The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury
Leo Eaton is today a respected American documentary filmmaker. THE TRAVELING YEARS, A MEMOIR OF PUPPETS, PORNO & PENURY follows his adventures for 16 years prior to settling in America, during which time he traveled the world as (in chronological order) one of the youngest television directors in Britain, a tequila-soaked lotus eater in Mexico, a boat builder in Canada, a pornographer in Los Angeles, an aspiring novelist back in Mexico, a university instructor in Texas, and a plumber and starving writer in Greece and Portugal. After escaping from a childhood spent in English boarding schools, Leo joined the British film industry at eighteen on Roger Moore's The Saint and within five years was directing iconic 1960s puppet series' produced by Gerry Anderson, including ‘Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons’, ‘Joe 90’ and ‘The Secret Service’. After a passionate but disastrous love affair with a Hollywood starlet, he sailed by cargo ship to Mexico where he lived until his money ran out, hitchhiked to Canada where he worked as a boat builder and railroad baggage handler before taking to the road again and hitchhiking to Los Angeles where he wrote for a Mafia-run pornography publishing house and shared an office with cult filmmaker Ed Wood Jr. (played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s biopic of the same name). Returning to Mexico as an aspiring novelist and promptly falling in love, Leo followed his future wife Jeri back to the University of Texas in Austin where he persuaded them to take him on as an instructor, teaching script writing and film to the same graduate students who made ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. After two years the University discovered he had no degree so Leo and his wife returned briefly to England before settling in a small Cretan village as the only foreigners. For three years they were part of the village, making their own wine and raki (the fiery local spirit) and helping fellow villagers with everyday tasks like dynamiting septic tanks and shearing sheep. Only when tourism began to intrude on the village did Leo and Jeri, along with their two Cretan dogs, move on to a mountainside in Portugal where they lived through a bitter winter in an old peasant farmhouse with dirt floors and no bathroom, power, running water or glass in the windows. It was the final chapter in the Traveling Years before the desire to return to some semblance of comfort brought Leo and his wife back to America, where he has been making award-winning documentary films ever since.
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The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury
Leo Eaton is today a respected American documentary filmmaker. THE TRAVELING YEARS, A MEMOIR OF PUPPETS, PORNO & PENURY follows his adventures for 16 years prior to settling in America, during which time he traveled the world as (in chronological order) one of the youngest television directors in Britain, a tequila-soaked lotus eater in Mexico, a boat builder in Canada, a pornographer in Los Angeles, an aspiring novelist back in Mexico, a university instructor in Texas, and a plumber and starving writer in Greece and Portugal. After escaping from a childhood spent in English boarding schools, Leo joined the British film industry at eighteen on Roger Moore's The Saint and within five years was directing iconic 1960s puppet series' produced by Gerry Anderson, including ‘Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons’, ‘Joe 90’ and ‘The Secret Service’. After a passionate but disastrous love affair with a Hollywood starlet, he sailed by cargo ship to Mexico where he lived until his money ran out, hitchhiked to Canada where he worked as a boat builder and railroad baggage handler before taking to the road again and hitchhiking to Los Angeles where he wrote for a Mafia-run pornography publishing house and shared an office with cult filmmaker Ed Wood Jr. (played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s biopic of the same name). Returning to Mexico as an aspiring novelist and promptly falling in love, Leo followed his future wife Jeri back to the University of Texas in Austin where he persuaded them to take him on as an instructor, teaching script writing and film to the same graduate students who made ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. After two years the University discovered he had no degree so Leo and his wife returned briefly to England before settling in a small Cretan village as the only foreigners. For three years they were part of the village, making their own wine and raki (the fiery local spirit) and helping fellow villagers with everyday tasks like dynamiting septic tanks and shearing sheep. Only when tourism began to intrude on the village did Leo and Jeri, along with their two Cretan dogs, move on to a mountainside in Portugal where they lived through a bitter winter in an old peasant farmhouse with dirt floors and no bathroom, power, running water or glass in the windows. It was the final chapter in the Traveling Years before the desire to return to some semblance of comfort brought Leo and his wife back to America, where he has been making award-winning documentary films ever since.
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The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury

The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury

by Leo Eaton
The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury

The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury

by Leo Eaton

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Overview

Leo Eaton is today a respected American documentary filmmaker. THE TRAVELING YEARS, A MEMOIR OF PUPPETS, PORNO & PENURY follows his adventures for 16 years prior to settling in America, during which time he traveled the world as (in chronological order) one of the youngest television directors in Britain, a tequila-soaked lotus eater in Mexico, a boat builder in Canada, a pornographer in Los Angeles, an aspiring novelist back in Mexico, a university instructor in Texas, and a plumber and starving writer in Greece and Portugal. After escaping from a childhood spent in English boarding schools, Leo joined the British film industry at eighteen on Roger Moore's The Saint and within five years was directing iconic 1960s puppet series' produced by Gerry Anderson, including ‘Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons’, ‘Joe 90’ and ‘The Secret Service’. After a passionate but disastrous love affair with a Hollywood starlet, he sailed by cargo ship to Mexico where he lived until his money ran out, hitchhiked to Canada where he worked as a boat builder and railroad baggage handler before taking to the road again and hitchhiking to Los Angeles where he wrote for a Mafia-run pornography publishing house and shared an office with cult filmmaker Ed Wood Jr. (played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s biopic of the same name). Returning to Mexico as an aspiring novelist and promptly falling in love, Leo followed his future wife Jeri back to the University of Texas in Austin where he persuaded them to take him on as an instructor, teaching script writing and film to the same graduate students who made ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. After two years the University discovered he had no degree so Leo and his wife returned briefly to England before settling in a small Cretan village as the only foreigners. For three years they were part of the village, making their own wine and raki (the fiery local spirit) and helping fellow villagers with everyday tasks like dynamiting septic tanks and shearing sheep. Only when tourism began to intrude on the village did Leo and Jeri, along with their two Cretan dogs, move on to a mountainside in Portugal where they lived through a bitter winter in an old peasant farmhouse with dirt floors and no bathroom, power, running water or glass in the windows. It was the final chapter in the Traveling Years before the desire to return to some semblance of comfort brought Leo and his wife back to America, where he has been making award-winning documentary films ever since.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781483563084
Publisher: BookBaby
Publication date: 05/12/2016
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Leo Eaton is an American documentary filmmaker responsible for hundreds of hours of prime time and children's television for networks in America and around the world. He has received many of television's top honors, including two News & Documentary Emmy Awards. His many credits as producer and executive producer include British historian Michael Wood's 'Story of India’ and ‘Story of China', Bruce Feiler's 'Sacred Journeys' and 'Arts & the Mind' with Lisa Kudrow. He produced National Geographic Channel's Emmy Award-winning special 'Can the Gulf Survive' about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and co-created and executive produced PBS's award-winning children's series 'Zoboomafoo' with the Kratt Brothers. His 2002 book 'In Search of Ancient Ireland', companion to his American & Irish television series of the same name, remains a popular seller. Before settling in the United States, British-born Leo Eaton spent 16 years traveled widely through Europe and the Americas, at one time sharing an office with cult filmmaker Ed Wood Jr. and directing iconic British puppet series like Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons and Joe 90. Leo Eaton currently lives in Maryland, USA.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Part 1 England 1964 - 1969 3

A Virgin in Swinging London 4

Roger Moore & The Saint 7

Supermarionation with Gerry Anderson 13

Quinn 18

Visions of Mexico 22

The End of a Love Affair 25

Farewell England 28

Part 2 Mexico 1969 - 1970 34

San Miguel De Allende 34

The Artist Called Dan Brennon 38

First Novel 41

Lotus Eating 43

Mexican Jail Time 48

Time to Leave 52

Part 3 Toronto 1970 54

Summer in the Old Barn 54

Part 4 Los Angeles 1970 - 1971 63

Macarthur Park 63

Ed Wood Jr. 65

Quinn Redux 70

Earthquake 71

Part 5 Mexico Redux 1971 74

Drug Mule 74

Jeri 76

Part 6 Texas 1971 - 1974 79

Tombstones & Chainsaws 81

Wedding 83

Biker Boys 84

Part 7 London Redux 1974 - 1977 88

Belfast during the Troubles 93

Wanderlust 98

Part 8 Crete 1977 - 1979 102

Early Days 102

Finding a House 105

Sheep and Shepherds 108

Village Life 117

The Poo-Hole Saga 119

Survival 126

Winter 128

Sunset 131

A Summer Beach 133

Watering the Garden at Night 135

W1Nemak1Ng, Village Style 138

Departure 147

Part 9 Portugal 1979 -1980 149

The Journey West 150

La Alberca 156

The Haunted Health Spa 159

House on a Hill 161

Fixer-Upper 165

First Weeks 167

Mountain Living 171

Christmas 175

Rice & Sweet Potato Days 177

Day Of Reckoning 180

Appendix 185

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