Let's go to the Circus IN THE BASEMENT

There are LOTS of circus models, but I think only one is being auctioned this month in Canada. Maynard's in Vancouver is selling the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus made by Bert and Bill Backstein on May 20. As you can see, the Backstein boys even made tiny sideshow banners. The first two photos show but a "small" amount of the material being sold.

Other circus replicas abound. Just a few more are shown here, but there are hundreds of miniature circus carvings, probably one in each town... John Zweifel's staggering miniature with hoards of Lilliputians crowding towards the entrance...and the Lou Ann Circus complete with operating electric generators, room for 10,000 tiny people and enough entertainment for them all, finally the tobacco scented creation of Ed Hollis. Every boy wanted to run away and join the circus at one time or another...some had to be content with making one downstairs.

Assorted Post Card Miniature circus models, c. 1950. Collection Jim Linderman

Young Man BE HONEST Train Yourself for Useful Work

Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company Motivational Religious Placard 1947 Collection Jim Linderman

Dic Dillon's Working World Masterpiece (Ask anyone...)

With my affinity for alliteration, how can I avoid Dic Dillon's Direct from Denmark Double-sized Diorama? Indeed! Hand carved from pocket knives, 8 years to carve, 30 scenes, 150 characters, 1143 pounds of wood, 8 pounds of metal, 6 pounds of silver wire, 30,000 working parts...Valued at $100,000. Well, maybe...we could check it, since I find no record it still remains, SOMEONE bought it. East Liverpool, Ohio does have the world's largest toxic dump incinerator, maybe it was built on the site of this working world masterpiece, which was made by 3 disabled World War Veterans...that would be the first World War.

c. 1925 Hand-out Advertising Card. Collection Jim Linderman

Cowboy and Indian Toys with Eddy Weet and General Electric

A representative sample from 5 different cut-out cardboard toy sets. I found a huge sack. I like to think the little boy grew up happy, healthy and well-adjusted, but he wasn't into them enough to make them all.

Eddy Weet ( from Shredded Wheat?) was one of the the announcers for the Nabisco Radio Theater, a 1952 show which I am sure was great if you would JUST STAY TUNED KIDS, STRAIGHT ARROW HAS A FEW IMPORTANT MESSAGES FOR YOU. The Radio show was produced by Ronald Reagan's brother, who worked at Nabisco's advertising agency and wanted to rope in a few young un's minds along with the cattle.

GE, the brains behind the "General Electric Refrigerator Wild West Rodeo" used to be America's largest corporate polluter, I guess hard times helped them drop to number 5 on the most recent edition of this prestigious list. The other sets here have no identification marks, so are spared my scathing ironical wit.

Assorted Cowboy and Indian cut-out toys, c. 1950-1960 Collection Jim Linderman

Gene Bilbrew African-American Artist of Vintage Sleaze (follow-up)

For those of you who enjoyed my articles on the illustrators for Eddie Miskin's 1960's sleazy paperback book line, in particular the strikingly demented work of Gene Bilbrew...someone is selling two covers I've never seen before on Ebay. It gives me an opportunity to crib the images and use up a days post. I pass...if you bid, good luck! If you haven't seen the earlier posts, click on label Vintage Sleaze below.

Mrs. Hortense Overholzer's Husband and his Rustic Style

R.W. Overholzer, the most inventive and eccentric rustic furniture maker ever. These days, when one thinks of furniture from Michigan, Herman Miller might come to mind. I don't see many "clean, modern design lines" in this work...I don't see any straight lines at all! Each, um...thing was made from white pine stumps left behind by loggers in the 1920's. The trees have grown back now. To purchase the "exciting, detailed account" of her husband's lifetime work by Hortense Overholzer, visit their website here. Yes, they still receive visitors and host weddings. Baldwin Michigan has only has 1,000 inhabitants or so. I believe the souvenir postcards are in color now. Bring your canoe.

Set of Kodak Real Photos c. 1950. Collection Jim Linderman

A Grateful Thanks!

I have been basking all day in the generous, thoughtful and beautiful review of "Take Me to the Water..." posted by John Foster on his Accidental Mysteries site. I have watched from afar as John has become a discriminating and elegant commentator on photography and art of all forms. His blog is adventurous reading for anyone interested in the broadest interpretation of the word art. It is made all the more fascinating by his unique "wide open eye" which is unfettered with divisive definitions...a rare thing in the art world from my view. I am humbled, grateful and thrilled. The photo above was found after production of Dust to Digital's book and CD, I wish the young lady could have been included.

"Going to be Baptized" Azo Real Photo c. 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

Painted Ladies Mail Art Mystery

Curious. I guess 1910 was a good year to paint huge hats on postcards. All are American, from various printers, but each has been doctored to the extreme. All were mailed, making the modern day contemporary "mail art" movement seem tame. I have no idea why these victorian ladies with hats galore were painted, but it is a trail I intend to follow. I suspect they COULD have been enhanced as a form of tramp art...painted by local artists on the street and peddled for pennies, a "value added" trinket. They are by various hands, but all similar. Any help out there?

Six Hand Painted Victorian Post Cards circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

I am a Catch-Up Envelope (Airplane to Jesus)

Church Donation "Reminder" Envelope 1929 Duplex-Richmond, Va. Collection Jim Linderman

The Beatles Rilly Big Shew (Horrors in Wax #9)

Back in 1964, when the Beatles were haircuts, not individuals...their wax effigies were rushed into production "for the kids" at the World's Fair. Close, but not close enough. Ed Sullivan was easier, he'd been around forever. Here the wax sculptor accurately captures Ed's famous flexibility. Ed realized it was important to rope in young viewers so he booked numerous rock performers, but frequently censored them. (The Stones complied, Dylan didn't, he walked) The Doors said they would change some offending lyrics, but Morrison sang them anyway. Ed banned comic Jackie Mason for flipping him the bird. David Crosby, to his credit, engaged in a shouting match with the talentless tyrant. Sullivan also cooperated with the witch-hunting followers of rabid alcoholic Senator Joseph McCarthy. The Beatles appeared on his show three times...but then hilarious Canadian "comedy" act Wayne and Shuster appeared 67 times. The Beatles went on to sell so many records, it took Troyal Garth Brooks years (and a cloned version of himself known as Chris Gaines) to catch up. Strangely, Chris Gaines also had a funny haircut.

Inside the House of Paper

Still open to the public, but please don't smoke. The wall is composed of 215 layers of newspaper. Rolled Newspapers make the furniture. Started in 1922 by Elis Stenman, the objects and walls contain tributes to celebs of the day, including Lucky Lindy and Herbert Hoover. The way things are going, this house made of paper may well outlive the newspapers of today. Visitors welcome, don't forget to check the local paper for hours...that is if they still have one.

Four postcards, date unknown. Collection Jim Linderman

True Love and the Worst Comic Book Company Ever

If the girls my age were reading these (and I think they were...) it is no wonder I always did better later on with younger women. Talk about warping young minds. Devoid of plot, inked terrible and presenting a facile view of love. There are so many continuity problems from panel to panel you'd think they were drawing a "what's wrong with this picture" game. Charlton Comics, as you might expect, paid the lowest rates in the business. On the other hand, they were the last company to raise their prices from a dime to 12 cents. Still no excuse! I found these at a garage sale hoping for some spicy entertainment, but the ads are better than the stories. I rank them just below "The Adventures of Big Boy in Restaurant Land"

Five "Love" comic books, 1960-1962 Collection (unfortunately) Jim Linderman

Feed Sack Fabric Frugality

Around 1925, cotton had replaced wooden barrels as a method of transporting large quantities of grain, feed and food. Times were lean, and it wasn't long before women began reusing the fabric for quilts, aprons and other needs, despite often embarrassing logos...who wanted an image of scratching chickens on their children's clothes? Around this time, enterprising manufacturers of feed stuffs and food stuffs caught on...when women did the shopping, they would often pick their staple foods based on the design of the fabric. It wasn't long before hundreds of colorful prints were being produced for sugar, beans, rice and cornmeal packages and frugal homemakers were saving them, trading them and quilting them. Many were surprisingly modern, others today seem retro. The 1950's prosperity and the use of paper and plastic sacks marked the end of the decorative cotton fabrics. My mother has quilted her whole life, and the top image here is a detail of a quilt she made using feed sack fabrics. Since a new frugality has been forced upon us, isn't it time for the decorative cloth sacks time to return?

Vintage Feed Sacks are affordable but hoarded by contemporary quilters. The best source to learn about them is the Schiffer Book "Vintage Feed Sacks: Fabric From the Farm by Susan Miller. Schiffer publishes an astounding variety of guide books for collectors, you will often see their inventory in large antique malls and even better at shows, where the friendly staff will be happy to share them with you. I've used Schiffer books all my life, and always stop in on the way out of antique shows to chat, browse and usually buy.

Ernest Warther Redux, Wondrous Folk Art Wood Carver from Ohio

When we last met Ernest Warther, he was in black and white (Dull Tool Dim Bulb February 15, 2009) Well, he's back and the hinted at eccentricities may now be confirmed and then some. Here is his carving of, I kid you not, 511 pairs of miniature pliers turned into a shrub...and stuck in a handmade vitrine with a picture of the artist from 1913. It required 31,000 cuts, (so he counted each stroke) no mathematics, rulers or lines were drawn...and it was all carved from one piece of wood. The other card shows his remarkable Wall of Trains and the Steel Mill he worked in for 21 years.

Pair of postcards published by E. Warther & Son, Dover, Ohio. No Date. Collection Jim Linderman

Take Me To The Water (First Review)

Various Artists - Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism In Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950


The latest release from Grammy Award-winning reissue label Dust-to-Digital gives music fans another reason to rejoice. A stunning 96-page hardcover book of historic baptism photographs, taken between 1890 and 1950 and compiled from the collection of noted folk art collector Jim Linderman, is accompanied by a CD of rare gospel and folk recordings from original 78 RPM records (1924-1940), featuring artists Washington Phillips, Carter Family, Tennessee Mountaineers, and more. Produced by the 2009 Grammy winner for "Best Historical Album," Steven Lance Ledbetter. The CD could easily be seen as the seventh disc of Goodbye, Babylon (DTD 001CD), Dust-to-Digital's critically-acclaimed and Grammy-nominated box set from 2003. Original 78 RPM records came from the collections of Joe Bussard, Steven Lance Ledbetter, Frank Mare and Roger Misiewicz. "Whether you have ever actually experienced a baptism or not, whether you are a believer or not, these pictures and the music that accompanies them transmit all the emotional information: the excitement and the serenity, the fellowship and the warmth, the wind and the water ... You would have to have a heart of tin not to recognize this as one of the happiest collections of archival photographs ever assembled." --From the introduction by Luc Sante. 96-page hardcover book (8.75 x 6 inches) with 75 sepia photograph reproductions from 1890-1950; CD includes 25 songs and sermons from 1924-1940.
EAR/Rational April 2009