TOP VALUE ! Looking for Top Value?

Looking for top value?  Shoot, who ain't?  Trading Stamps can stretch your dollar, and just look at the perfect, clean world they come from!  Look really, really close and you can see the Top Value mascot, "Toppie" the frugal elephant painted on the wall of the redemption center, all dressed up in his tartan frock to represent value.  Top Value was located in Canton, Ohio

Top Value Trading Stamps Booklet Top Value Enterprises 1966  Collection Jim Linderman

Etui Etui ??? Homemade Folk Art Needle Case

Etui   ???   Edui is another name for a needle case.  Well, sorta.  So let's just use needle case.  A handmade one, with felt, feedsack printed cotton, some trim...and a nice little tab of paper above from where this little lady once lived in a scrapbook but was torn out.  She has had a few lives.

An odd thing, as printed needle cases and needle books were literally given out free.  
SEE HERE  
Still, someone took the time to make it, the least I can do is scan it.

 

Depression Era handmade Needle Case  Collection Jim Linderman

Randal Levenson Photographer sends information on Cass Carr, Harlem Photographer and Bettie Page Promoter

Photograph copyright Randal Levenson No Reproduction without artist's permission

Master Photographer Randal Levenson was kind enough to get in touch and reveal some previously unknown information about Bettie Page photographer (and organizer of the infamous Camera Club outings in which she was discovered) Cass Carr.  As it has been well over 50 years now, and new information on early African-American photographers of the 1950s  (much less one central to Bettie Page's career)  is increasingly scarce and valued by scholars, I'm happy to share this snippet from Mr. Levenson...as well as crib one of his astounding photos.

"Re Camera Club Girls, I knew Cass Carr when he lived in the cellar of a building off 5th Ave in NYC and made his living buying GSA-auctioned photo equipment in DC and bringing it back to his cellar quarters, cramming the stuff in as best as possible and selling the stuff to eccentrics who would clamber all over it, looking for a 'find'. The place was also a sort of clubhouse for old timer photographers.  I made the DC trip myself a couple of times."

My book on Cass Carr and his Camera Club Outings is Here.

Randall Levenson is himself the outstanding photographer responsible for In Search of the Monkey Girl which was published by Aperture.  Levenson's work is represented by Joseph Bellows Gallery and Robert Klein Gallery. He further reports his current project is "chasing snake-handling ministers, chicken fighters, moonshiners and loggers in Tennesee, Alabama and Georgia." so I'd say much good work is forthcoming. 
 
The artist's website is HERE

BIG Gold Scam The Talk Show Host Gold Fraud Racket and Big Gold

You are probably better off buying gold from this fellow than an advertiser on your favorite conservative radio host's broadcast of unsubstantiated "reporting" for sure.  You don't have to look far to find rampant fraud.

Ask yourself this.  If you can make money on gold, why are the companies SELLING IT?  Are they doing you a FAVOR?  And if an "investment" in gold is the safest and best there is, what are the gold sellers buying with your money?  Snake Oil?

Sheesh...It is no crime to be stupid or to listen to putrid pundits on the radio...but bait and switch IS a crime and that's how those gold companies make THEIR money.  By tricking you into buying coins at inflated prices rather than bars at the going rate.  Once you call, your fears of global catastrophe ramped up to a feverish irrational scale by an overfed and over-rich talk show buffoon, you are prime meat to the bullion bilkers.  

Anyway, if those talk show hosts were as patriotic as they claim, they would tell you to invest in American T-bills rather than throwing your money away on scams.  Your country needs the support.

Photo: Collection Jim Linderman (Untitled, Anonymous Snapshot, No Date)

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Jean Lussier Balls the Falls ! Dapper Dry Debonair Devil of Dare

Jean Lussier balled the Niagara Falls only once, but he made a living off it for over 30 years.  As you can see here, he sold pictures of himself as a famous daredevil who defeated the mighty falls as a young man all the way into his old age.  He is looking pretty dapper in the last one, having apparently awarded himself some kind of "captainship" or something.  Dapper but dry as a bone...and dry a long time.


Lussier was smart enough to figure out a rubber ball was the way to survive the fall.  So he created a rubber raft inflated with inner tubes.  The round contraption with him inside went over in 1928.  The rubber beast is seen here poked with flags behind young Jean in the first photo, and it appears he has already started ripping sections out to sell as souvenirs.


I'm not kidding...Jean DID sell off his rubber, one patch at a time.  When he ran out, he sold random chunks of tires he purchased claiming they were historic!  He also toured the country giving lectures at special screenings of the film made while he bobbed and dropped.


After living off his 30 minute trip for 30 years, Lussier decided it was time to rekindle interest. He claimed he was planning another ball drop, this one three times as big around (no doubt to provide him with enough historic scraps to last him the rest of his life) but it never happened.  He passed away in a beat-up boarding house in Niagara Falls, New York.


COLLECTION OF THREE JEAN LUSSIER AUTOGRAPHED REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS circa 1928-1940  Collection JIM LINDERMAN


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Mystiscope Fortune Teller 1925 Collection Jim Linderman

Mysticope Fortune Teller Wheel and Answer Book  1925  National Novelty Company, F.L. Morgan Company.  Collection Jim Linderman

Wegner's Garden of Prayer (Booking Weddings Now)

Act NOW to book your wedding at the Paul & Matilda Wegner Grotto and Garden of Prayer in Sparta Wisconsin.  Site is HERE

Real Photo Postcard circa 1935  Collection Jim Linderman  

Fred the Chain Man and his Carved Gun A True Crime Tale #2 by Jim Linderman

The Chain Man was found guilty October 19,1922 for kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison.  He stayed there three years.

The Chain Man earned his nickname for linking a few young women together in in a hole below his shack near Omaha, Nebraska.  He had tricked them by offering a ride to a nearby amusement park.  His victims were Jean Jenkins and Kathyryn McManaman. While his prisoners were chained to a cement block in the pit, Brown dug their graves nearby.  When H. E. Boyd tried to rescue the women,  Brown simply added him to the chains.

Chain Man was shot while being captured in Medicine Bow, Wyoming after a few days on the run.  He survived to face trial.

Chain Man's trial was delayed while the court decided what to do with hoards of high school girls who came to enjoy the show.  "We will continue the trial in the morning when the children are at their desks" decided the judge.

Brown didn't stay in prison long, unless you consider three years a long time.  He carved this dummy gun and used it in an escape attempt, but he was killed while trying. So was a prison guard.

Several years later, the skeleton of his apparent partner in the crime, Gus Grimes, was found buried near the shack Brown had held his victims.

There is at least one other example of this real photo postcard surviving.  There is no way to determine how many were developed, but the businessman who made them probably hoped to sell a few to the high school. 

Fred Brown's Dummy Gun "Azo" Real Photo Postcard 1925 Collection Jim Linderman

See Books and eBook downloads by Jim Linderman HERE at Blurb.com 

Little Alvin Enck's Bible The Lord's Limousine and a Racy Poem

Little Alvin Enck is my kind of fellow.  On the first page of his Holy Bible he has marked his territory with a little drawing of the Lord's Limousine, but on the last page he has written what for the time would have been a most racy poem.  I think Alvin struggled with the same temptation we all did.  It was the depression...I hope this isn't the only thing Alvin got for Christmas that year...it looks like he was hoping for a toy car.)

( A Post on the daily blog old-time-religion as well)

Alvin Enck's embellished Holy Bible 1935 Collection Jim Linderman

BOOKS AND eBOOKS by Jim Linderman are HERE

Here Come the Women of Rebekah #40 IOOF PARADE Collection Jim Linderman

 It's parade time and Rebekah has gone all out!  Mistletoe Rebekah Lodge Number 40

I AM A REBEKAH:
I believe in the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of man, and the Sisterhood of woman.
I believe in the watch-words of our Order - Friendship, Love and Truth.
Friendship - is like a golden chain that ties our hearts together. Love - is one of our most precious gifts, the more you give, the more you receive. Truth - is the standard by which we value people. It is the foundation of our society.
I believe that my main concern should be my God, my family and my friends. Then I should reach out to my community and the World, for in God's eyes we are all brothers and sisters.
I AM A REBEKAH!

Group of original snapshots, no date (1920?) Rebekah Independent Order of Odd Fellows Parade float  COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

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Basil Wolverton Draws Twins Panic Magazine 1954

Always trying to strike the perfect balance between "HIGH" art and "LOW" art, I may be leaning a bit to the low here.  Basil Wolverton (all bow) and his illustration for the 4th issue of Panic, 1954.  Which was apparently copied from the cover of Mad magazine earlier the same year.  Found last weekend for pennies, and as I am reading it, not putting it into a mylar bag...I can assure you it is worth every single one.  Each panel a miracle.  

Panic Magazine 1954.  Collection Jim Linderman

Extinct until December Vernacular Photograph 1920 Omaha, Nebraska

Original Snapshot on Reverse "Dec 1920 3221 Leavenworth Omaha, Neb

Collection Jim Linderman

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Jim Linderman Interview The Auction Exchange and Collectors News 3/26/12 One eclectic collector is seeking the storied past.

                                           CLICK TO ENLARGE TEXT

"One Eclectic Collector is Seeking the Storied Past" Jim Linderman Interview with Eric C. Rodenberg The Auction Exchange and Collectors News March 26, 2012. 

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Show Card Colors ! Devoe and Raynolds the Oldest Company of Paint

Started in 1754, for literally hundreds of years, Devoe was one of the oldest companies founded and operated in the United States.  Sometimes I get really lucky with these posts and find a kindred soul along with the back story.  I certainly did this time.  Take a gander at the more than  splendid  Ryan Jones collection of Devoe vintage paint.

Devoe Show Card Colors Salesman Sample Card 9 x11 circa 1900 - 1920?  Collection Jim Linderman

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BRONZE THRILLS ! George Levitan Goes Black and Goes Smutty

Astoundingly, or maybe not...Bronze Thrills was published by a Caucasian.  George Levitan.  Not only that, Levitan was originally from the Upper Pennisula of Michigan and once said he never even saw a Black person until he was 18 years old,  according to Texas Monthly magazine in October 1983.  As a teen, Levitan moved to Detroit but he didn't stay long.  He moved to Forth Worth, Texas and bought the Good Publishing Company.  It was a good move.  Bronze Thrills was already being published, but George spiced it up a bit (as you can see)  more and commenced becoming a very rich man.

Not only Bronze Thrills (Breaking the Cross-Dressing barrier here with the story of a husband who got his kicks wearing women's clothes) but Hep, Jive, Sepia, Soul Confessions, Soul Teen and Soul Confessions.  A one-man Black publishing empire which was white!

That isn't to say George was a creep.  He hired African-American workers, trained them well, paid them well and promoted them to important positions.  Sure, the magazine was thrashy, but at the time there really wasn't much else for the race.  Soon his primary title, Sepia, was a moving force in the Black community.  He also helped raise funds for the United Negro College Fund. 

Issue of Bronze Thrills  "Thrill Girls: Men meant only sex and a good time to me" and "My Husband was a Transvestitie: He got his kicks from wearing women's clothes"  December 1966 Issue  Original  Collection Jim Linderman

THE BIRTH OF ROCK AND ROLL book available HERE

Craig Yoe A Yeoman's Work Yoe Books Comics History for the Ages

Craig Yoe is astounding.  A one-man machine guided with precision and passion.  Those of you in comics culture certainly know of him, but "cross-category" exposure, surprisingly, is increasingly lost in the web these days.  It has become to easy to form your own cult, tribe and cloudy circle of friends in this the decade of social media...but what we really need is a service which locates interesting people NOT in our immediate circle.  If you came across Craig, there is NO question you would "like" him you Facebook folks.  But when is the last time you went out of your friend list comfort zone to discover something new without a damn software program doing it for you?  Friends of friends of friends indeed.  Look up from the screen!

Not that Craig Yoe is new or particularly obscure, having already made major contributions to our world and the art world.  Here is the OFFICIAL blurb on Yoe:

Vice magazine has called Yoe the "Indiana Jones of comics historians." Publisher Weekly says he's the "archivist of the ridiculous and the sublime" and calls his work "brilliant." The Onion calls him "the celebrated designer,"The Library Journal,"a comics guru. "BoingBoing hails him "a fine cartoonist and a comig book historian of the first water." Yoe was Creative Director/Vice President/ General Manager of Jim Henson's Muppets, and a Creative Director at Nickelodeon and Disney. Craig has won an Eisner Award and the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators.

Yoe has six patents for toy inventions. Before founding YOE! Studio, Craig was Creative Director/Vice President General Manager of Jim Henson’s Muppets and a Creative Director at Nickelodeon. Dubbed “Dr. Seuss on acid!” by Animation Magazine, Craig Yoe is a wildly entertaining speaker on creativity. His worldwide travels as a lecturer have taken him to Italy, France, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and Singapore. Closer to home, he teaches for the Master’s program at Syracuse University and at other institutions of higher learning. He has curated fine art exhibits at museums from Japan to New York.

All true, but it hardly begins.  I fortunately found Craig a few years ago, and he has been nothing but generous when he could easily slap me down like a fly. Witness Yoe's output HERE, a good share of which has been produced in the last few years. 

Yoe splits his brain among Yoe Books and Yoe Studio  (with the help of his notable designer and partner Clizia Gussoni)  and what spills out is considerable.  He is also associated with the I.T.C.H blog.  a collaborative effort of a comic creativity which you may have been missing for five years.  I was.

I cannot pick the best Yoe project for you.  I can suggest you browse and pick one yourself.  Click the link HERE, drop your jaw and choose.

 
           JUST A FEW OF THE YOE BOOKS

Elephant Train !

CLICK TO ENLARGE ELEPHANTIDAE LOXODONTA TRAIN

It's Dumbo...or Jumbo, or Horton, or Babar...what do I know.  All I can guess is that the train is leaving in FIVE MINUTES and you better get on board.

Original Snapshot 1959  Collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Retrospective 2 Million Clicks

The three blogs which comprise the Dull Tool Dim Bulb empire went to two million hits yesterday. To celebrate, some images from the first year.


Dull Tool Dim Bulb


Vintage Sleaze


old-time-religion


Thanks! Jim Linderman