Roller skates were being mass produced in the 1880's, which is where I date this tintype. It is not clear if Dolly skated to the studio, or the studio came to Dolly. At the time, skating was done in large rinks and amusement parks, it is possible the photographer took this photo shortly after the announcer shouted "MEN SKATE." Other than the invention of in-line skates, the most notable skate related trivia I find is that Heather Graham's character "Rollergirl" in the film Boogie Nights is always seen wearing her trademark roller skates, even during sex scenes
Mother Dolly on Roller Skates Tintype photograph c. 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
Original 35 mm photograph Dixon Mills, Alabama 1994 Collection Jim Linderman
For forty years Rev. William Blackmon preached in the streets of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, often without a home. In 1974 the Lord brought him to Milwaukee where he settled in the combination house/studio/church/shoe repair/car wash and wild greens shop above. Two original snapshots circa 1991 Collection Jim Linderman
Calendar Girl, Cheescake, Pin-up Girl, Centerfold, Glamour Girl. All names for more or less the same thing. Paper dolls in vibrant color good for a month. Now frowned upon...but frowned upon back then too, note the strategic banners. This is a group of four pages from a Salesman Sample for calendars, circa 1955, which were censored in bold manner, nothing subtle about it. It must have been frustrating for printers to keep getting hauled into court in every city the local mailman happened to peek into the bulk mail. As any man my age will attest, every single gas station had a similar calendar hanging in the grease shop. They always hung askew in the same place. It was an annual ritual for the boss to open one up in January and start a new year. It allowed a few minutes of supervisor/subordinate bonding before another year of oil changes began. It is odd that breasts are so often (even to this day) censored, especially as they are nearly always the first pleasant encounter of every mammal, including both sexes of the two-legged kind. The entire convoluted history of 20th century commercial titillation and censorship is a topic I hope to wrestle with in future posts, but for the time being I am content just to "hang these on the wall" so to speak.Four Lithograph printed Salesman Sample Calendar Pages c. 1955 Collection Jim Linderman
Burl. Some of the most beautiful and prized wood carvings produced for use have been made from burl wood. The jumbo redwood burl shown on this postcard is an extreme example and probably netted the 1970's hippies here a considerable sum. A profitable way to spend a summer. You've seen burl wood without knowing it...the funky, fungoid looking growths on elm and maple trunks, out west on redwood. When chopped and formed, those ugly growths make the hardest, tightest and most beautiful woodenware. Both Native American and colonial carvers made bowls, scoops and ladles of the dense and textured material. Folk art dealer and scholar Steven S. Powers, a bright young man with one of the best pair of eyes in the folk art world recently published a beautiful book "North American Burl Treen: Colonial & Native American" and available on his website. Make SURE to download his extraordinary catalog "Good Wood" on the same site, it has many exceptional examples of early American folk art.
The burl above is described as follows: " We believe this to be the world's largest burl, approximately 118 feet around, 30 feet high and weighing just less of 1 million pounds. It was uncovered in fall of 1977 at Big Lagoon in northern California on Louisiana Pacific property"
The card was distributed by Burlwood Industries Inc, a company still in business and making beautiful craft and sculptural objects. Burlwood Industries "world's largest burl" Advertising Post card 6" x 9" c. 1980 collection Jim Linderman
The late Chuckie Williams of Shreveport, Louisiana. Quite a painter, he stacked them for ten years in his mother's house until a fire forced dozens of his works out onto the front lawn. At the time I was studying Justin McCarthy, a self-taught painter from Pennsylvania. Mr. Williams work is quite similar, although both worked in relative isolation. Neither had any mysterious, innate, romantic "outsider" skill, they just worked very, very, hard and earned their style. Both painted the celebrities of their day, landscapes, religious scenes, animals, images from television and magazines...you name it. (Here Mr. Williams holds Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation style) Both worked text into their paintings. Both worked fast. Both sketched the image in pencil or pen and were so anxious to finish they seldom took the time to fill all the spaces. Both knew they were artists long before anyone else did, and it was persistence and hard work which produced the body of work, not a fevered mind, the hand of God, an affliction or a voice from anywhere.
Chuckie Williams, Shreveport LA, circa 1993 Original 35mm photo collection Jim Linderman
I just learned Lux Interior of the Cramps passed away. I am not a blogger who links to clips and sound bites. I hardly even discuss music in public anymore. Enough sappy mix tapes sent to indifferent girlfriends over the years finally taught me music is personal...as personal as religion and just as important. The Cramps meant more to me than I can ever describe. I wrote the above brief history in a now sadly obscure and sadly rare book titled "International Discography of the New Wave Volume II" published in NYC by Omnibus Press and One Ten Records in 1982. It was a massive labor of love by B. George, Martha DeFoe, Henry Beck, Nancy Breslow and a cast of a thousand punks who participated by sending in their homemade 45 records, flyers, blurbs...and love. Every damn one of the 736 pages was typed by hand, and if I recall correctly, the whole lot of 1000 copies was gone immediately. I was so damn proud to see my name associated with the band in print, no matter how insignificant it might appear today. I purchased my first Cramps record and saw them for the first time in 1978. I saw them every time I could. Everyone is special and everyone is unique, but if the phrase "one of a kind" is applicable to anyone with all the glory that expression should imply, it goes to Lux.
At risk of alienating, well...14% of the entire US population, I confess to being indifferent about tattoos. It is a beautiful art to be sure, a friend has the most spectacular collection of antique tattoo flash you could imagine, and I mean a world-class big time serious collection of ART in a big font art. My favorite body modification is the pair of perfect tooth-shaped dog bites I have on my right elbow, the dog who gave them to me is a four-legged miracle. I was thinking about ink because Valentine's day is approaching and I was wondering if the heart is the most popular image. I gave up trying to verify it, but I can tell you one website offers (for $19.95 that is) access to over 10,000 heart images from which you may pick your favorite. I once saw a woman with a thong string and pouch tattooed on her lower back and found it pretty striking. In January 2008, a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have a tattoo. The highest incidence of tattoos was found among the gay, lesbian and bisexual population (25%) and people living in the West (20%). Among age groups, 9% of those ages 18-24, 32% of those 25-29, 25% of those 30-39 and 12% of those 40-49 have tattoos, as do 8% of those 50-64. Men are just slightly more likely to have a tattoo than women (15% versus 13%"Hello Priscilla" linen Post Card c. 1950 collection Jim Linderman
I do not know what Mr. Heflin's complaint with the VA was, but it made him mad. He was also pretty steamed that a member of his race would be discriminated against.Original 35mm photograph near Montgomery, Alabama 1993 Collection Jim Linderman
The House of David continues to operate here in Michigan to everyone's surprise. Most communes which prohibited sex (not to mention haircuts) have pretty much gone away, but this Utopian dream persists with a wonderful park, restaurant, museum and a fascinating history. Founded in 1903, the religious commune became known primarily for their barnstorming baseball team, they also had a top-notch musical band which toured the vaudeville circuit (shown here "Miles Davis" style). It is a terrible historical flaw that no known recordings of the band exist, but one well-known tune "The House of David Blues" has been recorded by many groups. One source even indicates the tune caused the Harlem Globetrotters to begin using "Sweet Georgia Brown" as a response to the House of David Basketball team playing of this song before games (!) A fascinating story which this post can only BEGIN to tell. Many more tales and artifacts are available on the incredible House of David Museum website
House of David Real Photo Postcard c. 1930 collection Jim Linderman
Former Civil War soldier George E. Carr carved this high-rent neighborhood for birds in 1911, it was situated at Barber's Corner, a mile west of Sciopioville, three miles east of Levanna in Cayoga County. It was 18 feet high. Cayuga County Totem Tree Postcard 1912 collection Jim Linderman
Original 35mm photograph c. 1991 Collection Jim Linderman
Long building, Long nameOriginal 35mm photograph 1991 collection Jim Linderman
A beautiful Stereoview and one I have owned twice over the years. Also known as stereographs, stereo views, stereoscopic views, stereo cards and my favorite, "Victorian Television." They were initially photographic experiments aimed at producing a more realistic image. If you are adept at staring at your own nose, you should be able to bring these images together and see the three dimensional Palmetto tree even without a wooden viewer. Once the photographic technique of mounting two nearly identical images to produce the 3-d effect was established, commercial photographers and suppliers churned these things out by wagon load. If you think your aunt's travel videos are boring, imagine loading images of historic buildings in Europe over and over and over and over into a clunky hand held eyepiece. However, they ARE actual photographs (of many types...nearly every early photographic form was produced in stereo) and on occasion achieve the simple, serene and elegant beauty of this image. Jerome Nelson Wilson went on to form a partnership with O.P Havens and produced southern regional views before passing away in 1897.
Albumen Stereoview J. N. Wilson Savannah Ga c. 1870 Collection Jim Linderman
There are two ways to make a sculpture, one is to take away, the other is to build up. Hobo Nickel carvers take away. A form of tramp art , the murky origins are similar to the ugly notched cigar box frames and furniture one still finds in abundance at antique shows. Supposedly started by hobos, these amateur Augustus Saint-Gaudens learned to carve the relatively soft Buffalo Nickel, thus adding value and trading them for bigger sandwiches. The buffalo nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938. The noble chief was a composite of Iron Tail, John Big Tree and Two Moons. The buffalo came from the Central Park Zoo. As they circulate, the first thing to go is the date, which was not delineated enough, thus frustrating young boys who would thrill to find one in dad's change only to realize the obliterated coin would not fill a slot in their little blue folder. Hobo nickels are still made today, in fact there are entire conventions of makers. I guess they get together and swap nickels.
Hobo Nickel c. 1913-1938 (and) c. 1990 Collection Jim Linderman
A dated miniature 1888 Odd Fellows painting, less than an two inches square. The triple link chain (3/4" long) refers to friendship, love and truth. The purple tent (1" tall) refers to the encampment.
One notable Odd Fellow member is Al Franken (International Order of Odd Fellows Manchester Unity) who is currently embroiled in an election dispute with bad loser Norm Coleman. As Franken should and will be seated soon enough, Coleman will thus become the only national politician who has lost an election to both a professional wrestler AND a professional comedian.
Miniature watercolor by William Distin 1888. Collection Jim Linderman
Looks like African Nail art, but it is the telephone pole down the road used for nailing up garage sale notices. Enlarge the pic. As you can see, the trunk was "double-girdled" with iron but the nails keep on coming. Many appear to be collaborative attempts shared by Father and son, which is nice.
One of the nice things about moving to Western Michigan is landing smack dab into design history. Charles and Ray Eames began their relationship with Herman Miller in the 1940's, and Herman Miller has been expertly realizing their iconic modern design ever since. Zeeland is still the headquarters...the manufacturing trucks pass through town every day, they are a reassuring and comfortable sight. It is pleasing indeed to come across original ephemera from time to time. This is one C. Cook's drafting template from Herman Miller. As you can see, designs for the Eames Shell Chair and the Nelson Sling Sofa are here, and the original furniture is still common enough that my tiny outdoor patio has four of the stacking chairs in the summer. Computer Assisted Design meant the end for this plastic tool. Design is generally discussed as "before" CAD and "after" CAD. There came a day when all the worker bees at Herman Miller were told to lay down their pencils and pick up the mouse, presumably these templates were collected by staff and discarded en masse. Perhaps a few old-timers held on to them in case the damn computer broke. I imagine a few still miss the Scumex. (look it up)
Herman Miller Drafting Template 1979 Collection Jim Linderman
