of years back. We learned about his time spent at Camp Dudley summer camp in New York, his experience on Broadway, as well as his military service in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. You can check out the last post about Burgess when you click right here.

That last post only scratched the surface, however. There’s a lot more to learn about this guy and we can get an idea of who he is by the roles he’s played throughout his time on the screen. Check out who he’s been on the screen…

In the Zone
Presented for your consideration: Mr. Meredith appeared in a few different episodes of the classic TV show, ‘The Twilight Zone’. One of his best-known roles from the show is the episode ‘Time Enough at Last’ in which he plays the character Henry Bemis. Henry one day discovers that he’s the last person alive. He takes solace in this as it finally gives him time to catch up on all his reading. But in a horrible twist of fate, his reading glasses fall off his face and break. “But…but that’s not fair! There was time now!”

Playing the Penguin
Along with his roles in ‘The Twilight Zone’, Burgess played The Penguin (a.k.a. Oswald Cobblepot) in the classic TV series ‘Batman’ that ran from 1966 to 1968 as well as the 1966 film that was based on the show. His portrayal of the Penguin character was so well-received that the show's writers made sure they always had a script ready to go that featured this birdlike villain whenever Burgess was available.

One Grumpy Guy
Contrary to his own personality, Burgess played one of the old grumps in the ‘Grumpy Old Men’ movies that debuted in 1993. He played as Grandpa Gustafsen alongside his fellow grumps played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. While, sadly, all three of the ‘Grumpy Old Men’ have now passed on, their humor is immortalized in this hilarious and high-profiting surprise-classic!

But whether he played the last man alive, a penguin, or a grump, Burgess became a huge star who was sought after during his time on the big (and small) screen. Hope you enjoyed learning more about this classic actor from over 60 years ago! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John