AUTOBIOGRADHICAL SKETCH
OF
LAWRENCE "TURK" LE CLAIR"

Feb. 5, 1936 - I am born on Manhattan Island in N.Y.C. Aquarius,
Leo rising and moon in Cancer. my grandfather is French
Canadian and my grandmother is Irish, on my father's side.
my grandfather is English and my grandmother is German, on
my mother's side.

We live in Brooklyn. Poor and Pre-Freudian. My Irish grandmother
raises me. She is a very warm Catholic woman.

Well established as the artist in my class in kindergarden. All my
schooling In public school system. I have a B+ average
up until the 5th grade.

I drag out when I see the movie "Huck Finn." Play hockey alot, start
going out at night, start fishing the lake, stop wearing
shoes. My only passing grades until high school are i
art. science and woodworking? I join the microscope
Club at the Childrens Museum in Brooklyn. Go to the zoo and
the art museums in manhattan by subway. Walk the bridges.
Build a clubhouse in my yard. my teacher shows my paintings
to the upper grade Art teachers. She writes my parents to
send me to the Brooklyn museum Art School, mon to Fri.,
3 to 5 p.m. My father forbids me to go.
7th Grade - Because of my apparent lack of interest, truancy and my
- being in a hyperactive state my school sends me to a
special testing session given by the Board of Education.
Results of the tests were: I'm a genius with a 164 IQ,
consequently they allowed me to graduate with failing grades.
1950 in the Summer I visit Boston. Lexington and Concord, mess.

Sept. 19 50 I enter High School. I've been doing drawing lessons from
books and the TV. I want to study art, but instead my
father sends me to a Boy's Trade School - the Blackboard
Jungle - I try my hand at printing, dental mechanics,
electric wiring, machine shop and jewelry. I do well at all
of these classes and cut out on the rest. That school year
was Hell. I got knifed in the arm. robbed, beaten.

1952 quit High school. Get a job near Times Square. Go to alot of
movies. I ve been a movie head a long time by new. European
films are my favorites.
1953 - 17 yrs. old. Four jobs later. I join the marine Corps. The
Korean war hasn't ended yet.

Boot camp, Parris Is,. South Carolina.

Stationed at the Rifle Range in North Carolina. Learn to shoot. In
the Fire Dept.

1954 - Stationed at the Boston Navy Yard. Rock & Roll is born,
I become a Jitterbug. I get stationed on the

U.S.S. Baltimore CA-68. Sail to Cuba and Haiti. Back to Boston
Sail to Spain France Italy North Africa, England, Sweden,
Norway, Denmark and back to England. 

(Continued on Page 2.)