Chip Jacobs

Here’s an overshadowed story that should wise up the medical community and the politicians. “Surprising new research says nearly 1.3 million Americans are living with a spinal-cord injury, five times more than previous estimates. Overall, 5.5 million people in the U.S. have some degree of paralysis due to a variety of neurologic problems, from multiple [...]

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This story, published some months back in a chain of indepedent community newspapers, dips its toe into that mystery. ” … Jacobs’ first book, Wheeling the Deal: The Outrageous Legend of Gordon Zahler, Hollywood’s Flashiest Quadriplegic, was begun as a gift to Jacob’s mother, Zahler’s sister. When the 1993 wildfires destroyed part of the Jacobs’ [...]

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Here’s the opening of the New York Times piece about Liu Yan, an exceptional and brave woman my uncle would’ve had more than a little advice for as she acclimates to life by the seat of her pants. Be sure and watch the video. “Last August a 26-year-old dancer named Liu Yan was supposed to [...]

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Though my book, Wheeling the Deal: the Outrageous Legend of Gordon Zahler, Hollywood’s Flashiest Quadriplegic, has been out for about a year, this interview by Jacqueline Marcell on her radio program Coping with Caregiving remains one of my favorite appearances. Jacqueline, author of a well-acclaimed book herself, knows her stuff. Listen to her show sometime [...]

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Nobody does self-narrated portraits better than the New York Times. Here’s the paper’s spinal cord trauma page and a well-done story about an expermimental stem cell treatment for the recently paralyzed. In reading all this, I cannot help but wonder what Gordon would say or how he would react. One thing is for certain. He [...]

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Penny Richards praised the “exceptional” level of personal detail and insight, the inclusion of how religion influenced the family dynamics and the perspective about the gritty work of Hollywood. What she took exception to was the informal style of writing, an intereresting critique since so many others have applauded the writing style as “amazing,” “witty” [...]

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The call came from out of nowhere, a message to me from someone I’d never heard of before, a message left on the wrong house line. He said his name was Bond, Troy Bond to be exact, and he’d read about my book, Wheeling the Deal: the Outrageous Legend of Gordon Zahler, in his local [...]

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Curious? C’mon, we all need under-heroes. Amazon.com link Here’s what others have said about the biography of Hollywood’s incorrigible little dreamer. Family memoirs are rife with grandiose tales of triumph over adversity, and while it would be easy to dismiss Jacobs’ portrait of his unorthodox uncle as another such unvarnished encomium, his professional background as [...]

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My uncle, the focus of the book, Wheeling the Deal: the Outrageous Legend of Gordon Zahler, Hollywood’s Flashiest Quadriplegic, had no shortage of colorful buddies and cohorts, some quite famous, meandering in and out of the improbable, white-knuckler adventure that was his life. We’re talking Nat King Cole, Larry Harmon (a.k.a. “Bozo the Clown”), Hugo [...]

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Had my uncle, Gordon Zahler, been alive to see the leadership of his beloved country bickering and cowering from the job at hand — you know, throwing an emergency patch over a credit meltdown created by a whole slew of reasons, from Wall Street profiteering to over-hyping people’s ability to buy a home — he [...]

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