Picture of the Day
The real Grant Cogswell (left) stands next to Joel David Moore, who plays him in the film.
About the real Grant: when Grant Cogswell ran for the Seattle City Council in 2001, he was a poet, music critic, former pedicab driver, and passionate supporter of the Monorail. In addition to being fervently pro-Monorail, Cogswell was fascinated with the strange, tragic story of Marion Zioncheck, certainly one of the most bizarre figures in 20th century American politics. Zioncheck, an ardent young New Deal Democrat, was a two-term Congressman from Seattle, but was known more for his outlandish behavior than for his politics. Among other things, he once sent a truck full of manure to the house of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, where it dumped its load on Hoover’s steps.
After sinking into untreated depression, with his behavior increasingly unhinged, Zioncheck jumped to his death from an upper floor of the Arctic Building at the corner of Third and Cherry in downtown Seattle. The date was August 7, 1936.
In a curious coincidence, the filming of GRASSROOTS, based on Phil Campbell’s book “Zioncheck for President,” is scheduled to wrap on August 7.
photo by Bob Fink
For Joel David Moore: I’m sure you’ll be able to depict wit and verve, zest and quest if you’re going to portray Grant Cogswell.
For Grant Cogswell: ‘Stand in the corner and look embarrassed until I have a chance to list your name in the gradebook.’