When a person comes to Hollywood they discover that most of that Old Hollywood romance has vanished. They're happy to tear down the great old Art Deco buildings and put up ghoulish strip malls. They're happy to create reality TV shows focused on spoiled children like the Kardashian girls; what happened to the true spirit of old Hollywood?! The one where you're down at the Trocadero drinking a Navy Grog and spouting phrases like, "I'm sittin' in the catbird seat" or "That chicken's applesauce!" As Americans we're always dreaming of that glorious world where Garbo ruled and Buster Keaton painstakingly created genius slapstick comedy. That spirit is alive and well in the body of John Stanford Reynolds and it comes through in all of his art. He is the real McCoy; a fourth generation Californian and descended from old Hollywood royalty. His grandmother was the sassy comedic actress ZaSu Pitts and his great grandfather was the first licensed mortician in Southern California.

John grew up in Laguna Beach California and went to Laguna Beach High School. He could often be seen cruising through town in his 1926 Model-T. Instead of going to Stanford (like everyone else in his family)he got a job playing banjo at Disneyland. All his free time was spent painting and cartooning or hanging out with people like Ward Kimball and members of The Firehouse Five. John was even the young musical director of Disney's Frank and Olly which was nominated for an Academy Award. Much like Robert Crumb, John was equally obsessed with the music of the Jazz Age and the visual arts. It was John's mission to capture the fleeting old Hollywood wonderland; the architecture, transportation, the people and the true joie de vivre perception we all harbor about it. But why not go further back in time? What does American history look like through the rose tinted eyes of a true Californian? We see this in his portraits of Lincoln, Washington, Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain.

John is a childlike blithe character who's always laughing behind a curly mustache. He holds court at a monthly, "upstairs jazz" show at The Steve Allen Theater with his "Hollywood Hotshots" featuring John and his brother Ralph who plays washboard. The group is fervent about the preservation of historic American jazz. Through the music and the sentiment we have the lifestyle which gives way to the art. It is in his paintings that John truly expresses who he is and what it means to have his special connections to the past.

John's music and artwork is world famous; the Narrative Surrealist art movement is sweeping the nation! We are delighted to have John S. Reynolds be a part of our Ether Frolic gallery here online to share with you. Now come children, let's frolic through the ether!