Photo: Lenny Lipton (selfie!) | Wikipedia: Leonard Lipton (May 18, 1940 – October 5, 2022) was an American author, filmmaker, lyricist and inventor. At age 19, Lipton wrote the poem that became the basis for the lyrics to the song “Puff, the Magic Dragon”. He went on to write books on independent filmmaking and become a pioneer in the field of projected three-dimensional imagery. His technology is used to show 3D films on more than 30,000 theater screens worldwide. In 2021, he published The Cinema in Flux, an 800-page illustrated book on the history of cinema technology.
Lipton was born in Brooklyn, New York. He majored in physics at Cornell University after starting out in electrical engineering. A self-described “mediocre student”, he only excelled once he found a field he loved. Lipton urged schools to be more “accepting of eccentric people with a different point of view because we are the people who make the difference.”
Puff, the Magic Dragon
Lipton was 19 when he wrote the poem that was adapted into the lyrics for the 1963 song “Puff, the Magic Dragon”, performed by Peter Paul and Mary. His inspiration was a 1936 Ogden Nash poem, “The Tale of Custard the Dragon”. “Pirates and dragons, back then, were common interests in stories for boys”, Lipton said. “The Puff story is really just a lot like Peter Pan.” Lipton spent decades denying that the song was about marijuana and believed that the myth was created by New York columnist Dorothy Kilgallen.
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Royalties from “Puff the Magic Dragon” and Independent Filmmaking, which remained in print for 20 years, gave Lipton an independent income that allowed him to follow his interests. His career in stereoscopic display began to gel around 1972. In one early stint, he served as the “convergence setter” for the 1983 3D film Rottweiler: Dogs from Hell, determining for each shot the optimal position at which to cross the dual lens axes. Previewing a scene from the film, technical staff from Universal were impressed by the stereoscopic imagery.[5]
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Lipton was married to Julie and had three children. He died from brain cancer in Los Angeles, on October 5, 2022, at the age of 82.[18]
Read more of Mr. Lipton’s bio here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Lipton
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Our music community continues to lose our talented artists. We are going to miss them so much. If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
October 2022
10: Leon Schidlowsky, 91, Chilean-Israeli composer.
9: Alexander Belyaev, 47, Russian music journalist, music critic and translator; Nikki Finke, 68, American blogger and entertainment journalist, founder of Deadline Hollywood; Josep Soler i Sardà, 87, Spanish composer, writer, and music theorist.
7: Ronnie Cuber, 80, American jazz saxophonist; Davron Gaipov, 61, Uzbek singer; Winston Henry, 74, Trinidadian calypso artist; Toshi Ichiyanagi, 89, Japanese composer and pianist; Art Laboe, 97, American disc jockey (KXLA, KPOP), founder of Original Sound Records; Jure Robežnik, 89, Slovenian pianist and composer.
6: Adriana Breukink, Dutch recorder player and maker; Fred Catero, 89, American record producer and engineer; Hafida El Hasnaouia, Moroccan singer; Ivy Jo Hunter, 82, American songwriter (“Behind a Painted Smile”, “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever”, “Dancing in the Street”); Jody Miller, 80, American country singer (“Queen of the House”), Grammy winner (1966), complications from Parkinson’s disease; Judy Tenuta, 72, American comedian, actress (The Weird Al Show, Going Down in LA-LA Land, There’s No Such Thing as Vampires), and musician, ovarian cancer.
5: Lenny Lipton, 82, American poet and lyricist (“Puff, the Magic Dragon”), brain cancer; Ann-Christine Nyström, 78, Finnish singer.
4: Jean Gallois, 93, French musicologist; Loretta Lynn, 90, American Hall of Fame country singer-songwriter (“Coal Miner’s Daughter”, “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)”, “The Pill”), Grammy winner (1972, 2004, 2010).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2022
Lenny Lipton, Writer of ‘Puff, The Magic Dragon’ Poem, and 3D Film Maker // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
