'Curious George' co-author found dead in Boynton Beach driveway

[DoYouEverWonder]

Feb 8, 2006

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The bloodied body of a collaborator on "Curious George" books and films was found covered in garbage bags in the driveway of his home.

Alan Shalleck's body was there for at least a day while neighbors passed by, assuming it was a heap of trash, before a maintenance man discovered it Tuesday. Police were treating the case as a possible homicide, spokeswoman Sgt. Gladys Cannon said, but she wouldn't disclose details about how he died.

Shalleck, 76, was the writer and director of more than 100 short episodes of "Curious George," which aired on the Disney Channel, and co-wrote a series of books with Margret Rey, who created the mischievous monkey with her husband more than 60 years ago.

A trail of blood stained the terra cotta driveway in front of Shalleck's mobile home, where the man's outstretched body lay behind a blue Honda Civic parked under a carport. Maintenance supervisor Burt Venturelli, 62, found the body early Tuesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_WRITER_DEAD_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[stepnw1f]

1. A Bush Supporter Did It

just a hunch

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. The story is very poorly written

One minute the maintenance guy finds some garbage that turns out to be the guy's half naked bloody body and then the story jumps to antidotes about the fellow. Nothing about cause of death, how he ended up there or who might have done it. Very strange.

[Thor_MN]

6. OK, I usually wouldn't...

but your subject pushed me over the edge...

I think you mean anecdotes...

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Yes, anecdotes

Must be past my bedtime. Thanks.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Anecdotes, I think

Unless it was ghastly poison...poison most foul....

[MADem]

33. Possible homicide??? POSSIBLE????

Naaah, the guy killed himself and just before he expired, managed to cover himself with garbage bags.

I mean, come on!

[KittyWampus]

3. "Possible" Homicide?

edit to include ;; :wtf:

[blue sky at night]

4. let's see..........stories about a monkey named george........

i could see how a deranged BU$H supporter could add 1 + 1 and get 6! let's kill the bastard!

[daleo]

5. I just assumed this was a book about Bush

In a way it was, I guess.

[Rich Hunt]

9. no, it's a wonderful set of books

Originally written and illustrated by a German couple, I believe.

I'm not familiar with this guy, but I loved Curious George as a kid, so this is very sad.
What an awful thing to do to an artist.

[yorkiemommie1]

10. my daughter loved these books

i must have read and re-read them to her dozens of times. very sweet stories.

[mojavekid]

18. There is a picture of George sniffing ether,

a friend of mine saw that as a young girl, and did it. She passed out falling on her mouth and knocked out her two permanent front teeth...

[Pab Sungenis]

36. I remember that one.

It was in "Curious George Goes To The Hospital," and I don't think that one is in print any more for just that reason.

[anotherdrew]

43. where the heck did she find ether? n/t

[PDX Bara]

35. Nah!

No way could Bush be construed to be curious about anything...he might learn something if he were.

[stop the bleeding]

11. that is very sad, I remember curious george from when I was kid,

also wasn't there a guy named Mobley?

nomintedO8)

[liberalnurse]

12. Why was he living

in a trailer park?

[NashVegas]

14. Screwed on Royalties

from the story:

"I got $500 per 'Curious George' story, no royalties, no residuals," Shalleck told The Palm Beach Post in 1997.

[gardenista]

17. How sad.

It is an outrage how creative people get screwed by publishers.

[RebelOne]

26. Excuse me, but I live in a trailer park and I am not poor.

Nothing wrong with living in a trailer. You should see some of homes where I live. Some would put some homes in expensive neighborhoods to shame.

[iverglas]

37. sure true in Florida!

My dad spent a few winters there, and moved out of the first trailer park he parked his humble trailer in, because he just wasn't up to snuff, and was snubbed by the snootier park denizens. ;)

I'm sure my mum is looking forward to taking my nieces to see the movie of the books their own mum grew up on. Curious George was a particular favourite of my dad's; my dad died two years ago next month, so it will be a bittersweet time anyway, and this sad news is, well, sad news too.

[tularetom]

13. I'd really be suspicious if the author of a book

about a monkey named "Stupid and Complacent George" had been found bludgeoned to death.

[norml]

15. Furious George

[Renew Deal]

34. Here's the real Furious George

That's George Tabb. :headbang:

[Akoto]

16. 'Possible' homicide?

I understand the need for evidence and so forth, but honestly. Do they think he slept in garbage bags on his lawn?

In any case, this really is a shame. I remember reading Curious George books when I was a little guy. May he rest in peace, and hopefully they'll find the culprit behind the tragedy.

[trixie]

32. Were there any banana peels nearby?

[wiley]

19. He and Margret escaped from the Nazis

[Hekate]

23. On H.A. and Margaret Rey...

...from a review of a new video game
http://opm.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3144694&did=1

> Curious George is one brave, resourceful little monkey!
> He helped two German Jews escape from France on the
> eve of the Nazi invasion. The two creators of the popular
> children's books, married couple H.A. and Margaret
> Rey, were trying to leave the country on bicycles, with
> just a few possessions in tow, when they were stopped
> by a French official. Suspicious of their German accents,
> he took them to be Nazi spies -- until he opened the
> satchel and saw the illustrations of the cheerful, cute little
> monkey in their manuscripts. He let them go.
>
> If he hadn't, we'd never have met the mischief-making
> monkey, nor his lovingly patient friend, the Man in the
> Yellow Hat....
>
> Margaret Rey has been quoted as saying, "George can do
> what kids can't do. He can paint a room from the inside.
> He can hang from a kite in the sky. He can let the animals
> out of their pens on the farm. He can do all these naughty
> things that kids would like to do."

They are wonderful books. Such a sad, sad end for their collaborator.

Hekate

[trixie]

40. just to clarify

The dead guy was not the H.A. and Margaret Rey. He was a coauthor of the recent set of books (blue covers not yellow) and worked on the films and the screenplay.

H. A. and Margaret Rey did escape the Nazis. H.A. died in 1977.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

44. Mr. Rey also wrote 2 great books on astronomy for kids

they hooked me in first grade and, to this day, i still recognize every constellation in the sky.

[MagickMuffin]

20. There sure are a Lot of Beating (?) Deaths in the Sunshine State

It's good to know the police are treating it as a "possible homicide", after all how many people covered in blood and garage bags would be considered any thing other than homicide!

Rest in Peace Alan, I hope they catch your killers...O8)

[medeak]

21. umm...just heard there is an animated movie coming out?

of curious george...the timing is very suspect.

edited to say...just reviewed yesterday...this is rather creepy:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001957330

[druidity33]

30. also...

Jack Johnson wrote and performs the soundtrack...
talented and famous contemporary pop artist...

I even saw a commercial for the album yesterday...

[Up2Late]

22. Sounds like one of the Bush Family hit-men thought this was another...

...anti-GWB book, so he snuffed him.

At least that's what it sounded like when I first read the headline.

[Raine]

24. "Possible homicide" ??

what do they think he committed suicide or had an accident and fell under some garbage bags?!?!? :wtf:

[krkaufman]

25. Likely some dumbaxe assumed the guy had loads of cash....

... since a new Curious George movie was coming out, and beat him to death trying to get him to come clean on where he'd stowed it.

[CoffeeCat]

27. The new "Curious George" movie opens this weekend...

I wonder if this man was fighting for some royalties or some kind of compensation from the movie?

This really is sad.

My kids love these books too. We have several.

Curious George teaches children that their feelings are ok--and that all little kids feel mischievous, sad, happy, angry and, most importantly--curious.

[DoYouEverWonder]

28. Here's a little more info

BOYNTON BEACH - The bloodied body of a collaborator on the beloved children's book series Curious George was found Tuesday covered in black garbage bags in the driveway of his mobile home.

Alan J. Shalleck's body lay in the driveway at 4295 King Theodore Dr. in the Palm Beach County community for at least 24 hours. Neighbors thought it was merely a heap of trash.

<snip>

At Shalleck's house, a trail of blood stained the terra cotta driveway, where the man's outstretched body lay behind a blue Honda Civic parked under a car port. A folded rug lay underneath the body, which was almost completely covered by the garbage bags.

Neighbor Ray Robinson said a maintenance worker noticed the garbage bags and was going to throw them out when he discovered the body.

Shalleck, a divorced father of two sons, moved to Florida in the early 1990s and worked in the children's department at the Boynton Beach Borders bookstore.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13816165.htm

[seemslikeadream]

29. Captain Kangaroo

The first time I saw Curious George was when the Captain read the book to me, I remember him reading "the man with the yellow hat" like it was yesterday.

[AnneD]

31. My my how time does fly......

I loved Captain Kangaroo and Mr Green Jeans. And when my daughter was little, Mr. Rogers was our gateway to the grownup world. Most people don't realize it but these actors were tireless advocates of child too, always speaking before legislatures. Their love and understanding of children shone through. This is why they are still remembered with such fondness many years later.

[Pab Sungenis]

38. Police are seeking a man in a yellow hat.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[Chrisduhfur]

41. :D lol

hahaa good one.

[Javaman]

39. Indeed, curious...n/t

[Judi Lynn]

42. Two held in Curious George author's Florida death

Two held in Curious George author's Florida death

Feb 9, 2006 — By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Two men have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Alan J. Shalleck, 76, who co-wrote "Curious George" books and helped bring the very curious little monkey to television.

Rex Spears Ditto, 29, and Vincent Puglisi, 54, were arrested shortly before midnight on Wednesday and confessed to a home invasion, murder and robbery of Shalleck, Sgt. Gladys Cannon of the Boynton Beach police said on Thursday.

Shalleck's bloodied body was discovered on Tuesday under a pile of plastic garbage bags in a driveway at Royal Manor Estates by a maintenance supervisor who went to haul away what appeared to be a pile of trash, police said.

The body may have been in the driveway for more than a day. Crime scene investigators found stab wounds and, once inside the home, several pools of blood leading to the master bathroom which was splattered with blood. Investigators found several knives and broken glass in the house.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1599564

[DoYouEverWonder]

45. How horrible

Glad they caught the bastards.

[Raine]

46. Glad they caught the scum...

it's very sad that this kind of thing happens. :cry:

[Miss Chybil]

47. But, don't worry about the thieves in your own backyard.

Worry about the Iranians!

I'm sad for this man and for his family's loss. What a world we live in.