Spike's visual history

January 9th, 2010:

New book highlights memorable events on both sides of the border

There are two things Spike Bell won't tell you - his real name and how he got tagged Spike.

But he'll bend your ear about anything else under the sun, especially the how's and the when's of the thousands of photographs he has taken over the past half-century.

The 76-year-old freelance photographer from Tecumseh has just published his third book of photos, Memoirs of a Border City: Windsor and Essex County.

The lavish, 270-page pictorial contains hundreds of colour and black-and-white pictures Bell has shot since the 1950s in and around Windsor and Detroit.

The former navy photographer and photojournalist has documented many of the most important events in late-20^th century local history. But he also has an artist's eye for the beauty and heritage of the region.

Memoirs of a Border City doubles as visual history and tourism guide.

Bell and his Speed Graphic camera were there in July 1959 when the Royal Yacht Britannia carried young Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip to Windsor during a royal visit to Canada.

He was one of three photographers in September 1964 to obtain credentials to The Beatles press conference and concert at the old Detroit Olympia. He remembered John Lennon as a personable, if somewhat anxious, celebrity.

As for the show itself, Bell didn't hear a note above all the teenage girls' screams.

Around the same time, Bell captured Sammy Davis Jr. in a quiet moment with then-wife May Britt backstage at Windsor's Elmwood Casino.

Bell estimates he has shot 50 fireworks displays over the Detroit River, but the one he picked to feature in the new book was the June 2009 edition. "It was the best, yet," he said.

During his eight years as a staff photographer at the Detroit Free Press in the 1960s and 1970s, Bell took pictures of dozens of prominent politicians on both sides of the border. He captured the Kennedy brothers - John F. and Robert - on two separate occasions, both times getting close enough to sniff their cologne.

JFK was pictured in two poses - in a motorcade and on the phone - during the 1960 presidential campaign at Detroit's Cobo Hall, while Robert was snapped in downtown Detroit in May 1968, three weeks to the day before he was shot to death in Los Angeles.

Earlier, in 1960, Bell gained unprecedented access to a visit by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Detroit Auto Show.

"If you talked to the right people, it was amazing how much access you had to these politicians," Bell recalled. "Since the attempt on Reagan's life, that doesn't happen anymore."

Bell probably chuckled while printing the shot of a jovial U.S. Vice-President Richard Nixon and wife Pat at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Detroit in August 1960.

Later, he snapped Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the 1980 Republican National Convention at Joe Louis Arena. In the fall of 1974, he caught then-U.S. President Gerald Ford just about to shake the hand of Detroit's Mayor Coleman A. Young.

On this side of the Detroit River, he made a portrait of Paul Martin Sr. and wife Nell in the library of their Windsor home, and posed with two visiting prime ministers - Jean Chretien and Stephen Harper. He also caught Pierre Elliot Trudeau and wife Margaret in an unguarded pose during a Windsor visit in 1979.

When Martin Luther King visited Windsor in 1964, Bell took a picture of then-Mayor Michael Patrick presenting King with an award from the Christian and Jewish Fellowship Foundation.

The book itself is something of a snapshot of Bell's varied career. As a journalist, he covered everything from politics and sports to entertainment and publicity stunts.

He has a pair of portraits which bookend this city's legacy of sports excellence - 1963 Allan Cup champs Windsor Bulldogs and 2009 Memorial Cup champs Windsor Spitfires.

He snapped the British Airways Concorde when it arrived at Windsor Airport in 1987 to pick up a group of Hiram Walker executives for a trip to France. He got pro golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf to pose at the 1976 Canadian Open at Essex Golf Club. In 1960, then-world heavyweight champ Cassius Clay shook Bell's hand in Detroit - Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964.

Bell took a photo of Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson being interviewed for TV at the now-demolished Tiger Stadium in 1995, and caught famed pitcher Mark "The Bird" Fidrych in 1976 blowing a gum bubble.

Bell has a story for each of the more than 500 pictures in the book, even though he claims he doesn't try to remember them. The stories flow easily, like snapping a picture.

He kept the cost of the book down to a reasonable, "economy-sensitive" $40 by having it printed in China. Flagwavers will grumble, but at today's Canadian printing costs, Bell said, the book would have to sell for $60 or more.

"And how many people would buy it at that price?"

Bell enlisted the help of former radio newsman, and longtime friend, Hal Sullivan, to prepare and edit the text.

It took four years - interrupted by his two-year battle with cancer - to sort through about 1,000 negatives and even more memories. At one time, the six-pack-sized Speed Graphic equipped with flashbulbs was his tool of choice; now he shoots with a Hasselblad, a Nikon or a Fuji GX617.

The freezer in his Tecumseh home is packed with film, the staple of the shutterbug.

Bell says he can't remember when he didn't shoot pictures, but the talent took hold while he was in the navy in the early 1950s. Later, he worked for newspapers in Vancouver and Detroit before settling in Windsor to operate a freelance studio.

He has published two previous photo books - 1989's Picture Windsor and 1998's Windsor. He is recognized as a Master of Photographic Arts by the Professional Photographers of America and is a recipient of both the Governor General's 125^th anniversary medal in 1992 and the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2003.

Memoirs of a Border City is available at most independent bookstores in Windsor and Essex County, the University of Windsor bookstore, and the Art Gallery of Windsor's Uncommon Gallery gift shop.

You can also order a copy directly from Bell by calling 519-735-2094 or emailing him at spike@spikebell.com.

Just ask for Spike.

Article Credit:

TED SHAW

The Windsor Star

Visit the News page here..