P is for Pulp #38
Dime Sports (March, 1940)
for the series:
P is for Pulp
March 31, 2009
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning #3
Cousin Reginald Spells Peloponnesus (1918)
for the series:
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning
March 30, 2009
Abandoned Places #12
Truman Hanbury Buxton & Co Ltd Pub
(London/Charlton, UK)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #20
Signs: Pierrot Le Fou
(Jean-Luc Godard; 1965)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
Twilight of the Dreamboats #4
Welcome to Show Business! #22
Original Captions:
New Orleans -- Car in which actress Jayne Mansfield crashed to her death June 29 is nothing but twisted metal. The 34-year-old sex symbol, her chauffeur Bonnie Harrison, and lawyer Sam Brody, were all killed when the car smashed into a truck on a winding road outside New Orleans. Three of Miss Mansfield's children, ranging in age from three to eight, were treated for cuts and shock at a New Orleans hospital. (1967)
for the series:
Twilight of the Dreamboats,
Welcome to Show Business
March 29, 2009
The Fair: A Century of Progress #1
The Avenue of Flags (1933)
for the series:
The Fair: A Century of Progress
Friends and Family #53
Original Caption:
New York -- Mystery piles upon mystery in the case of Bo Weinberg, a Dutch Schultz lieutenant. For several weeks Weinberg has been missing as completely as if he had been swallowed into thin air. Now his wife has vanished. Mrs. Weinberg is the former Alice Wallace. When questioned about her husband's disappearance she said she could tell nothing. Friends do not know if she was captured by the same faction that killed Dutch Schultz or whether she has gone into hiding with her husband. They had lived in a luxurious apartment at East 86th Street. (1935)
for the series:
Friends and Family
March 28, 2009
When Legends Gather #516
Jean Marais, Jean Renoir, Ingrid Bergman and Mel Ferrer
for the series:
When Legends Gather
Poets are both clean and warm
And most are far above the norm
Whether here or on the roam
Have a poet in every home! #42
Roger McGough
for the series:
Poets are both clean and warm
Annals of Crime #64
Original Caption:
Chicago -- Lt. Edward Shea of New York Police Department, holds papers in front of Anthony Portelli, 33, asking him to waive extradition at Detective Bureau here. Portelli and two companions had been sought by New York authorities as suspects in the killing to two Brooklyn detectives, Luke J. Fallon and John Finnegan. Portelli was seized in a motel here and finally signed papers waiving extradition. At right Portelli pleads with authorities, asking them to take the photographers away. (1962)
for the series:
Annals of Crime
Seminal Image #921
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
(Kenneth Anger; 1956)
for the series:
Seminal Images
March 27, 2009
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #19
Signs: The Shape of Things
(Neil LaBute; 2003)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
American Dry Spell #15
Aboard the USS Seneca, Prohibition agents stare in wonderment at case after case of seized contraband Scotch (1924)
for the series:
American Dry Spell
The Life and Times of the American Motel #4
The Kenabar Motel (Dennisport, MA)
for the series:
Life and Times of the American Motel
Adventures in the Fight Racket #28
Today's Adventure
Original Caption:
New York -- Welterweight Champion Kid Gavilan and Light Heavyweight Champion Joey Maxim signed contracts today at the State Boxing Commission Office, to defend their titles. Gavilan will meet Billy Graham in his title bout and Maxim will meet Bob Murphy. Shown at the signing are Kid Gavilan; Boxing Commissioner Eddie Eagan and Joey Maxim. In the rear are challengers Billy Graham and Bob Murphy. (1951)
for the series:
Adventures in the Fight Racket
March 26, 2009
The Art of the Panel: DC #10
from Combat Dust!
(by Bob Haney and Bob Brown)
(Star Spangled War Stories #50; October, 1956)
for the series:
Art of the Panel: DC
Tricky: Scenes from a Life #78
Tricky shmoozes a future voter at a Washington Senators game (1969)
for the series:
Tricky: Scenes from a Life
March 25, 2009
The Fair: Peace Through Understanding #1
Unisphere (1964)
for the series:
The Fair: Peace Through Understanding
March 24, 2009
Friends and Family #52
Original Caption:
Stolen Auto is Funeral Pyre of Last of the Ambergs.
Brooklyn -- Gangland's executioners wiped out Louis 'Pretty' Amberg, ending the racket reign of the alleged overlord of the loan shark racket in Brooklyn's east New York and Brownsville sections. Louis' body, nude and wrapped in a blanket, was found in a burning car in a quiet Brooklyn street. The car, a glistening new sedan, had been stolen, and Amberg's assailants had poured a ten gallon can of oil over it and set if afire, before abandoning it with its grisly passenger. On September 30, Joe Amberg, brother of Louis, and Morris Kessler were lined up against the wall of a Brooklyn garage and shot down. The picture is that of Louis Amberg death car, at spot where it was found burning. (1935)
for the series:
Friends and Family
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #18
Signs: Jubilee
(Derek Jarman; 1978)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
March 23, 2009
Similar Images #9
Blast of Silence
(Allen Baron; 1961)
Taxi Driver
(Martin Scorsese; 1976)
for the series:
Similar Images
Collect 'Em All #61
Evelyn Venable
No. 46 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 18th, 1914, Evelyn Venable comes of a literary family, her grandfather being a famous author and poet, and her father a well-known Shakespearean authority. She made her professional debut in a local performance of Dear Brutus, and in 1932 appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac. Then came the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, and her work in this led to her present film contract. She was first seen on the screen in Cradle Song; her more recent films are David Harum (with Will Rogers), Death Takes a Holiday and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.
for the series:
Collect 'em All
Housekeeping Matter #24:
Personal Thanks and Apologies from Your Tomáš
Look upon the following as my rising to a point of personal privilege:
Over the last, I would say, five to six weeks, this reporter has received numerous emails . . . as well as messages (through Facebook, MySpace, all kindsa internet fora) . . . touching on a variety of matters, most of them related to this blog. Not a torrent, mind you, just a sizable amount; with almost all requiring a response of one kind or another. At any rate, due to my overgrown work schedule and too many other bits-of-business/responsibilities, I have had neither the time nor, frankly, the energy to answer more than one or two of these in all those weeks. It is, yes, inexcusable; I don't say it isn't. For anyone who has written to me and is even a trifle miffed at waiting as long as you have with utter silence as my response heretofore, I can say 1) There are doubtless others who've been waiting longer (which I agree should not mitigate your mififfitude one milimeter); and 2) I'm extremely sorry for not addressing you directly, and for resorting to this shortcut.
Most of the outstanding requests I will try to get to as quickly as I can (not the most able standard of swiftness on even the best of days, I confess . . . and I don't wanna hear any 'Hire a Secretary' jokes from the Peanut Gallery), but I would be remiss were I not to thank those who sent in contributions to this here blog. I've received them all, and I can give every assurance there isn't a-one of them I won't be using. You have, then, our truest thanks.
I would also be remiss, this time on an epic scale, if I failed to mention our blog having received, on two occasions, the much-vaunted (and even coveted) Dardos Award . . . Yes, that Dardos Award; an enigmatic satellite of honor and self-replication, hurtling through cyberspace like a cross between a Pulitzer Prize and a Mormon chain letter. It had been my intention all along (and we're talking about more than a month's time here) to fulfill the Dardos mandate and select five blogs to stand as emblems representing our standard of blogospheric eggzellence . . . but I just couldn't get it together to get it done. In the coming weeks, however, it is my hope to introduce a new element to this oft-chaotic tapestry that will fulfill this function, and do so in a more enduring fashion.
In the meantime in between time, it is with gladdened heart and humbled bearing that I . . . hell, make that we; all four of us . . . extend our gratitude to Colin Geddes of the beautifully-named and quite wonderful Popcorn and Sticky Floors, and to one of the last true noblemen of an age that has seen and heard little of nobility, Glenn Erickson of DVD Savant (personal side note: Glenn, the Confidential cover was my screw-up entirely; no more than one of the hazards of not organizing images properly) for selecting this modest enterprise as one-fifth of their vision for what the blogosphere does, and does bloody well.
A special shout-out and thanks (in closing) to John Hodgman . . . he knows what for.
That is all.
for the series:
Announcements
March 22, 2009
The Art of Pop #34
Sex Education #125
Julie is Her Name
(Julie London)
(Liberty Records; 1955)
for the series:
Art of Pop,
Sex Education
When Legends Gather #514
Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Fiorello LaGuardia and Dorothy Lamour
for the series:
When Legends Gather
March 21, 2009
March 20, 2009
March 19, 2009
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning #2
Checkers (1928)
for the series:
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning
March 18, 2009
L Is For Lange #1
Plantation Overseer and His Field Hands
(Mississippi Delta; 1936)
for the series:
L Is For Lange
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #17
Signs: Revenge of the Pink Panther
(Blake Edwards; 1978)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
Abandoned Places #10
Detroit Public Schools Book Depository
(Detroit, Michigan)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
March 17, 2009
Friends and Family #51
Original Caption:
Phoenix -- Parts of the body of William 'Willie' Bioff, 54, Labor racketeer, lie under a blanket in the front yard of his home after a bomb exploded in a pickup truck and scattered parts of him all over the area. The former convict, found guilty in 1941 of a million dollar extortion plot in the movie industry, stepped on the starter of his truck and triggered the fatal blast in front of his house. (1955)
for the series:
Friends and Family
Tricky: Scenes from a Life #77
Tricky listens as Dwight D. Eisenhower tells a story about Milton Berle (1952)
for the series:
Tricky: Scenes from a Life
Action, Now! #10
Original Caption:
Washington -- Alice Paul makes a toast to Tennessee's ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. The banner beside her was displayed outside the National Women's Suffrage Party's Washington, DC, headquarters showing the stars of the states which had ratified the amendment. Since the 18th amendment, Prohibition, had previously been passed, the toast was with grape juice (1920)
for the series:
Action Now
The Art of the Panel: DC #9
From Crisis on Earth-Three
(by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs, Gaspar Saladino)
(Justice League of America #29; August, 1964)
for the series:
Art of the Panel: DC
March 16, 2009
March 15, 2009
The Art of the Centerfold #48
Karen Thompson (Miss August, 1961)
for the series:
Art of the Centerfold
Annals of Crime #63
Original Caption:
Chicago -- Richard Carpenter, who was arrested for the murder of two police officers, looks out from his cell. During his arrest attempt, Carpenter fled and took a family of four hostage for 24 hours. The wound on his head was sustained during his struggle with police. (1955)
for the series:
Annals of Crime
March 14, 2009
Art at 45 Revolutions per Minute #1
A Big Hunk o' Love b/w My Wish Came True
(Elvis Presley)
(RCA/Victor Records; 1959)
for the series:
Art at 45 r.p.m.
When Legends Gather #512
Carrie Fisher and a now-unidentified luminary who may (or may not) be Wim Wenders.
Update (04/13/09): Word comes from Carrie Fisher herself, informing us that the individual photographed with her above is not Steven Spielberg. Until I find out who it actually is (assuming I do, anyway), I'm altering the caption to read as it does now.
Our apologies to Ms. Fisher
for the series:
When Legends Gather
March 13, 2009
Singles Going Steady #3
Lou Giordano: Stay Close to Me b/w Don't Cha Know
(Brunswick 9-55115; 1959)
This single is the last in a trilogy of Buddy Holly-produced releases, in this case it's Holly prodigy Lou Giordano, who appeared on this lone Brunswick Records single in 1959. The A-side is a Holly composition that the Lubbock musician never recorded himself (not even as a demo), which he also plays guitar on. It's a pleasant if unremarkable pop tune, at least in Giordano's hands, but worth a cursory listen. The B-side is more unusual; a goofy novelty number written and produced by Phil Everly, which both Holly and Everly play and sing backup on. Why they deliberately chose to make the backing vocals sound so silly remains a mystery, and it certainly didn't help endear Giordano to the listening public.
for the series:
Singles Going Steady
The Friends of Milt Hinton #19
Ike Quebec in a New York City recording studio, circa 1961.
for the series:
The Friends of Milt Hinton
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #16
Signs: The Knack ...and How to Get It
(Richard Lester; 1965)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
March 12, 2009
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning #1
Forgotten Facts About Washington (1932)
for the series:
Norman Rockwell Saved from Drowning
March 11, 2009
The Life and Times of the American Motel #3
Atlantic Sands Motel (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)
for the series:
Life and Times of the American Motel
March 10, 2009
They Were Collaborators #553
Clint Eastwood, Ingrid Pitt, Mary Ure and Richard Burton
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
March 09, 2009
Great Moments in Moxie #19
Moxie mascot The TNT Cowboy seems to have a rather improbable lead in his race against the iconic Moxiemobile on the back of this promotional fan.
for the series:
Great Moments in Moxie
The Art of the Panel: EC #11
from Under Cover
(Written by Bill Gaines & Al Feldstein, illustrated by Wally Wood)
(Shock SuspenStories #6; Dec.-Jan. 1953)
for the series:
Art of the Panel: EC
Artists & Animals #17
Billie Holiday crouches with her boxer Mister.
for the series:
Artists and Animals
Collect 'Em All #60
Genevieve Tobin
No. 45 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes
Born in New York City, November 29th, 1904, and educated in New York and Paris, Genevieve Tobin began her stage career when she was sixteen years of age. She scored a hit in the leading role of The Trial of Mary Dugan (in which she appeared in this country), and this led to film work. The Lady Surrenders was her first talkie and her latest include Dark Hazard, Easy to Love, Success at Any Price, The Ninth Guest and Kiss and Make Up. She is a talented musician and plays both harp and piano really well; she also possesses a fine soprano voice.
for the series:
Collect 'em All
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #15
Signs: Four Flies on Grey Velvet
(Dario Argento; 1971)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
Politicians in Action #36
Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt formally declares war
for the series:
Politicians in Action
Viceroys, Prophets and Hillbilly Cats #4
Waylon Jennings
for the series:
Viceroys Prophets and Hillbilly Cats
March 08, 2009
Abandoned Places #5
Maunsell Army Sea Forts
(River Thames/River Mersey, UK)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
Tricky: Scenes from a Life #76
Tricky just remembered (1969)
for the series:
Tricky: Scenes from a Life
P is for Pulp #34
The Art of the Weekly #4
Argosy All-Story Weekly
(November 6, 1926)
for the series:
Art of the Weekly,
P is for Pulp
March 07, 2009
Visionary Film #15
The House with Laughing Windows
(Pupi Avati; 1976)
for the series:
Visionary Film
Abandoned Places #4
16th Street Train Station
(Oakland, California)
photo by Lee Otis
for the series:
Abandoned Places
Animated Images #5
The Wabbit Who Came to Supper
(Friz Freleng)
(Leon Schlesinger Studios; 1942)
for the series:
Animated Images
March 06, 2009
Signs and Meaning in Cinema #14
Signs: The Magus
(Guy Green; 1968)
for the series:
Signs and Meaning in Cinema
Abandoned Places #3
Leningradskaya Russian Research Base
(Oates Coast, Antarctica)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
When Legends Gather #508
Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Randy Newman
for the series:
When Legends Gather
March 05, 2009
Abandoned Places #2
Renwick Smallpox Hospital
(Roosevelt Island, New York)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
Viceroys, Prophets and Hillbilly Cats #3
Eddie Cochran
for the series:
Viceroys Prophets and Hillbilly Cats
Tricky: Scenes from a Life #75
Tricky proves he can operate a yo-yo and hold hands with Roy Acuff, all at the same time (1973)
for the series:
Tricky: Scenes from a Life
March 04, 2009
Abandoned Places #1
The Pod City
(San Zhi, Taiwan)
(photo by Cypherone)
for the series:
Abandoned Places
March 03, 2009
The Life and Times of the American Motel #2
Marco Polo Motel (Seattle, Washington)
for the series:
Life and Times of the American Motel
March 02, 2009
Singles Going Steady #2
Waylon Jennings - Jole Blon b/w When Sin Stops
(Brunswick 9-55130; 1959)
Continuing in a Buddy Holly-related vein, this early Waylon Jennings single was the result of a friendship between the two Lubbock, Texas musicians, dating back to before Holly's days with the Crickets, when he was playing "western and bop" in the duo Buddy and Bob with Bob Montgomery.
"I got to know Buddy very well, and in fact knew him for six or seven years before I ever went to work for him. When the family moved to Lubbock, and while I was a disc jockey there, I became his protege. He produced the first record I ever had--paid for it and everything--on the Brunswick label. Buddy flew in King Curtis, the sax player, to my first session and we did one record, 'Jole Blon,' the Harry Choates cajun classic. We sat down and copied the words like we thought they sounded, and we did it with a rock and roll beat. A lot of people who heard the result got a lot of laughs out of it."
Holly actually flew Curtis in to Norman Petty's Clovis, New Mexico studio for his own tracks Reminiscing and Come Back Baby, but decided to share the wealth and got him to play on these two songs, on which Holly also plays electric guitar. The single's lack of success isn't too hard to understand; an aspiring country and western singer performing in a barely understood Cajun patois to a West Texas rockabilly beat with a New York R&B saxophone part on the side just didn't gel for listeners, and Jennings' voice doesn't sound as distinctive here as it would a few years down the road. A few months after the September, 1958 session, Holly would ask Jennings to be his new bassist on that fateful final tour, and one wonders if this single--which wasn't even mastered until the following March, a month after Holly's death--would have been released at all if it hadn't had that connection to the late singer.
for the series:
Singles Going Steady
They Were Collaborators #550
David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Visionary Film #14
Shurayukihimi (Lady Snowblood)
(Toshiya Fujita; 1973)
for the series:
Visionary Film
Artists in Action #487
Original Caption:
New York -- Well, they say he's not the only male doing this sort of thing these days. Artist Salvador Dali has his hair coifed in the salon of Sebou in New York. The press and television were invited for the session. One newsman commented that Dali looked "pretty much the same going as he did arriving." (1972)
for the series:
Artists in Action
When Legends Gather #506
Woody Herman, Nat King Cole and Leonard Feather
for the series:
When Legends Gather
Adventures in the National Pastime #11
Today's Adventure
Original Caption:
Brooklyn -- Crooner Eddie Fisher receives an award from Brooklyn Dodger Captain Pee Wee Reese "for his contribution to the youth of America and his keen interest in baseball," in a ceremony at Ebbets Field where the Dodgers met Pittsburgh in a night game May 31. The award was from the Brooklyn baseball club. In the background are five members of the 'Dodger Coettes': Evelyn LeViness; Joan Morales; Maryann Marino; Marilyn Morales and Phyllis Geller. (1955)
for the series:
Adventures in the National Pastime
March 01, 2009
The Art of Pop #32
Opiate d'Amour
(The Jackie Gleason Orchestra)
(Capitol Records; 1960)
for the series:
Art of Pop
Politicians in Action #35
Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-MA) tries to remember her number
for the series:
Politicians in Action
The Golden Age of Prurience #54
Confidential
(November, 1969)
for the series:
The Golden Age of Prurience
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