Dick Smith

A brand name for a bunch of nation wide electrical stores in Australia. Essentially these guys are to electronics what McDonald's is to fast food and Microsoft is to software - undeniably lame.

The owner, one Dick, called Smith, (ha ha I'm quite funny) is of the belief that everyone could reach his socioeconomic status (read millionaire) if they worked 6 days a week, 8 hours a day. Nowadays he spends his time on a luxury yacht towing icebergs into Sydney harbor for April Fool's Day.

Perhaps the only reason it's worth mentioning is the brand logo is one of the stupidest logos ever seen. It involves the words DICK SMITH in large white print, with a picture of the head of the man himself in between. Read DICK HEAD SMITH.

Dick Smith is a true Aussie legend. He started out as a geeky kid with a soldering iron and started a thriving chain of Electronics stores. The kind where you could actually buy a packet of diodes or resistors and the pimply teenagers working there knew how many ohms would be resisted by the cool coloured bands.

In fact Dick Smith stores were the one true competitor to Tandy Radio Shack. So much so in fact that Dick Smith released a cloned TRS-80 model I named the System 80. Actually a cheap no-name Asian import sold around the world under a dozen names but it had fake wood panels on the sides like The Brady Bunch's station wagon.

When he grew up and got bored with being filthy rich he started circumnavigating the globe by helicopter. First he flew solo around the world, then he outdid himself by flying around the world latitudinally, visiting both the north and south poles and making a beautiful documentary along the way.

This must have caused him to notice that we had no National Geographic of our own down here. So he pulled a few million out of his back pocket and started up Australian Geographic which became so hugely successful that he got bored with it after a few years and went off in pursuit of further adventure.

Recently he's been getting pissed off at how many of our famous and favourite Australian food items are no longer Australian owned. (Vegemite and Four n Twenty meat pies for example). He's now got a bunch of Aussies around the country making clones of them all - and all 100% Australian. Mr Smith, we await your OzEmite.

Dick has also been in charge of the Australian Air Safety committee and won Australian of the year. Last I heard I just flew across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand the wrong way to win a bit.

Some day when we bother to become a republic we need a guy like this for president.

I endorse tres equis' sentiments on Dick Smith, that he is a great Australian, down-to-earth. entrepreneurial, philanthopist, but with a clear understanding of the dangers present in unrestrained globalism. His Dick Smith Foods was formed from a popular backlash against the selling-off of great Australian food companies such as Arnott's and Aeroplane, Tarax and Vegemite.

Dick Smith is a regular pundit in the Australian media, and portrays himself (quite genuinely one would think) as an archetypal Good Aussie Bloke.

Dick Smith was born on 18 March 1944 in Roseville, New South Wales and today lives in the leafy northern Sydney suburb of Terry Hills.

The following list of achievements is taken from the Dick Smith Foods website:

• First Trans-Tasman Balloon flight - 2000
• Founded Dick Smith Foods - 1999
• Chairman of the National Centenary of Federation Council - 1996-2000
• Appointed as Ambassador for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation - 1998
• Chairman of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Board - 1997-1999 & 1990-1992
• First non-stop balloon crossing of the Australian continent - 1993
• Founded Australian Geographic in 1986 and returned the Australian Encyclopedia to Australian ownership in 1987, sold to Australian-owned John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd - 1995. Now privately owned following management buy-out in 1998
• First person to fly around the world via the poles in 1989 and made the first helicopter flight to the North Pole in 1987
• Australian of the Year for 1987
• Made first solo helicopter flight around the world - 1983
• Founded Dick Smith Electronics 1968 and sold his interests to Aussie-owned Woolworths in 1982
• Awarded Baden Powell Award in 1966 after 14 years in the scouting movement

I can't believe this isn't mentioned here - Dick Smith is also the name of the man who revolutionised the special make-up effects world. He was born in New York in 1922, and worked on TV shows for years before finding his way into movies. The guy taught himself how to do everything, and basically made it up as he went along.

He developed special gunshot wound appliances for The Godfather, created old age make-up for Dustin Hoffman in "Little Big Man" by making a mold from his own forehead, and transformed cute, rosy-cheeked Linda Blair into a disgusting apparition from hell in "The Exorcist". He also trained Rick Baker, who assisted him on "The Exorcist" - the same Rick Baker who did the make-up and transformation effects in "An American Werewolf in London".

Some of the movies Dick Smith worked on:

Little Big Man
The Godfather
The Exorcist - I was convinced that Max Von Sydow was about 70 years old when he made this, and was shocked to see him still acting nearly 30 years later...
The Godfather Part 2
Taxi Driver - blood, gore, and DeNiro's mohawk - I had no idea that they hadn't just shaved his head for the finale, it's that good.
Altered States
Scanners - the spectacular finale
The Hunger
Amadeus

For complete filmography and further info go to: www.dicksmithmake-up.com/filmography.htm - it has links to some of the movies with fascinating photos and insights into how the make-up was done. The Exorcist link has some interesting make-up tests, and also illustrates how impossibly cute Linda Blair looked before Smith got his latex on her. Oh, it shows how the "vomit device" worked, too...

Editors Note:

Dick Smith died on July 30, 2014 in Los Angeles of complications from a broken hip. He was 92 years old.

Marathon Man