America’s favorite contemporary little big band, the award-winning retro swing ensemble Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, is set to release a new album, entitled How Big Can You Get (Big Bad/Vanguard Records), on April 21, 2009. The 11-song CD is a tribute to Cab Calloway, the legendary big band leader and jazz singer, and was recorded in honor of what would have been Cab’s 100th Birthday.

How Big Can You Get is a career milestone for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy — and not only as an illuminating revival of Calloway’s often hilarious (and just as often pointed) songbook, in the most skilled and enthusiastic hands imaginable. It’s also a revelatory moment for the band, whose musicianship, fire and interpretive powers are at an all-time high.

Says bandleader Scotty Morris, “Making the album was one of our biggest musical moments. Delving into Cab’s music made us see the high level that his songs were written and arranged at, and why they’ve lasted. We went top-to-bottom live in the studio and chose the best takes for the album, because Cab’s originals were live performances and radio broadcasts. People got a glimpse of him when he stole the show in the Blues Brothers movie. We want people to know he was more than the King of Hi-De-Ho-we want to put a light on Cab’s legacy more fully.”

Produced by Morris and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the record features several Calloway classics, including “Minnie the Moocher”, “The Ghost of Smokey Joe” and “The Jumpin’ Jive,” alongside some of his less obvious, yet just as powerful tunes, like “Reefer Man,” “Calloway Boogie” and “The Old Man of the Mountain” — all performed with the band’s usual enthusiastic approach and great interpretation.

The band also received support from Cab Calloway’s family throughout the project. Says Morris, “We felt like we were hugging an old friend when we made this album.”

Formed in Ventura, California in 1989, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy released two records independently before breaking nationally in the cult comedy film Swingers. They went on to release ten additional albums on various major labels before striking a deal to develop their own label, Big Bad Records, through legendary Vanguard. The group has sold more than 2 million albums, and several of their most popular songs, including “Mr. Pinstripe” and “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight,” have been featured in films and soundtracks worldwide.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has also performed at the Billboard Music Awards, the White House, and during the halftimes of both the Super Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Their videos have been regularly featured on MTV and VH1, and they have appeared as musical guests on numerous television shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis and Kelly and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Since their humble beginnings, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has outlasted the neo-swing movement and continues to deliver to its loyal and consistent fan base.

“How Big Can You Get,” the title track of the band’s latest release – now unbelievably poignant with lyrics that comment on corporate greed – is also the first single off the album. The group is shooting a new music video in Los Angeles this month, and will start a major tour in support of the new album beginning in April. For upcoming tour dates, visit www.bbvd.com.

Pin-up icon Bettie Page died on December 11, 2008, at the ripe old age of 85. Although millions of fans recognize Bettie as Queen of the Pin-Ups since the mid-20th Century, few know the other facets of her life, from her many failed marriages to her time in a sanitarium to her love for the island of Haiti. Here, pop culture connoisseur and author Bruce Lewis details the fascinating story of America’s favorite pin-up.

Forever Bettie Page

By Bruce Lewis

Bondage queen. Sex goddess. Pin-up icon. All of these words could be used to describe Bettie Page, and all would be good choices, for she was all of those things. But she was much more, besides: a scholar, a Christian missionary, and the inspiration for a character in Star Wars. She was smart. She was notorious. She was scorching hot.

And she was 85 years of age when she slipped from this world on December 11, 2008, at Los Angeles’ Kindred Hospital.

Bettie Page was without doubt the face of American beauty during the second half of the 20th Century. Yes, there were others — Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn — but these were mostly movie stars, known worldwide from the films in which they appeared. Bettie Page didn’t need Hollywood to make her a goddess. All she needed were some black-and-white still photographs — more than 20,000 individual images, by some accounts — and a few crude film loops to make her a star. And while the Silver Screen starlets’ fame was pure product, cranked out in job lots by the global Hollywood hype machine, Bettie Page became famous with nothing but her charm, her will, and a few tiny advertisements in the back pages of a cheap magazine.

“We were lucky to get an orange in our Christmas stocking.”

It is 1933, and Bettie Page is walking barefoot to school. She is walking barefoot because her father has run away again — this time for good — leaving her mother to feed, clothe, and care for her and her five brothers and sisters. Bettie and one sister live in an orphanage now, but despite the cold and the lack of shoes and the bright pain of abandonment she feels every night, Bettie keeps walking, keeps putting one bare foot in front of the other, because she has made up her mind to graduate at the top of her class and go on to Vanderbilt. I’m not going to be barefoot forever, she says to herself. I’m going to college, and I’m going to get a job, and I’m going to be somebody.

Betty Mae Page was born into a family of eight in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 22, 1923. Her parents, Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle, never could get it together. Walter Roy Page molested her when she was 13; after he went to jail for stealing a car, Edna Mae Page took two jobs and sent Betty and two sisters to an orphanage. There, the young Betty Page taught herself to sew and do makeup. Her natural intelligence began to emerge during her years at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, where she was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her classmates and graduated salutatorian of her class in June 1940, earning a scholarship to George Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University). She gradated from Peabody four years later.

That’s right — Bettie Page had a degree: Bachelor of Arts, 1944. She also had a husband when she graduated, an old school flame named Billy Neal. But there was a war on, and Billy Neal found himself drafted into the Navy, so Betty Mae ended up following him around for a while, eventually landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which at the time was still a more-or-less civilized country. She loved the island, but couldn’t stay. Nor could she stay married to Billy Neal. They divorced in November 1947.

“From the first time I posed nude, I wasn’t embarrassed.”

It’s 1950, and Betty Mae Page is walking along the strand at Coney Island. She’s been all over and done a lot since her divorce: a little modeling of furs here, a little secretarial work in San Francisco there, even a screen test at Fox (which went nowhere due to her refusal to spend casting couch time with an older executive). Bill Neal had come home, and they’d tried to make it work, but after the miscarriage they had parted for good. Betty is working as a secretary now, typing all day in an office, spending her free time walking on the beach. Jerry Tibbs, a police officer and amateur photographer, is there, too. He raises his camera to capture the winsome 27-year-old’s image, and with a click of a shutter, the career of Betty Page ends, and the legendary Bettie Page is born.

“You ought to be a model”, he says, handing her his card. “I could make a portfolio for you.”

Bettie Page began her career as a glamour photography model, posing in lingerie for the various “camera clubs” that thrived in New York at the time. These clubs were less about f-stops and exposure timing and more about generating “pin-ups” — erotic but non-pornographic images of pretty girls in titillating garments and poses that were de rigueur among young, healthy male Americans in those pre-Playboy days. Bettie (as she was now known) was a pin-up natural, her combination of girl-next-door approachability and curvaceous sensuality tailor-made for the eyes of a worldly-wise but still essentially small-town male America.

By 1951, Bettie’s image graced the pages of men’s magazines everywhere; by 1952 she was the best-known pin-up in the world, thanks in large part to her partnership with bookstore owner and pin-up photographer Irving Klaw. Klaw specialized in cheesecake — saucy but essentially harmless turn-on photography featuring smiling cutie-pies in skimpy outfits, images of a type common in men’s magazines (and even in some mainstream press) of the day. Klaw’s photos and “specialty” films often showed Bettie and other women clad in kinky outfits, pretending to participate in bondage, spanking, and other acts of outlaw sexuality — yet, all were curiously chaste by modern standards. Irving Klaw catered to his clients’ tastes, but he was not a pornographer; his all-female films and stills might have been designed to thrill, but they never depicted nudity or contained explicit sexual content. Bettie would not have consented to appear nude or engaging in sexual activity in any case; beneath the curves and the silk dominatrix gear she remained the same small-town Tennessee girl she’d always been.

But she was becoming so much more. In 1953, Page resumed her dream of becoming an actress, taking classes at the renowned Herbert Berghoff Studios and making her first stage and television appearances, including some off-Broadway work and a memorable one-shot on the top-rated Jackie Gleason Show. Her first speaking part in a feature-length film came in the burlesque Striporama (the only time Page is known to have spoken on camera); two burlesque films by Irving Klaw (Teaserama and Varietease, followed. It is from these latter two films that Page is best known by her later generations of fans.

In 1954 Page met photographer and former fashion model Bunny Yeager.  Yeager’s subsequent photographs of Bettie in a home-made jungle girl getup — the now-famous “Jungle Bettie” set — catapulted Page to the big leagues. Based on these images, Hugh Hefner himself picked Page to be Playmate of the Month for January 1955. The photo shows a beautiful and buxom Bettie Page, kneeling topless in front of a small Christmas tree, a wink beneath her bangs and Santa hat. She was 31 years old, and at the pinnacle of her career.

“All of a sudden I felt a hand in mine, leading me across the street to a small church…”

It is Christmas 1957, and Bettie Page is sitting in a southbound train car, headed for Florida. Her career as a pin-up model is over. Irving Klaw has been destroyed, dragged before the Congressional obscenity hearings convened by crusading Senator Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn.) in the Senator’s crusade to smash the pin-up business as he had the comic book industry several years before. Klaw is still around, of course (he won’t die for another ten years yet), but the business he created has been reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory, and Klaw has fed the negatives of Bettie’s catalog of images into the fire.

And Bettie has gotten the message as well. The FBI boys were never rude or threatening, of course — Mr. Hoover would never have permitted such unprofessional behavior from his men — but the subpoena with her name on it, and the 16 hours she’d spent in claustrophobic room in the Capitol of the United States waiting to testify, were clear enough. She’d never been called before the committee, as it turned out, but Bettie Page was no fool. She got out. Her career as a pin-up idol is over.

Two years pass, and Bettie walks into a small church in Key West. Soon after, she severs all contact with her prior life, and disappears.

“I wish I could erase the years from 1979 to 1992…”

It is June, 1982, and Bettie Page is sitting in a California courtroom. She has 22 years, three marriages, and one trial for assault with a deadly weapon (1980, not guilty by reason of acute schizophrenia) behind her. Now, Bettie is on trial once again, this time for attempted murder. The victim, Leonie Haddad, is an elderly woman. Bettie had been her tenant when, for no reason anyone could see, Bettie had attacked her with a knife, severing Haddad’s finger. The judge is speaking now: “This court finds the defendant to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Due to the danger she poses to others, she is hereby sentenced to ten years at Patton State Hospital, sentence to begin forthwith.”

The gavel bangs. Chairs honk against the waxed floor as the Court stands adjourned. Bettie Page is carried away kicking and screaming to her second stint in the nuthouse.

But this is not the end of the Bettie Page story, because time, therapy, and a very good God smiled on her. Ten years later, Bettie emerged from Patton State well and healthy, her insanity in remission thanks to conscientious care, her own iron will, and many hours of prayer. At 70, she moved into a Los Angeles group home to live out her remaining years in obscurity — “penniless and infamous,” as she put it.

Penniless she was — although not for much longer; infamous she most definitely was not. For during her 30 years of divorce and despair, madness and mystery, Bettie Page’s images — the very images that had made her a pariah so long before — had transformed her into a superstar. And she had no idea.

When TV host Robin Leach came calling in 1993 to interview her for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Page was utterly unaware of the resurgence of her popularity. Entertainment Tonight arrived next to shoot a segment. When it aired, Page watched dumbfounded from her chair at the group home. It was only then that Page superfan Greg Theakston, whose fanzine The Betty Pages had kickstarted the Bettie craze of the 1980s, became aware that his longtime idol was yet alive. With glee, Theakston introduced a stunned Bettie Page to the universe of comic books, illustration portfolios, fine art prints, and film characters based upon her image.

And happy days were here again for Bettie Page. Newfound fame, fortune and fans followed as Bettie emerged from three decades of obscurity. The money began to flow to Bettie again, courtesy of a professional public relations firm whose owner was a longtime Bettie fan with a genuine concern for her welfare. An authorized biography was published in the late 1990s; two films about her life came next. Even the Klaw family and Bunny Yeager came to benefit from Bettiemania.

And she is not ashamed. “I never thought it was shameful,” she told “The Playboy Interview” in 1998.  I felt normal. It’s just that it [modeling] was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous.”

At last, Bettie Page’s childhood dream had come true. The barefoot Tennessee schoolgirl had come a long way, but she’d made it. At last, Betty Mae Page was the one, the only, Bettie Page: Queen of the Pin-ups, icon, goddess. She was, as she had promised herself so long ago, somebody.

“Unforgettable…”

It is 2003. Bettie Page is 80 years old — and here she is again, posing for the August 2003 edition of Playboy. This time, however, there are no whips, no gags, no silky lingerie. Bettie will no more stand for such things now than she would have stood for full nudity in 1953. Today, she wears a simple plaid shirt and ordinary street dress. She is, in many ways, a very ordinary elderly woman. Yet make no mistake: Bettie Page is far from ordinary, even in her golden years. She remains eminently photographable. The beauty is still there — the same bangs, the same pageboy (now silver gray), the same naughty eyes, and the same heart-melting smile. Hef does not make mistakes in this area; his onetime Playmate of the Month is still very much a scorching hot babe — the kind of older woman that earns sheepish second glances from the teenage boys at the mall. Yes, she’s put on some weight. Yes, it’s hard for her to get up and down these days. But, Bettie Page is still the Queen of the Pin-Ups.

And it is the Queen of the Pin-Ups that the world mourns today, 85 years and eight months after Betty Mae Page came into this world. She leaves us as she came to us: forever smart, forever notorious, forever scorching hot — forever the incomparable, unforgettable Bettie Page.

Bruce Lewis is an American voice actor, writer, artist, and author. He has worked in the U.S. manga and anime industry since 1993, and his book Draw Manga: How To Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style, is an Amazon.com Bestseller.

Keely Smith, a musical sensation since the Rat Pack era, is still going strong. Dovetailing with her latest album, a tribute to her late husband and musical partner Louis Prima, Smith is heading out on tour with the U.K.’s top swing combo, the Jive Aces, bringing classic Vegas swing to generations of music lovers!

By Bruce Lewis

The world of jazz, jive, and swing just got dealt a flush hand — a queen and six aces! Keely Smith, the “Queen of Las Vegas” and one of the living legends of Rat Pack swing, has joined her voice with Britain’s number one jive and swing band The Jive Aces for a summer tour of the UK and Europe. Also on board for the tour is special guest Toni Elizabeth Prima, daughter of Keely and legendary bandleader Louis Prima and a rising belter in her own right. Together, Keely, Toni and the Aces form an eightsome of greatsome that’s guaranteed to put an extra olive in your dry Martini!

Of all the stage stars of Rat Pack-era Vegas, Keely Smith has remained perhaps the most constant. Although she is possibly best known for her partnership with Louis Prima — with whom she helped turn Las Vegas from a desert outpost into as oasis of ’60s swank — Smith’s 50-year career in the variety biz has included team-ups with the biggest names in song, including Frank Sinatra, conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle and jazz giant Count Basie.

Swingin’ Since Childhood

It all started for Keely Smith in Norfolk, Virginia, and her appearances on a locally-produced Saturday morning children’s radio show called “Joe Brown’s Radio Gang.” Although only 11 years old at the time, her clear ear and mature singing style caught the attention of local producers; by the time she turned 16, Smith was on stage singing and swinging with the local big bands for the entertainment of the mobs of soldiers, sailors, and Marines that had crowded into the city during the war.

A chance opportunity to audition for swing star Louis Prima in Virginia Beach in 1948 led to Smith touring (under chaperone, of course!) with Prima’s big band. Five years later, a now-adult Keely Smith and Prima were married with a baby on the way — leading the two to take their act to Las Vegas, then a mere seedling of a city.

It was a gutsy move. Las Vegas in 1953 had only one paved street (the Strip, of course). Nevertheless, Prima and Smith fired up the swing and took the town by storm, and an initial two- week gig at Sahara’s Casbar Lounge soon turned into a Vegas institution. The duo snagged a Billboard hit (#18) and a Grammy in ’58 with their cover of Arlen/Mercer’s “That Old Black Magic”, and by 1959, they were the hottest show in town, filling the seats at the Sahara with a celebrity audience every night.

Tackling TV and Film

TV was next. Hailed as the “King and Queen of Las Vegas” by the variety press, the pair were introduced to television audiences as “the greatest nightclub act in the country” by songstress Dinah Shore on her popular show.

Then, Keely Smith and Louis Prima hit the big screen:  Smith sang “Whippoorwill” in 1958s Robert Mitchum vehicle Thunder Road, and in ’59’s wild musical romp Hey Boy! Hey Girl! she appeared singing “Fever”.

Her fame now boosted by being a screen star, Capitol Records signed Keely to a solo contract. She then went on to sing a string of solo hits in the late 1950s.

The fairytale ended in 1961, when Smith divorced Prima and left Capitol, as well. After moving to Sinatra’s pet, Reprise Records, Smith joined up with the Chairman’s best-down conducting and arranging partner, Nelson Riddle, to bust the UK Top 20 in 1965 with an album of Beatles songs arranged just for her.

A Revival in the ’90s

By then, however, Keely Smith was ready for a change. With the domination of the pop charts by the rock sound, Smith decided to settle down. A romance with producer Jimmy Bowen led to marriage, and by the late ’60s Smith had retired from music to concentrate on raising her children. Aside from a few television guest spots, Smith was out of show business by the end of the ’60s.

Her comeback came in 1980, when director Martin Scorsese featured Keely singing “I Ain’t Got Nobody” in his hit film Raging Bull. This led to singing spots in 1993’s Mad Dog and Glory, 1994’s baseball biopic Cobb, and 1995’s Destiny Turns on the Radio and Casino. Her career really began to take off with the release of Staley Tucci’s 1996 gem Big Night, a ’50s period piece, the plot of which centered on an appearance of Prima and Smith (Keely sang “Love of My Life/O Sole Mio” and  “Don’t Take Your Love from Me” on the soundtrack). Since then, Keely has regularly appeared on stage and screen, including a memorable performance of “Mood Indigo” in a 2007 episode of HBO’s The Sopranos.

And the Beat Goes On

Keely Smith is still belting them out today: her latest album, Vegas ’58 – Today, is a compilation of her best known songs, recorded live as her homage to the late Louis Prima. Now a best-selling Concord Records artist, the 70-something Keely Smith continues her reign as the undisputed queen of the Las Vegas-style swing scene.

And now, a new chapter in the Keely Smith saga has begun with her collaboration with the Jive Aces. Famous as the UK’s top jive and swing band, the Jive Aces are hard-put to keep up with global demand for their unique song stylings -– the sextet racks up more than 300 shows in 25 countries annually, plus hundreds of appearances on TV and radio shows.

Drawn together by their love for hot jive and big band swing, these non-moptopped lads from London — Ian Clarkson (vocals and trumpet), Ken Smith (double bass), Vince Hurley (piano), Peter Howell (drums), John Fordham (saxophone), and Alex Douglas (trombone) -– cite influences as diverse as Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and (of course) Louis Prima as the basis for their beat. Famous on the late-’80s London local scene as swing dancers, the Aces soon found it difficult to find enough hot bands to keep their fingers snappin’ and toes tappin’, so they decided to go into the music biz themselves.

Their live premiere in Paris in January, 1989 was a blowout, and soon word of the Jive Aces’ foot-stomping, Fifties-style floorshow spread across Europe and thence around the world. The Aces hit America in 1996 with their gig at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, and they continue to tour and record in the States today.

Catch the Jive Aces and Keely Smith — the hottest hand in swing today — performing live on Valentine’s Day 2009 at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA. And, be sure to check the Jive Aces’ gig guide for more information on upcoming shows with Keely Smith throughout summer 2009.

SPECIAL UPDATE: Keely Smith made a surprise cameo during an appearance by The Jive Aces  on BBC’s The Evening Show!

Bruce Lewis is an American voice actor, writer, artist, and author. He has worked in the U.S. manga and anime industry since 1993, and his book Draw Manga: How To Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style, is an Amazon.com Bestseller.

Everyone should have one great holiday CD with songs you can listen to over and over again at Christmas each year.

Sleigh Me, the first compilation CD from ATOMIC Magazine, is just such an album, filled with musical delights from some of today’s hottest swing and big band artists that will have you lindy hoppin’ under the mistletoe all night long.

Enjoy popular Christmas standards by George Gee and The Jump Jive and Wailers, The Jive Aces, Lavay Smith, The Ray Gelato Giants, The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra, Michael Andrew and Swingerhead, Dave’s True Story, Los Straightjackets, plus new originals by Casey MacGill and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This timeless compilation is guaranteed to put a jingle in your step this holiday season!

Visit ATOMIC Magazine for the full track listing, audio song samples, and easy online ordering!

On December 8, The Doors’ Jim Morrison would have celebrated his 65th birthday. This year, the momentous occasion will be marked at Barney’s Beanery, the legendary West Hollywood hangout on Route 66, which served as a stomping ground and home away from home for the rock icon. Since moving to its current Santa Monica Blvd. location in 1927 from Berkeley, the historic venue has hosted a variety of counter cultural legends over the years from the worlds of avant-garde art, movies, literature and rock and roll.

Both Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors will be on hand that evening for a special live broadcast on L.A. rock station 95.5 KLOS, hosted by famed “Last D.J.,” Jim Ladd. The three will discuss and sign copies of Live at The Matrix 1967, a live CD on The Doors’ Bright Midnight Archives and Rhino Records. The two-CD set, which was recorded in San Francisco over two nights in March ’67, will be available on November 18th. The shows took place shortly before the group broke on through with their hit Summer of Love single, “Light My Fire.” Winners of a 95.5 KLOS contest will get to meet and greet Manzarek and Krieger.

“We decided to celebrate this occasion because Barney’s is a place where Jim Morrison hung out often,” says Barney’s Beanery principal David Houston, who bought the place in 1999 from Erwin Held. He is only the third person to own the famed venue after original founder John “Barney” Anthony and Held. “Whatever point in time you go back to, whoever was making history in pop culture, they seemed to have a foot in the Beanery.”

In the late ‘60s, Morrison and Janis Joplin were regulars at Barney’s Beanery, with Jim famously barred from the dining establishment for allegedly urinating on the bar. Houston will commemorate the event with a memorial plaque to mark the exact place.

“I’m hoping Ray’s incredibly sharp memory will help us locate it,” says Houston. “Wherever he says it happened, that’s where we’ll put it up.”

The locus of The Doors’ history, notes Houston, took place largely in a one-mile radius of the Beanery, with the band’s label Elektra headquarters and Jim’s girlfriend Pam’s clothing boutique on La Cienega Blvd., the group’s offices around the corner, the Alta Cienega Hotel, where Jim often stayed, just down the street, and the Whisky-a-Go-Go, where they regularly performed, just up the block on Sunset.

After opening new Barney’s locations at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica in 2004, and in Old Town Pasadena on Colorado Blvd. in 2006, Houston is set to launch two new Beaneries, one later this month in Burbank and another next year in Westwood.

Rhino’s Live at The Matrix 1967 is the fourth of the Bright Midnight Archives releases, and features liner notes by all three surviving members of The Doors and brand-new cover art by renowned San Francisco artist Stanley Mouse. Whereas the three previous collections documented The Doors’ final 1970 tour, this latest edition takes you back to the early days, when the band was still working out arrangements and lyrics.

“This is probably the closest we’ve come to a true document of The Doors without constraints,” says the band’s longtime producer/engineer Bruce Botnick, who worked on the reissue. “You’ve never heard the group quite like this.”

Tired of the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular at Radio City? Feeling ho-ho-hum about the entertainment offerings this holiday season? Well, goodfella Mickey Marchello has a year-end offer you can’t refuse, with a swingin’ musical showcase that will have you ring-a-ding-dingin’ in the holidays in style!

The former guitarist from the legendary New York rock band Good Rats has teamed up with bandleader George Gee and his 22-piece Make-Believe Ballroom Orchestra, together with a stellar cast of performers, to create “Sleigh Bells Swing”, a high-energy musical extravaganza to celebrate the Christmas season!

Guests will feel they are being swept into a fantasy world of 1930s/1940s retro era glitz and glamour as the interactive, multimedia floor show with the full swing orchestra and cast is performed during a delectable four-course dinner at the Edison Ballroom, a stunning Art Deco edifice in midtown Manhattan. George Gee and his 22 tuxedoed musicians, captivating singers, gravity-defying lindyhoppers punctuated by a bandstand complete the look of this elegant evening. After the show, the dance floor will be open for dancing to the swingin’ Big Band sounds of George Gee and his orchestra.

Edison Ballroom’s “Sleigh Bells Swing” runs from December 20th, 2008 through January 3rd, 2009, including a very special performance on Christmas Day (no performances on Dec. 24, and Dec. 31). Tickets for the floor show and gourmet dinner are $190.00 per person, which also includes all drinks and dancing. General admission tickets cost $75 per person (post-dinner and floor show), which will include open bar and hors d’oeuvres.

For ticket information, visit EdisonBallroom.com, or check out the fabulous Sleigh Bells Swing MySpace page!

Legendary jazz guitarist Joe Beck, one of the instrument’s great contemporary practitioners, died last week of lung cancer at a hospice in Danbury, CT, a few days before his 63rd birthday.

Throughout his career, Beck, who recorded frequently for the New Bedford-based WCS label, worked with some of the very biggest names in jazz and pop. In a career that spanned five decades, Beck accompanied an extraordinary range of giants: Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, and Brazilian genius Antonio Carlos Jobim. Beck also played in jazz orchestras led by Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, and Woody Herman, and he accompanied fellow guitarists like Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie. He also performed sessions and tours with pop musicians such as Laura Nyro, Paul Simon, Richie Havens, and James Brown.

Legendary guitarist Joe Beck, pictured here with jazz guitarist Doug Proper, died in late July at age 62.

Born in Philadelphia and raised on the West Coast, Beck headed to NYC in the ’60s as a teen-versed in both rock and jazz- and quickly made a name for himself as a precocious talent.

His style, characterized by deep creativity, edgy grooves, and remarkable versatility, was one of jazz guitar’s most identifiable techniques, and a golden achievement in the genre.

“He was a really great guitar player.” John Scofield, one of Beck’s peers in the jazz world, told News Times reporter Scott Miller. “He could do anything on the guitar.”

“He could play any song in any key,” said John Abercrombie, another guitar great who toured Europe playing duets with Beck as recently as December and who released an album, Coincidence, with Beck six months ago, on WCS. “You’d ask him what key he wanted to play a song in and he’d say, ‘It doesn’t matter.’”

And it didn’t matter what realm he was working in either. Beck was an accomplished arranger who produced albums for Frank Sinatra, Esther Phillips and Gloria Gaynor. He also wrote commercial jingles. Music flowed through his veins and came out in his hands.

“I thought he was the Bill Evans of the guitar,” Abercrombie said, comparing Beck to one of the greatest of all jazz pianists.

Whaling City Sound, whose Beck catalog boasts five of his titles, including the new Coincidence, mourns, along with the entire jazz community, the passing of the this titan. “We’ll miss his wit, his wisdom and his incredible fluency on guitar,” says Whaling City Sound president Neal Weiss. “He was one of a kind and an immense talent.”

Voodoo Vacation on Zombie Island

Tiki lovers, retro-fanatics, and lovers of pop culture kitsch can experience a full weekend of live exotica and classic surf tunes, peruse art and imbibe tropical cocktails poolside at the eighth annual Tiki Oasis extravaganza, happening August 14th-17th in sunny San Diego.

The festivities kick off on Friday night with live music performances and a special Tiki fashion show. For the rest of the weekend, guests can mingle with live Tiki carvers, shop for art and decorative home accessories in the

Painting by Brad Parker (www.tikishark.com)

A family produced event by Otto and Baby Doe von Stroheim of Tiki News Magazine, Tiki Oasis is the largest and longest running Tiki event in the world, and a place where the Tiki community from across the U.S. gathers for its annual reunion. Limited access tickets and deluxe passes for this year’s event are on sale now, and advanced room reservations are recommended. For the full scoop, visit www.TikiOasis.com.

BACK TO THE RETRO FUTURE: PART 2
Yesteryear’s Movies of Tomorrow
By Will “The Thrill” Viharo

In this second installment of our three-part series, B-movie conoisseur Will Viharo ventures into the vaults of vintage sci-fi cinema to highlight the best in classic spaceship celluloid. This isn’t just a lesson in cinematic history, it’s a look deep into the collective American psyche in the mid-20th century. Ready for more? Then pour yourself a refreshing glass of traggle nectar, lean back, and enjoy the continuing journey into uncharted realms known only to diehard science fiction fans.

“PIE PLATES OF PERIL”: EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)

Fear of an invasion from outer space, spurred by vague but frequent UFO sightings and whispered conspiracies, was as palpable among the panicky population of the ’50s as worry over a nuclear standoff with Russia. And, filmmakers were quick to cash in on this terror-stricken trend. Special effects guru Ray Harryhausen is better known these days for sword-and-sorcery swashbucklers like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts, but in the black & white days of the ’50s, his specialty was devising methods for the destruction of various cities, including their most famous landmarks. In Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), the first feature film for which he created all the special effects, the prehistoric Rhedosaurus rampages through New York; in It Came From Beneath (1955) a giant octopus ravages San Francisco; in 20,000 Miles to Earth (1957) a Venusian monster called an Ymir makes his last stand on the Coliseum in Rome.

But for Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Ray’s 1956 alien invaders masterpiece, the creative juggernaut devised ingenious flying saucers that became the most memorable—and mimicked—of all interstellar invasion vehicles (copied outright in Tim Burton’s outrageous 1996 send-up, Mars Attacks). Keeping pace with Ray’s other displays of urban destruction, and taking a cue from Day the Earth Stood Still, the invaders also trash our nation’s capital, but with much more malevolent force than the diplomatic Klaatu: the Washington Monument is totally toppled in the assault!

Also see: George Pal’s seminal and influential classic War of the Worlds (1953), based on the H.G. Wells novel but more inspired by Orson Welles’ infamous radio play, which caused real life panic during its 1938 broadcast; AIP’s drive-in classic Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) featuring Frank Gorshin and a gang of Paul Blaisdell’s bulbous-headed, cat-eyed, alcohol-clawed space monsters, but only one sad little saucer; Howard Hawks’ The Thing From Another World (1951), the crowd-pleasing classic about a hostile alien veggie-monster-man (James Arness) who crash lands his saucer near the North Pole and proceeds to terrorize a scientific expedition; and The Mysterians (1957), Toho’s entry in the space invader race, as evil aliens armed with a bird-like giant robot named Mogera lay waste to Japan, as if resident giant monsters Godzilla and Rodan weren’t doing their job properly.

“ROBOTS ‘R’ US”: FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)

While many of us want our jetpacks, the homemakers among us yearn for another un-kept promise from the architects of yesteryear: the robot maid. Postwar visionaries often pitched the home of the future as a modern oasis replete with automatic devices, self-sufficient resources and plenty of intelligent mechanisms to aid our leisure. As of this writing in the futuristic year of 2004, they’re still working on ‘em. But, perhaps the most legendary embodiment of this technological Utopia was Robby the Robot, the inhuman star of Forbidden Planet, an interstellar re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest that is arguably the most famous and beloved of all ’50s sci-fi movies.

Robots had been popular in sci-fi literature and pop culture for decades already, but with all the advances made in technology since WW2, people began to actually expect a race of robots to one day serve humankind. Nowadays, robotic humans are regularly seen in political circles or reporting the news, and Arnold’s Terminator is the current standard for our mechanical doppelgangers. But Robby remains the robot for the ages: boundlessly smart, eloquently personable, magically resourceful, and incredibly cool. Only the Robot on the Lost in Space TV series can compete with Robby’s pop cultural standing (and in fact they once teamed up in an episode).

Forbidden Planet is itself a marvel–the vividly colorful sets and costumes of the crew (led by Leslie Nielsen, long before he realized how funny he could be) and the philosophical underpinnings (including a giant invisible monster spawned by the Freudian “Id”) set it apart from its many imitators and descendents. It also boasts the premiere all-electronic score, by Louis and Bebe Barron. Word of a remake has been circulating for some time, but the fact is, only the innocent imagination of mid-century dreamers could create such a warm, vibrant and relevant masterpiece. Though set in a future where interplanetary space travel is the norm, it’s a time capsule treasure of and from the past. Leave it alone.

Also see: Robby’s return in The Invisible Boy (1957); another children’s robot classic, Tobor the Great (1954); and a more menacing metal man in Herman Cohen’s Target Earth (1954).

“SWINGIN’ AMONG THE STARS”: QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE (1958)

This was a plot peculiar to the 1950s: a group or horny frat-boy astronauts, including at least one wisecracking sidekick from Brooklyn or someplace like it, sometimes with a pet monkey, land on another planet and encounter a race of Amazonian women wearing high heels, short skirts, thick mascara, red lipstick, and uptight attitudes supposedly caused by years of forced virginity due to the death/disappearance/unexplained absence of all males in their society. Fortunately for the guys, none of the women are lesbians, and after the requisite fights with the local giant spider puppets and whatnot, the mating process begins.

Of course this is the straight male’s wet dream come true, and it came true several times throughout the decade, reaching its zenith in Queen of Outer Space, starring Zsa Zsa Gabor (though she does not play the titular monarch). This wide-screen Deluxe color cult classic is one of the funniest movies ever made, and rumor has it the camp was intentional, years before that became the fashion, so in effect this was the earliest film to spoof its own genre (like much later efforts such as John Landis’ Amazon Women on the Moon). The script was allegedly developed from an idea by the legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht, though no one has ever really substantiated this rumor, especially not Hecht, who probably talked too loud while drunk one night at an industry shindig, hitting on the local talent. This concept was ubiquitous enough, though, so we’ll let Ben off the hook. If there is a cure for humorless political correctness, this is it.

Also see: the sexist 3D thrills of Cat Women of the Moon (1953), and its remake(!), Missile to the Moon (1958); the oddly titled Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953), in which Bud and Lou go to Venus and find a bevy of beauty pageant contestants; and Fire Maidens of Outer Space (1956), in which the Brits prove they’re as randy (and as willing to travel for it) as us raunchy All-Americans.

There’s lots more to come, readers. Stay tuned for Part Three of
Will Viharo’s sci-fi cinematic escapades!

Beatnik lounge lizard and writer Will “the Thrill” Viharo and his wife, Monica “the Tiki Goddess,” host a live cult movie cabaret called “Thrillville” at the Cerrito Speakeasy Theater in El Cerrito, CA. Will also has a B-movie tiki lounge at home, where he watches his DVD collection while drinking homemade Mai Tais (which may have influenced these reviews somewhat).

Designers Revisit Depression Era Chic
By Sarah-Louise Boyd and Joanne Bennett

As summer reaches its peak and the mercury hits new highs, those with an eye for fashion are already looking toward the cooler weather to come, questioning whether plaids or ruffles should influence their autumn style. Where do they look? Why, to bible of fashion, of course: Vogue.

Hailed an essential by fashionistas everywhere, Vogue is the guidebook for trends past, present and future. Designers know this, too, and often study the pages of previous eras to inspire their new creations. Remember the introduction of skinny jeans? That was “so 1980s”. The blast of block colors and A-line dresses in stores this past spring? It was “so 1960s”. Fashion is cyclical, darling, and for the upcoming fall/winter lines, the 1930s are what’s en vogue.

Contrary to popular belief, the Depression Era was far from depressing. In fact, this was an historic time when it came to fashion trends. During the Roaring Twenties, women had shed their constrictive corsets and hobble-skirts for more liberated looks. They opted for practicality over opulence, favoring the straight shift cut of flapper dresses and Coco Chanel’s comparatively casual style. But the looks were purposefully boyish and minimized the impact of women’s feminine wiles. During the Thirties, fashion moved back from the practical, shapeless cuts of the 1920s to ladylike outfits that emphasized the female form while still focusing on simpler designs that offered freedom of movement.

The Fall 2008 ready-to-wear line from John Galliano featured 1930s-inspired bias-cut gowns

Fall fashions from Baby Phat hearken back to the glamour of the Depression Era

To keep things modern, the romantic, girly looks may be a bit edgier for fall. Art Deco-inspired accessories, such as rhinestone jewelry and intricate lace handbags, also will be all the rage. So, keep your eye out for these 1930s styles, whether vintage or new, as the fashion industry makes new strides along the catwalk of history.

The Neiman Marcus Fall 2008 accessories preview featured 1930s-inspired designs (Fashion Wire Daily/Renata Espinosa) Click to view full-size image

BACK TO THE RETRO FUTURE: PART 1
Yesteryear’s Movies of Tomorrow
By Will “The Thrill” Viharo

In the first of this three-part series, B-movie conoisseur Will Viharo ventures into the vaults of vintage sci-fi cinema to highlight the best in classic spaceship celluloid . This isn’t just a lesson in cinematic history, it’s a look deep into the collective American psyche in the mid-20th century. So, pour yourself a tumbler of rocket fuel, kick back, and get ready to blast off into uncharted realms known only to diehard science fiction fans.

Many of us poor Earthlings stuck here in the dawn of the terror-stricken, economically challenging, morally complex, gas-guzzling 21st Century wonder one simple thing: Where are our personal jet-packs promised by The Jetsons back in the early 1960s?

Today’s sci-fi blockbusters are decidedly more pessimistic than the space-age films of yore. Beginning with cynical cyber-punk classics like Blade Runner (1982), modern science fiction movies invariably depict dreary, dystopian futures for our species, full of screeching sound, smoke and steel. (See also: Mad Max, Matrix, Alien and Terminator franchises, and the more recent I, Robot.) Even relatively optimistic options offered by the sundry Star Trek spin-offs or the Star Wars movies are noisy, busy and, by certain standards, downright ugly. As they say, the future is not what it used to be.

Perhaps this accounts for the current, rampant nostalgia for mid-20th Century pop culture—people of this real “future” are now longing for the pretty past that placed much more faith in us than we do ourselves. The hopes and dreams this nation had for its own technological and cultural evolution following the euphoria of the prosperous 1950s was slowly and systematically shattered by the revolutionary ’60s. The assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, as well as the rebellion of the counterculture, and the angry ascent of rock ‘n’ roll, destroyed the collective aspirations of an entire generation by the finale of this tumultuous decade—which, ironically, also ended with the first moon-landing, in 1969. Although many positive changes resulted from this massive upheaval, mainly in the arena of civil rights, a certain idealism and innocence was tragically lost in the explosive exchange. By the beginning of the 1980s, the country was riveted by Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, not the steps taken by our brave astronauts. Goodbye, Jetsons; hello, Joan Jett.

ROCKETS, ROBOTS & RAYS OF HOPE

Nowhere is the post-WW2 generation’s faith in (and fears of) the future more evident than in the science fiction movies of the 1950s and early ’60s, which often and ironically contradicted the public’s real fears that we’d blow ourselves up any minute and there’d be no future at all. Still, filmmakers dared to dream for the masses. For the purpose of illustrating these reveries, I’ve compiled a list of movies I strongly recommend for your homebound blast to the past. All of these titles are available either on DVD or VHS; some are still occasionally shown on late night cable TV (including re-runs of Mystery Science Theater 3000). I’ve broken them down into eclectic, and rather eccentric, categories, leading off with my own personal favorite of the bunch. But be forewarned: my tastes tend toward the pulpy end of the spectrum. I’ve also provided alternate choices from the A, B and Z lists as well.

This list leaves out obvious ’50s sci-fi categories like Big Bugs (Them!, Tarantula, The Deadly Mantis) or Red Scare Alien Possession (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came From Outer Space, It Conquered the World), focusing more on films that represent the mid-century man’s dreams, and nightmares, regarding The Future, be it In Space, From Space, or right here on “Terror” Firma. Most of these films contain the popular iconography associated with this genre—rocket ships, robots, ray guns—and represent a fairly comprehensive cross-section of sub-genres, commonly bonded with that essential B movie ingredient: Cheese. Welcome to the interstellar cocktail lounge of the Space Age imagination.

“FIRE UP THOSE RETRO-ROCKETS”: DESTINATION MOON (1950)

During the most xenophobic era in modern American history, rife with communist witch-hunts, racial prejudice, and social malaise, many Americans dreamed of a better world “Out There”. George Pal, who by now had established himself as a special effects wizard due to his innovative, award-winning “Puppetoon” animation shorts, was the first filmmaker to successfully capture these starry-eyed ambitions on celluloid. This film, though slow-paced, is a graceful (albeit naturally cornball) little masterwork of style and creativity, also considered to be scientifically sound at the time. While dated, this film is worth seeing because of its historical significance as prototypical space exploration cinema.

Also see: Rocketship XM (1950), rushed into release when it was learned Destination Moon was in production, making it the first official “rocketship” movie, complete with a little theremin on the soundtrack; Cameron Mitchell and Arthur Franz take a very early, and colorful, Flight to Mars (1951), using spacesuits left over from Destination Moon;and Pal’s next excursion into planetary orbit, the more ambitious but less successful Conquest of Space (1955).

“ALIENS ARE PEOPLE, TOO”: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) and THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955)

It’s astounding that right in the middle of a conservative era dominated by militant American chest-thumping, a film with a liberal anti-war message could even get made, much less become a hit. But Robert Wise’s sci-fi masterpiece The Day the Earth Stood Still not only went down in Hollywood history as one of the most sophisticated, exciting and intelligent sci-fi movies ever made, it was also a popular favorite with audiences across all demographics, making it the first big sci-fi “blockbuster.” It also boasted the first major sci-fi soundtrack to fully employ a theremin, composed by the great Bernard Hermann, setting a B movie trend that would last for over a decade (though non-monster movies The Lost Weekend and Spellbound were the very first to use this eerie instrument in their scores).

Day’s iconic imagery—the giant robot Gort emerging from the immense flying saucer on the White House Lawn, led by interstellar ambassador Klaatu, played by Michael Rennie—is both an emblem of classic sci-fi cinema and a symbol of peace during an uncertain, unsteady era. Of course, the actual message from space was a bit more blunt: Earth’s nations either learn to get along or they will be obliterated by an inter-galactic police force, before our volatile inclinations can infect the rest of the apparently peace-loving universe.

Another equally emblematic alien of the era was the big-brained Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth, Universal’s official entry in the epic outer space sweepstakes. This classic popcorn movie, while not quite in the league of its classy predecessor, opting for cheap thrills over political subtext, also featured an alien ambassador. The visitor, Exeter (played by genre regular Jeff Morrow), whose intentions are at first sinister, is finally revealed as noble only after he has abducted two hapless Earthlings (fellow genre stalwarts Rex Reason and Faith Domergue) to his doomed planet. The Technicolor production still stuns with imaginative visuals, and its soundtrack music, including cues by Henry Mancini, is equally essential. This Island Earth’s “interocitor” machine became as famous amongst ’50s fantasy film fans as the ultimate quote from Day the Earth Stood Still: “Klaatu barada nikto.”

Also see: Edgar C. Ulmer’s moody, sympathetic portrait of The Man From Planet X (1951) ; the bargain basement one-set wonder The Astounding She Monster (1958), with Robert C. Clarke, gangsters and a voluptuous visitor from beyond the stars; the atmospheric British chiller Devil Girl From Mars (1954), whose sexy space-travelling siren also sports her own imposing robot enforcer; and Teenagers From Outer Space (1958), which proved that juvenile delinquency had truly spread to all corners of the galaxy and the most insidious enemy was already among us.

There’s more celluloid magic in store, readers.
Check out Part Two of Will Viharo’s sci-fi cinematic escapades!

Beatnik lounge lizard and writer Will “the Thrill” Viharo and his wife, Monica “the Tiki Goddess,” host a live cult movie cabaret called “Thrillville” at the Cerrito Speakeasy Theater in El Cerrito, CA. Will also has a B-movie tiki lounge at home, where he watches his DVD collection while drinking homemade Mai Tais, the effects of which may have influenced these reviews somewhat.

American Cinematheque to Host “Enchanted Tiki Luau Blowout”

Tiki lovers from across southern California will descend on The American Cinemateque’s famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood from July 25-26 for an Enchanted Tiki Luau Blow-Out, featuring old-school island adventure pics FAIR WIND TO JAVA (1953), ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS (1941) and HER JUNGLE LOVE (1938), all in gorgeously saturated color. The two-day event will also feature artist Kevin Kidney’s collection of rare, island-themed TV surprises, a bountiful luau dinner, exotic musical entertainment from King Kukelele and his Friki Tikis and the Polynesian Paradise Dancers, and a number of Tiki vendors hawking exotic wares.

Founded in 1981, The American Cinematheque is a non-profit, viewer-supported cultural organization dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the Moving Picture in all its forms. Tickets for the Enchanted Tiki Luau Blow-Out are available for the movie program only, or the movie program and luau dinner. Advanced purchase is recommended, and discounts are available for seniors and students. Learn more about the classic movies featured in the Tiki triple-bill and see photos from last year’s event on the Tiki Weekend webpage.

Love the look of classic pin-ups from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s? Ever wondered what makeup tricks they use to get that perfectly flawless finish, those sultry bedroom eyes and those ruby red lips? Learn to do it yourself in this quick video tutorial from ItsJudyTime, and you can look like a retro pin-up model, too!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxwvGeZsWNA]

Swing House Promises Summer Sizzle
Fans of big band music, hot jazz and ragtime, lindy hoppers, hepcat hipsters and lovers of all that is retro cool are invited to the last Swing House vintage dance party of the season on July 26th at Public Assembly (the erstwhile Galapagos Art Space) in Brooklyn, NY.

Billed as a mixture of modern and vintage entertainment, the next installment of the popular monthly happening will feature free a swing dance lesson, live music from the Neon Swing X-perience and the Big Bang Big Band, DJs spinning the best in remixed early jazz and vintage bass, firebreathers, aerialists, and stunning burlesque and dance performances. Guests are encouraged to wear their full-on vintage best, circa 1920s-40s. For more details and to RSVP, visit the Swing House website.

The Timeless Appeal of Retro Red Lipstick
By Jodi McNarland

Some staples to a woman’s wardrobe simply cannot be ignored. A little black dress may catch a fella’s eye, and strappy heels may turn a gentleman’s head, but nothing puts the shine on the apple like luscious red lips.

Briefest history? Babylonians used ground jewel powder (expensive, no staying power), Cleopatra used ground beetles (yuck and yes, I know we’re still doing it, but we hide it well and let’s leave it at that, shall we?), less affluent Egyptians used henna and ground leaves (poisonous mercury-based plants no less).

The long and the short of it: Women figured out thousands of years ago that red lips look lovely, and who are we to go against tradition? Time has marched on, however, and there are almost as many styles and brands as there are women to wear them. Glossy, matte, pearly, metallic–have a little fun with it. I’m here to talk about the color.

THE MAGIC OF THE RIGHT RED

Photo by Melai Parcon Lopez

Picture it: You’re in your sweetest frock, smartest suit, or slinkiest strapless number. Your hair is a masterpiece and your eyes sparkle, shine or smolder. Your beau is waiting at the door, but you’re still missing that certain je ne sais quoi. Jewelry? Right where it belongs. Shoes? Perfect match (and comfortable to boot–after all, it’s your fantasy). What could it be? The right red on your lips brings your face to life. You’re still you, just more so. Paint on a little glamour and prepare to get noticed.

MAC Dubonnet. Chanel Barcelona Red. Cover Girl Really Red. Lancome Red Desire. Anna Sui Rouge Chine. Mary Kay Red Salsa. Elizabeth Arden Slink. See what catches your eye. Just between us, I can’t tell you which brand I use–no endorsements, darling–but I don’t leave the house without it.

So, put on a little lipstick dear. The whole world is waiting for you to make your appearance.

Moss Lamps Add That Special Twist
By Donald-Brian Johnson, Contributing Writer
Photos by Leslie Pina

Here’s the situation: It’s your turn to play host. You want the gang to be impressed, and you’ve done your best with the decor. It’s OK. But you want more than OK. You want a focal point. You want that one, wonderful object that will leave them gasping. You want a Moss lamp.

This Moss floor lamp with a revolving

A new material demanded new designs, and Smith’s early lamps took full advantage of plexi’s adaptability: angled pieces not only formed the lamp bodies, but also jutted out in every direction imaginable. More variety was soon on the way, thanks to the non-stop imagination of company co-owner Thelma Moss. An entrepreneur extraordinaire, Thelma made it her mission in life to inspire her designers. What Thelma Moss imagined, Moss designers brought to life, and Thelma imagined plenty.

This Moss table lamp features the

“But wait,” as the ads say, “there’s more!” Buoyed by the success of the spinners, Thelma lobbied for further embellishments. Under the direction of Duke Smith, and later designer John Disney, the basic plexiglas shapes served as launching pads for an endless variety of Thelma-inspired innovations. Soon, the revolving platforms became mini-stages, lit by separate bulbs both above and below. Plexiglas planters were added, as were figurines that actually seemed to interact with their plexi environments: young girls perched on motorized swings, Oriental figures peering around oversize gongs, dancers extending their arms to the strains of tinkling music boxes. Clocks, radios, and even walkie-talkies were also eventually incorporated into the lamp designs. Topping things off were those signature Moss shades: gargantuan (at times up to two feet square), and often fashioned of the Moss secret formula for “spun glass”–an angel hair/adhesive mixture cured in a metal mold to form a hard shell.

Pushing the Envelope of Design

This Moss clock lamp has a revolving

Before Moss arrived on the scene, lamps were regarded by furniture dealers as “deal-sweeteners.” Buy a sofa, and a lamp pair was thrown in as a bonus. But, Moss lamps were different. Expensive for the time, (ranging from $29-$79 for a single lamp, while designer pairs were retailing at $40), the lamps became stars in their own right. As one dealer remarked, “With Moss lamps, we usually end up throwing in the sofa!”

For a time, Thelma’s dreams seemed in sync with the dreams of every young householder seeking to embrace the thoroughly modern. But with the onset of unified decor schemes in the 1960s, consumer interest shifted to lamps that were lamps, rather than conversation pieces. Lamp production at Moss Manufacturing ceased in 1968.

Thelma Moss (right), creative spark of Moss Manufacturing, models a

But, one thing’s for certain: whether you select a single lamp or a multitude, you (and your guests) will definitely find Moss “the light fantastic.”

Three Coins in the Fountain
Price-wise, a good rule of thumb in estimating the cost of a Moss lamp is: the more bells and whistles, the higher the price tag. Early non-figural lamps can range from $100-$125 for table models, $175-$200 for floor versions (fluorescent panels will add about $50-$75 to the cost). Lamps with figurines by “name” designers fall into the category of dual collectibles, and their prices will reflect this. A table lamp with a Hedi Schoop figurine can run $250-$275, while one with a figure by the less-in-demand Decoramic Kilns may sell for only $150-$175. Revolving-platform lamps will start at about $200 for table models, $400 for floor versions. From there, prices escalate. The relatively affordable, such as music box lamps, average $275-300; seldom-seen, and therefore pricier rarities, include fountain lamps ($1200-1300) and bars ($2200-2400).

Where to find the lamps, or more info about them? Online auction sites, such as eBay, often prove a good source for Moss lamps, as do shops and shows specializing in mid-century memorabilia. Interested collectors share comments and photos on the msn.com group site MossLampsofCalifornia, and Moss in all its glory is captured in our book Moss Lamps: Lighting the ‘50s (Schiffer Publishing, 2000, $49.95). For “the lamps that spin”, popular taste has spun full circle.

The Landing Pad is a new recurring column on retro decor by Donald-Brian Johnson, who writes and lectures frequently on mid-20th Century decorative arts. In addition to his book on Moss lamps, Johnson is also the co-author of such titles as Higgins: Adventures in Glass; Higgins: Poetry in Glass; Ceramic Arts Studio: The Legacy of Betty Harrington, and Specs Appeal: Extravagant 1950s & 1960s Eyewear. All are published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

I’m certainly not the first pundit to note the striking similarity between modern day cinema vixen Angelina Jolie and the beautiful Sophia Loren, classic star of the silver screen. But, the uncanny resemblance between the two celluloid goddesses is even more apparent on the cover of the new issue of Vanity Fair, hitting newsstands this week. Jolie’s naturally chiseled cheekbones and pillow-plush lips are glamorously enhanced by classic matte makeup remniscent of the 1950s pin-up style. The good news is, you can recreate this look at home, and enhance your own natural beauty with fabulous retro flair. All it takes is the right tools and a little patience. Here, our YouTube tutor kuuipo1207 shares her trade secrets to recreate a fabulous Fifties pin-up style that will have you looking like a classic Hollywood star!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ULBx4Kcb2o]

Get ready to cut a rug, cats and kittens, because we’ve got some swanky sounds coming your way.

Our industrious intern is in the process of re-uploading four years’ worth of music reviews into our newly renovated Website. And, of course, we’ll be adding new tunes, soon.

What’s in store? From Rockabilly to Big Band, and from Exotica to the Blues, we’ve got the whole retro spectrum covered!

• So, stay tuned, and we’ll be rockin’ your socks off in no time!

Love vintage pin-ups? Have a taste for classic cheesecake? Dig the glamour gals of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s? Well then, you’re in the right place! Or…well, you will be. Just as soon as we’re done with these pesky renovations.

We’re in the process of moving four years’ worth of accumulated pin-up pictures (both classic celebs and modern retro vixens) from our old server into our nifty new digs. We need a couple of weeks, because those pictures are too precious and must be handled with care. So, in the meantime, here are a few recommended distractions…

The Vintage Pin-Up Archive
The Pin-Up Files
The Pin-Up Portal
The Art of Art Frahm
Alberto Vargas
Gil Elvgren
Pin-Up Girls of America
Cheesecake & Pin-up Model Bernie Dexter
Pin-Up Model Lana Landis
The Pin-Up Page
Shannanigan’s Rockin’ Art

Higgins is “A Glass Act”
By Donald-Brian Johnson, Contributing Writer
Photos by Leslie Piña

Vintage glass adds retro panache to any decor

These fused glass pieces from the fabulous ’50s combine an arresting mix of geometric and curved lines with a bold use of colors. Whatever your decorating scheme calls for–from eye-popping oranges to cool blues–the vast and vivid Higgins inventory is guaranteed to have what you’re looking for.

The Higgins saga began in 1948, with the opening of a Chicago-area studio by newlyweds Michael and Frances Higgins. The Higgins, both with extensive previous artistic experience, took it as their mission to revive the ancient art of glass fusing. Although popular in the past, fused glass had, by the mid-20th century, been abandoned in favor of blown glass.

Grouping of Higgins bowls, produced at Dearborn Glass Company circa 1961. Country Garden, $550-$600; Arabesque Apple, $225-$275; Sunburst, $175-$200; and Buttercup, $125-$150.

Off Like a Rocket
The Higgins quickly learned what the early ’50s market wanted and turned their fusing technique to the production of such useful objects as bowls, plates, assorted serving dishes, lamps, clocks, and–a trend of the times–smoking accessories, particularly ashtrays of every shape and size.

Pi Plate by Michael Higgins

At Dearborn, the Higgins adapted their handcrafted procedures to the demands of mass production, churning out endless houseware items in patterns with such vibrant, instantly enticing names as “Stardust”, “Barbaric Jewels”, “Arabesque” and “Mandarin”. As Dearborn’s promotional postcards of the time indicate, it was literally possible to set an entire table (except for the silver) with Higgins glass. Frances Higgins later recalled that the goal set for Higginsware at Dearborn was “a new line every six months”. If a particular pattern sold well, the couple were urged to adapt it to every size and shape imaginable. Soon, for example, simple serving plates gave way to “two-tier servers”, followed by “three-tier servers”. If the public might possibly buy it, the Higgins would create it.

Going Their Own Way

Dropout vase by Frances Higgins, 1967. $5000-$5500.

Michael Higgins died in 1999, Frances Higgins in 2004. The Higgins Studio is now under the ownership and direction of their longtime design associates Louise and Jonathan Wimmer. Pieces created today honor and expand on the traditions and of the past. This direct line of continuity means that glass objects in the distinctive Higgins style will continue to enchant collectors for many years to come.

Michael and Frances Higgins at their Riverside studio in the 1980s.

A Dash of Glass Panache
The trick in using Higgins to accent a retro decor is, in some cases, to see beyond the original use of an object, to its use as you envision it. Perhaps your home has no need for a whopping 15″ freeform ashtray, no matter how brilliant its color scheme. That same ashtray, however, re-imagined as a generously-sized chip dish, will definitely brighten up the buffet line. Oversize vintage chargers, while perhaps too valuable for actual dining use, make wonderful place-markers when setting a period table. And Higgins cigarette boxes have a multitude of uses in addition to their original one, from change holders, to dresser vanities, to candy dishes.

Bubbles sculpture by Frances Higgins, 13 inches, $1500-$1700.

The Higgins Studio was initially hailed as the home of “modern miracles with everyday glass”. Today, collectors continue to discover that “modern miracle”: the excitingly eye-catching appeal Higgins glass, both old and new, brings to any environment.

“We just try to make what looks good, anytime, in any place. Things that are lasting, and can be enjoyed for years to come.”
-Frances Higgins

The Higgins Glass Studio is located at 33 East Quincy Street, Riverside, IL 60546; Ph: (708) 447-2787. www.higginsglass.com.

The Landing Pad is a recurring column on retro decor by Donald-Brian Johnson, who writes and lectures frequently on mid-20th century decorative arts. With photographer Leslie Piña, he is co-author of Higgins: Poetry in Glass (Schiffer Publishing), as well as Higgins: Adventures in Glass, and numerous other books on mid-century modern. He can be contacted at www.ceramicartsstudio.com.