Wood doesn't last long outside, which is why most weathervanes that remain are metal. This one was made by hand, likely using a pattern from a hobbyist magazine. Traces of the original gray paint remain. Traces of the attached mount remain as well. One can tell if a wooden folk art weathervane is authentic by the age and wear...as there are prevailing winds (and an imperfect balance) the wear should be uneven. I have seen some nearly destroyed on one side, but with plenty of paint and color on the other.Wooden Weathervane Figure, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman
Click to Enlarge to browse "PRIZES"Undated photograph (Ball Toss) Collection Jim Linderman
What were they thinking? The book Commies, Cowboys and Jungle Queens calls this pre-code debacle "a blatant vehicle for sexual fantasy." Hah! Published to no acclaim in 1952, this is issue number one (of one) of Pin Up Pete. The lives of a GI Casanova!And sure enough, there stands Pete, fresh and clean, home from the war, with jungle girls and some hot tang from the Ice Capades on his arms. Inside, Pete is in much poorer shape, as he and his friends, rendered like Bill Mauldin's Joe (bearded and sloped) pour over pin-up conquests from Pete's past. I think they are supposed to be dead, and we are supposed to think wherever they are, they are still living their pin-up dreams in heaven.
The intended audience? Sheesh. Certainly not the 8 year old sons the vets who made it home produced. Could be their younger brothers who followed the war at home and were now about of "pin-up-pounding" age? Maybe an aging vet who only read comic books and wanted to relive the glory of his paper-doll friends instead of the horror of war?
Pete was a lucky man. Not only did he survive the war, he survived with every memory of his lusty comic-book cuties intact. He had them all in his dreams...and he's willing to kiss and tell. Nary a Rosie the Riveter escaped his dogging...and in his mind they were all tough, beautiful and somewhat dominant dames, just like every cartoonist with a pervy bent drew them before Kefauver forced them into drawing REAL smut to make a living!
Whatever, There was only one issue, and from an age when anything went in comic books...just like today!Some pages have a pin drawn in! Maybe so few of these exist today because kids tore it up and stuck them on the wall just like real pinups?The great BookSteve has a copy and so do I. I'll post some of the pages he didn't.Pin Up Pete: Loves of a GI Casanova! Toby Press (A Minoan Magazine) 1952 Collection Victor MinxThis is also a post on Vintage Sleaze the BlogSEE DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOK CATALOG AND ORDER HERE
Looks like someone tried to buy a date with some food, but Doris calls the shots.
I thank you very much for the sandwich and would love to have some more. I'm very sorry but I can't meet you either evening for I have a date both nights. I would like to have your photo though for I wouldn't know you if i met you on the street. Your friend, Doris Beck
Homemade postcard/note with affixed photograph Circa 1930? Collection Jim Linderman
I'm not a big fan of Jazz, but I am a HUGE fan of Wynton Marsalis. As I have said before, if you ever have a chance to see him, you will be telling your grandchildren one day...he is that important. As for Clapton, I have always thought he was capable of solos even Coltrane couldn't imagine. So this pairing, recorded live, is a blessing.
I've seen Wynton in this same venue...he being pretty much the house band there. I was fortunate enough to be near the front when he played here with Dr. John. I know...sorry you weren't there.
If I still lived in New York City, I would have been first in line for this gig too. The CD just came out.
I won't digress on the racial elements, other than to say we have a European influenced African-American Jazz man from New Orleans playing with an African (Delta) influenced white man from England. Can they make harmony? Duh.
My nomination for a Grammy. What category? MUSIC. The clip below is but a small example. Not only that, you see Clapton talk...something he rarely does without his fingers!
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CLICK TO ENLARGEThe first public showing of the original photographs of Rudolf Rossi in Santa Fe at Au Boudoir Art Space this November. Each original photograph was taken, developed and hand-tinted by the artist circa 1955. Each photograph is one of a kind and they were never shown during the artist's lifetime, nor have they been seen since. The book Camera Club Girls, available HERE, acts as the catalog to the exhibition. Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page, Her Friends and the Work of Rudolph Rossi by Jim Linderman is available from Blurb.com. 114 Pages, $37.00 softcover, with over 150 illustrations.
Few of us are lucky enough to have worked with greatness, but I have. Way back during my hard-boiled drunk librarian days, I was fortunate enough to work near, and frequently with, Andrew Rooney at CBS News. Eight years. After all that time, the worst boss I ever had in my life fired me. Eh...everyone should get fired at least once in their life, it builds character, teaches lessons and I deserved it.Mr. Rooney was a brilliant writer from my father's generation, and he would have liked my father. Both served with distinction during the real war, when boys truly were men. Shipped off at 18 to save the world, literally, and they did. There are very few men left from that war.
Rooney was a journalist when it mattered. I don't think he ever filed a story from a press release in his life, and If that makes any of you "journalists" left feel a bit guilty, good. Shame on you and your like. Andy found his way onto the other side of the camera, but what he really was, and is still, is a damn good writer. A serious, clever, inquisitive writer with probably ten best-sellers under his belt.
Rooney, I believe, is 92, and his last regular piece for 60 minutes will air this Sunday. I'll be watching. During my stint at CBS, I enjoyed more than anything having Andy grump his way towards me to ask for something. What he wanted was help finding a dozen pictures of Muhammad Ali, or the population of some president's hometown, or the amount of money spent on turkey sandwiches during an average year. Once a week or so, the whole 8 years I was there, Andy would come in and challenge me and the rest of the staff with odd requests.
One time Andy asked me a question about E. B. White. I asked what he wanted to know about Charlotte's Web. He stared me right in the eye, and with probably the most gruffness he could muster said "E.B. White wrote the greatest essay about New York City" and stomped away. He was right, and I gave that little book away to friends in the city as birthday presents for the next 15 years.I remember when he showed me the desk he had made by hand. It is still in his office and I will miss seeing it on 60 Minutes. I remember his typewriter, and when he reluctantly switched to a crappy Wang computer. I remember every year he would walk in carrying a huge box of Vidalia onions to share. He did a story on them once and received a box every season.A year or two later, I ran into Andy on West 57th Street while I was on my way to the park for a run. I took to running seriously after being fired...and was down a good 15 or 20 pounds from my CBS days. I had that emaciated look of a good runner. Andy took one look at me and said "Jim? Are you okay?" As I hadn't had to wake up in the morning for 8 months, by choice...I told him I sure was great, chatted a bit and headed up to the park.A few months later, I realized Mr. Rooney had looked at me and feared I had acquired AIDS. At the time, my city was being ravaged by the disease, and unfortunate, withered men were a common sight on the street. Andy cared enough for me to ask.
For years after leaving CBS I always thought the last time I would see anyone from there was at Andy's funeral, which I would have done my best to attend out of my deep respect for the man, but he fooled me. He never died.
It has been some 20 years since I worked at CBS. I still have nightmares about it, but then I still have nightmares about high school. I have knocked around quite a bit since then, but few people I worked with had such an impact on me, and I would like to thank him somehow. The best thing I can do is put him here right next to a photo of E. B. White.
Originally my tribute to co-worker Andrew Rooney, now, a month later, a Tribute to his Life.
A big man thunders along the street in Colorado, 1931. Someone hired a giant. I suspected this could be an unknown photograph of Robert Wadlow, a tall drink of depression era water who passed away in 1940 at the age of 22, but he would have only been 11 years old here. Whoever it was could have certainly delivered a pretty big "HOWDY" and the ten gallon hat could actually be that! Feel free to participate. Any giant watchers out there?
Unknown parade participant 1931 Colorado "NeverFade" photograph collection Jim Linderman
CLICK TO ENLARGEThree original Cartes de Visite photographs from San Francisco around 1880, maybe a bit earlier, maybe a bit later. They were found together, but I do not know if they are actually related. It does look like red and green were popular.Group of CDV photographs, tinted by hand, circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
Nearly 80,000 men were lost during the second world war missions by the U.S. Army Air Forces. Some 10,000 planes were shot down. It was the most dangerous of jobs and the tale is truly heartbreaking. One of the most amazing segments of recent documentary film making is found in the Ken Burns segment of his PBS series on the war which covered the Flying Fortress raids. The men (boys, actually) who went out were fighting the odds with every mission...and nearly as often as not, they didn't make it back. Shot down or run out of fuel...either way it was brutal for the squad doing it, the people on the ground and the folks back at the base waiting for them to come home.
Perhaps because of the overwhelming odds and the equally overwhelming bravery, the brass cut the boys some slack and let them decorate their planes lovingly. Many cartoonists and illustrators who returned home after the war painted similar scenes on duffel bags, helmets and such while over there. Seems to me these would make them a flying target, but then they already were.
As for "poontang" I will let you look up the meaning on your own...JFK was widely rumored to have said "I guess my poon days are over" when he was elected president. That gives you an idea.
I don't own these snapshots, but I could have. For some reason the fellow who had them listed on Ebay last week blocked my bid...some kind of snag and probably my fault. Consequently, though they had opening bids of virtually nothing, they didn't even sell. Maybe he will re-list them. A good collection lost, but nothing compared to the men.
Set of Amateur Snapshots of Flying Fortress Pin Up Girls Circa 1942-1945. (A post on VINTAGE SLEAZE the BLOG as well)DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS HERE
Untitled Photograph (Practice) Circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
AT THE CIRCUS in BLACK and WHITE is a continuing series on Dull Tool Dim Bulb This is Entry number 28.
PHOTO BY CRAIG SEMETKOI like to say this blog is about authenticity, and you can not get any more authentic than Donna Lethal, a woman I love like a sister and would suspect WAS my sister except she has the wrong hair color...she being one of Hollywood's most beautiful and few authentic Gingers. My love and respect is real too.Donna has (finally) written her memoirs. Milk of Amnesia. That she is from the same town as dear Ti Jean (Jack Kerouac) is no coincidence, as lightning has been known to strike twice. And wouldn't you know it? Donna Lethal is Amazon's newest 5-star author.
Can a bright young woman survive a father who is a bookie, a mother who is an ex-nun, a brother in and out of jail and the whole scene smothered in minor crime, minor drugs and major drama? AND make it both funny and serious? Ayup!
Donna Lethal, who is pictured here in just two of her guises...truly is a genius. This book receives a Dull Tool Dim Bulb guarantee(shirt). That's right...you don't like, I send the white. Read the reviews and trust them all. Buy Today. 
Massachusetts-born Donna Lethal divides her time between Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert, accompanied by her 90-pound pit bull. She won her first writing contest (third place!) in fifth grade and is currently collaborating on a book with fellow poet Nicca Ray and painter Jesse McCloskey. Intending to teach film studies, Lethal attended the New School in New York City, but decamped for Los Angeles after 9/11. She has also lived in Boston, New York, and London. Her collage work and photographs have been shown in Los Angeles galleries, and her work can be found in Dowager Quarterly, The Hair Hall of Fame, Find a Death, The LA Beat, Cold Dirt Press, Scorchy Girls and a chapter in the book Weird Hollywood. Her blog, Lethal Dose (www.DonnaLethal.com), and its collection of vintage beauty ephemera has been featured in Elle Girl (Korea). Since 2010, she has assisted celebrated photographer Phil Stern in organizing and archiving his vast collection of slides, negatives and prints, spanning over seventy years of classic material. She has also worked as a photo researcher for Cameron Crowe on The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert for HBO and on the Peabody-nominated special 48 Hours: Black Dahlia. She is an avid amateur ornithologist.
