This is my contribution to Robert Hruzek’s group project, What I Learned from Colorful Characters, on Middle Zone Musings.

Black and white chalk drawing of Salvador Dali on a sidewalk in Rome.

You Can Walk Right By a Colorful Character


All people are colorful, but many relationships are black and white.

I knew a salesman, a rather hefty fellow, whose breakfasts consisted of pancakes smothered in butter, syrup, and grape jelly. He worked ten-hour days into his eighties.

Yogi Berra, a long retired catcher for the New York Yankees, had color to spare. He said things like …

  • “Half the lies they tell about me aren’t true.”
  • “If people don’t want to come out to the ball park, nobody’s gonna stop ‘em.”
  • “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.”

Surrealist painter Salvador Dali, pictured above, was especially colorful (the upturned waxed mustache probably gave that away). He wore a cape. When signing autographs, he would keep the pens. He also knew how to paint colorful characters.

Some people don’t project color evenly. One on one, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson was a cajoling and commanding presence with a coarse sense of humor, able to swing any back room political deal. On televised speeches, Johnson came off like a cardboard box.

Another salesman I knew was trying to sell 3M tape to a purchasing agent at a metal fabricating shop. To judge how sticky the tape was, the purchasing agent slapped a long piece of it on his very hairy forearm and ripped it off. I don’t remember if the sale was made, but I’ll never forget the customer. The tape, by the way, was extremely sticky.

The quintessential colorful character on TV was Kramer. I submit my proof:

Who’s colorful in your life?


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