Origin of thefatman?

Drum roll please...



I've been asked to explain the origin of my pseunodym [besides the obvious physical reference] well...

Way back when I was but an 17/18yr old lad I dabbled with the idea of being a thespian. I had the lead in a doomed production of Bernard Marie Koltes' play 'Black Battles with Dogs'. I could go into why it was a disater but I won't. Anyway during rehearsals the director gave me the direction to "think of the character as Sydney Greenstreet". Now for anyone who doesn't know Greenstreet famously played supporting roles in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. In the later he played a character with the nickname thefatman. So in reply to the director I said "what like thefatman?". My dear friend Phil Allen who was composing original music for the production and being some sort of assistant director thought this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard and the name stuck...

And here he is my name sake:


But I think it was the character in Casablanca that the director actually had in mind. You can see a clip here.

The irony is at the time I was probably nearly the thinest I have ever been. I don't have any digital versions of any photos from the production [besides the poster] but this one is not dismilar and from more or less the same period...


Phil is actually the only person [i think] who still calls me thefatman on a regualr basis and to my face...

I was trying to find a photo of me with a cigar but can't...


Wait found one...