JOHN TRAVOLTA
Movie Actor - Singer - Dancer - Entertainer - Aviator
Born February 18, 1954 in Englewood, NJ
Here is John Travolta. How can a man of 53 be considered a Legend? Let's take a look. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the Salk Vaccine to cure Polio in 1955 at age 45. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 when he was only 24 years old and flew that day with two broken ribs. Both men are Legends and have signed The Tablecloth.
Without question, John Travolta inherited his show business inklings from his mother Helen Cecilia Burk Travolta, an Irish American woman with acting, directing, singing, stage performance, vocal group experience and was a high school drama teacher. John dropped out of high school and headed to nearby New York City to try his luck at showbiz. In short time, he signed up with the road show, Grease. After that he hung around New York picking up some Broadway bits and pieces then set out for Hollywood to test the waters and movie possibilities. He landed a TV sitcom in 1975, as Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter and his first major roll in 1976, as Billy Nolan in the movie Carrie. After that it was step by step upward in all types of acting rolls and movies. Travolta did it all.
Now, thirty years later, John Travolta has accumulated far too many trophies and awards to try to mention here. Included in that list are two Academy Award nominations. The one classic Grease with Olivia Newton John has been deemed an all time American Classic I'm sure we've all seen at least twice. 1994, Oscar nomination as Vincent Vega in movie Pulp Fiction and an important roll as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977).
Adding everything up, I was quite pleased to send an invitation for him to sign The Tablecloth. Within a year we met at Jumbolaire on Greystone Airport in Anthony/Ocala, Florida. I found him very pleasant and comfortable to talk to. After the signing we opened up the cloth. John enjoyed seeing this as I too always enjoy looking at the signatures. I liked his attitude and respect for the historic values of the collection and for being included as a part of it. Photographer Kaye Carver took the pictures for us.
Aviation was another important part of John's life. He could fly the pants off any airplane in the world and owned three huge planes parked in the back yard of his home. His latest achievement and accomplishment was being invited to fly one of the new Air Busses which holds as many as 800 passengers. "That was a thrill" he quoted, "but there really wasn't much flying to it. That airplane flies itself." I consider John Travolta a living Legend. Welcome to A Gathering of Legends, John.