Bio

A Taxi Driver named Travis Bickle bought the guns he used to save Iris from a life of child prostitution on June 9, 1972. Three years later, during the first week of June, 1975, Ted Bundy visited his girlfriend Meg and her young daughter for the last time. He would kill again - many times, unfortunately - but that young girl never saw him again after the first week of June, 1975. That week was perhaps the last time Ted Bundy spent any happy moments with a family.¹ It was also the last time the world was to be without the future King of Funny Faces.

That Monday, exactly three years after Travis Bickle, put his money down; exactly three years after God's Lonely Man turned his will and his life over to the care of God as he understood Him; exactly three years after the Taxi Driver began preparing his mind and body for his mission; exactly three years after he shaved his head in a mohawk, God went to work. Erik B. Anderson was born on June 9, 1975.

Erik's due date was July 5, 1975. He could have been born on the Fourth of July, but Mrs. Anderson developed toxemia, which led to pre-eclampsia on June 9th. She was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital in Northern New Jersey. The doctors there needed to give Erik medicine to counteract the anti-seizure medication they gave his mother. In order to do so, the doctors shaved Erik's head in a mohawk.

Mr. Anderson's oldest known ancestor was Stephanus Terhune. Sheriff Terhune, as he was known, was the last Sheriff of the British Colony of New Jersey. He was removed from office on  July 4, 1776. There was a trial in 1777. It is not known what the outcome of that trial was. What is known is that his oldest ancestor had the same job as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The B. in Erik B. Anderson stands for Blaine. Erik's grandfather, Blaine Ellsworth Anderson,  worked for gold magnate Charles Engelhard, Jr.'s  ill fated 1955 State Senate campaign against Malcolm Forbes. A little known but extremely influential businessman in three financial capitals², the Engelhard was known as the 'number one American corporate sponsor of the Apartheid regime." Charlie Engelhard's eccentric behavior was the inspiration for Ian Fleming's most notorious villain "Goldfinger":

Blaine supported Charlie Engelhard's campaign because Engelhard promised to save their neighborhood in Martinsville from being turned into a reservoir. It is said that Engelhard promised nine year old Bruce Anderson, the first King of Funny Faces, a ride in a fancy car. The boy waited on the front steps, but the rich man never showed up. Blaine put his heart and his soul into that campaign. After they lost, all he got out of it was a fancy crystal ashtray. It was after this event that Marion Vollum Anderson gave the crystal ashtray to Bruce. It was after Blaine died when her children were still very young that Grandma Anderson became the first Queen of Funny Faces:

Erik knows a lot about villains. He also knows a lot about heroes.


The B. Bruce Anderson Memorial Flag can be found in Palmer Park in Long Valley, near the High School.

The description on the About page reads:

B. Bruce Anderson was a beloved father; husband, brother, uncle, proud Navy veteran, businessman, soccer coach and scoutmaster in Long Valley, New Jersey. He and his son Erik were founding members of Boy Scout Troop 236. With his son, Brian, on his team, he led little league soccer teams to six undefeated seasons. Their last season was un-scored upon.

"Mr. Anderson" was diagnosed with a severe form of Parkinson's Disease called Progressive Supra-Nuclear Palsy in 1995. Even years after his diagnosis, he stayed involved in Scouts, teaching merit badges to boys long after his sons had grown up.

Shortly before his death in 2003, the Troop awarded him the James E. West Fellowship Award for Lifetime Achievement. After his death, Assistant Scoutmaster Keith Appelbaum, who was the same age as Erik when they were Scouts together, arranged with the Township of Washington, Morris County, to dedicate the flag in the newly built Palmer Park to his name.

This is perhaps the highest honor any American citizen can receive. In 2009, Erik set up a Facebook page to honor the "BBA Flag." He also asked owners of businesses in the area to display the flag. These businesses include Mama's Pizza & Cafe Baci, The Barber Shop II and First Place Tattoos, among others. The BBA flag is also displayed in the front office of the Washington Township Municipal Building and behind the glass in the lobby of the Hackettstown Municipal Building.

It was a great honor for so many of them to accept.

Erik's favorite character on television growing up on top of Schooley's Mountain was "Howling Mad" Murdock on the A-Team. He dreamed of running away to Hollywood when he was young to join the cast. He wanted to help people alongside Hannibal and B.A. Barracus. He created a character for himself as Amy's adolescent son. Erik organized a gang of boys on the playground that he called the A-team. The fights he had with these boys were legendary.

At the Flocktown Elementary School, Mr. Anderson was chosen to attend an acting workshop in the fourth grade. He was given the part of  Snidely Whiplash. He was told to put on a mustache and pound money into his hand. When he got onstage, a female student was lying on the ground below him while a train was coming toward the camera on the overhead projector behind them. When the entire auditorium erupted into a chorus of "Boos!" and "Hisses!", Mr. Anderson didn't even understand what was happenning. It frightened him very much; but now he can enjoy remembering the profound impact he had on the crowd.

As a Freshman in Gill/St. Bernard's High School in 1989, Mr. Gene D'Onofrio cast Mr.Anderson as the "insane priest" in Marat/Sade. In the yearbook Mr. D'onofrio said he is very proud of his son, Vincent Philip D'Onofrio, the award winning actor who played the most disturbed character in cinematic history: Leonard "Private Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

As the insane priest, Erik was directed to snivel and cough and "greet the community" just as a patient in a French Insane Asylum after the Revolution would. The play was a "play within a play", directed by the Marquis De Sade. Mr. Anderson didn't even know what the word Sadism meant, but he did as he was told. He said Satan's Prayer in front of all of his friends, their parents and the faculty of the school. Erik's character was directed to attempt a sexual assault the daughter of Coulmier, the director of the asylum, played by Mr. D'Onofrio himself. This was Mr. D'Onofrio's idea.. The kids still called him 'Nof 'Nof. After the insane priest was crucified by a nurse for his crime, Erik peeled himself off the cross and caused more mayhem. It was quite a performance, in front of the whole school, twice. Erik liked playing that part, but there was a backlash.

In the past twenty years, Erik has suffered the whips and scorns of time. He has taken classes and workshops at Centenary College and the Simon Studio but he has not been in any productions. His father's death in 2003 was hard. Erik's life story is filled with tragedy. It is safe to say, he can use his painful life experience to perform Hamlet better than anyone ever.

Other highlights of Mr. Anderson's professional career include:

• Presenting a Paper About Avante-Garde Musician John Zorn and Postmodernism to the Eastern Sociological Society as an Undergraduate in 1995.
• Working as a Public Relations Intern and Museum Tour Guide At The Chester County Historical Society in Southeast Pennsylvania.
• Asking William F. Buckley, Jr. For His Stance On An Environmental Issue in 1996 and Receiving The Answer: "The world is a giant ashtray that we put things into."
• Lobbying all over Washington D.C. with the Western Ancient Forest Campaign. I sat right next to Secretary Dan Clickman, in the office of the Department of Agriculture. The bill we were fighting for was lost by only two votes.
• Helping Ann Rule "The Best True Crime Writer of All Time" Fight Off Some Malicious Spammers When He Was a Technical Support Rep At a Barnesandnoble.com Call Center.
• Playing Bass In a Heavy Metal Band
• Singing Rock and Punk at Open Mic Nights Around Northwest New Jersey
• Writing Poetry, Essays and Letters to the Editor
• Editing Music Videos Using Windows Movie Maker
• Mastering The Art of Cleaning Toilets at Quick Chek

Erik is currently working on obtaining a pardon for James Titus, an innocent Hackettstown man convicted of murder in 1886. This campaign was on the radio and in  the newspaper. He has spoken to ofiicials in the State Parole Board and the Governor's Counsel's office. No one has ever gotten a posthumous pardon in New Jersey before. It sounds like it's going to happen. Read all about it at FreeJamesTitus.Blogspot.Com

Erik usually loathes being called Mr. Anderson. Most people who call him that have tried to scare him like the villain in the Matrix by calling him "Mr. Anderson". He prefers that people talk to him the way Mr. Ward or Mayor Tillman speak to Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning. Example:

"You know what, Mr. Anderson? You're startin' to get so far up my nose, I'm beginning to feel your boots on my chin." -R. Lee Ermey, as Mayor Tillman.

Erik Blaine Anderson was born to act. When the King of Funny Faces acts, he changes the world. Acting is not pretending. Acting is taking action. You will not regret it if you hire Mr. Anderson for any job that requires getting things done.

Please read this blog for more information, news and opinion by and about the King of Funny Faces. Comments are encouraged.
¹Rule, Ann. The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy, The Shocking Inside Story (Revised and Updated Edition). New York: Signet, 2001 - p165
²Forbes Magazine, August 1st, 1965