Wednesday, January 30, 2008

My Dad The Superhero

I mentioned back in another post how my dad Charles Bonet (The Latin Panther) did stunt work and starred in a few 70's martial arts pics. No sooner do I mention it that I come across this little gem on YouTube.
For those of you wondering, my dad's the short Rican in the tight shirts. Don't know what possessed them to put identical track suits on him and Speedy though. Makes them look like a couple, eh, they probably were on sale at Modells. Maybe they were the same size and my dad had his hemmed. I inherited my old mans vertical challenge so I probably shouldn't talk. Now if I could only do that thing with the eyebrow.
Best thing about it was all my friends thought my pops was a superhero and could really do some of the more outlandish stunts like jumping from the street onto a 1st floor fire escape. Dad and I don't speak much anymore, but I'm hoping to visit him in August. He may not be a superhero, but that doesn't mean I'm not proud of him.
Hmmmm, maybe I should have saved this for Fathers Day.
Nah, music this funky can't be held back.
Enjoy
by the way. In case you can't tell, the movie is called Death Promise.

7 comments:

Noah said...

Oh snap! That is too cool. Plus we really need to cover that song.

Charlie said...

Even stranger, I tracked down the name of my dads doo-wop group from the 50's, and the single's on ITunes.
I'm saving that one for later.

mim said...

Oh que guapo, el padre. Thanks for posting this. I love it!

sritter said...

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Stephen Rittersporn. Sensei Charles Bonét was my karate teacher during the early 90's. You can checkout the web page that I dedicated to your father at:

http://www.inch.com/~sritter/bon.html

He was the Bronx representative of the Shorin-ryu system, under 10th dan Grand Master, Eizo Shimabukuro of Okinawa. Sensei Charles Bonét hasn't been seen in over ten years. If you should run into him… please tell him we are interested in hearing from him. We hope that he is doing well.

PLease tell Charlie to call the following people ASAP:

Stephen Rittersporn
646.284.6549

Luis Fernandez
305.992.7401

Sensei Bonét is a 6th dan in Grand Master Eizo Shimabukuro’s Shorin-ryu system; also he holds an 8th dan in Master Frank Ruiz’s Nisei Goju system.
He has taught and practiced Karate for many years and has appeared in several films on the martial arts. Sensei Bonét was inducted into the “Martial Arts Congress World Hall of Fame;” he received the “Eagle Award” at the Miami Convention Center Oct. 16, 1993.

Thank you for your time.


Respectfully,


Stephen Rittersporn

Anonymous said...

Was your father's nickname "Tripper"?

From Rego Park, NY?

Charlie said...

Hi Norma,

I would be that Tripper you speak of. You just can't see all my grey hair in the picture since I'm dressed for Halloween, or is that the way I always dress? Hmmmmm?
I knew 2 Normas back then. If you want to let me know who you are, you can email me privately with the link above my picture. This way the spambots won't get you.
Lokking forward to hearing from you.
Charlie

abnorma said...

I didn't realize it was YOU! I thought you were my Charlie's son!

I just e-mailed you!

This is great!