A Rich History

For a man who often seemed invisible to society, Sam Rosen lived a storied life.

• A small town boy during the Great Depression who grew up near the Southern California farm where the actual MGM lion lived.

• A World War II soldier.

• A struggling songwriter whose work briefly appeared on Broadway. He even starred in a kids TV show pilot (photo above).

• A Hollywood screenwriter for cartoons, notably 1970’s Phantom Tollbooth.

• An out gay man during an era when people (Sam included) were arrested for the “crime” of homosexuality.

• A homeless senior citizen who lived a life of paranoia, convinced that government agents were after him. 

Over the decades, Sam quietly created a vast collection of impressive work—from songs to optical illusions—that never found an audience beyond his ever-shrinking social circle.

An Unexpected Mission

By 2005, Sam was seventy-nine, homeless, and more convinced than ever of a vast government conspiracy to silence him. According to Sam, “They” had orchestrated the theft of his most prized possessions— the songs, drawings, and stories he’d spent a lifetime creating. The conspiracy may have been imaginary, but the loss was real. After a bounced check to a storage company, Sam’s belongings had been sold off and fallen into the hands of strangers likely to discard much of it.

Distraught, he made a panicked call to me, one of his few friends, to help recover his lost belongings. Determined to keep his voice alive, I vowed to help, unaware of the challenges that awaited or the impact it would have on both our lives. With Sam's health rapidly declining, however, my simple promise became a desperate mission to rescue his legacy before he was gone forever.