Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. There's gon' be another cat comin' out lookin' like me, soundin' like me, next year. I know this.

All About Eve (1950): Margo’s Confrontation

#11 in the 40 movies I haven’t seen from the AFI 100!

I went into this knowing nothing about it except that it’s about the business of show business on Broadway. I didn’t expect to quickly think, “This is one of the single best movies I’ve ever seen,” but that’s sure enough what happened. Bette Davis plays Margo, the biggest star on Broadway who the entire industry revolves around. An upstart, Eve, worms her way in to become Margo’s assistant but secretly plans to usurp her place in the spotlight. That’s the plot, but it’s also about the cost of fame in show business, how even those who support you will knife you in the back without hesitation, and how cruel society is to women as they age.

I don’t know that there’s ever been better casting than Bette Davis for this role. The screenplay by Joe Mankiewicz is regarded as one of the very best of all time and to my taste it’s true. There’s nothing cute or sanded down here, this is an emotionally valid tale that now stands as a feminist masterpiece.

“Funny thing, a woman’s career. The things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you’ll need them again when you get back to being a woman. It’s one career all females have in common, whether we like it or not: Being a woman. Sooner or later we’ve got to work at it, no matter how many other careers we’ve had or wanted…Slow curtain, the end.”

For the painting, I decided to add a pop of orange as a nod to the excellent magazine illustrators of the time when the movie debuted. There’s a moment when Margo is standing on the staircase, soon after the clip above, where she confronts her inner circle and they confront her in return. On the surface it’s a bunch of semi-drunk show-people sniping at each other but it’s as tense and action-filled on an emotional level as any blockbuster.

Here’s a quick warmup painting I did the prepare for this one, working out the composition and the color palette.

Next week: Putting the ‘art’ in Spartacus. (I’m REALLY happy with how that painting came out and I’m excited to share it with you.)

Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Darby Allin painting. I had a huge breakthrough on this one and I’m excited to tell you all about it!

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

Outlander season 8 has started off in the most Outlander way possible with warranted violence, major personal revelations, reunions, and new friends who are probably not going to stay friends. I watched the whole series for the first time over the course of the fall and winter and I’m super excited for this final season.

I watched the Secret Mall Apartment documentary the other night, only knowing a bit about it and got immediately sucked in. A group of artists in Providence, RI found an undeveloped space inside of the Providence Mall and made an apartment in it. FOR FOUR YEARS. The whole thing was done as an art project to comment on capitalism, urban sprawl and redevelopment and was used to help them meet up and stage their other art projects. There’s this constant threat that they might get caught, which obviously eventually happens, but it’s an incredible journey getting there. The ending legitimately took my breath away, too. I can’t recommend this enough!

I had King of Ashes by SA Cosby in my to-read queue and moved it up since Katy was hosting her book club this month and it was the book. A rare alignment of planets where our tastes matched! It’s an edge-of-your-seat ride about family secrets, crime, generational trauma, how money corrupts a soul and how everything burns. A successful money manager comes back home after his father is left comatose from a suspect car accident, which quickly turns out to be related to his younger brother’s drug habit, pulling the whole family and their family’s crematorium business into the worst parts of society.

There’s also some subtle nods to not just other SA Cosby books, but also Jordan Harper’s ‘She Rides Shotgun’ which I loved quite a bit. Cosby has a lovely mastery of language, picking such perfect words to elevate the experience without overpowering it by turning purple. Just a hint of lilac, if you will.

I read Absolute Superman volume 2 by Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval and friends on Wednesday and thought it’s a blast. This fresh reimagining of all of the DC characters, setting them in a modern and real world where only their names are familiar and everything else is dangerously different. This is a Kal-El who grew up on Krypton, where his parents were working class instead of scientists. Coming to Earth as a teenager, he has a very different mindset and has never been Clark Kent. If I have any quibble, that absence of Clark takes away a bit of the fundamental magic of Superman in my mind, that there’s something powerful inside of all of us that we don’t show everyone. It’s also special that someone can be this powerful and choose to use those abilities to help instead of self-enrich (CAN YOU IMAGINE). I feel like they’re steering the character this way anyway, but for me personally I miss that element. At his heart he’s still fundamentally a good person, even when standing against such a dystopian society.

SKELETONS! We’ve all got them inside of us. Most of these are art for art’s sake, although the first and fifth ones were me working out some ideas for other paintings I was working on.

In light of the awful new anti-trans law that just went into effect in Kansas I’m doing a charity auction to benefit Trans Continental Pipeline, an organization that helps trans people relocate to other, safer states. I’m sick of these bigots and how they’re targeting people who are just trying to live as their true, authentic selves.

So here’s what we’re going to do:

I’ll do a 12” x 16” watercolor painting of the subject of the auction winner’s choice. I’ve got some examples of my work here in case you’re unfamiliar, to give you a feeling of what I’ll do for you.

A sports thing, a superhero thing, a rasslin’ thing, a music thing, a movie thing, I can absolutely do that. Your childhood house or a vacation memory? I’m on it. Your beloved pet or your wedding? I’m here for you.

Here’s how it works:

We’re doing it silent auction style, so you can either reply to this email or to the pinned post on my Bluesky profile with your bid. I’ll run live updates on Bluesky with the current highest bid through 12PM CST today March 8, 2026. I’ll reach out to the winner to let them know.

The winner will then donate directly to Trans Continental Pipeline and send me their payment receipt and a list of three possible subjects, which I’ll pick from to make sure I can do the very best painting possible for them. The winner is donating directly to the charity to keep all of this clean and to get the most money to them as possible.

If you just want to donate to them anyway and not be a part of this, please do so. This is about helping people in need. We’re good people and that’s the kind of thing we do. I thank you in advance for your empathy and generosity.

Let’s help some people.

Love you more,
Rob