Writer

I am often reminded I'm so far from being a writer, there should be a quarter slot on my keyboard like the tire inflation machine at the car wash...oh, if I could edit. The internet lets us all spill words like flour in the grocery aisle, except no one comes along to clean up the mess. Here is the latest humbling example of a real writer, a blog with choice words, nothing to sweep up and nice full tires.

CLICK HERE

Anon, The Second Worst Cartoonist in History Privately Printed Postcard Set

The only thing worse than worst is one worser. This one comes close. A few months ago, I profiled the world's worst cartoonist, one Rod Raymond and his privately published set of dreadful, dreary, gruesome and just plain bad homemade postcards. (See Dull Tool Dim Bulb of June 25 2009) Rod retains his title, but barely. Along comes "Anon" to give Rod a run for his money. Again, self-published. Unfortunately, this time anonymous, he didn't even sign his name. The least he could have done was typed it. Whoever he was, I presume he learned "there ain't no money in postcards"...something I hear at antique shows all the time.

Set of five anonymous privately published postcards c. 1950. Collection Jim Linderman

If the Shoe Fits, Mail it. Handmade Postcard Folk Art Foot

Handmade Postcard in the Shape of a Shoe, mailed c. 1906 Collection Jim Linderman

Mell Kilpatrick Weegee of the West and the Dashboard Camera

Mell Kilpatrick was a self-taught master photographer with Weegee skill and fortitude. In fact, the precious few times his name is mentioned, Weegee's often follows. Living in Orange County when it was literally a county of oranges, Mell was attracted to photography young and certainly had the right eye. In the only photo I've found of him, he is posing as if squinting into a lens finder. Like a Weegee in sunshine, he traveled light...camera, flash, tripod and a trench coat when the road was slick. But he also had a camera mounted on his dashboard pointing through the windshield and I am sure these photos were shot with it. Like a hard-boiled P.O, whenever California blood was spilled, he was there. Crime, Crash, Insurance Fraud...he squinted through them all in black and white. A James Ellroy with a speed graphic camera and a police-band radio. He is probably best known for the iconic photo "It's lucky when you live in America" which depicts a car overturned in a field after having crashed through a billboard advertising a mountain fresh brand of beer. These photos of Mell's skid marks, so to speak, are mild compared to the gruesome carnage shown in his work (and which should be shown to every driver using their cellphone)

In an extraordinary article which draws comparisons with the car crash silkscreens of Andy Warhol and the car crash fetishists of J. G. Ballard, writer Nathan Callahan attributes Kilpatrick's vision to those he saw while working as a projectionist at the Laguna and Balboa Theaters in the late 1940's, where he watched film noir masterpieces while waiting to change the reels. He learned well and got used to the dark. All these photos have his identification stamp or notes, but only one provides the time: 5 am.

Kilpatrick's negative collection, well organized and labeled, sat for 35 years until being turned up by photography collector and dealer Jennifer Dumas. She compiled them into a coffee table book "Car Crashes & Other Sad Stories" in 2000 published by Taschen, linked below.

Remarkably, there was another side to Mell. As Orange County turned into Disneyland (literally) Mell turned his camera to the construction. Soon he was loaning his darkroom to other Disney photographers, and Uncle Walt himself granted him full access to the construction site. Mell's granddaughter has published no less than five books of his early Disneyland photographs. As Callahan reports, she "sold the most gruesome ones...they brought a bad vibe to the house."

Forensic Photography would seem to be a growth industry, what with all the teenage texting going on at 75 MPH. It was probably a good gig for Mell...even if most of them seem to have been taken at 5:00 AM.

Set of Original Accident Scene Photographs by Mell Kilpatrick, Each 8 x 10. Circa 1952 Collection Jim Linderman

Superior Magic-Mirror acrylic Lacquer Finish

1961 Salesman Sample Color Chevrolet Color Chart Collection Jim Linderman

Three Michigan Bands I Saw Before Going to College

David Slayeth Goliath with his Glow Stick (A SUPER-GLO PICTURE)

I hope some kind of 50's radiation hasn't messed up my scanner here, I tried to "glow" them but the chemicals are all used up. Glow-in-the-dark products contain phosphors. A phosphor is a substance that radiates visible light after being energized. They are photoluminescent...that is energized by light. Still seems like a miracle to me. In the Bible story, little David takes the sword from Goliath and cuts off his head. That seems kinda brutal...all this time I just thought he bopped him in the noggin with a pebble from his "old-style" slingshot.

"SUPER-GLO" Picture Card (EXPOSE TO LIGHT-SEE IT GLOW IN THE DARK) circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman