Wisconsin Paramount Records Frozen Custard and the Birth of the Blues

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Join as we celebrate, well...I would say the opening of Olin's Frozen Custard Stand, but what we are really celebrating here is the American Dream. A white family in brand new "open for business" form and their Icy new Custard stand, with a most remarkable "colored" band ready to entertain the crowd when they arrive.

In one photograph showing a span of no more than 50 feet, we see enough real American history to last a lifetime.

Photographs of seemingly "rural" African-American professional musicians in 1930s are rare as can be. And professional they are, make no mistake. There is even a piano and drum set on that puny stage, and what I would give to have a listen as I try the custard. I would not be surprised one bit if a few of the stand workers broke out into a dance later, and trust that was the primary skill of the performers.

Make them dance.

As musicianers, the job would have been to play all the current hits for their audience, including standards...but I'm going to say some of them brought the blues.

Music is certainly not the only harmony here.

Now allow me some some speculation which might be of interest to record collectors, fans of the blues and more. Although frozen custard was invented in Coney Island in 1919, it really took hold in Wisconsin a decade later. That's right. Wisconsin. Soon small custard stands spread over the state. Now do I KNOW this is Wisconsin? Nope. But there is another reason besides custard I suspect as much.

Paramount Records was located there. Everyone from Blind Lemon Jefferson to Robert Johnson (with Charley Patton in between) went up to Wisconsin to make 78 records which created the earliest aural record of the Blues.

Were these musicians up north to record?

I try to be fact based, but this is too good a story not to surmise, and even if not true, it is one hell of a photograph.

Additionally, there was a connection between an "Olin" and the underground railroad. Smoke that too.

By the way, I found no record of "Olin's Custard" but someone knows, so PLEASE let me know? Likewise, if any blues scholars recognize this most remarkable band, get in touch. The Wisconsin connection is too obvious to ignore, but for all I know the scene depicted is Michigan (where the photograph was found) and the Olin name turns up in both places.

But a Custard Stand in Wisconsin with Paramount performers passing through is the stuff of legends.

Anonymous Photographer "Custard Stand with African-American Musicians" circa 1930 Original Photograph with handwritten notation on reverse. Collection Jim Linderman

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Michigan Moonshine, Sin Tax and Pleasure Boating to Canada

The origin of stock car racing was the souped-up cars (and drivers) who eluded revenuers with fast and fancy driving over the hills and a trunk full of shine. That is Clem there on the left with a watchful eye on his still.

Here the state of Michigan promotes taxed liquor stores AND a stereotype of the hayseed moonshiner, rifle in hand, on a free book of matches presumably handed out at the state-sanctioned liquor store.

However, In Michigan, the rum-runners used boats! Many a fellow (and family) solved the depression blues with booze runs to Canada and back in their speedboats.

Decades later, as kids, we used to cross into Windsor still for their beer and cigarettes, both at the time superior to our own. A six-pack of Labatts was prized as the Canadians didn't use preservatives and sold it from state stores cold. Delicious. Their Players cigarettes were better too. Labatts was purchased and I presume ruined by Anheuser-Busch, and I am sure it isn't worth the drive anymore. American industry has a habit of eating upstarts and bringing their quality down to our own bland, flavorless size.

As for the smokes, If I did today, I'd roll my own. Who in their right mind would spend ten bucks for a pack of sticks? At that rate, it won't be long before folks start growing their own tobacco among the cornstalks instead of weed.

As you can see by this "public health" match book cover, moonshine was bad for you. "Clem is here...NAME YOUR POISON!" Of course, so was the "real" stuff (the kind the state took a cut from instead of organized crime) but at least it would poison you slowly. You could be fairly sure it wouldn't kill you for twenty years or so, and each fifth you consumed would help fill the state coffers.

The sin tax was good for you...how to you think those roads for Detroit's cars were created?

Other matches are HERE and HERE

Anti- Moonshine Matchbook 1935 Collection Jim Linderman
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Early Native American Reenactors Windians on no Warpath

Considering we spent a century trying to eliminate the Native American, it sure is odd how many organizations and imbeciles try to effect their dress. Why appropriate a culture you met with genocide? The answer is beyond me, and I really don't want to spend the time looking it up.


"Indian reenactors" are even bigger in Germany of all places. Go figure. I think it is like the Brits digging Delta Blues before we did. While we were suffering with Fabian and Pat Boone, the nascent Rolling Stones were already kicking ass and sounding better at it than Jimmy Reed, if not Muddy Waters. At least they were sincere...read Keef's autobiography. However, until I find an explanation way better than "Dancing with Wolves" I'm going to have to figure these guys as insensitive boobs.

Of course we started the trend as far back as the Boston Tea Party, when the colonists dressed up as "Mohawks" before climbing on board and dumping tea. Some scholars have tried to explain it away claiming they were using "the Mohawk image as a revolutionary symbol of liberty" and such, but I suspect they were just cowards hiding their identity. I'm not alone. Attempts to deny that the colonial costume party came about to deflect blame, hide the perps and an early example of racism are seeming somewhat lame. But again, I'm no expert, and lean toward iconoclasm as a rule. What they taught it in school, I've spent a lifetime trying to shed.

At any rate, this is one the most extravagant displays of "Windian" behavior I have seen. No less than 25 of them, and they are armed to boot!

I don't think all would fit in the sole tipi (Lakota and made of hide, often decorated with spiritual images, not tent canvas like this one), but maybe they took turns getting in. It also appears they have clogged the smoke hole with a crumpled American flag...and if you look close behind the tent, some kid and his Dad are watching the big event in street clothes. Could this be a very early film still with the tribe coming from Brooklyn?

By the way? Halloween as an "indian?" Also not cool.

Other than that? This is a pretty cool photograph.

Untitled (Early Native American Reenactors) original silver photograph, 8" x 6" (Original mount 12" x 10" circa 1890? Collection Jim Linderman

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Harlemisms from New York Confidential Mapback Book Speak like an (Urban) Native

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I have written about Mapbacks before, those beautiful mystery books from the 1950s which always had a map on the reverse indicating the scene of the crime and spots where certain events took place. I've collected them several times over my life, and finding them is still one of the most beautiful cheap hobbies around. There was one anomaly in the series.

Number 1534 was not a mystery, but an actual guide book to the city which never sleeps, and it was a guide book which held back little. From "Party Girls" to "Where Men Wear Lace" it was, I am sure, a well-thumbed book in 1951.

Alas, nearly everything in it is gone now. Yet it still remains one of the most valuable little documents of a world now gone, and one could do worse than bring back the wonderful "Glossary of Harlemisms" in back, Jack.

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New York Confidential! The Big City After Dark by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer. Dell Paperback 1951 (Mapback) Collection Jim Linderman

Things to Make SOCK MONKEY (In Time for CHRISTMAS)

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Those of you who follow regularly know from time to time I post "Things to Make" and I am never kidding. It's the new reality folks.. don't think of this as a kitschy little gimmick. You can save a bundle AND give your friends a gift they will love by following these simple instructions, courtesy Nelson Red Heel Rockford Socks, the ONLY official sock of the sock monkey! You can substitute imported socks, but if so plan on the Sock Monkey lasting only a few generations.

Make the Sensational Red Heel Sock Monkey Brochure circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman
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Elmer Anderson Mike Kelley Inappropriate Appropriation, The Thing , Genuine Genius Scott Warmuth and Ghostly Afterimage

There is nothing better than a slow-burning low-art mystery, and Elmer Anderson just continues to prove it. My third post on Elmer in as many years, this one prompted by a remarkable find by the brilliant Scott Warmuth. An actual ad (!) taken out by Elmer's distributor, in of all places Billboard Magazine! Maybe they thought musicians were the perfect consumers for his wacky and incomprehensible drawings. You know...the reefer.

NOW having done three posts on the artist Elmer, I should be recognized as the world's foremost Elmer Anderson scholar, though I know absolutely NOTHING about him. As such, I'll take any opportunity to exhibit Elmer. Or as I pointed out HERE, "Genuine" Elmer. Certainly one of the most infamous, if unknown, artists of Waterloo, Iowa.

I have also since learned noted contemporary artist Mike Kelley used an Elmer Anderson image, "The Thing" shown above, as the source for his painting "Ghostly Afterimage" in 1998. Now that may be appropriation, but it certainly is not appropriate. "The Thing" can stand on it's own, it being a dramatic and profound anti-alcohol piece with a sufferer choking a whiskey snake.

Here is what falutin' art magazine Frieze had to say about Kelley's piece based on "The Thing".

"Ghostly Afterimage, for example, a brutish self portrait in oils by the fictional ‘Elmer’, accompanied by a psycho-babble commentary claiming that ‘Elmer’s shaky paint is typical of those who suffer from the type of violent delirium characterised by the sweats, trembling, anxiety and frightening hallucinations’"

Brutish? FICTIONAL? Humpf. May I suggest another word starting with BR? Brilliant!



Sure enough as seen here, lower right, Kelley's painting is a perfect reversed image of Elmer's brilliant work, but appears to be painted on (the then) trendy plywood backing contemporary artists were using in the late 90s. The IRONY. Well, Elmer didn't work in irony, and I doubt he ever knew his image was shown as "kunst" in Germany. If you dig around enough, you will find the brochure, which is a German art catalog, but you'll have to use Google translate to see if the "critic" liked it!
Jim Linderman is a collector of Elmer Anderson Postcards, and author of THE HORRIBLE HANDMADE POSTCARDS OF ANONYMOUS printed by Blurb. Anonymous would have liked Elmer.



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Mars Probe Anticipated by Professor Hunt

Professor Everett Hunt's homemade and handmade book, at least a few pages from it. The text consists of a newspaper article with Indiana byline. Several illustrations. Headlines inserted into slots. A bit of indecipherable text. That the article has an April 1 date is, I believe, a coincidence. Date Unknown.

A blog repost from a few years ago due to clogged holiday bandwidth and suffering a cold.

"Going To Mars 350,000,000 Miles in 5 Minutes" by Professor Everett Hunt. Handmade book. Circa 1930? Collection Jim Linderman
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Cross Written Correspondence Dull Tool Dim Bulb Greatest Hits

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A 19th Century "cross written" letter. Cross writing was a technique to save paper when paper was scarce. Every scrap mattered at one time (this is dated 1823) so the writer, upon reaching the end of the page, would turn the paper 90 degrees and add a second layer of text. Once it becomes familiar, the mind adapts easily and cross written letters are surprisingly legible. Charles Darwin famously used the technique.

I have a cold, and the bandwidth is so clogged with "stay at home" shoppers, I didn't want to sit here and upload images. This is a repost from a few years ago.

Original Post from Dull Tool Dim Bulb the Daily Blog

Early 19th Century Cross Writing letter, Collection Jim Linderman

Cynthia Lugo and THE CYNEPHILE Art and Film Make Friends (Essential)

Since I can no longer go see films in the Cable Building (New Yorkers will know it as the converted storage space for cable cars with real popcorn) I spend no time with moving pictures.

Fortunately I know a brilliant writer and curator who does and I would like to share her work. Cynthia Lugo is a genius. I could say a "shy" genius, but she certainly holds her own place with the written word...and the word is The Cynephile, the most interesting and thoughtful blog about the relationship between Film and Art you will find. In fact, Ms. Lugo describes her site as a place where "film and art make out"

I recently sent Cynthia an interesting little find and was rewarded with a hefty hunk of skillful, comprehensive and colorful observations. Pictures too! If you follow film, and I mean the ART of Fine Film, Cynthia Lugo's blog CYNEPHILE is not only recommended, it should be added to your sidebars.

Now I could choose any of the MANY essays Cynthia has produced, but why not let my followers hear one of my favorite songs at the same time? It may not be a typical post, but you'll thank me for the song (as I thanked her 6 months ago) and you'll love Cynthia Lugo for the rich, full history she is producing on a regular basis on The Cynephille. Take a visit and see if you do not agree.

Thanksgiving in Manila Paper Tom Turkey

Child's Tom Turkey in manila paper, circa 1950

Trotters in the Trunk Last Winner's Circle and One More Bet Vernacular Photograph Collection Jim Linderman

A photograph I happen to find very sad, I have collected photographs of people making folk art for many years now. It is usually a pleasant enough pursuit for subject, photographer and later collector...but for some reason this is the only one which hurts.

All photograph collectors try to fill in the details. In our haste to acquire we often browse too quickly to see. In this case, a somewhat hapless jigsaw hobbyist is not just selling creations from his trunk, there is more.

There is an 8 x 10 photograph propped up behind the wares. It depicts several gentleman (one of whom is surely the man posing with plywood products) and a prize-winning horse. Is the photo on exhibit to lend authenticity to his handmade rudimentary toys? A reminder of earlier triumphs and past glory?

There is no partner, no humor and a desperation in the photo not all of my own projection. Is he raising funds for one more bet? Is there another winner's circle? Is this the end of the track?


Anonymous photograph, no date (1950, Ohio?) Collection Jim Linderman

Mexican Circus Performers At the Circus in Black and White # 29

Entry number 29 in the Dull Tool Dim Bulb AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE Series is a trio of original circa 1950 snapshots of a most handsome traveling circus troupe from Mexico. México circo ambulante!

Original Photographs Collection Jim Linderman

AT THE CIRCUS in BLACK and WHITE is a continuing series on Dull Tool Dim Bulb This is Entry number 29.

Miniature Floating Flotilla Toy Boats of Wood

Miniature handmade boats, largest 5 inches

Wood, Paper American Flag. circa 1950? Origin Unknown (occupied Japan?) Collection Jim Linderman

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Stonecutters Cutting Stone Sculptors Who Take Away Real Photo Postcard

When it comes to sculpture, there are those that add and those that take away. Stone cutters are the latter, and perhaps in this case I should say "taketh" away.

It appears the fellows are carving a tombstone or memorial of some type, and I am going to guess for a notable. It also appears the piece was carved under a temporary tent built for the purpose? A mystery.

Enlarge the pictures to see their big whacking hammer on the ground and the equally cryptic message on the inscribed, but unmailed card.

Real Photo Postcards circa 1900? No date. Collection Jim Linderman

Michigan Fall Sand Dunes and a Tree House Revealed

The leaves are gone and our topography is again revealed. Michigan's sand dunes are the best feature of the state, although yesterday was the start of deer season, so the tourism folks would rather promote gunplay than hiking. A law went into effect this year dropping the legal hunting age to 10. That is, with a "responsible" adult...which means to me just an older gun nut.

I don't mind the herd being thinned. I'm trying to grow a garden. Two weeks after buying a new car, A tiny green Ford. I hit a wild turkey and broke off the rear view mirror. A $444.00 repair. If the trees had been sparse, I'd have seen him coming and swerved, but leaves hide turkey and deer. Now they are exposed.

In the Western Michigan shoreline area, when leaves fall you are left with huge mountains of sand. Where it is stable, forest grows dense. But If the sand can move or shift, it will, and it doesn't allow ground cover. In places the slope to the lake is like a moonscape of white sand.

I can easily walk to a section of the county which had a "NO CLIMBING, BEACH GRASS RESTORATION" SIGN 30 years ago when I left, and it is still there. The trail (created by generations of kids seeking a high place to drink beer) will never fill in, and no cop will climb it. Climbing a sand dune means three steps up for every step gained. I have lost the ability and I'm not fat.

Yesterday, with the limbs empty again, I came across a monster of a tree house built while I was gone. Nailed to a Beech Tree rooted over a sheer of a dune. Some adults likely collaborated but it was for the kids. I'd live there. Beech grow here, and they grow enormous, fat trunks easy to climb and strong like ox.

These young fellows are doing just that. They are Jack Harris and Pat Kirkpatrick, it is 1930, and they are trying to break the worlds record for tree sitting. I do not know if they made it, but they seem fairly confident.


Original Press Photograph, 1930 NEA Chicago Bureau Photographer Unidentified Collection Jim Linderman

Well Rendered Drawing from the Photograph CDV Art History

Practice makes perfect.


Anonymous primitive drawing based on a CDV Photograph 1884. Photograph Curtiss & Smith, Syracuse New York with Pencil sketchbook. Collection Jim Linderman

Do Men Choose Mary or Alice? Use the Bonomo Ritual and Find Out

The answer, of course, is both. As often as possible. But let's say you want to grow bigger bonomos AND develop raccoon eyes.

Strongman Joe Bonomo put most of his effort into growing the bust lines of MEN.

Having been quite the gym rat in my 30s and 40s, I can assure you THIS method works. Strain your muscles to failure with repeated repetition until the muscle part you are working on is exhausted. Legs, arms, chest...doesn't matter, works for them all. Increase the weight a little bit every week. They'll grow back bigger and stronger. Supplement the program with additional lean protein (a few cans of tuna a day is enough, or drink no-sugar powdered protein in skim milk) and in a few months you'll have a chest like Joe did. On your "rest" days, go for a run. If you are out of town, do push-ups in your hotel room instead. It really is that simple, and you don't need a book for it. End of story. I am usually a bit tongue in cheek, but here? Nope.

My contribution to the billion dollar weight and fitness industry, and it took one paragraph. Not only that, I'm giving it away!

As for the female of the species? Well, the specific female chest parts Joe wants to pump up don't have too much muscle, so the tear and repair method doesn't work.

Send in Joe's coupon and you'll receive ten pages of exercise, some good advice actually...and two more pages which will turn you into an Alice when you've been suffering as a Mary.



Here it is. You don't have to "click to enlarge" (or use the Bonomo ritual) because I will tell you.

Bras.


See? Bras.

Later Joe got into Dope.



One person who combines all the best qualities of both Mary AND Alice is Miram Linna, who has written the best article about Joe you will ever find. HERE

Miriam is force...at NORTON RECORDS which is celebrating their 25th Anniversary AS I TYPE! If you do not know Norton, you must be snortin' and Joe warned you about that above.

Ad for Bonomo Culture Institute 1950


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Nation of Immigrants Pilgrim Tale Told c. 1950

A collaborative effort, this handmade book by elementary students well over 50 years ago. The manila paper you may remember. The story, however, you may have forgotten. A nation of immigrants which began with a boat full of religious beliefs hoping to find a place they would be left alone.
Circa 1940 Handmade "Our Pilgrim Book" circa 1950 by Mrs. Whipple's class, Northeastern Michigan Collection Jim Linderman

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