EDITOR'S LETTER

Ted DeGrazia started out with Zilch. Not in the lowercase sense of nothing — a starving artist who will work for food — but Zilch, with a capital “Z.” That was the unusual nickname of Mrs. Carlson, who was Ted DeGrazia’s Brian Epstein. “Talent alone is not enough,” Joe Stacey wrote in March 1983. “Ted DeGrazia might have been Arizona’s most illustrious bar mural painter if he’d not been discovered by Mary Helen ‘Zilch’ Carlson.” Her husband, Raymond, was equally impressed.

Mr. Carlson was our founding father. Our editor emeritus. Joe Stacey was his successor, who added, “Make no mistake about this truth: Arizona Highways discovered Ted DeGrazia and put him onstage.”

The initial spotlight was in February 1941 — we’ve resurrected that story inside. A few years later, in March 1949, Mr. Carlson reintroduced the artist: “Our art feature this month concerns the paintings of Ted DeGrazia. We have known Ted for many years and we know him to be a desperately serious artist. A few months ago we discussed DeGrazia with an established and successful artist, now living in Tucson. ‘What do you think about DeGrazia?’ we asked. ‘I don’t know,’ [Maynard Dixon] answered, ‘but I do know that I want some of his things now when they are cheap, because someday they may be very valuable.’ ”

In all, Ted DeGrazia’s work appeared in more than 60 issues of Arizona Highways. In addition, he was featured in National Geographic, on NBC, and in many other publications. His big break, however — the thing that put him in orbit — was when UNICEF selected one of his oil paintings, Los Niños, for its 1960 holiday card. Millions of copies were sold around the world.

Despite his whirlwind success, Ted DeGrazia and Raymond Carlson remained close friends who would occasionally get together for a night on the town. A legendary anecdote goes something like this: One day the artist showed up at the magazine in a dilapidated pickup to take the editor out for a quick beer. They came back a week later ... in a new Mercedes, which Mr. DeGrazia had paid for with cash.

They were dear friends, each of whom admired the talent of the other. Sadly, by the late 1970s, several years after his retirement, Raymond Carlson was widowed, impoverished and in poor health. That’s when Mr. DeGrazia philanthropically sanctioned their friendship. Through his attorney, Thomas A. McCarville, Ted DeGrazia established the Raymond Carlson Trust.

In a letter dated December 19, 1979, Mr. McCarville wrote: “Dear Ted. Enclosed herein you will find an Irrevocable Trust Agreement. I discussed this with Ira Feldman and Marvin Beck of Arizona Highways. Mr. Beck believes that the sale of the prints from the two paintings will produce from $20,000 to $30,000 for Mr. Carlson. Mr. Feldman and I are in agreement that the best approach would be to create a ten-year trust with me as trustee and Raymond Carlson as beneficiary. The two original paintings will be conveyed to the trust, and their proceeds for the next ten years will go to Raymond Carlson or, upon his death, to the DeGrazia Art & Cultural Foundation.”
 

Attached to the letter was a bill of sale for two prints: Red Blanket and Feather Dancer. The price: $0.

The next month, in our January 1980 issue, we ran an ad that promoted an “Exclusive DeGrazia Print Offer.” It read, in part:

“In the more than forty years since former Arizona Highways editor Raymond Carlson introduced Ted DeGrazia’s work in the magazine, we have received thousands of inquiries from readers who are interested in owning a DeGrazia print. Now the artist has dedicated two paintings, Red Blanket and Feather Dancer, to Raymond. By special arrangement, Arizona Highways has received exclusive rights to the set of limited edition DeGrazia prints pictured on this page. They will never again be reproduced when this limited number is sold out. Available separately or as a set, the image size is 9”x12” on a quality weight paper with a wide white border suitable for framing. If you have ever dreamed of owning such prints for yourself, or to give as gifts, this is your opportunity. Orders will be filled on a strict first come, first filled basis, subject to quantity limitations. Prints are $7.00 each, plus $1.00 per order for postage and handling.”

The prints from those two paintings would eventually generate $60,000, which, when adjusted for inflation, is approximately $200,000 today. All of that money went into the Raymond Carlson Trust. From one friend to another.

Ted DeGrazia once said: “I want to be notorious rather than famous. Fame has too much responsibility. People forget you are human.”

As you’ll see in this issue, which celebrates the 110th birthday of Arizona’s most prolific artist, he was all three — famous, notorious, human. Even more important, from our perspective, he was a benevolent friend to our founding father. Ironically, the beneficiary outlived the benefactor. Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia died on September 17, 1982. Raymond C. Carlson passed away a few months later, on January 30, 1983. Those are four shoes that can never be filled.

On behalf of everyone who has ever been a part of this great publication, thank you, Mr. DeGrazia, for taking care of the man who made it so. Give our best to Zilch. And a humble bow to her husband.