100th Birthday of Francis Albert Sinatra

Happy 100th Birthday Francis Albert Sinatra -- b. 1915 in Hoboken, NJ

Married to Nancy Barbato at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City. He rented his tuxedo for the wedding from the family retail clothing store at 279 Newark Avenue. Zampella's Clothes was considered "The Brooks Brothers of New Jersey". Frank would later agree to perform at a benefit arranged by my father Dr. Arthur Zampella to purchased a snow plow to dig out the mountain-top town in the Campangna Region of Italy.

Richard Zampella Aerial Photography

DJI has created a unique aerial platform with the Phantom 2 drone. It is a remarkably creative tool designed to obtain stunning video with the use of a Zenmuse 3-D Gimbal and the GoPro HERO 4 Camera. This footage was filmed over the course of several days in the seaside hamlet of Point Lookout, NY. Photographed and Edited by Richard Zampella, Managing Partner of Transmultimedia, Inc.

Equipment:
Phantom 2
3-axis Zenmuse H3-3D Gimbal
Go Pro Hero 4 Silver
iOSD Mini
DJI Ground Station
Fat Shark Patch Antennas
Immersion 5.8 Ghz Transmitter

Veterans Day 2015

Each year our country honors Veterans in a day of celebration and remembrance of those who have served our nation in the Armed Forces.

"The Greatest Generation" -- Right Photo -- From Left to Right:
Alfred Zampella, Dr. Arthur Zampella, Edward Zampella, Nunzio Zampella.

My Grandmother, Filomena Zampella received a letter from James Forrestal, United States Secretary of Defense -- Personally thanking her for the service of her sons in WWII.

Richard Zampella is a US Army Veteran who served as an Intelligence Analyst with the 50th Armored Division from 1983 until 1998. He was stationed with: The US Army Intelligence Center & School at Ft Huachuca Arizona & A/4Bn/39th Infantry at Fort Dix, NJ.

Read More: http://www.richardzampella.com

The Oak Room at The Plaza: Mighty Mixture by Gary Stevens

Richard Zampella Managed The Oak Room at The Plaza Hotel in the late 1990s

TRADITION UPHELD:

For many generations, The Plaza has had a restaurant to boast about The Oak Room, constructed with dark wood has always resembled a vast dining room in an English castle with a facsimile somewhere around London town in a private club. That distinction has merited all kinds of upper class people. Be they bankers from Park Avenue, visitors from wealthy midwestern families. Continental travelers from Paris or Saudi Arabia, and chic New Yorkers who revel in the special kind of atmosphere that The Plaza’s Oak Room offers.

Dining here, if you have a healthy imagination, can suggest an exalted New York past. Nothing has changed. It remains dignified and imposing. Richard Zampella, a friendly young man in charge, greets you at the door and is wonderfully cooperative in suggesting dishes and keeping tabs on service. Very good Lobster Bisque, I tried. And the Grilled Salmon was tender and prepared. The prix fixe dinner is a lure for theatergoers and is well worth ordering. During the evening, a fixture here for ll years, give an arpeggio or two, is Michael Roberts, a talented pianist, who plays something for everyone. Pinpointing Michael & Richard. The Oak Room is in good hands. The Plaza is very easy to find. Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. It may be the best address in the world.

Reprinted from Mighty Mixture -- Gary Stevens -- Aug. 1999

Skipperdee's Birthday Tea Parties

Make plans for your next birthday celebration at Skipperdee's in Point Lookout NY with a custom tailored Birthday Tea Party. Book your next birthday event at Skipperdee's and create an afternoon birthday tea party that will captivate and surpass your child's imagination.

Richard Zampella, Proprietor of Skipperdee's ran the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park South where he oversaw afternoon tea each day in the Grand Lobby of the Hotel.

Joan Leslie: The Girl Next Door 1925-2015

“We will miss our friend Joan Leslie" one of our guests on Hollywood Film Chatter and an on camera participant on our documentary Sergeant York: Of God and Country.  A wonderfully elegant & sophisticated lady."

How’s this for hitting the ground running? In 1941, at 16, Joan Leslie starred opposite Gary Cooper (Sergeant York) and Humphrey Bogart (High Sierra). At 17, opposite James Cagney (Yankee Doodle Dandy) and Henry Fonda (The Male Animal). And at 18? How about Fred Astaire (The Sky’s The Limit)? And two of Leslie’s co-stars, Cooper and Cagney, won Best Actor Oscars playing opposite her.

Born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel in Detroit, Michigan, Leslie began performing at the age of three as part of a vaudeville act with her two sisters. She began her Hollywood acting career while still a teenager, performing under her real name in several movies, beginning with her debut in the MGM movie (Camille) in 1936 with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor.

In Warners' Hollywood Canteen (1944) Leslie played herself, as did her real-life sister Betty Brodel. When her Warners contract ended in 1947, Leslie free-lanced for several years, turning in an admirable performances in The Woman They Almost Lynched (1956).

A battle with Warner Bros. over her long-term contract ended her tenure there and made it hard for her to find work at the other major studios. She got one good part in the independently produced Repeat Performance (1947), and then ended up at Republic Pictures, where prestige was scarce but some great roles came her way.

Leslie was not afraid to challenge her screen image as the sweet and supportive woman. Looking for richer roles, Leslie went the independent route in the late forties. In 1948’s Northwest Stampede, she plays the foreman of a ranch, every bit as tough as the men. In 1950, she worked with director Nicholas Ray in the underrated film noir, Born To Be Bad.

She starred in many more movies until 1950, when she married Dr. William Caldwell. Her last movie role was in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), and she eventually retired from acting altogether to look after her identical twin daughters Patrice and Ellen. She has appeared in several television commercials since then, and also made guest appearances in the TV shows Murder, She Wrote and Charlie's Angels. She also provided commentary as extras on the Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sergeant York, and High Sierra DVDs.

In recent years, she had a small part in a TV movie remake of Repeat Performance called Turn Back the Clock (1989).

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.

– John Mulholland, 10.15.15

Zampella & Mulholland Press Release for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Richard Zampella & John Mulholland Press Release on Broadway World

Mulholland & Zampella Press Release on Los Angeles CBS Affiliate

LOS ANGELES –– Oct 12, 2105 – Richard Zampella & John Mulholland Elmore Leonard Press Release Being Picked Up By Major Media Outlets Including CBS & Broadway World.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/John-Mulholland-Richard-Zampella-Filming-Interviews-for-Elmore-Leonard-Documentary-20151012

http://www.cbs8.com/story/30237090/writerdirector-john-mulholland-and-producer-richard-zampella-in-los-angeles-filming-interviews-for-elmore-leonard-documentary

John Mulholland wrote/directed the NY Times Critics Pick, Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen, which explores The 20 year friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. The feature documentary was produced by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia Entertainment.

Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella in Los Angeles Filming Interviews for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Zampella & Mulholland Wrap West Coast Interviews for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Oct 8, 2015 - LOS ANGELES -- Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella have wrapped up a week in Los Angeles, filming West Coast interviews for their upcoming Elmore Leonard documentary. The interviews explore Leonard’s writing and the numerous film adaptations based on his work, such as: Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out Of Sight, and the FX television series, Justified.

Among those interviewed:

Producer/Writer Gregg Sutter, who served as Leonard’s researcher for more than three decades, is editor and contributor to the Library of America’s three-volume Elmore Leonard Anthology.

Graham Yost created and co-wrote Justified, which concluded its six-season run earlier this year. The series was based on Elmore Leonard's short story, Fire in the Hole. Yost wrote the films, Speed, Broken Arrow and Hard Rain, and worked on such HBO series as Band Of Brothers and The Pacific.

Rachel Howzell Hall is author of the critically-acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton novels, Land of Shadows and Skies of Ash (Forge) -- cited by the LA Times as “Books to Read This Summer” in both 2014 and 2015. Hall’s first novel, A Quiet Storm (Scribner), was a Borders’ Original Voices selection.

Wendy Calhoun, currently co-exec producer on Empire, Fox’s hip-hop smash, was a co-producer, story editor and writer for two seasons on Justified. Calhoun was also a writer and producer on the ABC-TV series, Revenge.

Cheryl Dorsey, retired LAPD Sergeant, is author of Black & Blue: The Creation of a Manifesto, which offers an unsparing look at the inner workings of the LAPD regarding its black officers, its female officers, and, most especially, its black female officers. Dorsey has appeared on MSNBC and contributes to The Huffington Post.



Mulholland wrote/directed the NY Times Critics Pick, Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen, which explored the 20 year friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. The feature documentary was produced by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia Entertainment.

For more info visit:

www.dickensofdetroit.com
www.richardzampella.com
www.transmultimedia.com
www.cooperhemingway.com

October 4th – Commemorates the Birth of St Francis of Assisi

Richard Zampella Returns the Tomb of St. Francis of Assisi 37 Years Later

October 4th marks the birth of - St. Francis of Assisi. He renounced his family's wealth and founded the Friars Minor (Franciscan Order).

In 1977, I traveled to Assisi in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208. On that trip I was 11 years old and brought there by my father Arthur Dante Louis Zampella (1917-1992). My father was born a Roman Catholic and despite his eventual conversion to a protestant, he never forgot his humble Catholic beginnings . Throughout his life, my father was sensitive to the unique needs pertaining to the care and protection of the elderly, animals and children. As a result, it was fitting that he would be interested in visiting the birthplace of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology.

It was a late afternoon in 1977 that we arrived in the provincial town of Assisi. The Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Francesco, Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor—commonly known as the Franciscan Order—where St. Francis was born and died. The basilica is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.

Halfway down the nave of the lower basilica one can descend into the crypt via a double stairway. This burial place of St. Francis which was discovered in 1818. His remains had been hidden by Brother Elias to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval Europe. By order of Pope Pius IX a crypt was built under the lower basilica. It was designed by Pasquale Belli with precious marble in neo-classical style. But it was redesigned in bare stone in neo-Romanesque style by Ugo Tarchi between 1925 and 1932.

Upon entering the crypt and paying solemn respect to the tomb of St. Francis, I sensed a hesitation in my father that suggested that he wanted to stay for a moment. I stepped to the rear of the chapel and peered out from behind a column in order to see reason for the delay. From that spot, I observed him kneel and genuflect to signify both his respect and adoration to St. Francis. Upon rising, he turned where we caught each others eyes. In that moment we both understand that he had shown me a deeply personal side of himself. We never spoke a word, and I know he was glad that I was able to see this aspect of him. He took my hand where we quietly ascended the stairs of the basilica together.

In 2013 I returned to the crypt of St Francis to photograph the chapel and quietly reflect upon his experience with my father 37 years earlier.

Graham Yost Interview in Carmel

Screenwriter Graham Yost: Show runner of FX's Justified is interviewed for Elmore Leonard Documentary

CARMEL, CA – 10.1.15: Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella travel to Carmel, California to Interview Screenwriter Graham Yost for Elmore Leonard Documentary. Yost wrote the films Speed, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain and helmed the FX television series Justified for 6 seasons. The series was based on Elmore Leonard's short story "Fire in the Hole".

Read more about: Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit

Mulholland & Zampella Elmore Leonard Documentary Interviews

Wendy Calhoun, Co-Executive Producer of Fox's Empire Interviewed by John Mulholland

Cheryl Dorsey, Author of Black & Blue: The Creation of a Manifesto is Interviewed on Elmore Leonard

John Mulholland and Richard Zampella continue conducting on camera interviews this week in Los Angeles for the upcoming documentary on author Elmore Leonard. The interviews will explore the numerous film adaptations/screenplays of Elmore Leonard novels and short stories. Mulholland is exploring the impact that Leonard's work has on current day screenwriters with his lean, terse minimalist writing style.

[Top] Wendy Calhoun is interviewed for Elmore Leonard Documentary. Wendy was a co-producer and writer for Elmore Leonard adapted FX television series Justified. She was the Executive Story Editor for the first season and wrote the episode "Blind Spot". For the second season she wrote the episode "For Blood Or Money". Prior to Justified she had worked as a writer and producer on Revenge. Currently, Wendy serves as co-executive producer of creator Lee Daniels television series “Empire” –Fox’s new hip-hop family drama.

[Bottom] Cheryl Dorsey is author of Black & Blue: The Creation of a Manifesto which takes a hard look at the inner workings of the LAPD—especially regarding its black officers, its women officers, and most especially its black women officers. She is interviewed by Writer/Director John Mulholland for the documentary Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit in Los Angeles on 9.28.15

Paramount Studios – Hollywood, California

Producer Richard Zampella on the Lot at Paramount Pictures 9.29.15

Of the Big Six Movie Studios, Paramount is the only one still based in Hollywood, and Paramount and Fox are the only ones still located within the Los Angeles city limits.

True to its dramatic origins, Paramount has been of the most storied companies in American film history with Adolph Zukor and his successors amassing a dazzling stable of talent that upheld the most robust rosters of celebrities which included their biggest star – Gary Cooper.

Cooper singlehandedly lifted Paramount’s sagging Depression-era fortunes, playing “everyman” heroes, perfectly capturing the era, such as Longfellow Deeds in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); Long John Willoughby in Meet John Doe (1941) — both Frank Capra classics — and Alvin York in Sergeant York (1941). Cooper came to embody the essence of the American character, especially that unique combination of rugged individualism and magnanimous selflessness — in his case, nurtured by the West and his English immigrant parents, who inculcated in him the elegant manners of a “gentleman.”

Cooper played one of baseball's greats, Lou Gehrig, in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and garnered another Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Appearing in a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Cooper starred opposite Ingrid Bergman in a drama set during the Spanish Civil War. This role earned him a third Academy Award nomination.

Of the 100s of films that cooper starred in throughout his decades long career – Gary Cooper filmed the majority of those films on the lot at Paramount Studios.

About Richard Zampella:

Richard Zampella is the Producer of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen which is a documentary film about the 20-year friendship between writer Ernest Hemingway and film actor Gary Cooper. Written and directed by John Mulholland, it is narrated by actor Sam Waterston with actor Len Cariou as the voice of writer Ernest Hemingway. The film was reviewed by The New York Times film critic Andy Webster on October 11, 2013 and was named an NY Times Critics’ Pic by Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott and Stephen Holden.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Richard Zampella Photographs Douglas Fairbanks Grave in Los Angeles, CA.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was born in New York City and was the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully. 

Fairbanks Sr. father was one of cinema's first icons, starring in swashbuckling adventure films such as The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad. Largely on the basis of his father's name, Fairbanks, Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 14. Fairbanks Jr. would be best identified as an actor for: Bound (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), Little Caesar (1931), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), and Gunga Din.

Fairbanks Jr. was commissioned a reserve officer in the United States Navy at the onset of World War II and assigned to Lord Mountbatten's Commando staff in the United Kingdom and President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him special envoy to South America. Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy's Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor, the French Légion d'honneur and the Croix de guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross.

Fairbanks died at the age of 90 of a heart attack and was interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California, in the same tomb as his father (who died in 1939).

– Richard Zampella

September 29, 2015

Hollywood, California

Zampella & Mulholland Filming Interviews in Los Angeles

Author Gregg Sutter

Author Rachel Howzell Hall

Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella are in Los Angeles Filming interviews for the documentary – Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit.

[Pictured Top] Production still of Gregg Sutter who for more than 30 years, served as the late Elmore Leonard's researcher. Sutter is the editor of the Library of America's Elmore Leonard anthology, which will be released in three volumes, the first of which was published last year (volume two comes this year, volume three in 2016). The first volume features Leonard's early Detroit crime novels—Fifty-Two Pick Up, Swag, Unknown Man No. 89 , and The Switch.

[Pictured Below] Transmultimedia Entertainment Interview with RACHEL HOWZELL HALL who is the author of the critically acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton series. Land of Shadows and Skies of Ash (Forge) were included on the Los Angeles Times’ “Books to Read This Summer” for 2014 and 2015, and the New York Times called Lou Norton “a formidable fighter—someone you want on your side.” Rachel’s first novel, A Quiet Storm (Scribner), was a Borders’ Original Voices selection. A featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed ‘Crime in the City’ series, Rachel also serves as a mentor in AWP’s Writer to Writer Program. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

We'll Always Have Skipperdee's

Here's Looking at You Kids. Billy and Buddy's latest installment for Skipperdee's Sweet Parlor in Point Lookout, NY

Lois Pemberton: With Imagination...All things are Possible

American Literary Writer – Lois Pemberton:
Who inspired those around her by saying;
 With imagination... all things are possible

Lois Pemberton  traveled in literary circles that included the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Robert E. Sherwood and George S. Kaufman. These American authors, including Pemberton, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.

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"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary."

-Cecil Beaton

Pearl Ketover Prilik Article about Richard Zampella Photo Essay

Pearl Ketover Prilik Artilcle: Richard Zampella Receives Editor's Pic from CNN

“There is something about these new images of 9/11 that bring me to tears - 
There is something that is innately authentic about them.”

-Pearl Ketover Prilik

Download/View: PDF

Richard Zampella iReport Receives Editors Pic from CNN

Richard Zampella Receives Editor's Pic from CNN

CNN Tweets Editor's Pic Link @Transmultimedia 

ATLANTA -- Sept 11, 2015 – Documentary film producer Richard Zampella was awarded an Editor's Pic for his Photo Essay and Article on the September 11th Anniversary. Thanks to all my friends at CNN.

Unpublished Photos of 9/11 by Richard Zampella

The World Trade Center Collapse on September 11 © & ™2015 Richard Zampella 

On September 11th 2011, I was living on the waterfront in downtown Jersey City, NJ. My apartment was about four blocks from the Hudson River and directly across from the river from the World Trade Center. Each night, I could fall asleep in my bed with a view of the top floors of the south tower.

On the morning of September 11, I received a telephone call from my older brother who asked me, "What happened? Can you see anything?"  I had no idea why he was asking.  He said, “One of the Trade Centers have been hit by an airplane.” He told me to to look out my window. There I saw the top 17 floors of the buildings in flames.

I hung up the phone and told him I would call him back. I went to the closet and grabbed my Nikon XG-1 and headed towards the river.

Fourteen years ago, Goldman Sachs was in the process of building a new world headquarters on the banks of the Hudson River in Jersey City. The building site was located in a spot that has unobstructed views of the southern tip of Manhattan. In the confusion of that morning, there was a total breakdown at the work site. Everything had come to a halt and there was no one at the gate to stop me from entering.

I made my way to the edge of the river and stood among a group of steelworkers that were working the site. Each of them speculated about the structural integrity of the towers. There were several engineers who  who were scribbling calculations with one another and they all agreed that the building would remain sound.

Within moments of their final conclusion, the first tower collapsed. I placed the camera to my eye. I took these images that are still difficult to view 14 years later. What I will remember most about that moment was the "low grade" rumble of the collapse in my ears.

When the first tower became obscured in a cloud of debris, I stood dumbfounded.  I lowered the camera and observed the steel workers surrounding me slowly drop to their knees in despair.

Within minutes the roar of the fighter jets could be heard overhead. The Jersey City Police were clearing the waterfront. No one knew what might happen next. As I made my way home, I observed groups standing around open car doors and listening to the radio like I had seen in history books when JFK was assassinated.

For months, I knew the exposed film was in the camera. I wondered if it should it be processed? I pondered – “Was it wrong to have photographed this disaster?" More months passed and finally, two years later I had the photographs processed.

Over the passing years, each time I look at these images, I wonder if I had witnessed the disaster only through the lens of a camera.

Yes, I was there, but did the act of taking pictures make it easier to bear witness to what had happened?

These photographs have sat in a box for the last 14 years. Sometimes I look at them and reflect how  close I was to what is now called “Ground Zero”. I would put the images away, wondering if they served any purpose other than proof that I was there.

The stories abound on the internet as each anniversary approaches. Endless commentary how the event has become reduced to popular culture, including cartoons that try to reflect trivial sentiment from that day.

Friday will mark the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. I publish these photographs in the memory of those lost on September 11, 2001.  It is my sincere hope that future generations shall never forget them and the unselfish bravery of the first responders that sacrificed their own lives to help others.

Father Mychal Judge: The Saint of 911

Father Mychal Judge

Several months before 9/11 I received a letter from Father Mychal Judge while working at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. He was one of the first victims of the World Trade Center attack, but the death of Father Mychal, the beloved New York Fire Department chaplain, was not as extraordinary as his ability to connect and bless everyone that he met.

The letter I received was simply addressed; RICHARD - THE OAK ROOM - THE PLAZA HOTEL - MANHATTAN. By the standards set by the U.S. Postal Service, it probably shouldn't have been delivered.

I had run into Father Mychal a few days earlier when he came to have dinner at The Plaza. I was new to the hotel only recently accepting the position as the manager of The Oak Room. It has been six years since I had seen him last. Our previous meeting was on the day Father Mychal had traveled to New Jersey to eulogize my father.

Our "chance" meeting in the hotel lobby was brief, not particularly detailed and the conservation was light and filled with laughter, but I remember a quiet attentiveness in his eyes as we spoke. We were both very happy indeed that our paths had crossed once again and this time on the opposite side of the Hudson River.

Fr. Mychal served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in West Milford, N.J., from 1979-1985

In the letter Father Mychal pondered our meeting by writing;

"It was unbelievable that we should once again meet. The more I think of it, the more I think that your dad must have just willed our meeting by placing us together after all these years, for he was a great planner and idolized his boy!! And you know what I think? I can see change in you. I know it's hard on you and you are being challenged. See what God wants to do for you. He does have a plan for you. I know you are unsure of that plan, but you must believe this. It will be revealed to you in time. It was great seeing you. We should really have lunch together and catch up."

I've pondered Father Mychal's words many times over the years. The letter remains a significant possession for it's contents betrayed the casual nature of our meeting. Over the years, the words become more profound. I read it sometimes when times seem confusing.

In his funeral homily Father Michael Duffy said, "Everyone thought Mychal Judge was their friend," and with reason, since he carried around a large black satchel full of letters from people and he would always write to them, with a line or two remembering something of significance in their lives."

I am grateful to have been included on that list.

Fourteen years later is a time of reflection and remembrance for me for those lost so tragically on September 11, 2001.

On this anniversary, it gives me pause to reflect and wonder about my "chance" meeting in the lobby of hotel with Father Mychal. I would like to believe that it did not occur by happenstance, but rather predetermined by something I do not fully comprehend. Perhaps there was a greater significance that we saw one another.

Father Mychal's honest and sincere compassion has enriched the lives of countless people. I am sure my story is not unique. The man was truly blessed. Everyone that he touched will surely remember him as the personification of love. If his example persuades us to assume the role of loving others, his memory will has been given it's due. For those that knew him, even if life is no longer with him physically, he remains with us all spiritually. As long as he is remembered, it should gives us all pause to accept the task to try to follow his example.

-Richard Zampella
September 9, 2015
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Broadway Dancer Buddy Casimano Flips for Skipperdee's

Buddy flips for Skipperdee's Sweet Parlor in Point Lookout, NY

Buddy Casimano is a Broadway dance veteran with credits that include: Broadway's "Miss Saigon"- "Starlight Express"- "Hercules Live on Broadway" - "Red Hot Broadway" -"Miss Saigon" 1st National Tour, "That's Christmas", & POP goes BROADWAY (starring Debbie Gibson).

Before tumbling into show business, he was a competitive ELITE level gymnast as well as a 3 time Jr. Olympic swimming champion.

He has worked with some of the most noted choreographers, & directors in the entertainment industry including ; George Schlatter, Twyla Tharp, Jerry Mitchell, James L. Brooks, Arlene Phillips, Michael Peters, Otis Salid, Jodi Moccia, & Paula Abdul.

Buddy has appeared in numerous music videos on MTV, & worked with other recording artists such as SYLVESTER, Deborah Cooper, Darlene Love, Chris Cuevas, Paul Young, & Tommy Page.

Some of his recent work includes : Assistant director for ABC Family TV, choreographer for Walmart Shareholder's meeting, choreographer for Norwegian Cruise Lines, director & co- choreographer of the Debbie Gibson/Tiffany National Tour as well as Hosting/Emceeing for Spirit of Dance Awards National talent competition..

His life in show business has been filled with some crazy experiences like being kicked by Madonna; having my nose broken by Sandy Duncan, drinking a Heineken w/ Cybil Sheperd, enjoying a scotch with Patton Oswalt, falling down the stairs w/ Sally Struthers & sipping tea w/ George Michael.

His legs were the model for Elvis in the international ABSOLUT Memphis ads, his “derrier” is immortalized in the Broadway Bares coffee table book, "Backstage Pass". A pair of his dance shoes are displayed in the Hard Rock Cafe`as well as in the Smithsonian pop-culture exhibit.

He has been teaching dance & judging for National talent competitions for over 20 yrs. and currently teaches master classes in jazz, musical theater, lyrical, acro-dance & his own athletic, jazz-infused style he calls "Buddy-ography".

Visit Buddy's Website at: http://www.buddycasimano.com

Skipperdee's Celebrates Six Year Anniversary

Skipperdee's In Point Lookout NY Celebrates Six Year Anniversary

POINT LOOKOUT, NY — Skipperdee’s Ice Cream Parlor may feel like an old-school soda fountain, but the local ice cream shop actually started 6 years ago as a concept to fulfill the needs of the seaside community of Point Lookout, NY.

And that homey, nostalgic feel is exactly what founder Richard Zampella was after when he created the concept and decor for the thriving business.

“When I first came to Point Lookout, I felt that an ice cream parlor is part of every shore community experience and Point Lookout was void of that market need" Zampella said. "I saw an opportunity to replicate the memories & experience of my own childhood when I visited various beach communities as a kid.”

Now, Skipperdees, located at 26 Lido Boulevard (Next to the First National Bank of Long Island) in Point Lookout is celebrating its 6th anniversary, and despite the pursuit of selecting the finest ice cream flavors and ingredients available, the core of the shop has stayed the same — “Providing the best ice cream on Long Island in a family friendly environment,” Zampella said.

The flagship Point Lookout location stays open during the winter when it features homemade soups from the New York Soup Exchange in Garden City and offers a wide selection of homemade breads. In the fall, it celebrates with pumpkin flavors, and near Christmas, peppermint ice cream pops up.

Skipperdee’s is pleased to offer the residents of Point Lookout a family friendly establishment, that has become a social center for the children of the community and thanks our guests for the last six years of unadulterated family fun.

Happy 50th Birthday to Actor Chris Burke

Actor Chris Burke blows out the candles on his birthday cake at Skipperdee's in Point Lookout, NY

POINT LOOKOUT NY -- August 27, 2015 -- Busy Goodwill Ambassador Chris Burke is often seen appearing at various events for the National Down Syndrome Society, where he has been the Goodwill Ambassador since 1994 and is a valued member of the organization.

However, on Thursday August 27, 2015, he traveled to Skipperdee's in Point Lookout, NY to celebrate his 50th Birthday. The former Life Goes On star celebrated the night at a back table in the ice cream parlor and a group of teenagers appeared and sang "Happy Birthday" to Burke.

Skipperdee's Owner & Operator, Richard Zampella has been a long time friend of Burke's and said that he was "Delighted that Chris chose to spend his birthday with us at Skipperdee's"

Chris Burke is best known for his TV role as Corky Thacher on the hit ABC show "Life Goes On" and his recurring role as Taylor, an angel, on the hit CBS-TV show "Touched by an Angel."

Outside of his work on screen, Burke has been an advocate for people with Down syndrome. Burke has traveled the globe giving speeches, making appearances and motivating people to realize that a disability should not hold one back from achieving what they want in life.

John Mulholland & Richard Zampella Wrap Interviews in Detroit

Bill Leonard -- Son of Author Elmore Leonard Interviewed for the  (2015) Documentary -- The Dickens of Detroit

Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella are in Detroit, Michigan this week, filming Interviews for the upcoming documentary, Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit. The documentary explores Elmore Leonard’s life, his works and his place in the American literary pantheon. When Elmore Leonard died on August 20, 2013 at age 87, he left behind more than 40 novels and dozens  of short stories. By almost universal consent, he is the finest American crime writer in the 20th Century . Many critics argue that, if anything, the reference to genre slights his contributions. Martin Amis described him as “a literary genius,” and “the nearest America has to a national writer.”



Throughout the fifties, Elmore Leonard was an obscurity, toiling in a dying genre – the western – putting down first drafts on yellow notepads from five to seven in the morning, before laboring all day on the Chevrolet truck account at Campbell Ewald, a Detroit ad agency. By the 1970s, Leonard had turned to crime fiction -- set usually in Detroit or South Florida -- and the men and women who commit the crimes. And then, in 1985, featured on the cover of Newsweek, Elmore Leonard became the proverbial overnight sensation and an NY Times best-selling author. Leonard became a household name, profiled in GQ, Rolling Stone and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. Praised by authors and critics, Time Magazine dubbed him “The Dickens of Detroit.”

When he died in 2013, at age 87, he was still writing, still a NY Times best-selling author. Chances are you knew him, even if you didn’t know his name, by such film titles as: Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out Of Sight, or the TV series, Justified. As Elmore Leonard once said, “I’ve always seen my books as movies.”

John Mulholland (Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen) has been immersed in everything Elmore Leonard for a year, his writing – novels, short stories, screenplays, and films based on his work --  and much of what has been written about him over the decades. He is in the process of interviewing Leonard’s family and closest friends, along with a rich assortment of women and men who worked with Leonard or who have written about and studied Leonard.





Richard Zampella is a documentary film producer who has created content for Warner Home Video and Paramount Pictures. Among his production credits are producer of Sergeant York of God and Country, narrated by Liam Neeson. Inside High Noon narrated by Frank Langella and Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen narrated by Sam Waterston. The later was chosen by the New York Times as a Critics’ Pic in October of 2013.

Visit the Dickens of Detroit Website

John Mulholland & Richard Zampella Filming Documentary in Detroit

PR Log - Aug. 13, 2015 - DETROIT -- Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella are in Detroit, Michigan this week, filming Interviews for the upcoming Transmultimedia Entertainment documentary, Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit. The documentary explores Elmore Leonard’s life, his works and his place in the American literary pantheon. When Elmore Leonard died on August 20, 2013 at age 87, he left behind more than 40 novels and dozens  of short stories. By almost universal consent, he is the finest American crime writer in the 20th Century . Many critics argue that, if anything, the reference to genre slights his contributions. Martin Amis described him as “a literary genius,” and “the nearest America has to a national writer.”



Throughout the fifties, Elmore Leonard was an obscurity, toiling in a dying genre – the western – putting down first drafts on yellow notepads from five to seven in the morning, before laboring all day on the Chevrolet truck account at Campbell Ewald, a Detroit ad agency. By the 1970s, Leonard had turned to crime fiction -- set usually in Detroit or South Florida -- and the men and women who commit the crimes. And then, in 1985, featured on the cover of Newsweek, Elmore Leonard became the proverbial overnight sensation and an NY Times best-selling author. Leonard became a household name, profiled in GQ, Rolling Stone and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. Praised by authors and critics, Time Magazine dubbed him “The Dickens of Detroit.”

When he died in 2013, at age 87, he was still writing, still a NY Times best-selling author. Chances are you knew him, even if you didn’t know his name, by such film titles as: Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out Of Sight, or the TV series, Justified. As Elmore Leonard once said, “I’ve always seen my books as movies.”

John Mulholland (Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen) has been immersed in everything Elmore Leonard for a year, his writing – novels, short stories, screenplays, and films based on his work --  and much of what has been written about him over the decades. He is in the process of interviewing Leonard’s family and closest friends, along with a rich assortment of women and men who worked with Leonard or who have written about and studied Leonard.





Richard Zampella is a documentary film producer who has created content for Warner Home Video and Paramount Pictures. Among his production credits are producer of Sergeant York of God and Country, narrated by Liam Neeson. Inside High Noon narrated by Frank Langella and Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen narrated by Sam Waterston. The later was chosen by the New York Times as a Critics’ Pic in October of 2013.

Visit The Dickens of Detroit Website

Mulholland/Zampella Filming Interviews in Detroit for New Documentary

DETROIT -- August 11, 2015 -- Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella arrive in Detroit, Michigan this week to conduct interviews for Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit. Production still of Interview with Bill Martz: Best friend of Elmore Leonard in Michigan since childhood.

Elmore Leonard’s life, his works, his place in the American literary pantheon, is the subject of this new documentary. Central to the film, adding depth and resonance, is more than half-an-hour of never-before-seen interview footage with Leonard in which he analyzes and discusses how he started, why he wrote what he did, how he arrived at his lean, terse minimalist trademark.

See more at: www.dickensofdetroit.com

Richard Zampella: Owner & Operator of Skipperdee's

Richard Zampella: Owner & Operator of Skipperdee's in Point Lookout, NY

Richard Zampella has worked in the hospitality industry for over 30 years. He has managed the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel and served as Food & Beverage Manager of the The Essex House Hotel on Central Park South. For 15 years he work 65 floors high atop Rockefeller Center at the Rainbow Room under legendary restauranteur Joe Baum. In 2010, he created the concept and design for Skipperdee’s Ice Cream Shop in the seaside hamlet of Point Lookout, NY.

Richard Zampella is also a restaurant designer that created the interiors and exterior of Brixx & Barley Restaurant in Long Beach NY. He is also responsible for the bar design for Heneghan’s Tavern in Point Lookout, NY as well as the tavern’s website.

In 2013 Zampella receive a Critics’ Pic from the New York Times as producer for the feature documentary Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen which is narrated by Sam Waterston. The film is currently available on DVD at Walmart, Best Buy and Target.

Visit Website: Skipperdee's

Director's Audio Commentary with Craig Gilbert

Transmultimedia Entertainment Records Directors Audio Commentary with Graig Gilbert & John Mulholland

Craig Gilbert and John Mulholland record Director's Audio Commentary for the Emmy Award nominated Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal. The documentary film explores the work of Margaret Mead with the villagers of Peri, on the New Guinea island of Manus, one of the Admiralty Islands. Between Mead's 1928 and 1953 visits to Peri, the village changed drastically. The film, Written, Directed and Produced by Gilbert explores the problems encountered by a society that develops according to western models.

Craig Gilbert convinced Mead and his superiors at WNET, the local New York City affiliate of NET that there was an exciting story to be told about the Admiralty Islands in New Guinea, a story that would feature Mead as prominently as the Manus people. Gilbert and his film crew accompanied Mead on her return trip to Manus to document the changes that had occurred on the islands since Mead was first there in 1928.

Gilbert, was also the creator of “An American Family,” the PBS series that documented the Loud family of Santa Barbara for seven months in 1971 and was a premonition of reality TV. The Louds were the subjects of the first ever television reality show and Gilbert is credited as creating the reality television genre.

An American Family, broadcast on PBS in twelve hour-long episodes beginning on January 11, 1973. The show took viewers up close and personal in the home of the Loud family. Parents Pat and Bill and their kids became household names living in front of the camera for seven months taped the year prior to the broadcast. A record ten million weekly viewers were riveted watching the Loud family's daily activities. On camera, Pat asked her husband, Bill to move out, and Lance, the oldest son, was the first gay to come out on television.

Transmultimedia Entertainment Directors Audio Commentary for Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal will be released on a digitally remastered edition in the Fall of 2015.
Produced by Richard Zampella

Transmultimedia Retail Packaging Design

Richard Zampella from Transmultimedia, Inc. designs packaging for Skipperdee’s Sweet Parlor #richardzampella #graphic design

Animation Graphics by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia

Transmultimedia Entertainment produces rehearsal video for July 2015 wedding on Long Island.
See more at www.trans-multimedia.com

Zampella & Company Re-Designs the NY Soup Exchange

The New York Soup Exchange recently contracted with the restaurant design firm Zampella & Company to complete the re-design of the interior of the flagship store located in Garden City, NY.

About the NY Soup Exchange

Driven by a passion to serve the world's best soup, Ken Kaplan discovered his true calling in 1998 when he opened his Garden City Restaurant, The NY Soup Exchange. Since then, they have been consistently voted the best soup on Long Island by Channel 12, NY Newsday and the Long Island Press Association.

About Zampella & Company

Richard Zampella has worked & consulted to major hotel companies, such as the Plaza & Starwood Hotel Corporation, to esteeemed restaurant groups like Smith & Wollensky, Fireman Restaurant Group and Joe Baum, to legendary restaurants such as the Rainbow Room, Le Cirque and the Oyster Bar at Grand Central, to family venues such as J.A. Heneghans & Skipperdee’s Cream Shop.

Richard Zampella: Multimedia Producer

Richard Zampella is Managing Partner of Transmultimedia, Inc. A New York City based creative services company. Over a span of the last decade, he has produced a number of special feature documentaries for Warner Home Video, Lionsgate Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

Zampella launched his independent production company offering a variety of multimedia production services, from short web videos to feature length documentary production.

Zampella most recent projects include digital remastering of Margaret Meade’s New Guinea Journal that was written, directed and produced by Craig Gilbert who created the PBS series; An American Family.

Zampella is currently in production with Elmore Leonard: the Dickens of Detroit. Central to the project about this celebrated American author, is more than half-an-hour of never-before-seen interview footage with Leonard in which he analyzes and discusses how he started, why he wrote what he did and how he arrived at his lean, terse minimalist style of writing.

Learn more at: www.richardzampella.nyc

'Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen'' review by pad.operaphile@

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen
Now Available on DVD -- Buy on Amazon

Writer /Director John Mulholland can hold his head high for every aspect of this MASSIVE documentary about 2 of the greatest men of the 20th century, namely Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway, the world's biggest actor/movie star and the world's most imitated author. They might have had nothing in common when first they met in at Sun Valley, 1940, but they became the best of buddies and eventual cronies. This step back in time truly reveals a plethora of riches that are absorbed with the greatest of pleasure by the viewer. The intensity of youth with its thrilling fame, that mid life period of some trouble, a return to greatness in older age, these two lives parallel one another on the grandest of scales. One gets to know the men individually and as a dynamic duo, friends who cared for each other as brothers. As the bad times came, it seemed to come for both as Coop and Hemingway both died in 1961 only 7 weeks apart. There is over abundant material available to produce one hell of a great motion picture such as HEMINGWAY and GELLHORN which starred Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, as his 3rd wife. Neither men were perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we come to care for them big time, warts and all. Expect anything from this documentary that tries to leave out NOTHING!
10/10

From Cinema Clock Edmonton

Official Website: http://www.cooperhemingway.com

Written & directed by John Mulholland

Produced by Richard Zampella

In Memoriam: John MacDonald Jr. | Kindness is an Underrated Virtue

In Memoriam: John D. MacDonald

Kindness is an Underrated Virtue

It has been said that kindness is an underrated virtue and that true kindness is often "infused with quiet wisdom, supported by courage, and threaded with balance.” The dictionary defines kindness as "the virtue of showing love" and the qualities of having a sympathetic, affectionate, warmhearted and considerate nature. Any virtue can be considered as the power to accomplish good, often in the face of obstacles and at the cost of sacrifice. Virtues enable us to establish and nurture life-long relationships with others and ourselves.

I will forever remember John D. MacDonald as a virtuous and kind man.

Seldom in life do you meet someone who is as genuine as John D. MacDonald was. A man of conviction, he was a silent and selfless servant to the community of Point Lookout, NY. In his lifetime, he made countless contributions to the the citizenry of his beloved community. He gave generously of his experience and knowledge to those around him and never failed to come to the assistance of those in need. I first spoke in depth with him when the Point Lookout Chamber of Commerce honored him in 2013 when the organization recognized him as Citizen of the Year.

From that time forward, it was not unusual for him to visit my shop on Lido Boulevard. We would sit and he would tell me stories of Point Lookout’s past and his memories of the Snack Shack that he owned on Lido Boulevard prior to enlisting in WWII. He was proud of his service in the Army Air Corp when he was stationed in India at the age of 18. When he returned, he passed the Snack Shack onto his brother and followed his father into the plumbing business.

It was also not unusual for me to knock on his door with a fresh batch of recently baked cupcakes from my store. I will always remember how his face would light up when he would lay his eyes on those sweet confections. John MacDonald had a sweet tooth.

John MacDonald came to Point Lookout with his family in 1929 from Salem, Massachusetts at the age of nine. At that time, there were approximately 43 families that lived in town year round. The full time resident were all engaged in local commerce. They were the contractors and builder that built this town.

John D. MacDonald Plumbing had it's start with the "building boom" that occurred on Inwood Ave around 1935. Glenn Little, the local builder began building a series of 1 story brick homes that line Inwood Ave today. You could purchase one for $3,000. If you wanted an extra lot to go along with it, that would set you back an additional $500. This building boom, solidified the family business. For $240 per house, John D. MacDonald Plumbing installed the complete plumbing system.

John told me how he cut the rumble seat off the back of the chassis of his Model A Ford & retrofitted it as a improvised pickup truck and that he used to take that Model A out on the ice of Reynolds Channel when it froze over in the winter. He told me stories about Tom Dyer who was the first Postmaster in Point Lookout and how he had been appointed by Teddy Roosevelt as a reward for his loyalty when they both Charged up San Juan Hill together in 1898.

John D. MacDonald, in addition to being a successful entrepreneur and businessmen has been a quiet servant of this community for many years. He was also a two time chief of the Point Lookout Volunteer Fire Company Inc.

John D. MacDonald erected the first public Christmas Tree in town on Lido Boulevard. He got into a lot of trouble he when he shorted out the family fuse box as a result. He would later go on to organize the decoration of holiday lights on Lido Blvd each year with the local electrician.

John D. MacDonald, helped form the first boy scout troop in Point Lookout along with Ludwig Meier. At the time Point Lookout was all sand and no trees. Troop 525, which met at the firehouse planted the trees that adorn town so they could all attend the International Boy Scout Jamboree that was held in Switzerland that year. If you appreciate the shade during the summer around town: Remember John D. MacDonald.

He served for 17 years as the chairman of the Zoning Committee of the Civic Association & served for 20 years on it's Board of Directors. His tenure saw the elimination of two family housing which has maintained the character of the community to this day. He hung the first halyard on the top of the Coast Guard Station Flag Pole. He erected Point Lookout's first ice skating rink.

In the 60's he served as a republican committeeman responsible for numerous legislative changes to protect the community including spearheading the purchase of the Vest Park Property that is adjacent to Aggie's Market.

It is with a heavy heart that I bid my final farewell to John D. MacDonald. I liked very much having him as a friend. I will miss our conversations. He will be sorely missed by those that knew him as he enriched the lives of all that came into contact with him. He earned the most profound trust, respect and gratitude from his fellow citizens. He was a person that made the world a better place to live in for the last 94 years.

Richard Zampella
June 6, 2015

Richard Zampella: YEXT Certified Partner

Richard Zampella of Transmultimedia, Inc. completes YEXT Certified Partner training curriculum and is designated a YEXT Certified Partner as of April 15, 2015.

Craig Gilbert: The Father of Reality Television

In 1971, Craig Gilbert Chronicled the Daily Lives of One American Family… He Made Television History. 

NEW YORK, NY -- May 2, 2015 -- Transmultimedia Entertainment Announces New Documentary

Craig Gilbert, the creator of “An American Family,” the PBS series that documented the Loud family of Santa Barbara for seven months in 1971 and was a premonition of reality TV, has lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Jane Street for twenty-one years. He has the same patrician hair and beard that he had when he appeared on “The Dick Cavett Show,” thirty-eight years ago, sitting uncomfortably alongside Pat and Bill Loud. On the show, he defended himself against charges that he had exploited the family and betrayed their trust.

Gilbert talked about a dinner he’d had with James Gandolfini, who was doing research for his role as Craig Gilbert in “Cinema Verite,” HBO’s 2011 docudrama about the making of “An American Family.” Gandolfini had asked about an old rumor that Gilbert and Pat Loud had had an affair during the filming.

“I told him no in twenty ways,” Gilbert said.

James Gandolfini played Craig Gilbert, the man who was behind the cameras for “An American Family.” He said: “I’ve gone to lunch with Craig a few times in NYC. He’s a wonderful man, smart, honest incredibly intelligent.  Old fashioned way about  him, graduated from Harvard.  He was an  ambulance driver in World War 2- he’s old school.  I enjoy him immensely I love the guy. This experience really hurt him.  I think he was so astounded that the Loud family got so   destroyed and he got so destroyed by people.  They went after the Loud family so viciously.  All they were really were regular people and their family was not that much different than anybody elses.  He was just trying to document it and they went after both of them so viciously that he said the hell with this.”

Gandolfini says Gilbert didn’t realize what impact he would have on the Louds, the film world, or culture in general.  “He tried to do something that nobody else had ever done.  It ended up this exceptional thing.  Then they threw out all the rest of the footage, hours and hours they threw it all out-and he was incredibly  hurt by all of it."

I’m really pleased that they all seem to be ok with all of it. He’s more fascinating in person. He’s a bit of an eccentricbut a great guy.  He tells me what an asshole I am every time he sees me.  "You’re an asshole Jim, you’re an idiot.  I say you’re absolutely right and I laugh-he’s a charming man."

Filmmakers John Mulholland & Richard Zampella are currently in pre-production on a documentary that explores the life of Craig Gilbert.