Things to Make (a CHEVY)

Paintings on the Knees (Jeez!) Fashion Stockings Lingerie Tattoo or none of the above

A fashion due for a return...The Painted Knee. Shown here is "Gina" a Moulin Rouge Dancer and one of the first to adopt the latest fad. Ornamental colored faces painted on the knees. The paintings are placed so the figures perform amusing dances or contortions when the owner walks or flexes.
BROWSE AND ORDER ART BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR HERE
Original Press Photograph Dated 1926 Collection Jim Linderman

The ARK Strange Man Strange Wagon Strange Poem

Poem printed on reverse of card, with no address or contact information


My kind friends should ever speak
Of the strangest man you know
It would be strange did you not wish
How strange he was to show
Strange pictures on strange cards I have
Telling in a way new
Where you can learn many strange things
Which are both strange and true.

From these strange cards you'll also fine
How very strange I be
And then perhaps you'll purchase some
Strange books written by me
It matters not how strange your church
Or how strange be it's Creed
In my strange teachings you will find
Strange lessons that you need.

To those who see not my strange car
Or look in my strange face
Will your dear friends tell them that I
Am strangest of our race
Then should they wish strange cards or books
My strange writings to see,
Let me know the strange ones they wish
I'll mail them C.O.D.

Cheap photo postcard, c. 1890. Collection Jim Linderman
(also posted on old time religion blog)

Susan Ward Painter of Tiny Paintings and Dog Trainer

Once frightfully close to being a Williamsburg doofus hipster (by virtue of a giant storefront rental and yard right off the bridge and a pair of high-heel red boots) Susan Ward now resides in an area less hipster and much less doofus. On a broken farm with her husband Jason, a wood craftsman, and "Yia Yia" (along with some of the most extraordinary dogs you could ever imagine) she paints teeny, tiny, meticulous vibrant paintings. Each no larger than a few postage stamps. (Zoom OUT in this case) Most are self-portraits of a sort, but wonder dogs often figure prominently. She is one of those "outsiders" who isn't. That is to say, she studied art but managed to retain obsessiveness, a God-given talent and her dignity. She is also a bit askew, but then most artists are. One thing which separates her work from the hoards of painters in her neck of the wood (stock) is their size, of course...but she often manages to cram some serious messages into the miniscule work.

Susan also watched the towers fall. It didn't scar her physically, but it scared her. Her scars come more personal but no less dramatic encounters for an individual. A serious swatch of cancer which she emerged from through good grace and strength of character, a cringing bump to the brain, an exciting family life, the early loss of parents...all character building but none which she deserved. So a bit finds its way into her work with words. "What if I were the sick passenger" Indeed.

Susan is also a top-notch professional dog trainer who has been featured on TV (Animal Precinct and the Early Show). As one of her previous jobs was to determine which San Francisco shelter dogs were salvageable, she knows hard cases. Consequently, her own personal dogs are the most difficult animals you can find and train. She'll choose to raise an uncontrollable cattle dog in Manhattan, a blind, deaf and toothless chiuanna, A former breeding machine pug set free...and they are all the happier for it.

Susan exhibits around the area frequently. She also donates her desirable little paintings to animal fund-raisers and other good causes. Her work will be shown the first week of November (alongside notables such as Laurie Anderson, Ida Applebroog, Sue Coe, William Wegman, Bruce Weber and a dozen more) at the Art for Animals benefit in Spencertown, the poster is shown below her paintings. As is the case with nearly anything Ms. Ward supports, it's good. She will be happy to answer inquiries about her paintings (and maybe sell you one) at boxingpiggens@aol.com

Sally Rand the Ostrich Dance and the Amateur Photographer

A snapshot dated 1938 on the reverse, Sally Rand doing her famous ostrich feather fan dance in Dunham, North Carolina. Sally was born Helen Beck, but Cecil B. DeMille gave her the name she made famous. She worked in silent films, but when sound came in she went out. Maybe she sounded like an ostrich too. This photo was taken five years after her famous appearance at the Chicago World's Fair in which she was arrested 4 times in a single day for indecent exposure (even though, like here, she was wearing a body stocking...maybe) Amazingly, the Chicago performance is now available on youtube! It is remarkable to think some North Carolinian actually snuck a camera inside the show to take this picture, but I am glad he did, and I'm glad I found it tucked among a thousand other photographs. My favorite Sally Rand fact is that among her four husbands was one named Thurkel. This picture is pretty good and the photographer certainly waited until exactly the proper best moment. Maybe Thurkel went out front to take it.


Anonymous Snapshot 1938 Collection Jim Linderman

Why it is called the "WORLD" Series

I looked it up. Basically, because we said so.

Anonymous snapshot, Japan 1956 Collection Jim Linderman

Carny Culture (Rules for the Fun Business)

When I was a kid, I certainly never wanted to run away and join the carnival! To me, carny workers were the scariest folks i'd ever seen. Greasers with tattoos and wallets chained to their belts, slack-skin women with loose dirty print dresses, and a sweaty fat guy who was obviously the boss wandering around making sure they didn't slip any coins into their dirty pockets. Even then, I saw through their tricks and scams, and I figured anyone who would cheat a kid out of a dime would certainly not mind giving you a shiv in the parking lot if you stayed around after closing. Every time I saw a child gypped out of a coin, I resented the local cops wandering around oblivious. They seemed much more interested in "preserving order" than in protecting allowances.

Who would guess carnies could even read, much less pay attention to rules other than "don't trip over the wires, dude." Well, they could, at least some of them, and the others could "see picturs." So here are selected pieces from "Employee's Manual for Amusement Parks" no date.

Carny Rule book, c. 1960 Collection Jim Linderman

The White Penny Year Authenticity Value Scarcity and Copper in the Hopper

Times are pretty bad now, but for a few years in the 1940's, they were much worse. So bad the pennies turned white. You don't find too many of them anymore, but I used to, and like the gentleman above, when I did, I kept them. Copper is a precious metal of sorts, but not precious enough to be worth much, so it became the penny. Penny is a misnomer, the official word for Honest Abe on a coin is "cent" not penny. If you want to be proper, this is a time to save your cents.

During WWII, copper was at a premium. It was used for wire to make radios. Electrical connections to start a truck. And if you have ever heard the expression "copper-jacket" you know what else it was needed for. So Uncle Sam turned the penny white, creating them out of steel instead of copper for one year, 1943. Actually, a few steel cents were made in 1942 and even less in 1944, but the only date you'll find on a white penny is 1943. If you find one. After the war, the white penny was history. It was the only US coin ever produced which was magnetic, but that refers to a property, not a personality, so they were unofficially withdrawn. Some were even pulled from circulation, shipped to the San Francisco mint and dumped in the Pacific Ocean. Unlike copper, they rusted, so the ones you do see now are in pretty bad shape. And unlike the proverbial "bad penny" they do NOT keep returning. Kids still hoard them like the fellow above, but now they go into a little spot in their coin collection.

Is the white penny worth more than a penny today? Barely. In 1943 more than one billion were minted, so even today coin collectors won't pay you more than a cent for one. However, in a curious twist, it was later discovered a few 1943 cents were made out of copper by mistake. In fact, 40 of them. Experts believe just enough copper remained in the hopper at the time of conversion that a few precious copper ones squeezed out. In 1958, the first one was sold for $40,000. Several years later, one sold for over $80,000. Don't get your hopes up. Some rusty old 1943 steel pennies have been coated with copper by unscrupulous folks hoping to "discover number 41" and reap profits. However, they forgot about the magnet. Even a copper coated white penny will stick to a magnet. Today the penny is zinc.

Photo: William Waylet, a bakery salesman, looks with satisfaction on the five-gallon jars of white pennies he has taken out of circulation. Original Press Photo, 1951. Collection Jim Linderman

Think YOU can be a News Reporter? Test Time!

Filler Fluff From 1952 Chevrolet Comic Giveaway (to keep the kids busy while Pop shops for wheels)
Collection Jim Linderman

Robert D. Good At the Circus in Black and White

Circus Photographer Robert D. Good advertised his services, among other places, in the circus section of Billboard Magazine during the 1940's saying "If you raised the circus, see it in pictures" offering real photo size images. 20 cents would bring you a sample and lists of photographs he had taken in the past. He called his studio "Circus Snaps" and frequently typed captions on the reverse of work along with his stamp.

I love this photograph, and you'll have to enlarge it to see why. A simple enough shot of the Sparks Circus Sleeper becomes a group of boys admiring the Circus Strong Man.

Robert was not only a photographer, he was a well-informed fan of the circus. His letter to Life Magazine on July 19, 1954 tells readers the "last living driver of the 40 horse team pulling the famous Two Hemispheres Band Wagon" was celebrating his 91st birthday. Good passed away in May 1974. A splendid photograph of the photographer appears on the Circus Historical Society "Bandwagon" pages for the May 1964 issue

"Sparks Circus at Lehighton PA. in 1946 Bus Converted into Sleeper for Performers" Robert D. Good Photographer Collection Jim Linderman

Spencer Tunick, Arthur Mole and the Living Flag

The earliest "living flag" reference I find is a group of Los Angeles schoolgirls in the 1890's. A considerable number of them are recorded in that decade so there must be earlier examples. This one is certainly from that period, it is a primitive and ragtag posing but quite charming nonetheless. I am sure the "conductor" had greater expectations when he told the children what to wear then next day. Perhaps the origin of the living flag photograph is to be found in parades after the Civil War?

Arthur Mole had it easier...his participants were used to not squirming like schoolchildren, they being all well-trained soldiers. Several of his staggering works are shown here, they are available at the Library of Congress website.

The funniest living flag is certainly the one in Lake Wobegon, which keeps breaking up as the participants with red, white and blue baseball caps leave to climb to the third story buildings on Main Street and look down. Garrison Keillor has said his living flag was based on a 1917 photograph of several thousand army trainees arranged on a football field to form the Liberty Bell, this was certainly the photo produced by Arthur Mole shown here.

Spencer Tunick, of course, does not ask his participants to wear baseball caps or anything else. To date, the largest Spencer Tunick piece has been 18,000 folks in Mexico City. He is no Arthur Mole, and the idea is getting a bit tired by now anyway.

There was a living flag made in Portugal to celebrate the country's soccer team making the finals in the World Cup, it was comprised of 18,788 women dressed in red, green and black. That one I'd like to have seen, but not as much as a Mole.

"Living Flag" photograph Anonymous c. 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

Frank Wendt Ida Iva and Eva the Hanna Triplets

The beautiful Ida, Iva and Eva Hanna were in the business from age 10 months old. As Iva explained in 1967 from her retirement town of St. Augustine, Florida, there weren't too many triplets in those days who survived...so I guess you could call them freaks who weren't freaks. Their father had them each wear different color ribbons in their hair so he could tell them apart. They worked for Ringling brothers and the A.B. Marcus Musical Comedy group after they learned how to dance. They stopped performing at age 20 when they started getting married. Iva married a stagehand, Eva married Blumpsie, A.K.A Blumpsy the clown. I'm not sure who Ida married, but she did...and all three were happy and kicking their heels up some 60 years after these photos were taken. They regrouped briefly in 1956 to perform and celebrate their 50th birthday. These photos are also posted on WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT my tribute and biography of the photographer.

Group of Frank Wendt Cabinet Card Photos of the Hanna Triplets, c. 1910. Collection Jim Linderman

The Good Life in STEREO

Homemade stereoscopic photographs, circa 1968 Collection Jim Linderman

Musings on the Present Current Future of Photographic Images

Archiving is a natural thing, I suppose, as is arranging, organizing and documenting. Various content sites such as flickr and a million plus blogs are growing faster than American's waistlines. There is a tendency for humans to share just as there is a tendency for birds to crow. What is usually missed, however, is that social websites have basically created an entire population of content providers, none of whom get paid one penny. In fact, some pay for the privilege. Every image loaded becomes public property of a sort, but it also becomes fodder for search engines to use, manipulate and market. As computerized digital recognition becomes more and more sophisticated, one will be able to specify any characteristic in an image and retrieve it in micro-seconds. "Let's find 50 images which look EXACTLY like Aunt Gertie!" I'm not kidding one bit. (One might also specify a search parameter to find models with their faces obliterated by too much incandescent light, as above) It should give one pause...me? I don't care as I usually retain the originals, and there will always be someone interested in physical objects (at least I think there will). I am also interested in how things age and fall apart more than how they are maintained and preserved. But if you treasure a photo, drawing, painting or doodle with unique characteristics of any kind, you might think about uploading it into the universal brain.

Untitled (Photographer) Snapshot, c. 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

Dorothy Chase the Designer, Radio Shill and her Figure Perfection 1930

In the early 1930's Dorothy Chase was stylist for a corset company, a designer, a radio personality and creator of a striking figure analysis chart shown in part here. Her chart "illustrate(s) the obstacles to figure perfection most frequently encountered by the average woman." Personally, I think they are all perfect already.

Shown:
Faulty Posture
Full Bust
Pendulous Abdomen
Prominent Lower Back
Broad Hips
Fallen Bust

Not shown:
Average Figure
Slender Hips
Round Abdomen
High Busted
Low Busted
Prominent Hip Bones
Fleshy Shoulder Blades
High Prominent Abdomen
Fleshy Through Waistline
Heavy Thigh Flesh

"Something Different, Especially for You" brochure, c. 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

Jim Linderman announces Dull Tool Dim Bulb DOT COM

DULL TOOL DIM BULB

Building for the Future, a solid chunk of cyber-cement!

Continue following blogs as usual.

The new website is a directory of all things Jim Linderman and will grow in time.
www.dulltooldimbulb.com

DULL TOOL DIM BULB

Mohave Indian Ronald Jones Murders John Lee Stokes Witch Doctor 1937. An Incomplete Story

An extraordinary story I wish I knew more about. Press photos here from 1937 show Ronald Jones, age 37, a Mohave Indian (or member of the Yuma tribe, both have roots in the area now known as Colorado) as he was awaiting his trial for murder. Typical saturday night fight on the Rez? Not quite. Mr. Jones defense claims the murdered person, John Lee Stokes, age 68, was a witch. That's right, a witch doctor. He had apparently bewitched others on the reservation near Parker, Arizona as well. I was able to locate a subsequent article in the LA Times which indicates Ronald Jones accepted a 12 year sentence. I can not find that he was released after completing his sentence. Oh...the handwritten note on the reverse of the photo indicates he "hacked" his fellow tribesman to death. Shamanism was a spiritual practice of many, if not all of the original Americans but I certainly don't know the Shamanistic characteristics of the tribe here. Nor do i have any idea how the Justice system of the United States prosecuted a member of First Peoples outside of their own system of justice. Doctoral students? Here is a big plate of story for you.

Pair of small press photos, original, dated 1937 Collection Jim Linderman

NOTE: an informed reader sent the following: It does not address this particular case, which is so interesting as the murder of a presumable tribal leader was involved(?) but he covers the general rules of reservation law. Thanks!

I refer you to a U. S. Department of Justice publication, Policing on American Indian Reservations. Having grown up in New Mexico, I was taught the basics of reservation justice during my junior high school days (New Mexico History) due to the many reservations in the state. I refer you to chapter 2, page 9 (pdf page 21) of the DoJ document above. Tribal justice systems only have jurisdiction over crimes committed on tribal lands. The offender must be an American Indian (although there are exemptions). Finally, the crime can't be a serious one like murder. For major crimes, e.g. felonies, the Federal system has jurisdiction, not tribal courts or police. The laws cited include the Major Crimes Act of 1885 and the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Indians in the U.S. are dual citizens, not sole citizens of a separate sovereign nation. Indeed, Chief Justice Marshall referred to Indian nations as semisovereign or "domestic dependent nations" in 1831. Members of U. S. Indian nations are U. S. citizens at their root. This is how they can, and are, appropriately, subject to the U. S. Federal justice system.

The OTHER Bob Dylan Christmas Album (!)

In the mid-1970's, around the time of Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album, tape traders and fans of bootleg records such as the Basement Tapes were frantic about a set of tracks rumored to be a Bob Dylan Christmas Album. It even had the title "Snow Over Interstate 80" and track listings. Not only that, it was rumored he also recorded "Silent Night" which was to be the single release. A good story, but alas, years later the truth came out (and so does his REAL Christmas album) New Musical Express, that Brit rag which thankfully brought us the fabulous Sex Pistols only to end up forcing the abysmal "New Romantics" fad on us a few years later are to blame. In 1975 they reportedly ran a false article, a hoax...and the full story is reprinted HERE on Searching for a Gem, the great fan-run Bob Dylan recordings site which covers his rare records. If you don't want to read the entire article, the "lyrics" to the title track follow:

"Arabella talks so sweetly
Her Chevy's broken down
As the snow piles on her windshield
Winston's back in town ... "

Doesn't sound so bad! And the new Christmas disc? Well...it's for charity. And since many songsters release a Christmas album the third or fourth year of their success, at least he waited this long. What's not to like? Except that it fails to include "Silent Night" so I'm still waiting. The REAL disc (and all the Dylan you could want) is at his official website HERE. However, Searching for a Gem probably knows more about his music than the label does. That's what fans are for, after all.

Jim Linderman
Dull Tool Dim Bulb

At the Circus in Black and White

"Pop's Midget Friends" on reverse Snapshot c. 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

See Also THE WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT

"Real-Pen" Bible Calligraphy Salesman Sample

A "Specimen Page" from the Pen-Art book Bible Pearls of Promise published in 1887. I have also included the corresponding page from the actual book. Look close and you will see slight differences, most evident on the head of the top dove. I do not know if the sample page was enhanced with pen, or if the effect is achieved by the "new pen-ink" process being touted.

Salesman Sample Specimen Page from Bible Pearls of Wisdom Real-Pen Work Publishing Co. 1887 Collection Jim Linderman

See Also OLD TIME RELIGION blog