My first impressions of John Keehan/Count Dante would come from floyd himself. In our early phone conversations Floyd had told me his perception of Keehan. Keehan/ Dante. At the age of 11 or twelve he met Dante and he had left an impression on him. To Floyd Count Dante/John Keehan "was the coolest white dude in Chicago, World's Deadliest man, Hairdresser, bodyguard, skirt chasing all around toughguy, a cape wearing Darth Vader of martail arts, who walked around with a cane and a lion.
To Floyd Dante seemed larger than life and this guy was spending time with young black men and teaching them martial arts when most whites or Chinese would'nt. Dante was seemingly genuinely interested in the young kids of the neighborhood often addressing them as "Champ". It was the sixties and to kids like Floyd what Dante was doing and how he treated them was definitely uplifting and empowering. This image would stay with Floyd.
It was in May of 2005 Floyd started research on "The Search for Count Dante."Floyd had managed to capture my curiosity with his story and ideas of the film and of course the mystery that was Count Dante. He was either loved or hated, nothing in between. More "stories" surrounded Dante in almost every aspect of his life and even his death.
Floyd had gone looking for Keehan/Dante’s grave marker and found none. I found it to be odd and upsetting that no one thought to mark his passing. it is really hard to describe but at the time, due to, I guess, the last conversation with my father, but Dante's marker situation bothered me and I originally offered to spring for the cost of a marker.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE SEARCH FOR COUNT DANTE
A few years ago I was surfing the web and come across a site which featured the old Count Dante comic book ad. As a kid I was an avid comic book collector and i remembered the ad from back then. I began to browse the net for Count Dante and low and behold came across http://thesearchforcountdante.com/
I had found out about this guy Floyd Webb who was doing a documentary about John Keehan aka Count Dante. I would then come across Floyd's blog http://johnkeehan.blogspot.com/ he had up detailing his progression of making the documentary. In one of his entries Floyd was asking people to provide any memorabilia they might have. I mailed Floyd some copies of Black belt and official Karate magazines containing articles on keehan along with a cheap copy of World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets. We exchanged a few emails and then had talked a couple of times over the phone.
My father had passed away a couple of years earlier and the last conversation with him I had concerned his funeral arrangements and helping him with deciding on a head stone. Dad had always taken care of his business personally and his funeral was going to be no different. He picked out exactly what he wanted and then paid for everything in cash. He was nt going to burden his family with the finances and planning of a funeral. That was just Dad and the way he thought.
Floyd had made an entry on his blog about keehan never having a marker or headstone. So Keehan's head stone or lack there of was the issue that started my involvement with Floyd Webb and The Search for Count Dante.
Little did I know what I would be getting myself into........
I had found out about this guy Floyd Webb who was doing a documentary about John Keehan aka Count Dante. I would then come across Floyd's blog http://johnkeehan.blogspot.com/ he had up detailing his progression of making the documentary. In one of his entries Floyd was asking people to provide any memorabilia they might have. I mailed Floyd some copies of Black belt and official Karate magazines containing articles on keehan along with a cheap copy of World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets. We exchanged a few emails and then had talked a couple of times over the phone.
My father had passed away a couple of years earlier and the last conversation with him I had concerned his funeral arrangements and helping him with deciding on a head stone. Dad had always taken care of his business personally and his funeral was going to be no different. He picked out exactly what he wanted and then paid for everything in cash. He was nt going to burden his family with the finances and planning of a funeral. That was just Dad and the way he thought.
Floyd had made an entry on his blog about keehan never having a marker or headstone. So Keehan's head stone or lack there of was the issue that started my involvement with Floyd Webb and The Search for Count Dante.
Little did I know what I would be getting myself into........
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