Carrying around a camera for most of his life has given Steveston’s Dan Propp a licence for adventure.
It has been a constant companion as he worked in a number of jobs — from travelling salesman to postcard photographer.
And he’s compiled a number of places he’s visited into a book called Nostalgic Roadswhich also mixes in some of Propp’s unique wit and songs he’s written and performed on his accordion.
“I was just crazy about photography. When I was in school I’d lock myself in the darkroom all the time and make pictures. And my parents said, ‘Let’s find a good school for him,’” Propp said, adding he got his first camera when he was about 12. “It was magic.”
Since then Propp said he’s never been the same as he set up a darkroom in the family home’s only bathroom in Gibsons where he grew up.
“Patiently, my parents allowed me to do all the printing in there. I set up the enlarger on top of the toilet. And in the bathtub I was doing some colour (printing). In those days with colour, you had all kinds of chemicals,” he said.
After finishing high school on the Sunshine Coast, Propp studied photography in Los Angeles in 1963. It was a place and time that left an indelible mark on him. It also opened the door to a number of exploits.
“I didn’t have a car then and had all of these illusions about Hollywood, and now all of sudden I could just walk down the street and watch the Regis Philbin Show— his first TV show. I also saw (comedian and first host of The Tonight Show) Steve Allen,” he said. “Then up the street was the Jerry Lewis Theatre.”
That’s where Propp snuck in with his trusty camera to snap pics of Lewis giving his final performance at that venue.
He also manufactured the opportunity to connect with film star Edward G. Robinson.
“I wrote to the Williams Morris Agency, his agent, and told them I was a photography student at the Art Centre (School) and could I do a story on him?” Propp said.
While he missed Robinson’s reply call at his boarding house, it impressed his schoolmates.
“You will never guess who called for you. He called himself Eddie Robinson,” Propp said, recalling what one of his classmates who took the call said. “But by golly, he (Robinson) phoned back, we had a nice chat. He was going to do a (comedy) film with Jack Lemon, Good Neighbour Sam.”
Unfortunately for Propp the film’s shooting schedule was delayed until summer and he had to return home before getting a chance to meet Robinson in person.
He also recalled sneaking through the back door into a movie premiere at the Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. where he bumped into Red Skelton.
But it was back home in B.C. where Propp put his photography skills to work, making a living shooting photos for postcards in picturesque locales up and down Vancouver Island.
It’s an art that has passed with the times, he said.
“There’s something about postcards that today, even with all the technology, can’t match,” said Propp who has lived in Richmond since 1973. “Postcards are still kinda magical. Plus, they are originals. Somebody had to write something on it.
“The vintage ones, they bring back a time that just doesn’t exist.”
In between he travelled selling everything from frying pans to transistor radios, and spent time teaching elementary school. Today, he still offers his skills tutoring foreign students to help improve their English pronunciation and writing skills.
Nostalgic Roadsis available at Village Books & Coffee House, plus online seller Amazon.ca.
