The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 – The first of a long list of sequels in the Frankenstein saga. The first treatment was called The New Adventures of Frankenstein — The Monster Lives!, but quickly changed. Directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff  as the Monster and 33 year old Elsa Lancaster as the titular Bride (as well as Mary Shelly in the opening sequence). The film was critically praised upon its release, although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film’s being in the horror genre. The New York Telegram called the film “good entertainment of its kind”. The New York Post described it as “a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of its kind, is swell”. The Hollywood Reporter similarly called the film “a joy for those who can appreciate it” The posters and art for Bride… are all beautiful and extremely rare. The first poster below brought over $700K at auction a few years ago (there’s only one thought to exist).

Bride – teaser poster 1935

French poster

Belgian poster

English re-release 1950s

German poster

The Bride – Elsa Lancaster

Behind the scenes – tea time

Basil Gogos – During the 1960s, Gogos provided a steady stream of illustrations for a variety of New York-based publications. The majority of his work during this period was for men’s adventure magazines for which he painted scenes of World War II battles, jungle perils and crime as well as cheesecake portraits of beautiful women. However, Gogos’ greatest impact as an illustrator was the work he did for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. The magazine’s covers were usually eye-catching close-ups of horror movie characters that had become popular again with their re-release on TV. Gogos first cover featured an impressionistic portrait of Vincent Price from House of Usher painted in shades of red, yellow and green. Over the next two decades, he created almost 50 covers for Famous Monsters, many of which have become iconic images of that period.

In the late 1970s, Gogos gave up full time commercial illustration to devote himself more to his original goal of doing fine art. He produced personal art pieces in watercolor and other media, while earning his livelihood as a photo retoucher in the ad department of United Artists. While there, he also did occasional illustrations for movie posters. Gogos later moved into advertising where he produced presentation sketches and storyboards for commercials for a major ad agency.

Due to a resurgence of interest in classic horror films and collectibles, Gogos returned to the horror genre in the 1990s. During this time, new Gogos monster portraits appeared on trading cards, lithographs and the covers of Monsterscene magazine. He has also painted CD covers for rock stars Rob Zombie and The Misfits.

Vincent Price – Madhouse

Bela Lugosi – Dracula

Boris Karlof – Frankenstein

Lon Chaney – Mr Hyde

Creature from the Black Lagoon

King Kong

Dr Sardonicus

Ingrid Pitt – Vampyre Lovers

The Mummy

Renfield

Phantom of the Opera

Nosferatu

Vincent Price

Peter Cushing

Christopher Lee – Dracula

The Wolfman

Rondo Hatton

Frankenstein

Christopher Lee – Frankenstein

Filmed in 1959 and released in late 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho has been voted  the #3 best horror movie of all time. Made with Hitchcock’s own money ($800,000) and generally regarded as too base and cheap a property for the great director. Psycho surprised everyone, making more money than any of his other pictures. Hitch was so confident in the film that he took no fee for direction instead opting for 60% of ticket sales. He certainly played his cards right, with Psycho making well over $40 million in his lifetime, giving him a tidy fortune and the last laugh.

Alfred and Janet – The Shower

Janet Leigh

Anthony Perkins

Tony, Alfred and Janet

Movie posters seem to have no real artistic punch anymore. No more beautiful dames and bright yellow type like noir posters from the 50′s, wild multi-color collages from the 60′s or crazy psych art from the 70′s. Sure, you’ll see the odd poster here and there that amazes you, but for the most part it’s become the star’s big old head smack in the middle of the poster with the co-stars arranged in a V behind him/her, along with some truly disappointing type choices. Thank the good lord for the fine people at Mondo. Employing some of the finest illustrators in the world, Mondo creates beautiful poster art, hand silk-screened in limited runs. They are next to impossible to get because they usually produce no more than 500 of each piece, and when it’s sold out, it’s sold out. The trouble is is that they’re not real movie posters, they’re art hidden in a traditional movie poster format. Now if only the studios would hire these guys to do actual posters and we could stop looking at Tom Cruise’s big fat mug every time we went to the multi-plexes.

Jaws

Hitchcock’s Psycho

Taxi Driver

This Island Earth

Drive

The Bride of Frankenstein

Aliens

The Goonies

Halloween

Night of the Hunter

Iron Giant

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Django Unchained

Dracula

Maniac – 2012

Maniac 1980

Sucker Punch

My Neighbor Totoro – Ghibli Studios

I’ve posted a lot of these in the past and always get a great response. These women were/are great. Playing by their own rules in the repressed 1950′s. First, check out the great poses (and skin), then the talented well lit photography and finally their unbelievable names; Lady Zorro, Maye Joyce aka The Tiny Mite of Dynamite, SATIN aka The Siren in Silk, etc. For  more of these go to the great site http://burleskateer.tumblr.com/

Lady Zorro

Maye Joyce aka The Tiny Mite of Dynamite

Lilly Christine aka The Cat Girl

Fascinating Colette

SATIN aka The Siren in Silk

Bambi Jones aka. The Garter Girl

Chris Owens

Angela D’Orsay aka. The Devilish Dish

Hurricane Dare

Rita Grable – in action

Sequin aka Beauty in the 4th Dimension

Sally The Shape – Indeed

Leah DuBois

Adele Latour

Blaze Starr

Charmaine

Do May aka. The Cherokee Half-Breed

Lee Sharon

Gee Whiz – aka The Grand Slam WOW of the West

Norma Arden

Zahara

It was imperative in the 90′s to “Show the Wealth”, in most gansta rap LPs. Cash, diamonds, girls and pit bulls were the symbols of success. Granted a number of these are mix tape style covers from bands that most haven’t heard of but, jeez louise, whats goin on? I didn’t know photoshop could be used this way, and where do I find the glimmery jewelery filter. These guys (and Lil Kim) were livin’ large, adding Z’s and dollar sign$ to their names willy-nilly and flashin’ the cash. A couple of these are a bit off topic but I found them too funny and odd to ignore. Playa G’s “U Not My Lady” is weirdly boring and Ta Smallz, “Who Killed My Mama?” is just plain sad. The real high point here is the wonderfully designed and titled, Trinidad Jones LP – Dont Be S.A.F.E (Sensitive As Fuck Everyday) and off course Big Bears’- “Doin Thangs”.

187 FAC

Lil’ B

Stackin Chips – BXKrazy

Snoop Dogg

Lil’ Flip

Greenwade

Baller Blockin

Robinson Boyz

South Park Mexican

Silkk the Shocker

Playa G

Lil’ Kim

Top Dog – Slam Dunk’n Hoes

Ta Smallz – Who Killed My Mama?

B.G.

Bangers & Cash

Trinadad James – *(I love this cover)

Tyga

… And the winner is … Big Bear – Doin Thangs

Is there anyone in the world more photogenic than David Bowie? Many of his album covers (always a self portrait) have become iconic. Everyone knows the lightning bolt make up of Alladin Sane and the weird black and white ‘salute’ of Heroes. His many personas were equally as famous – the half-man-half-dog of Diamond Dogs, The Thin White Duke of Station to Station, Scary Monsters… victorian clown or the young long haired singer/songwriter of Hunky Dory. Even though he’s been photographed 1000′s of times it’s interesting to see the alternate shots – what might have been,  from these famous LPs.

Alladin Sane

Alternate Alladin Sane cover shot

Photograph by Brian Duffy

Heroes proof sheet

Hunky Dory

The famous Diamond Dogs promo shot

Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

Playboy in the 1960′s still had a bit of naivete to it. It really did focus on the man of the times and actually had unbelievable articles (Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was first published in 3 consecutive issues, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel On Her Majestys Secret Service as well. Jack Karouac and Norman Mailer both had exclusive stories in the 60′s).  With no real full-on nudity or sex of any kind, Playboy was still a real shocker to puritan America reaching close to 5 million in sales by the end of the 60′s. Everyone knows what it has become today and it’s amazing it’s still is published at all (down to 1.5 million). These older covers were – for the most part – clever, fun and well designed and spoke directly to the era. Remember to look for the hidden rabbit logo, it’s on every cover. Some easier to find than others.

Thelma Todd was a dish, a dame, a bombshell and also a very funny comedienne and actress. She was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the late 20′s and early 30′s. Appearing in over 40 movies between 1926 and 1935. Thelma is best remembered for her comedic roles in the Marx Brothers movies, Monkey Business and Horse Feathers. She also appeared with most of the silents and early talkies biggest stars, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and William Powell, to name just a few. In the 1930s, she opened a restaurant, Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Cafe, and took up residence in a luxurious apartment above the cafe. Located near the ocean on the Roosevelt Highway at Catellammare, it became a popular place. It was in the garage of the Sidewalk Cafe on December 15, 1935, that she was found in her parked car, dead of carbon monoxide poisoning, deceased at the age of 29 – supposedly a suicide, maybe a murder.

Though her death was ruled a suicide by the courts but there were quite a few other possibilities. Why would she kill herself? Thelma was riding high with a string of hits, successfully making the transition from Silents to the Talkies, owned a successful restaurant, dated some of Hollywood’s most famous stars and basically, had it all.

The Grand Jury investigation into her death yielded conflicting results. Spots of blood were found both on and in the car, and on Todd’s mouth. This led to the theory that she might have been knocked out before the car was started.

The first suspect was Thelma’s ex-husband, Pat DiCicco, a self-described agent with underworld connections. After one too many beatings, Todd divorced him. He felt humiliated by all the publicity and may have sought revenge. Hm?

Another suspect was Lucky Luciano, Americas most famous gangster and mob boss. Rumors circulated that Lucky wanted to use Todd’s restaurant as a front for his gambling operation. Allegedly, just days before she was discovered dead, Luciano informed Todd of his interests in her restaurant. The story goes that Thelma pooh-poohed Lucky’s offer and was killed for her refusal and disrespect.

Hard to say. Everybody’s got troubles. Maybe she did call it quits in her garage almost 78 years ago. It’s probably not important any more, so go rent her movies instead, start with Monkey Business.

With Groucho Marx

Thelma in This is the Night w/ Cary Grant

Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Cafe

Edinburgh-based artist Jessica Harrison transforms the collectible ceramic ladies that populate grandmothers’ china cabinets into spectacles of gore. These elegant abominations are now on view at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York as part of Body & Soul: New International Ceramics, the first of a series of exhibitions highlighting different materials. Body & Soul is centered on the human figure in contemporary ceramics, and as the exhibition text notes; “Through clay the figure becomes the catalyst for addressing the emotional impact of contemporary pressures that confront our society today.” – ehm?

Harrison’s pieces are created from found ceramic figurines, altered in horrific ways with epoxy resin putty and enamel paint. There’s something more to these than just a kitsch re-imagining. They’re somehow more beautiful than that. Maybe it’s the memory of these from most people’s grandmas cupboards, I don’t really know. I do know that they’re beautiful and weird and gruesome and incredibly cool.

It’s that time of year again. Here are a few grand ideas for stuffing stuffers. Perhaps Santa will bring you the $300. Clash retrospective in a cardboard boom box, the 15 CD Blind Guardian (?) set or the entire work of John (Cougar) Mellencamp in one nicely designed box. 2013′s designs seem a little less elaborate than the last few years, no metal traveling case with 6 anatomically sized dildos of each of the members (ha) of Rammstein or the $500 box of U2′s single LP – Actung Baby! There is some nice stuff though so save your pennies and happy holidays.

The Clash – with tons of extras

Moody Blues

Merzbow (?)

Small Faces

Wings Over America

Blind Guardian

Johnny Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp, John Mellencamp

Bob Dylan

Paul Simon

Kishi Bashi – Limited 7″ single set (not a CD but beautiful)

Sonic Youth – Japan only release of The Eternal

The Kinks at the BBC

Woody Guthrie

Deicide (?)

Beatles – 50th Anniversary Set

Beach Boys

Smashing Pumpkins

Peter James O’Toole (2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013)  O’Toole first appeared on film in 1959 in a minor role in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England. His major break came when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role.His performance was ranked number one in Premier magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.  The role introduced him to US audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor (being the most nominated actor without winning the award).

O’Toole did it all; movies, stage, drama and comedy – even voice over animation (Disney’s Ratatouille) and a Sho-time series (Tudors). He would act until 2012 when he announced his retirement. In 2003 he received a Academy Lifetime achievement award and 3 years later would be nominated for the 8th and final time for the role of Maurice in the film Venus.

O’Toole died on 14 December 2013 at the Wellington Hospital in London, aged 81, following a long illness.

Check out Lawrence of Arabia first then go to his comedies – What’s New Pussycat, & How to Steal a Million. His historical epics are pretty great too; Becket and Lion in Winter. Stay clear of the Penthouse porno flop Caligula – it’ll just make you mad.

As T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia

What’s New Pussycat?

What’s New Pussycat? w/ Peter Sellers

On stage in ‘Baal’ – 1963

Baal

Beckett

With Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million – promo

With son Lorcan

These aren’t all from 2013 but a good many are. It’s nice to see some actual thought going into some of packaging. However, this did seem to be the year where they took the main characters head and simply filled it w/ DVDs, but that’s OK (the Jackass package is pretty clever). Favorites? The Dexter box is very cool as is the Breaking Bad collection. The older films like the 10 Commandments and the Sound of Music seem pretty uninspired  but a life sized bust of Moses filled w/ media might not be the way to go with these films.

Breaking Bad – The whole series in a cool plastic barrel and nice Los Pollos Hermanos apron

Dexter – The series in a nice wood ‘blood slide’ box

Jackass – The movies (I think)

Inland Empire – Japan only w/ copy of shooting script and Lynch 1

Marvel Heroes (Iron Man, Thor, et al) – Phase one w/ light up features in a sweet attache

Masters of Horror – In a dirty skull

The 10 Commandments w/ ‘parting sea’ case and tablets – tons of extras

Game of Thrones – Series 1 & 2 in wood case w/ ‘secret door’ and scroll

Up – W/ Pixars signature hopping lamp (don’t know if it actually hops)

Predator – All the movies in a 3D head

The Walking Dead – Series 3

Heathers – Contained in a nice metal locker w/ T-Shirt and book

I Robot – Bad movie, nice packaging

For Mom – The Sound Of Music – w/ a whole bunch of your favorite things.

X Men – All the movies so far

Planet of the Apes – All the movies from the 70′s in a creepy ape head

Friday the 13th – Everything plus the 3D one w/ glasses and mask

Yoko Ono (オノ・ヨーコ, also 小野 洋子 Ono Yōko, born February 18, 1933 in Tokyo Japan).
It’s time to stop hating poor Yoko. She’s 80 years old, she didn’t break up The Beatles (they hated each other long before Yoko showed up) she still records and performs, has made significant philanthropic contributions to arts, peace, Philippine disaster relief, AIDS and autism outreach programs and dammit, looks pretty good for 80.

Yoko’s history was incredibly interesting well before she came to the worlds attention with her marriage to John Lennon. Surviving the fire bombing of Tokyo in 1945, schooling with the future emperor of Japan, traveling to the US to become a respected Avant Garde artist in New York, performing along side John Cage and the Fluxus group. Recording music and experimental films, she had made quite a name for herself in the New York underground by the mid-sixties.

And then came the Beatles. If you’re over 40 you know all about her. The long haired dragon lady that tempted poor innocent John Lennon away from the Fabs, destroying the best band in the world. That’s the boring (and untrue) part of the story, so we’ll skip it.

Ono has carried on to perform and collaborate with a multitude of talented artists. Most recently she performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, the 2008 Liverpool Biennial, has recorded with Basement Jaxx, Sonic Youth, Lady Gaga and Eric Clapton. She also curated the London Meltdown fest in 2013 performing with a new lineup of her Plastic Ono Band (at the age of 80). She continues to be a a tireless peace activist and is currently traveling the world to warn of the dangers of fracking. Lets hope she keeps going strong for years to come – ‘cuz Yoko is cool.

With son, Sean

Annie Liebovitz portrait

Yoko at 3

Yoko’s book Grapefruit

At Meltdown w/ the new Plastic Ono Band 2013

Asia is a big place. China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, India, the Phillippines – even Iran and Iraq are considered as West Asia. These 45′s are from all over Asia. You can see the American influence on a number of these. The choice of songs, the style of dress (a lot of Beatles and Stones influence), even the names. Some sound like 50′s Do-Wop; The Melodians, The Emeralds, Some like 60 psyche – Clique Fantastique, or my favorite – The Polar Bear 5.

Evelyn w/ the Siglap 5

Sakura

The Melodians

Johnny Tan

Naomi and The Boys

Julie and the Emeralds

Tony and The Polar Bear 5

?

Clique Fantastique

Rocky

Hussain Marican

Maurice Patton and The Melodians

?

Jeffridian and the Siglap 5

Oma Irama

Lam Leng and The Quests

Lolita with The Merry Lads

M. Ishak and the Dengan Five 55

Cry-Baby was John Water’s second shot at main stream success – after the original Hairspray, in 1988. Following years of underground notoriety w/ films like Female Troubles and Pink Flamingos w/ it’s famous poo eating star, Divine, John was poised to take over Hollywood. Assembling a truly oddball cast, rock star – Iggy Pop, convicted bank robber/kidnap victim – Patty Hearst, ex-underage porn star – Tracy Lords and teen heart throb – Johnny Depp, along with Hairspray star Rikki Lake, Norman Mailer’s kid – Stephen, ex-Warhol superstar Joe Dellesandro, 50′s teen star Tad Hunter and crazy person and all around cool dame, Susan Tyrell.

When casting Cry Baby, Waters said he was looking for a teen heart-throb to take the part of Wade “Cry Baby” Walker and instructed his PA to buy a handful of teen magazines to see who was popular. Johnny was on the cover of every one and  was more than happy to bust out of his role on 21 Jump Street. Tracy Lords was also looking for a legitimate acting gig after years in the porno industry (starring in a ton of films at the age of 15). Rikki Lake was happy to keep acting the chubby lovable teen (this time as Pepper Walker – “She’s pregnant but she fights like a man). When Waters came to cast the role of Mona ‘Hatchet-Face’ Malnorowski, (Divine having died recently the character was described thus: “She’s got the body of Jayne Mansfield and the face of Margaret Hamilton…[and] nobody, but nobody, gives her grief.”To find a suitable actress, Waters placed a print advertisement that simply requested: “Wanted: Girl with a good body and an alarming face who is proud of it”.

All the stars have aged and done pretty well. Depp still looks great and continues to act in big, big budget films. His co-star Amy Locane hasn’t done quite as well. She appeared on the new Beverly Hills 90210 for a number of years, and in 2012 was convicted of drunk driving and vehicular homicide. She is currently serving a 3 year prison sentence. Perhaps most surprising, Kim “Hatchetface” McGuire is an attorney in the great state of Alabama. Iggy carries on acting and singing. Tracy Lords has written a couple of books. Rikki Lake slimmed down and got her own chat show and the great John Waters continues to direct and rake in money from the adaptation of his Hairspray into a goldmine musical and reworked 2007 movie.

The Cast 1990

Director – John Waters 2011

The Drapes and the Squares

Wade “Cry Baby” Walker – Johnny Depp 1990

Johnny 2013

Allison Vernon-Williams – Amy Locane 190

Amy Locane sentenced to 3 years in prison for vehicular homicide – 2012

Pepper Walker – Rikki Lake

Rikki Lake – 2011

Wanda Woodward – Tracy Lords

Tracy Lords – 2011

Milton Hackett – Darren E. Burrows

Darren E. Burrows 2013

Mona ‘Hatchet-Face’ Malnorowski – Kim McGuire

Attorney at Law – Kim McGuire 2012

Romona Rickets – Susan Tyrell (w/ Tracy Lords)

Susan Tyrell and Iggy “Belvedere Rickets” Pop

Susan Tyrell 2010 (died 2012)

Iggy Pop 2013

Prison guard – Willem Dafoe

Hatchet’s mom – Mink Stole

Milton’s dad (and Warhol superstar) Joe Dellasandro

Wanda’s parents – Patty Hearst and David Nelson

Klaus Kinski (born Klaus Gunther Nakszynski; 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991)  Klaus Kinski may be somewhat forgotten now, but in the 70′s and 80′s he had a wildly popular run of films with German director Werner Herzog; Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Woyzek (1979),  (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987), making him a hugely popular international star.
In 1946, after serving in World War 2 (on the German side) and being captured and imprisoned by the English he gravitated toward acting, appearing in a number of plays in the Berlin theater. He was fired 1 year later for his ‘erratic and volitile’ behavior. Other companies followed, but his unconventional and emotionally volatile behavior regularly got him into trouble. In 1950, Kinski stayed in a psychiatric hospital for three days; medical records from the period listed a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He became unable to secure film roles, and in 1955 Kinski twice tried to commit suicide as he watched his career continue to falter. He slowly rebuilt his career and started appearing in minor roles in German films. His big break came in 1965 with a role in the blockbuster, Dr. Zhavago. In the 70′s he began his great streak of films with Werner Herzog and even turned down a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark claiming the script was “moronically shitty”.
Klaus’s fame slowed in the 80′s, having some hits – (Fitzgaraldo 1982) but tending toward cheap American horror (Crawlspace – 1986) and  budget crap (Cammando Leopard – 1985). The fame of the Kinski name would be taken over around this time by his daughter Nastassja (Cat People) , who would later sue him for libel after the publication of his autobiography All I Need is Love (which is quite a read, btw).
Klaus would die of a heart attack in 1991, less than famous but still remembered as the crazy German son-of-a-bitch who made a handful of great movies and a few shitty ones.

Nosferatu 1979

Young Klaus

Aguirre the Wrath of God – 1972

Trying to kill Werner Herzog on the set of “Aguirre… “

Fitrzcarraldo

I blame ABBA.

The Gert Jonnys, not to be confused w/ The Gert Johnnys

Lasse Stefanz

Pelles

Apells

Jan Kjellners – In your mother’s housecoat

Sven-Erics

Gomaans

Ninnis

Thorleifs

Gordie

Tickies

Saints

Flamingo

Zenits

Wallonerna

Tommy Elfs

Giggens

Giggins – Part 2, 1 ball

Teddy Boys

Wextoos

Zigana

Kjell-Akes

Gert Jonnys – Pt 2, on the links

Hux-Flux