Here’s the story of Starving Students. I include this story here because I think it is an interesting origin story. This was a moving company begun in Los Angeles at a previous era when long-haired hippies roamed the earth. This fledgling business was started by two such teenagers in 1972. In typical commune fashion young dudes came together to move furniture to and fro. This company structure was not a hierarchical company. There was no top boss ordering other guys what and where to move the jobs that came in.
But who came up with the name “Starving Students?” These two teenagers were sitting around watching TV when a commercial came on advertising “Starving Artists.” Craig Ufkin turned to his friend Darryl Marshak and said, “We should start a moving company and call it “Starving Students.” Darryl’s father donated an answering machine.
Darryl’s father was a pro-semite and frowned on Darryl’s friendship with Craig. The first time Darryl introduced Craig to his father, he said, “This is my right-hand man.” Craig didn’t say anything, but he wondered why he was put in the role of right-hand man when he just considered them as equal friends. Darryl’s father was shaking his head back and forth silently to show his disapproval.
An older man named Parker Cole donated two trucks: a Willys FC-150 Jeep to Craig and a Willys FC-170 Jeep to Darryl. Parker was an early contributor to the moving company. Many of these friends would hang out at his house on Lookout Canyon. He was a navy man with a mechanical mind and was a sort of mentor. And sometimes he could be heard sulking about the lack of attention from the boys: “I take you to the movies. I take you to Pink’s for hot dogs…” Nowadays people would probably be more likely to see Parker as a predatory pedaphile. Even though the boys teased each other about Parker’s sexual interests, he was not a predator.
Darryl’s truck was capable of running from the beginning, but Craig had to use his mechanical skills on his old truck. In fact, before Craig could start, a beehive had to be removed from the driver side wheel well. Mike Bisetti, who had an extraordinary can-do attitude put on a nylon motorcycle suit, coverall, helmet and goggles and singlehandidly removed the beehive. They were not professional bee handlers but they made do. The bees were angry and it was not an easy job. Mike Bisetti split off from the company to make a name for himself producing movies. He really was and is a mechanical genius.
Darryl went to New York for the summer and when he came back he urged Craig, “We have to be productive.” They printed up flyers and set about posting them throughout Los Angeles. Darryl designed some avant-garde flyers, stickers and posters. By the time they got home the answering machine was taking messages. Soon two girls, Robin Niel and her friend Shaum, were in charge of taking phone messages. Shaum had been living with Darryl in a building they called “the log cabin.”
Other young guys came with their own vehicles: Mark James had a pickup. Steve Truvy had an enclosed moving van. Jamie Partch, Jay Sherman, Chris Collins, Danny Green, Guy Jacobs. Nobody had patented the name. Some put the name on the side of their trucks and some didn’t. It was a win-win situation.
Craig and Darryl and a girl named Cindy Muscati trekked to the nearby comedy club, the “Improv” on Melrose. They were hoping to promote their business by doing a comedy skit. The owner did not allow any skits with advertising.
One of the comics that night was Andy Kaufman who was in the TV series “Taxi.” Craig remembers the way Andy Kaufman did a spot-on Elvis impersonation. Andy Kaufman was also known for his alter-ego lounge singer Tony Clifton. Craig and Darryl were not able to think up a skit, but Cindy Muscati did do a skit with Andy Kaufman about a Johnny Carson type interview.
Darryl and Craig were taking classes at East Valley College. Ethan Margolith was also going to this college. More about Ethan later.
One of the earlier moves involved moving some small freight from San Fransisco to a Los Angeles movie studio for Steven Spielberg. When Craig and Parker arrived in San Francisco, they met Steven Spielberg at a hotel. Spielberg was gracious enough to share a joint with them. On the ride back from San Francisco Craig drove until they got to Esalan. Craig went to sneak in and soak in the baths at Esalan while Parker took a nap. Then Parker drove the rest of the way. On that last lap, they picked up two female hithhikers.
Another early job involved a man who wanted to move a water bed. Water beds were often not allowed in certain apartments and condos. This man asked Craig and Jamie to move the waterbed under the cover of night. So they waited half a day while being paid.
Jamie and Craig were close friends since they were 10 or 11 years old. Jamie was quick with a verbal retort. He once told Craig “With your looks and my brain we’ll go far.” He meant in picking up girls. They used to hitchhike everywhere. Their hair was very long like their peers. When men would make fun of their long hair calling them girls, Jamie said under his voice, “Does a little girl have one of these?” grabbing his crotch.
Some young men were not too bright. One time a young guy went on a move with Craig. This kid was the son of a famous movie producer. He was brought in by Darryl who was already consorting with movie makers. This kid ruined an antique sewing machine in a wooden cabinet because he didn’t know how to tie knots properly. They ended by doing the move no charge for the woman.
Another move by Craig and Jamie Partch involved a family with a young 10-year old son. Craig and Jamie paid a little bit of money to the kid for his help. At the end of the move, the father gave the guys a check. It was a bad check and when Craig and Jamie confronted the man, he just laughed in their face: “What are you going to do about it?” That was the last time they took a check.
I want to emphasize that Ethan Margolith was not there at the very beginning of the company, and he was not there when the name was created. But if you admire that kind of capitalism, you could say that Ethan stole the business fair and square. At some point after the business was off and running, Ethan just showed up with two large trucks with the name on the sides. Craig remembers just going in to work one day and seeing Ethan all set up at a desk with paperwork in front of him. I guess you could call him a corporate raider. One time when Craig went back to work at the company around the years 2011 to 2017, Ethan told him: “Nobody makes money here but me.”
The name Starving Students on the sides of two large trucks attracted the attention of the authorities like the Public Utilities Commission who threatened to fine the company for not having the proper licenses.
About this time Craig had an accident in a moving van. The Hollywood Independent published an article about the accident entitled: “Driver has a moving experience.” There was a photo of the van with the name Starving Students on the side, Craig broke his leg which ended his association with the company. He moved to Minnesota, got married. He did various jobs as a heavy equipment operator, running a gas station, as a bartender, parking lot manager, electrician.
Darryl had always wanted to make movies so he split off to pursue that path and did very well at it. He insists that he and Ethan started the company and when he tells the story you would think that Craig was just a figment of the imagination. Craig has never held resentment because he gives Ethan the credit for taking the company legal while the Public Utilities Company was breathing down their necks.
This name attracted business from the beginning. Just having the name on the side of the trucks was the main source of attention. Before this time moving companies were large businesses like Bekins, Allied, Atlas, Mayflower. Part of the reason for the demise of this company is the name. How many students are starving in the U.S. these days? I’ts not easy to be a student. It can be a hard road when you are studying and working at a job at the same time. I recently read about China under Mao. After their famine, most people had recovered fairly well. I remember being told by parents and teachers to eat everything on your plate–consider the starving children of China and India. In China at the same time children were being told about the starving children in imperialist countries. Callers to Starving Students would sometimes ask if the money really went to the starving students as if the company was a charity.
When Ethan took over the company he still struggled at first. Then he built it up in other states. Craig suggested they call it a “global” moving company. Craig worked there again for a couple of years, but the business was shrinking rapidly.
Darryl made his way to fame in Hollyweird. He also became an acolyte of AA. I overheard him once preaching that “AA is the only way that works in getting people sober.” He has a healthy ego and uses it to cudgel others who are not sober as long as he is. He still insists that Ethan and he started the company from the beginning. Memories are not written in stone. Drugs do not help with our memories. AA may help some people become sober although there is no evidence that AA is the best or only way.
I think a more appropriate name for the company as it is run today should be “Capitalist Roaders.” Just my personal opinion.
MethadonianX 