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brokehorrorfan · 5 years ago

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Blu-ray Review: Munster, Go Home

Mere months after The Munsters wrapped its two-season run on NBC in 1966, the macabre sitcom family returned in their first feature film, Munster, Go Home. Many of the key cast and crew members reprised their roles: Fred Gwynne as the Frankenstein's monster patriarch, Herman; Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire bride, Lily; Al Lewis as her mad scientist/vampire father, Grandpa; and Butch Patrick as their werewolf son, Eddie. Debbie Watson joined the clan to replace Pat Priest as their "normal" teenage niece, Marilyn.

Earl Bellamy, who helmed several episodes of the show, was enlisted to direct the film, while fellow The Munsters alumni Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, and George Tibbles penned the script together. The creatives and cast reconvened to make the movie feel like a logical continuation of the series while showing audiences The Munsters as they had never seen them before: in full color, in widescreen, and without commercial interruption.

Upon the death of his adoptive uncle, Herman inherits a noble estate, which includes a mansion and other luxuries, as well as the prestigious title of Lord Munster, Fifth Earl of Shroudshire. The Munsters take an ocean liner across the pond to England, where they meet Herman's conniving aunt, Lady Effigie (Hermione Gingold, Gigi), and sniveling cousins, Freddie (Terry-Thomas, The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and Grace (Jeanne Arnold).

Jealous of being left out of the will, the surviving relatives plot revenge against the Munsters. When their ghastly attempts to scare them away only make the unconventional family feel more at home in the foreign country, Grace and Freddie plot Herman's death. They capitalize on an opportunity to take him out during a road race that Herman enters in his trusty, custom dragster, Dragula.

Richard Dawson (future host of Match Game and Family Feud) and Arthur Malet (who horror aficionados will know for his small role as the graveyard keeper in John Carpenter's Halloween) intermittently pop up in a B-plot as a pair of cockney delivery boys entangled in a counterfeiting scheme. The cast also features genre veteran John Carradine (House of Frankenstein), Robert Pine (CHiPs), Bernard Fox (Bewitched), and Ben Wright (101 Dalmatians).

The Munsters transition from television to feature film is largely successful but not without its faults. The pacing is less palatable than that of a sitcom episode, as the street race finale goes on a bit too long, and there's a mystery angle to which there isn't enough time dedicated in order to build any worthwhile intrigue. Senses of humor have changed significantly in the four decades since, but the overall silliness remains fun. The Munsters composer Jack Marshall (The Giant Gila Monster) retains the playfully spooky soundtrack.

Director of photography Benjamin H. Kline (Detour) had worked on a couple of episodes of The Munsters, but the feature film was shot in Technicolor. Not only does the monstrous family's makeup pop, so too does the colorful lighting and set decor, particularly in The Munsters' California home. Unfortunately, little time is spent at the familiar house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, as the film's larger budget allowed for more sets and exteriors.

Although not billed as a double feature, Scream Factory's new Blu-ray release of Munster, Go Home includes The Munsters' Revenge as an extra. The 1981 television movie has received a new 2K scan in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It was the last to feature Gwynne, De Carlo, and Lewis reprising their roles. With Patrick having aged out of the role, Eddie is played by K.C. Martel (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), while Jo McDonnell steps in as Marilyn.

This time around, the Munster family visits the Chamber of Horrors wax museum. Nestled among a variety of classic creatures is a gathering of monsters that bear more than a passing resemblance to the Munsters. As it turns out, the statues are actually robots that are sent out to commit crimes by night. Herman and Grandpa are mistaken for the so-called "monster muggers" and are arrested, leaving The Munsters racing to clear their name before their annual Halloween celebration.

Directed by Don Weis (The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini) from a script he co-wrote with Arthur Alsberg (Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo), The Munsters' Revenge isn't as strong as Munster, Go Home. The humor doesn't hold up as well, although it's fun to see the classic sitcom characters revived in the 1980s. Bob Hastings (McHale's Navy) plays the Munsters' cousin, Phantom of the Opera, and the cast also includes Sid Caesar (Grease), Peter Fox (Night of the Comet), Howard Morris (The Andy Griffith Show), Michael McManus (Poltergeist), and Barry Pearl (Grease).

Perhaps even better than the bonus film is a new Munster, Go Home audio commentary with Patrick and filmmaker/musician Rob Zombie, moderated by horror journalist Justin Beahm. It's fun to hear Zombie as an inquisitive fan for a change, while Patrick shares anecdotes from the series and the movie, including the differences between the two. The Blu-ray also includes vintage radio interviews with Gwynne, De Carlo, Lewis, and Watson; radio spots; the theatrical trailer; and still galleries for both films.

Munster, Go Home will be released on Blu-ray on March 31 via Scream Factory.

#the munsters #munsters #munster go home #munster go home!#fred gwynne #the munsters' revenge #scream factory #dvd #gift #article #review #rob zombie #yvonne de carlo #al lewis #butch patrick

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scotianostra · 5 years ago

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Here's tae us. Wha's like us? Damn few, and they're a'deid.

On July 27th 1882 the actor Donald Crisp was born in Aberfeldy, Scotland.

Well the truth is he was born in London, a fact that surprised everyone, the Oscar-winning actor and director enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years and 400 movies. He was, for a long time, the most famous Scot in Hollywood. Renowned for his distinctive brogue he played a wealth of Scottish characters in popular movies such as The Bonnie Brier Bush, Mary of Scotland, Lassie Come Home, Greyfriars Bobby and many more.

He was clearly a world class actor but his greatest performance was off-screen. Crisp spoke with a soft Scottish burr and maintained throughout his life to have been born in Aberfeldy where he remembered that as a boy his family was so poor they couldn’t afford sugar.

Every so often the actor, who died in 1974, would return to his “homeland” on holiday and recount his days among the hills of Perthshire.

Such was his popularity the Scottish Film Council honoured Crisp and his reported birthplace with a commemorative plaque as part of the Centenary Of Film celebrations and that was when the truth was uncovered.

Librarian Lorna Mitchell began digging into his past and discovered that far from being a Highland laddie Crisp was actually a Cockney, having been born in Bow, East London on 27 July 1882, two years later than the date in most record books. And his real name was George.

It appears the Londoner with no known Scottish connections deliberately developed a Scottish accent to help his career in the hope that it would appeal to movie moguls.

Whatever the reason for his deception Crisp is not alone in elaborating his Scottish connections.

James Robertson Justice, a big man with a voice to match, was a familiar face in British cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, especially for his portrayal as the grumpy surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt in seven Doctor In The House comedies.

For most of a career that spanned 30 years and 87 movies Justice claimed he was born underneath a whisky distillery on the Isle of Skye. Other versions of his birth claim he was born in Wigtown.

Although he often wore the Robertson tartan proudly it appears he had no legitimate claim to the moniker. He only added it as middle name when he was in his mid-30s because he thought it sounded more Scottish.

In reality Justice was born in Lee, South London, and was brought up in Bromley, Kent.

There is no doubt he was fond of the country. He loved hunting with falcons in the Highlands, was Rector of the University of Edinburgh for two terms, and he lived on and off in the country up until his death in 1975.

Then there’s David Niven, another Londoner, but at least he served in a Scottish army regiment, The Highland Light Infantry.

He also played Bonnie Prince Charlie, a favourite subject on my page, especially with all you Outlander fans!

Being Scottish is not just an old trendy thing either, more recently we had the late wrestler ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.

The kilted wrestler was a major star on the wrestling circuit and was billed as coming from Glasgow. He used to enter the ring to bagpipe music and was given the nickname ‘Rowdy’ supposedly due to his trademark ‘Scottish rage’ .Credited as being “the most gifted entertainer in the history of professional wrestling” Piper was actually from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada, although he did have Scottish ancestry.

And it’s not just the stars that have a penchant to claim to be Scottish, enter Dr Scott Peake, at first glance he was Scottish through and through. Born on the island of Raasay, my own ancestral homeland, he had a soft lilting accent, spoke Gaelic, wore tartan trews and Harris Tweed jackets at every opportunity and even claimed to have represented his country internationally in the sports of shinty and cricket.

Having graduated from St Andrew’s University he was teaching classics at a leading private school when, in 2001, he was appointed director of the Saltire Society, promoting Scottish culture to the world.What should have been a crowning moment for any proud Scot turned out to be his downfall. Publicity surrounding his post revealed cracks in his story, not least the fact that nobody on the tiny island of Raasay had heard of him and neither had the governing bodies of shinty and cricket.It finally emerged that Peake was actually an ordinary lad from a council estate in Woolwich, east London. He had adopted his false background while studying at St Andrews in 1991, much to the bemusement of his English family.

Peake was forced to resign from the Saltire Society and was last heard of teaching Latin in a school in Hertfordshire. Even after being unmasked for his pretence ne continued to spin the lie that he was Scottish. When questioned he said "It's a health thing," the lilting Isles brogue still very much in evidence. "I can't talk about it because I'm mentally shot.”

Read more on this wannabe Scot here. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/goodbye-mr-fake-teacher-forced-to-quit-bedales-after-exposure-as-a-serial-fantasist-69755.html

While it may be understandable that the idea of being Scottish could bring on delusions of grandeur some people take it too far. Sometime around 1988 the soft spoken Baron of Chirnside arrived in Tomintoul and began buying up large parts of the village.The Borders aristocrat who claimed his heart belonged in the Highlands was a blessing for the 320 or so inhabitants of the small settlement in the heart of whisky country.

He paid for the police pipe band to play at the Tomintoul Highland games, which he attended in full tartan dress, and he was always happy to give generously to local causes.Over six years it is estimated that ‘Lord’ Tony Williams sunk up to £2 million into the local economy, buying businesses and doing up properties. It is said his businesses employed around 40 people in the village which has a population of around 300.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t his money. The self-styled Laird of Tomintoul, who bought his Baronetcy at auction, turned out to be an accountant from New Malden in Surrey who had embezzled some £5 million from his employer the London Metropolitan Police rather appropriately at Scotland Yard!!!

He was caught only after staff at the Clydesdale Bank in Tomintoul became suspicious of cheques going into the account of Lord and Lady Williams and tipped off the police. He was later jailed for seven years and was last heard of driving a bus in London.

The full sorry story is here https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/double-life-of-laird-at-centre-of-pounds-4m-inquiry-accountant-with-metropolitan-police-adopted-1377515.html

But, perhaps the most famous of wannabe Scots has yet to be born.

The Annet House Museum in Linlithgow already has a blue plaque on its wall celebrating the town as the birthplace of Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, even though he is not due to enter this world until 2222.

Canadian actor James Doohan, who immortalised the character in the television series Star Trek, claimed to have come up with the Scottish accent of the Starship Enterprise’s chief engineer during a pub crawl in Aberdeen.

However, fans of the show have claimed scripts from the original series suggest Scotty was (or will be) born in Linlithgow on 28 June, 2222 – and that’s enough for the town which is already cashing in on the Trekkie tourist trail with a plaque to commemorate the occasion.

So beware, sometimes all is not what it seems, you never know I might also be a wannabe Scot living in middle England and fooling you all of my Scottish credentials! ;)

#Scotland #Scottish #Donal Crisp #James Robertson Justice #David Niven #Montgomery Scott #Star Trek #Walter Mitty

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peckhampeculiar · 6 years ago

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Pearls of wisdom

Words Luke G Williams; Photo Paul Stafford

“It’s always nice being back in Peckham,” 80-year-old George Major - the Pearly King of Peckham since 1958 - tells me with a grin and a thumbs-up gesture as he poses for photographs underneath the Peckham Arch.

��I love seeing all the old faces and friends I’ve known over the years. I like to wander down the market, where I spent my old days.”

As if on cue a passer-by spots George and yells out to him: “Hey there! The King of Peckham! How you doing?”

Although his family originated from the East End, and George now lives in Sutton, his affection for Peckham is obvious and endearing, and the feeling seems to be mutual.

As we stand and chat in the streets - and then in Manze’s pie and mash shop where he enjoys a cup of Rosie Lee* - passers-by frequently stop George to say hello or shake his hand, while several ladies exchange a word or two and a peck on the cheek.

George invariably responds to all these well-wishers with kindness and a smile. One lady asks him for a photo while embracing him warmly and telling him how much she admires the “sterling work” George and the other Pearly Kings and Queens do.

“It’s like when I gave a talk at the Women’s Institute,” George tells me with a grin. “I came out with lipstick all over me!”

The Pearly Kings and Queens tradition sprung out of London’s Cockney working-class street trading culture. It’s a tradition that George is honoured to be an influential part of.

“The Pearly Kings originated from the costermongers whose leaders were Coster Kings and Queens whose titles were handed down through their families,” he explains.

“My grandfather was the pearly king of Mile End Road. But when I was young my family all moved down here to south London.

“We’re proud of our history. Not only do the pearlies raise money for charity, but we also bring life and light to people’s lives. We are the cheeky chappies and I’m the oldest of them all now.”

George’s charitable work and evangelical desire to spread the story and history of the Pearly Kings and Queens takes many forms, from giving talks in schools to opening fetes and raising money for good causes.

“I visit nursing homes regularly,” he adds. “There’s one around the corner here that I visit often. As soon as I go in I always say: I want to go and see the bedridden first. That’s important. I try and put a smile on their faces, give them a new lease of life. Then I give a talk about our history.”

As well as their charitable work, the Pearly Kings and Queens are renowned for their extravagant outfits, lavishly festooned with mother of pearl buttons. It was Henry Croft, an orphaned street sweeper born in 1862, who adapted the existing tradition among costermongers of wearing clothes decorated with mother of pearl buttons by developing a suit fully covered in pearl buttons.

Croft’s thinking was that such outfits would draw attention and publicity for his charitable fundraising activities – and he was proved right.

George’s own Pearly King ‘whistle and flute’** is a particularly fine example. “You can’t take it to the cleaners because the buttons would break,” George tells me. “So I get a toothbrush and I clean it by hand that way. It weighs half a hundredweight. And there are 22,000 pure mother of pearl buttons on here.” Despite his sunny countenance, George’s life story began amid poverty and hardship. “It was a tearjerker to begin with!” he admits, referring me to his book The Hidden Whistle and Flute Stitch One for the full story.

Born in 1938, George’s childhood was like something out of a Charles Dickens novel. Having been abandoned by his mother, George had to fend for himself and his two sisters, one of them mentally disabled, while also dealing with an abusive father and “terrifying” aunt. The enterprising youngster learned to live by his wits and became a trader in Peckham market.

“When I was on the markets, people used to say I was Del Boy number one, before they even made Only Fools and Horses,” he explains. “The guy who wrote it – I can’t think of his name now [John Sullivan]– but he followed us around and he must have seen what we got up to. “Do you remember when Del Boy made Peckham spring water? You ever see that? Well they copied what I done!

“Years ago, when I was on the market we were short of bees and honey***.

There were three of us you see – me, granddad Fred and my friend Brian Evans – he was the plonker.

“One day I said to Brian, get all the half-pint milk bottles you can find, and get them before the milkman wakes up, which he done. Anyway he put them all in my garage. Me and granddad Fred went in the morning and opened the garage door and they all bloody fell on us, that’s how many he had got! “Anyway, I had my three-wheeler - it was turquoise [Del Boy’s was yellow]. We got the half-pint bottles, put them over the exhaust pipe, filled them up with fumes, labelled them ‘Pure London Cockney Smog’ - dollar a bottle and we flogged the lot to the Yankees! We sold out!” Although he’s now 80, George possesses the vim and vigour of a teenager. When I remark how fit and well he seems, he quips: “I am fit – I’m always bloody working!”

George’s latest endeavour is his most ambitious yet. He possesses an unrivalled collection of what he terms the ‘Pearly Crown Jewels’, comprising various items of Pearly King and Queen memorabilia, including 22 antique costumes.

For the past few years he has exhibited them as part of his mobile ‘Cockney Museum’ - now he is planning for the museum to have a permanent home in Stoneleigh, Surrey.

“It will be like picking you up and putting you back into old London like it was,” George says, as he explains his vision. “You know old gas lamps, cobbles and an old home the way it was. We’re looking at starting work after Christmas and hopefully it will all be ready for the spring.

“It will be a real Cockney treasure island. All the suits I’ve got will be on display, we’ll also show the poverty there used to be. We’ll show how people used to go blind working up the chimneys or in the workhouse. We will show people the dirt and everything. It will be really realistic.

“People moan and groan today about this and that, but they ought to have tried living in Victorian days! That was poverty. There were people who needed help and no one helped them – except the pearlies!”

It’s clear that George loves being a Pearly King, and the opportunities it has afforded him. “It’s taken me halfway around the world,” he says. “I’ve been to America, Australia, Bombay I’ve met the Royal family and dined with the Queen and the Duke. I’ve had a bloody good life! I’ve fitted a lot into my 80 years!”

However, it’s when speaking about the people that he has helped over the years that George becomes most animated.

“I’ve helped the homeless, ex-servicemen, some of whom have been in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Girls who’ve been on the game and drugs. I’ve met and helped them all.

“It’s very important. People say to me, what do you get out of it? And I say, my role is to bring a smile to people’s faces. Then I’ve done my job. That’s the way I see it. That’s what we pearlies were born to do.”

…………………………………………..

*Tea **A splendid suit ***Money

pearlykingofpeckham.co.uk

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carriedon-awolfsback · 6 years ago

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20 Questions

@the-world-is-on-fire tagged me! Thanks! :D

Name: Amber

Nicknames: I actually don’t have any. Sometimes my boss calls me by my surname if we’re being dumb and pretending to be in a chalk-and-cheese buddy-cop movie, but that’s it.

Gender: Female, albeit with occasional wobbles of questioning usually bought on by hormonal surges and/or someone noisily suggesting I should shave my legs and wear a skirt for once in my life.

Orientation: For simplicity’s sake I’ll say bi. I’ve been sexually attracted to people of various genders over the years, but I don’t act on it any more, because I’ve found I don’t actually enjoy the reality of physical and romantic intimacy.

Nationality: Britisher unfortunately

Faith/religion: I’ve been exploring Norse tradition Heathenry for the best part of a year now. That means I have an altar displaying items related to the pre-Christian Scandinavian pantheon (mostly Odin but others too) which I leave shots of whiskey on about once a week and sorta pray/meditate at sometimes. Yes, really! I’d absolutely class myself as a layperson and my practise focus is all about interpreting lessons in the Eddas, self-reliance, self-acceptance and keeping healthy routines. I don’t do any divination or witchy stuff beyond carrying an Ansuz rune around with me tied to my handbag for luck. I do have a sense of humour about it and I’m always open to questions about it as long as they’re decently respectful.

Hobbies: I work pretty long hours these days so all my free time is reserved for writing and drawing. Does being able to find and customise the perfect Instagram filter for any photo count as a hobby? I also love a night at the theatre and try to sample both on- and off-West End shows when I have the time and money.

Pets: None :( I don’t have the disposable income, time, or space in my current lifestyle. I get my pet fix by befriending other people’s cats I meet in the street so they visit my house sometimes.

Favourite... Colours: I went to art school, this is like asking me to pick a favourite child. Blue and green are my best colours to wear (and black but that’s a shade /pedantry)

Holiday: Easter! Yes, the big Christian party cribbed wildly from the pagans. I dunno, my (totally atheist) family just goes really hard at that time of year for some reason with the good food and spring vibes, and it’s nice to be around. It’s like Christmas, but more temperate and with less ‘MUST HAVE SO MUCH FUN AND SPEND MONEY’ pressure.

Books: Dracula, Frankenstein, Let The Right One In, Ben Aaronovich’s London books... I cut my big kid reading teeth on Pratchett, Gaiman and Tolkien. I really struggle to settle down and read like I used to these days.

Films: Alien, Inglourious Basterds, Hot Fuzz, Withnail & I, The History Boys, the original LOTR trilogy, Jurassic Park, old David Lean movies (the ones where everyone has either a posh or cockney accent and all the women have viciously barbed conversations while hiding the fact they’re all shouldering immense emotional burdens)

TV: I really don’t watch a lot of TV, I’m incredibly bad at keeping up with serials. The only must-watch on my list is American Gods; I LOVED the first season and hope they keep the same style and vibe going.

Music: Rammstein, Ghost, Motörhead, AC/DC, Florence, The Prodigy, Laura Marling, Depeche Mode, Bowie, Kraftwerk, Green Day, Fleetwood Mac, NIN, Placebo, I don’t know much about classical but I love the Planets Suite and The Lark Ascending, any amount of showtunes... I’m genre-omnivorous; I just like my music to be passionate and kind of dark regardless of which instruments and what kinds of voices are doing it.

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: I like a peppermint or builder’s tea but I’ll take hot chocolate over it any time.

Favourite meme: Giving every object, image and concept you come across an ‘energy’ (cursed energy, ambiguous but powerful energy, gay energy, big dick energy)

I want to live long enough to: See the world get, like, even just a little bit less shitty.

Weird obsessions: Scaring myself to absolute death on YouTube at 1am with unexplained 999 call audios, numbers stations, backwards sound recordings, emergency broadcast systems and sirens, and nuclear war scenarios. I work in a museum and I literally could not go into one of our exhibits last winter because it contained a Protect And Survive video on loop, and as soon as I heard the tone at the start of the clip my eyes would automatically start pouring with anxiety tears. So obviously I gotta listen to that shit in my downtime for entertainment purposes!

Random fact: My grandma dropped me on my head in a hot tub as a baby. Sometimes I remind her of this and she just chortles and sips her wine

Goals for 2018: Hit our fundraising target for the year with my team at work. Drop a little bit of weight so the doctor gets off my case. Get my bedroom fixed up less like a big store cupboard and more like a cosy sleeping and living space.

I won’t tag anyone as I think everyone seems to have done it already, but if we’re mutuals and you’ve not already had one, consider this your tag!

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achrafchachi · 4 years ago

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30 Things Every Man Should Do Before Turning Thirty

Become financially independent

Arguably, this advice is hard to appreciate, given how fully we as a generation have been impacted by the actions of the previous, but no pain, no gain right?

If you haven’t already, get out from under your parent’s feet. They may say they “don’t mind” giving you a helping hand, but you should.

2Have some discretion

Maybe don’t broadcast every thought you have on Facebook. No one cares. No one has ever cared.

We don’t need a thousand updates on the status of your relationship, selfies,

or musings on how much of a “geek” you are. Uploading 400 photos in an album titled “last night” is not a great use of time.

3Travel

On that note, you’ve heard it a million times, but travelling will open your eyes.

Don’t hit up KFC first thing when you get to where you’re going, be respectful and willing to learn. You’ll come back appreciating home much more, too.

For inspiration, check out the 28 Places Every Man Should Visit In His Lifetime.

4Be able to call it a night

OK. Unless things are going well with a little cutie, you don’t have to stay up until 4am just for the sake of it.

The most mature thing someone can do is to say, “right, I’m off,” and then actually leave.

Most parties tend to suck after a certain point anyway, so try and find the peak point of a given night, and then make your move.

5Learn to live with other people

College is the time to do this, and then maybe a couple of years after when you’re figuring out what to do with your life.

You’ll make horrible choices regarding roommates (if you even get to choose) and in the inevitable crises (rising damp, friends not paying rent) that follow, you’ll be sure to learn a lot about yourself.

On that note…

6Ditch bad friends

I had a friend who used to literally scream at me when I told him I was trying to quit smoking, because he needed someone to validate his own choices.

This man was not a good man. Luckily, bad friends tend to weed themselves out. You might end up with no one beside you at times, but that’s okay, it happen to all of us.

In that case…

7Learn to live with yourself

When you were younger, you probably had serious FOMO. If you don’t know what that means, you’re too old to worry about it. But getting older means not having to be where the party is, at least not all the time.

Get to know yourself or you’ll be running around chasing other people forever.

8Put Yourself Out There And Attempt To Fall in love

It could be a five year relationship, it could be a wistful look with a colleague at work. Hopefully it takes more than a look.

Falling in love with someone is so wonderful and horrible, so nerve-wracking and yet so becalming that you’ll hate yourself for having done it sometimes. But it’s the best thing in the world for reminding yourself you are still human.

9Get your heart broken

Same sort of thing, really.

Could be big (a broken engagement), could be small (the girl whose name you don’t know turns up at the bus stop with a man by her side), and while it may sting like crazy at first, you’ll be grateful for the trouble in the long run.

10Give good/bad advice

I once volunteered to teach DIY at a charity, and school children would ask me, a 23 year old, for advice.

Did I give good advice? Hell no, I was a mess. But it felt nice to be asked, to impart whatever existential crisis I was having at the time, and how best someone can avoid it.

11Be a Role Model To Someone Younger Than You

You may be a younger member of a family, and therefore your siblings, or your cousins may started having kids of their own.

The best kind of kids, you’ll find, are the ones that aren’t yours. You get to be the cool and fun uncle who everyone loves, but as soon as they poop themselves or start crying, you can hand them off back to their mom/dad like you’re the star quarterback.

12Find your passion

It could be anything. Love playing sports? Love talking about sports? Love inventing new sports?

Go ahead, do these things. And do them as best as you can. You literally can’t be wrong. It doesn’t have to lead anywhere, it can just be for you, an ocean of calm in the sea of madness that is life.

13Make/Buy/Own something that is Yours

It could be a nice suit, or a house, or a set of pristine fire pokers from the 1800s.

It could even be a song you’ve written. It can just be yours, to be passed down, or shared with future generations.

14Have your own place to call home

Nothing will bring you back down to Earth quicker than talking a big game to your friends, and then coming back to a nice cooked meal from your mum before you sleep in your childhood bed (shaped like a racecar).

Get out of there, soldier. Your parents may not be too happy about the empty nest, but in the long run they’ll thank you (from some booze-cruise in the Bahamas).

15Volunteer

As much as we’ve talked about accumulating things and experiences, giving things back every once in awhile is incredibly rewarding too. Do you have any skills, or are you just good with people? If you have the time, do this.

16Help someone move

In life, only three things are certain: death, taxes, and being asked to help someone move.

This goes double, if not triple, if you own a van. Get ready for it, because it will happen. However, it’s a great thing to do for someone, and you’ll need someone’s help in the future too. Pay it forward.

17Begin to enjoy the finer things

Those 5 cent packets of ramen noodles got you through a lot of late nights at college, I’m sure, but as you reach the big 3-0, you would do well to try a little harder at life.

18Learn to cook one meal that is impressive

It doesn’t have to be a signature dish of your own concoction, but if you can make a decent meal and present it nicely you’ll always be welcome at a grown-up house party.

19Live in another country

Bonus points here if you manage to do it without yelling about how “cultural/spiritual/political” it is.

Knuckle down, get some friends who aren’t like you, and integrate for a bit. Learn the language. Other countries have a lot to offer beyond “not being America”.

20Appreciate art

Like you perhaps, I once did not “get” art. I once walked around a modern art museum with a friend complaining loudly like I was the coolest, most original person on earth.

Along with your newfound appreciation for being a modern, mature gentleman, it’s important to learn that a lot of art is designed to spark a conversation, so what parts of it don’t you like? What issues do you have with it? Besides, there are so many amazing pieces out there, can you really ‘not like’ all art?

21Go through a crisis

“Why do we fall, Master Bruce?”

In these moments, you will find out who your truly are, and you don’t need a sad, cockney butler to help you do it. When life is good, it’s very hard to make adjustments for your own issues. Only when you’re on the floor, getting kicked when you’re down, can you find the strength within yourself.

22Learn basic DIY

You don’t need to have a toolbelt or an extendable ladder, you don’t even need to strip the walls of every house you move into or grunt approvingly when you see a hardware commercial on TV. Just be able to put a shelf up straight.

23Learn basic car maintenance

On a very similar note, the time to get over your fear of looking under the hood of a car is definitely before 30. Don’t tear the wheels off or adjust your power steering, but definitely check the oil and maybe learn a little bit about using jumper cables.

24Learn how to use the washer and dryer

You can’t keep making your laundry someone else’s problem, or – ugh, never doing it at all.

Figure out your clothes, make some time every week or two, and just get it done. If you don’t like separating our colours and whites, just put it all in at 40 degrees and let God sort it out. If it doesn’t survive, it wasn’t meant to be.

25Stop worrying about your purpose

I don’t think anybody really knows what their purpose is.

We spend so much time worrying about it, when these things tend to come to us when we least expect it. Do things you love and you’ll eventually realise you found it a long time ago.

26Break the bad habits

Want to stop smoking? Want to get a little time off the internet? Eating nothing but junk food? Make a concerted effort to stop before you turn 30 (as in several years before this, not when you are 29 and 364 days) or you may find some things too hard to kick.

27Start exercising

While kicking bad habits, it’s also a good idea to develop brand new good ones. Exercise will keep your aging body (sorry) fit, release all kinds of good chemicals, and give you a brand new thing to go on and on about.

Don’t like running? Download Pokemon Go and do some walking or something.

28Open up your worldview

Typically, people tend to get more conservative as they get older, and thus we find ourselves in a position where a cranky, scared older generation is running the world and ruining it for the rest of us.

Break the trend: read widely, be skeptical of news outlets, be compassionate to your fellow man.

29Try anything you like

You’re still young enough to pretty much give anything a go and not be too worried if you’re terrible at it.

The sky is still very much the limit, and before you’re 30 you’ll find you have much more time to do it.

Do your best, but laugh it off if it doesn’t work.

30Realise that you can’t do everything

I read a cushion cover the other day that said, “Only children think they can do everything,” and it stopped me in my tracks.

Mostly because it seemed like an incredibly depressing message for a decorative item, but also because I realised I agreed, I just didn’t know it until then. It’s fun to try things, but eventually, you must settle down, focus, and excel at your best qualities.

There you have it, guys. I hope at the very least this has added an idea or two to your bucket list.

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katiemcveighaub · 5 years ago

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INTRODUCTION OF POSTAGE STAMPS

It's interesting to see that the year of 1840 also saw the introduction of postage stamps - the Penny Black. In keeping with the printing idea and letterpress but also a very nostalgic British subject which relates to London and cockneys - it has potential to be a feature of my project and be used.

KEY FACTS:

The launch of the Penny Black in 1840 changed the world forever – transforming how we send and receive post, and revolutionising communication across the globe.

Featuring an image of the former Princess Victoria, who was now almost three years into her reign as Queen, the Penny Black was the first adhesive stamp for use in a public postal system.

Arguably the most famous stamp in history, it is not the most rare. When it was withdrawn a year later, to be replaced by the Penny Red, almost 69 million had been printed. A perfectly preserved specimen is still worth up to £15,000.

Unfortunately, the dark black ink design made it difficult to see the red ink used to cancel out used stamps, so it was easy to use them again. Within 12 months, the colours were reversed – it was reprinted as a red stamp and the cancellation stamp was changed to black ink.

The Penny Red stamp was born, but the Black remains the more valuable of the two. There were just over 68 million Penny Black stamps printed. Unused, with original gum, these stamps can fetch £1000 or more, and fine used ones £80 or more, although space filers in poor condition can be found for less than £20. The British Postal Museum owns the only known complete sheets of the Penny Black stamp.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/only-in-britain/when-were-postage-stamps-invented/

https://rmspecialstamps.com/about/history-of-stamps/

#FMP

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floralkittygambler · 4 years ago

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As a Brit idk if that’s aimed at NiGHTS cockney ass or mine 😭 It is so magic tho 😭

Play the origin NiGHTS into Dreams!! Jackle and the Soft Museum are just 💜💜

[VMII - VGM Vapormas Vol. 2]

https://www.mixcloud.com/zedra-c-hybrid/vmii-vgm-vapormas-vol-2/

tracks:

1. Phantasy Star Universe - Christmas 2. Final Fantasy X - People of the North Pole 3. Tales of Vesperia - Source of the Seething Silence 4. Skies of Arcadia - Ice Dungeon 5. Seiken Densetsu 3 - Another Winter 6. Phantom Brave - Snowberry 7. Napple Tale - Skipper 8. Napple Tale - October Child 9. Mario Kart 64 - Frappe Snowland / Sherbet Land 10. Tomba 2 - Kujara Ranch 11. Pokemon D/P - Snowpoint City (Day) 12. NiGHTS Into Dreams - Take the Snow Train 13. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team - Escape Through the Snow 14. Tales of Symphonia - A Snow Light (Flanoir) 15. Mega Man 8 - Frost Man Stage

#and that SAX #I’m a sucker for that jazzy vibe #the awakers are terrifying though #also Wills dad looked dead inside man was scary #like Ken but ... empty #remake but wizemans face is just wills dad #also realas lipstick held in place bish was brand is dat??#Jackle tho 💜

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originalcockney · 11 months ago

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Exploring National Gallery In Epsom At Original Cockney Museum

Discover the rich cultural tapestry of Epsom with its captivating National Gallery, showcasing an array of artistic brilliance. Dive into the heritage and creativity housed within its walls. For any further information visit: https://www.originalcockneymuseum.co.uk/gallery

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/unseen-clockwork-orange-sequel-by-anthony-burgess-unearthed/

Unseen Clockwork Orange 'sequel' by Anthony Burgess unearthed

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Media captionA Clockwork Condition is a collection of Burgess’ thoughts on the human condition

A previously unseen manuscript for a follow-up to writer Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange has been unearthed in his archive.

A Clockwork Condition, which runs to 200 pages, is a collection of Burgess’ thoughts on the human condition and develops the themes from his 1962 book.

The novel told the story of the state’s attempt to cure a teenage delinquent.

The unfinished non-fiction follow-up is described as “part philosophical reflection and part autobiography”.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Malcolm McDowell played violent delinquent Alex in A Clockwork Orange

In it, Burgess also addressed the controversy surrounding director Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 movie adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.

The cult film, starring Malcolm McDowell as Alex, the violence-obsessed central character and narrator, was accused of inspiring violent copycat crimes and was banned by local councils in the UK.

It was only after Kubrick’s death in 1999 that the film was re-released in UK cinemas and made available for home viewing.

A Clockwork Orange was, however, a box office success in the US and was nominated for the Oscar for best picture in 1972 (losing to The French Connection).

Burgess archive yields lost gems

The manuscript for A Clockwork Condition was never published and was found among papers at Burgess’s house in Bracciano, near Rome.

When the house was sold after the writer’s death in 1993, the archive was moved to Manchester, where it is being catalogued by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

Burgess himself described the work as a “major philosophical statement on the contemporary human condition”, outlining his concerns about the effect on humanity of technology, in particular media, film and television.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Manchester-born Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange remains his best known work

It also explains the origins of his novel’s unusual title.

“In 1945, back from the army,” an extract reads, “I heard an 80-year-old Cockney in a London pub say that somebody was ‘as queer as a clockwork orange’.

“The ‘queer’ did not mean homosexual: it meant mad… For nearly twenty years I wanted to use it as the title of something… It was a traditional trope, and it asked to entitle a work which combined a concern with tradition and a bizarre technique.”

Prof Andrew Biswell, director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, said: “This remarkable unpublished sequel to A Clockwork Orange sheds new light on Burgess, Kubrick and the controversy surrounding the notorious novel.

“The Clockwork Condition provides a context for Burgess’s most famous work, and amplifies his views on crime, punishment and the possible corrupting effects of visual culture.”

Prof Biswell, who is also professor of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, said the author abandoned the manuscript when he came to realise “he was a novelist and not a philosopher”.

He then published a short autobiographical novel tackling some of the same themes, The Clockwork Testament, in 1974.

On Friday, the Design Museum in London launches a major Stanley Kubrick exhibition, which will include material from his Clockwork Orange film.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at Toldnewsnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].

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ramblesandmumblesofanerd · 8 years ago

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Batman: Arkham Reviews Part 2 - Strange Sequel

Warning: Lengthy Post Which Contains Spoilers

When last we discussed the Rocksteady Batman Arkham Series, we talked about the game that began the series. While there were some minor issues, the overall game was a joy to play through, with fun characters, a compelling story and a wide variety of secrets to collect to get one hundred percent of the game completed. When I originally played Arkham Asylum, I was not anticipating a sequel, nor did I demand one. Little did I know, however, that Rocksteady was working hard to create a story that would be remembered for years, with their next step being Batman: Arkham City, released in 2011 for Playstation 3, XBox 360 and PC.

Arkham City takes place six months after The Joker’s chaotic prison riot, and the cowardly former warden Quincy Sharp has become the mayor of Gotham with the help of his enigmatic psychiatrist and assistant, Professor Hugo Strange. The two men have established that Gotham needs a more extreme means of punishing the criminal scum of Gotham, and have thus created Arkham City out of the evacuated slums of Gotham. Essentially, prisoners of all kinds, including the iconic super villains, are dumped into the prison city where the only rule is “Do not get close to the wall, or you will be shot”. Other than that, the prisoners have free reign in Arkham City, apart from the TYGER Guards Strange controls from Wonder Tower, the center of operations for the prison. Things take a violent turn as criminals start fighting a bloody war with one another, with super criminals like Two-Face, The Penguin and a sickly Joker taking the helm of their respective gangs. And, as if things couldn’t get any worse, Hugo Strange not only knows who Batman truly is, but he is setting a plan called “Protocol Ten” into motion, a plan that will be his supposed legacy. Now, it is up to Batman to get into Arkham City and find out what Protocol Ten is and stop it while not getting himself caught in the crossfire of the gang war of his rogues gallery.

Right out the gate, we have a captivating premise which only takes up half of the game. Yes, unlike it’s predecessor, Arkham City has side missions that are equally entertaining, including the return of The Riddler and his collectibles. Not only has this enigmatic egotist provided use with puzzles to solve, he has also kidnapped people to be place in death traps similar to Lionsgate’s Saw movies. There is also Victor Zsasz, another villain from the previous game who has hostages of his own, who he will kill unless Batman answers his calls on the local payphones. And there is the surprising addition of Catwoman, who is used to break up the main story. One moment you will be playing as Batman, then when the game deems it necessary you will switch over to the feline thief who is trying to break into a vault Hugo Strange has heavily guarded. This is only a small percent of the side missions and additional content available, but I do not want to spoil anymore than necessary to convey my point to newcomers of the series.

Meanwhile, the mechanics of the game have been updated to the nth degree, feeling much more fluid to those who played the previous games. The combat in both standard and stealth fights feels more intense, and you are even able to unlock more moves than the previous game allowed, my favorite of which being the multi-takedown which allows Batman to throw Batarangs at multiple downed thugs to take them out of the fight. There’s also more helpful gadgets, including ones from the previous game, which you can unlock. This includes the Remote Electrical Charge, a gun-like item that fires electricity at enemies and disrupts their guns, magnets which will attract said guns and disarm thugs, doorways which would otherwise be locked by shutters, and other obstacles which require electricity to be moved. This gadget especially comes in handy for Riddler’s challenges, as he never anticipated Batman to acquire such a tool to assist him as per usual.

Also, the setting is much more open than the claustrophobic asylum. Unlike in the original game where you are forced to run/climb everywhere with few opportunities to glide in the air, Arkham City allows you to glide for what feels like miles. This may seem monotonous, but it honestly feels more gratifying than simply running from building to building in a leisurely manner. It honestly feels liberating gliding through the wintery skies of Arkham City, taking in the ghastly sights of a dilapidated city and occasionally targeting unsuspecting thugs to divebomb from the air. Even running around inside the buildings does not feel boring as there is much more variety in terms of which buildings can be explored and what can be seen. My favorite place, for example, is the Museum where The Penguin has set up his base of operations from his iconic bar, The Iceberg Lounge. Here you can see just how demented the small, cockney man is as he has set up numerous displays of all the thugs from both rival gangs as well as his own that he and his men have killed in every wing of the museum, which there is an abundance of. Thankfully, these places do not feel so vast that you become disoriented and lost once you have become used to the environments, as you will not visit any location only once be it in free roam or story mode.

Finally, something I failed to mention about the previous game is the music. The music in both games is incredible, but Arkham City once again gives a more improved performance over it’s predecessor. Where Arkham Asylum was sombre and slow, Arkham City’s soundtrack is more dramatic with an impressive choir and feels much more intense when in combat with fast paced strings and rumbling brass. Even the main title screen has the most epic theme that really puts you in the mood to play the game and become The Batman, which makes it my favorite theme in the entire game in spite of some worthy contenders.

Once again, Rocksteady provides their fans with an impressive game that takes everything used in Arkham Asylum and upgrades in an impressive manner. The plot feels more grand, leading the on a wild adventure through Arkham City for another whole night of insanity full of twists and turns one would never suspect leading to an intense ending that I absolutely cannot spoil, unlike in my last entry. The rogues gallery has been expanded, not only giving the player more enemies to encounter in the main story mode, but also providing some entertaining side missions to flesh out the game a little more. The mechanics feel more polished and updated, making combat more of a thrill than before, with new moves and gadgets to use out on the field. The setting is more vast than the closed off asylum, allowing the player to literally spread their wings...or cape in this case, letting them glide for an extended period of time and making traveling from point to point much less grating than in Arkham Asylum. Mix all of this with a fittingly amazing soundtrack, and you have quite the impressive game which has remained one of my favorites for quite some time. In fact, the game was so impressive that it was hard to imagine how Rocksteady would top Arkham City. We knew a sequel was on the way, unlike last time, but we did not know where it would go or how the characters would cope with what happened in this game. So, how did it hold up? We’ll find out later on in these reviews.

Until then, never stop rambling, TM

#batman: arkham city #Batman

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dulwichdiverter · 5 years ago

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Calling the shots

WORDS BY MARK BRYANT

Though she spent most of her career in the USA, the award-winning actress, singer, director and producer Ida Lupino (1918-95) was born in north Dulwich. As well as appearing in nearly 60 films, she was also a pioneering female cinema and television director who directed eight movies and more than 100 episodes of TV productions.

Ida was born on February 4, 1918 on Ardbeg Road. The road runs between Half Moon Lane and Red Post Hill and is close to North Dulwich station and James Allen’s Girls’ School.

In 2016 two commemorative blue plaques, to Ida and her father, were erected on the house in which she was born by the Theatre and Film Guild of Great Britain and America.

Originally intended to be named Aida (after the Verdi opera princess), Ida was the elder of two daughters of the music-hall comedian, actor, writer, singer and acrobat Stanley Lupino (Stanley Richard Lupino-Hook, 1893-1942), a “twinkly eyed handsome charmer with a shy smile” who was born in a hansom cab and lived as a child on Kennington Road.

The Lupinos hailed from a famous theatrical family that could trace its roots back to an Italian singer and puppet-master who came to London as a political refugee in the 17th century.

They were also related to the 18th-century actor Richard Estcourt, who founded the Beefsteak Club in the George and Vulture tavern in the City of London, which was the fictional headquarters of Dickens’ Pickwick Club. It was also the residence of Mr Pickwick until he retired to Dulwich.

One of Ida’s uncles was the comedian Barry Lupino, and a cousin was the actor Lupino Lane, star of the musical (and later film) Me and My Girl with its popular Cockney song and dance, The Lambeth Walk, based on the street of that name near the Imperial War Museum.

Ida’s Peckham-born mother was the actress Connie Emerald, sister of the actress and film producer Nell Emerald, one of whose silent films was Chester Forgets Himself (1924), which was based on a golfing story by Old Alleynian PG Wodehouse.

Nell also appeared in Fires of Innocence (1922), co-wrote This Week of Grace (1933, starring Gracie Fields) and was co-director of the Brightonia Film Company based in Brighton.

In 1911, before Ida’s parents were married, her mother Connie lived with her parents on Hayter Road, Brixton, and Stanley was a lodger at a boarding house on Denmark Road in Camberwell.

Ida’s parents met when they both appeared in a touring production of Go to Jericho and were married in Newcastle in 1915. They moved to Ardbeg Road in 1917.

Later, when they were both touring the USA, Ida (then aged eight) and her younger sister Rita (1921-2016), who also became an actress, were sent to Clarence House, a boarding school on Norman Road in Hove. A local Brighton and Hove bus, the 632, was later named in Ida’s honour.

While at school Ida wrote a play, Mademoiselle, and starred in the leading role as the French maid.

When her parents returned to London, the family were reunited and eventually settled in a large house on Leigham Court Road in Streatham in around 1930.

Her father constructed a 50-seater miniature theatre in the back garden, where the family put on plays for their friends, with the teenage Ida playing roles ranging from comedy to Shakespeare.

Ida then began appearing as an extra in various films produced at British International Pictures (later ABC) in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and even had a small part in The Love Race (1931), directed by and starring her father, whose cast also included her uncle, Wallace Lupino, and Lambeth-born Arty Ash.

In 1932 she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Here she was taught by Alice Gachet, whose pupils had included Charles Laughton, one of whose films, Payment Deferred, was based on a novel set in south London that was written by Old Alleynian and East Dulwich resident CS Forester.

While at RADA, Ida played the part of Ellie Dunn in George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House, with the cast personally chosen by Shaw himself. Her performance was seen by the American director Allan Dwan – director of silent film classics such as Robin Hood (1922) starring Douglas Fairbanks – who gave her a big-screen break when he cast her (aged 14) as the lead in his black-and-white film, Her First Affaire (1932), made at Warner Bros’ First National British studios at Teddington, Middlesex.

Then came the motorcycle-racing film, Money for Speed (1933), edited by Croydon-born David Lean, followed by the smash hit I Lived with You (1933), starring her godfather Ivor Novello, who was a close friend of her father.

In the summer of 1933, after she was spotted by a talent scout for Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures, Ida signed a five-year contact with the studio and (along with her mother) moved to the USA.

Intended as the lead for Alice in Wonderland (1933) – starring WC Fields, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant – she later turned down the part and her first film was Search for Beauty (1934) starring the Olympic gold medal swimmer Buster Crabbe.

In 1936 she appeared with George Raft in Yours for the Asking, in which her mother also had a role (as did Groucho Marx, as an uncredited sunbather).

Later films included classics like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Light that Failed (both released in 1939) and two films starring Humphrey Bogart, They Drive By Night (1940) and High Sierra (1941), by which point Ida had been dubbed “Hollywood’s hottest star”.

The rest, as they say, is history. Ida became a naturalised US citizen in 1948 and the following year founded her own independent production company. As well as becoming a pioneering female Hollywood director, producer and screenwriter, she was the first woman to direct herself in a Hollywood movie (The Bigamist, 1953), the first woman to direct a film noir (The Hitch-Hiker, 1953) and the only woman to direct episodes of the iconic science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (in which she also appeared).

In addition, she won a number of awards for her work, including the New York Film Critics Circle Award (Best Actress, The Hard Way, 1943) and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles – one for her TV work and one for her films.

The last film she directed was The Trouble with Angels (1966), starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills. However, she continued acting in films and television until the 1970s (she was Steve McQueen’s mother in Junior Bonner, 1972) and also directed a number of episodes for TV series.

Married and divorced three times, she had a daughter, Bridget, by her third husband, the actor Howard Duff. Ida died in Los Angeles on August 3, 1995.

Photo from the Everett Collection/Alamy

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originalmovieposterslosangeles · 6 years ago

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Collecting Hollywood Movie Memorabilia

Once Upon a Time at MGM

Vintage Original Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, as an investment-worthy collectibles category, came of age in 1970 when MGM sold the contents of seven sound stages to auctioneer David Weisz for the ridiculous sum of $1.5 million. Included in the lot were over 350,000 costumes, furniture and decorative-art related items, automobiles, busses, trains, tanks, boats, ships, airplanes and space capsules that had been designed and built or purchased to create the background tapestry of hundreds of the studio’s productions.

Weisz “recouped eight times” what he had paid from eager nostalgia enthusiasts. The centerpiece of the auction, Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, sold for the then-astronomical price of $15,000. Actress Debbie Reynolds spent a reported $600,000 to purchase thousands of items, which became the foundation of Reynolds’ enormous collection. A few of the highlights of items sold were: the full-size sailing ship from Mutiny on the Bounty, Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding gown worn in Father of the Bride, Clark Gable’s trench coat worn in several films, a group of swimsuits worn by Esther Williams, Johnny Weissmuller’s loin cloth worn in Tarzan films of the 1940s. and the Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz. The unsold items, “… truckloads of costume sketches, movie stills and other memorabilia were sent to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas to be sold in the gift shop and used as hotel decorations”. The auction catalogs have now themselves become sought-after collectibles.

For a glimpse of what went on at that fabled auction take a look at this period video describing it:

What a Pair of Ruby Slippers Can Do

Besides taking you home to Kansas, Dorothy’s $15,000 ruby slippers made it clear to film enthusiasts and collectors that vintage original movie memorabilia, including movie posters, lobby cards, move star photographs and production shots, film scripts, costumes, costume and set designs, props, marketing materials––in fact almost any movie-related or screen-seen object, had value and was worth collecting. This became abundantly clear in the late 1980s when another pair of Dorothy’s footwear sold for $165,000, Charlie Chaplin’s signature hat and cane sold for $150,000, and Marilyn Monroe’s trademark halter-top dress, worn in the The Seven Year Itch (seen above), sold for a comparable price.

The ”Big Boys” Take Notice

With ever-increasing prices being paid for vintage original Hollywood movie memorabilia, larger auction houses such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams created their own departments devoted to its curation and sale. Today, Hollywood movie memorabilia is recognized as an important collectable category with ever-escalating hammer prices. This has caused Wall Street investment bankers and collectors to acknowledge that Hollywood movie memorabilia is as worthy an asset investment as fine art or the collection of automobiles.

The Importance of “Provenance”

A vital factor in buying and selling Vintage Original Hollywood Movie Memorabilia is determined by an item’s provenance and valuation. These two factors are determined through:

Authentication – establishing a piece as a vintage original and not a reproduction, the date it was issued and any additional history or documentation it might possess.

Evaluation — giving an accurate evaluation of the condition of the piece so that a prospective buyer has a clear and accurate understanding of the condition of their potential purchase.

Curatorial Process

WalterFilm’s Curatorial Process involves both Authentication and Evaluation and we provide our clients with a Certificate of Authenticity describing such for every piece we sell.

Hollywood’s 12 Most Expensive Pieces of Movie Memorabilia

Here are the 12 most expensive pieces of Hollywood Movie Memorabilia as detailed in this excellent ScreenRant Article by Cailin Coane, dated January 4, 2017.

#1 MARILYN MONROE’S DRESS (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH) – $4.6 MILLION

Marilyn Monroe’s white ivory cocktail dress is one of the most famous dresses in history, for the moment that became one of the twentieth century’s most iconic images. In The Seven Year Itch (1955), Monroe’s character steps onto a grate in the sidewalk, making her dress fly up to expose her legs. The moment has been parodied in everything from Shrek 2 to Blades of Glory, and it helped etch Monroe permanently into Hollywood history.

The scene originally was to be shot outside the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre at 1:00 am, but the cameras and Monroe caught the attention of hundreds of fans, ruining the shot. Director Billy Wilder had to reshoot the scene on a set at 20th Century Fox.

Like Audrey Hepburn’s ascot dress, Monroe’s dress sold as part of the late Debbie Reynolds’ Hollywood collection. It sold for $4.6 million, making it the most expensive movie costume, or prop of any kind, in history.

#2 AUDREY HEPBURN’S ASCOT DRESS (MY FAIR LADY) – $4.5 MILLION

Audrey Hepburn’s Edwardian black and white lace dress was designed by Cecil Beaton, who snagged the Academy Awards for costume design and art direction for his efforts. My Fair Lady (1964) also won Best Picture, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Score.

The costume was worn during the musical number “Ascot Gavotte,” which features Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) out in high society for the first time, where she pokes fun at the activities (or lack thereof) of the English upper class.

The dress (and matching hat) sold in 2011 for $4.5 million as part of a collection from late actress Debbie Reynolds, who collected over 3,500 costumes from films throughout Hollywood history — including Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, and Casablanca — in the hopes of one day creating a Hollywood museum.

#3 ASTON MARTIN DB5 (GOLDFINGER/THUNDERBALL) – $4.4 MILLION

One of two cars that were used in the making of Goldfinger (1964), James Bond’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 convertible sold for $4.4 million in 2010. The car sold was known as the “Road Car”; during filming, it was used for regular driving, and was only outfitted with Bond’s signature gadgets after filming was complete. Interestingly, Goldfinger was the film where gadgets became a key part of the Bond franchise.

The Road Car went on to star in Thunderball (1965) the following year. It was then sold in 1969 to radio executive Jerry Lee for $12,000. It was mainly kept in storage until its most recent sale in London, where it was bought by Ohio collector Harry Yeaggy.

The other Aston Martin, known as the “Effects Car,” was given add-ons such as rotating plates and guns that appeared through the tail lights. It was stolen in 1997 from an airport hangar in Boca Raton, and has yet to be recovered.

#4 MALTESE FALCON STATUETTE (THE MALTESE FALCON) – $4.1 MILLION

The Maltese Falcon (1941), one of the true classics of film noir, was the directorial debut of John Huston, also known for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen, and stars Humphrey Bogart as world-weary private detective Sam Spade in search of the titular statuette. The statuette sold in 2013 for $4.1 million to Las Vegas hotel and casino billionaire Steve Wynne.

Some have contended as to whether the statuette is the real prop used in the film, as the actors purportedly used plaster stand-ins as opposed to the 45 lb. lead statuette. However, the prop in question has been confirmed as having appeared in the film; its bent tail feather, which can be seen at the end when Spade carries it out of his apartment, occurred during filming when actress Lee Patrick dropped it while handing it to Bogart.

#5 COWARDLY LION COSTUME (THE WIZARD OF OZ) – $3 MILLION

Actor Bert Lahr’s most recognizable role was his turn as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Though he may not have had the most memorable songs in the musical – “If I Were King of the Forest” somehow isn’t quite as catchy as “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” – he certainly had the most memorable get-up. The Cowardly Lion costume, made from real lion fur, sold in 2014 for $3 million after being found abandoned in an old MGM building. The costume was bought by James Comisar for his Museum of TV in Phoenix, Arizona, where it is still on display.

Lahr was chosen for the role for his comedic skills; his ad-libbed lines made his co-stars, especially Judy Garland, laugh during filming, causing director Victor Fleming to call for take after take. When the film was a success, Lahr was warned about the possibility that he’d be typecast. “Well, yeah,” he reportedly said, “but how many parts are there for lions?”

#6 DO-RE-MI OUTFITS (THE SOUND OF MUSIC) – $1.5 MILLION

It’s probably the first image that comes to mind when you think of The Sound of Music (well, right after Julie Andrews spinning around in a field belting out “The Hills Are Alive”). The outfits Maria makes from old curtains for the seven Von Trapp children are recognized all over the world, as well as the song they sing during a montage of day trips in Salzburg while wearing them. “Do, a deer, a female deer…” There, now it will never leave your head, either.

The Sound of Music came out in 1965, another smash hit for Julie Andrews after her starring role in Mary Poppins the year before. The Sound of Music went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing Gone with the Wind (ironically, another film well-known for its curtain costume), and it held that title for five years.

The costumes are, indeed, made from real curtain material; the designer, Dorothy Jeakins, won an Oscar nomination for her work on the film. Despite being made of essentially canvas, the Do-Re-Mi outfits sold for $1.5 million in 2013.

#7 STEVE MCQUEEN’S RACING SUIT (LE MANS) – $984,000

Le Mans (1971) features a fictional account of the annual 24-hour auto race in Le Mans, France. Starring Steve McQueen, it was initially a box office flop, but over the years it garnered praise for its authenticity by using the actual Le Mans circuit, footage of the race captured by a participating car, and well-known drivers and actual Le Mans race cars. It has consequently gained a cult following, to the point where fans are willing to go to extraordinary measures to own a piece of its memorabilia.

McQueen’s racing suit was originally donated after the film’s release to the British newspaper The Observer as a prize for a Le Mans-themed trivia contest, which was won by twelve-year-old Thomas Davies. Davies sold the suit in 2011 for $155,000; three and a half months later, it was sold again, this time at the Icons of Hollywood auction in Beverly Hills, for $984,000, making it the most expensive piece of racing memorabilia ever sold.

#8 LOTUS SUBMARINE CAR (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) – $860,000

James Bond is synonymous with glamorous cars, and the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is no exception. The vehicle is a submarine specially built for the film with the bodyshell of a Lotus Esprit. Six Esprits in total were used during filming, modified for the water, with fins where the wheels would be. The vehicle was dubbed “Wet Nellie,” after the autogyro called “Little Nellie” in You Only Live Twice (1967).

After filming was completed, Wet Nellie was placed in storage in Long Island, New York. After ten years, its storage unit was auctioned off for less than one hundred dollars, the buyer initially unaware of the unit’s contents. From 1989 to 2013, he occasionally exhibited the vehicle, restoring its exterior. It was eventually sold at auction in London in 2013 to business magnate Elon Musk, who has plans to use Tesla Motors’ electric drive train to make the car-submarine functional.

#9 AUDREY HEPBURN’S DRESS (BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S) – $806,000

It’s one of the most famous opening scenes in Hollywood history: Holly Golightly — played by Audrey Hepburn in her most iconic role — emerges from a yellow taxi on 5th Avenue. She nibbles a pastry while looking in the Tiffany’s shop window, wearing “the most famous little black dress of all time.”

The dress was created by Hubert de Givenchy, a French designer (with clients such as Jackie Kennedy) and a close friend of Audrey Hepburn’s, for whom he designed nearly all of her personal and professional wardrobe. For Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Givenchy not only designed the black Italian satin sheath gown, but chose the accessories to accompany it: Holly’s pearls, cigarette holder, black hat, and black opera gloves.

One copy of the dress sold in 2006 for $806,000, a huge price tag that surprised many. Two other copies of the dress remain – one in Givenchy’s archive, the other in a costume museum in Madrid.

#10 FLYING CAR (CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG) – $805,000

While Mary Poppins (1964) is more well known in the public eye, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) is another British musical that can conjure up childhood nostalgia, especially for those enchanted by its eponymous flying car. The film stars Dick Van Dyke as the inventor Caractacus Potts, and chronicles his adventures with his two children and Truly Scrumptious as they seek to sell his inventions and evade Baron Bomburst and his evil (and frankly, pretty terrifying) Child Catcher.

Six cars in total were created for the film, including an engineless version for the trailers, a car for the flying scenes, a car for the transformations, and a smaller version for driving scenes. After filming was completed, all six were fitted with engines and used to promote the film around the world. One car was a fully functioning road-ready car with genuine UK registration; this was the car that sold in 2011 for $805,000 to famed director Peter Jackson, who now uses it as a fundraising vehicle.

#11 DOROTHY’S RUBY SLIPPERS (THE WIZARD OF OZ) – $666,000

1939 gave us a slew of Hollywood classics: Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Wizard of Oz. Victor Fleming’s latter masterpiece also gave us one of the most famous props in movie history: Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Worn by Judy Garland, only four of the original pairs survive, with one pair permanently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, actually had Dorothy wearing silver shoes. The producers of the film decided to change the color to red, as it would show up better against the yellow brick road. In a film with a dazzling (and now iconic) change from black and white to color, every advantage of Technicolor had to be taken.

One pair of the ruby slippers was sold in 2000 for $666,000. In 2005, the pair at The Judy Garland Museum was stolen. Ten years later, in 2015, a reward for one million dollars was issued for anyone with information on the stolen slippers’ whereabouts.

#12 DELOREAN CAR (BACK TO THE FUTURE) – $541,000

The 1982 DeLorean DMC-12 has become synonymous with time travel. The only car DeLorean ever manufactured, it burst onto the pop culture scene with the 1985 release of Back to the Future. Equipped with a flux capacitor built by inventor Doc Brown, in the film, it travels through time when it hits 88 miles per hour.

There were originally seven cars in total used in the making of the Back to the Future trilogy, and only three remain in existence. The one sold at auction in 2011 was mainly used in the third movie, with part of the proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Soon, though, the DeLorean will be available for purchase for any die-hard Back to the Future fans with the means, as the car will be going back into production in early 2017. DeLorean — who’s only stayed in business by refurbishing old DMC-12s — are planning to make three hundred replicas of the original. The replicas will reportedly cost about $100,000 each; now we just need to invent the flux capacitor!

Visit WalterFilm.com

Since 1982, WalterFilm’s primary focus has been on the glorious history of the European and Hollywood Motion Picture Business. We offer the finest selection of original vintage movie posters, movie star photos, lobby cards, movie scripts & rare books and Hollywood movie memorabilia. We also deal in sub-specialties of theater and stage, African American cultural history, as well as LGBTQ film, stage, art, and social history. Our goal is to search out and offer the most outstanding pieces we can find.

WalterFilm published this post originally at: https://blog.walterfilm.com/collecting-hollywood-movie-memorabilia/

It is republished with permission of the author.

#Old Hollywood #movie memorabilia #golden age hollywood #vintage movies

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unchartedtravel-blog1 · 7 years ago

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40 Things You Should Know About London

By Bobby

1. They drive on the wrong side of the road.

2. They curse. A lot.

3. They have more of a mixed racial population than I’ve ever seen before! Italians, the Dutch, Germans, Portuguese, Spaniards, the French, Thai, Indians, Chinese, and Japanese. While perusing the roads of London, I think at times I heard more different languages spoken than I heard English!

4. London. Is. Hot. (at least for the 10 days I was there). Londoners don’t really wear shorts – it’s usually the Americans that you see wearing them. As a tourist, from all the walking, you’ll want to dress lightly, but at the same time appropriately. Be careful with layers. Just saying. It’s a hot city.

5. Speaking of which, air conditioning seems to be rare. Your only options for A/C are modern (AND I STRESS THAT) hotels, restaurants and cafes, and museums.

6. Trafalgar Square. It’s pronounced “Truh-FAL-guh” with emphasis on the “FAL”.

7. Traffic is scary. Be careful of the fast cars in narrow streets, the double-decker buses, and bicyclists! My first few days, I was almost hit by double-decker buses 10 times. Traffic is crazy, they drive aggressively, and they drive on the wrong side of the road. Add all those together, and you have a disaster for Americans.

8. When crossing the road, LOOK RIGHT, THEN LEFT. Because of #7.

9. Use the Barclay Bikes. Use them use them use them. They are all throughout the city available for rental with over 500 bike stations. Not only are there plenty of them, but they are very affordable. Just be careful, and make sure you use the bike lanes and understand the traffic laws. It gets quite scary at times when you have cars zooming past you just inches away from your bike.

10. London Bridge is Falling Down. This is not the bridge you are picturing right now. That bridge is actually called “Tower Bridge”. London Bridge is quite plain looking, and is one bridge over from Tower Bridge. Speaking of bridges, you should spend a morning and walk up and down each of the bridges over the River Thames. There are great views of London from these bridges!

11. “Cheers Mate” means “Thanks, friend!” Use it! It will make you feel AWESOME when you use it. I know I did.

12. Gloucester and Leicester. DO NOT SAY “Glau-ses-ter” or “Lay-ses-ter”. It’s pronounced “Gloh-stuh” and “Lee-stuh”. Yes, it’s pronounced like that.

13. YOU CAN DRINK ALCOHOL IN PUBLIC! Yes! It’s true! Meal idea: get a sandwich, beer, and crisps, find the nearest park, or find a place along the Thames, and enjoy your meal there! Be careful though, in the City of Westminster it isn’t allowed. Westminster is inside of London.

14. The zig-zag lines in the road mean something. I’m not sure what they mean, but they mean something. What I do know is that the black cabs are not allowed to pull over on a zig-zag line.

15. Speaking of roads, the traffic lights are different. They change from red to yellow to green to red.

16. The London Tube is the underground rail system in London. It’s an easy system to get used to and if you’re in London for a week, I recommend buying a 6-day Travelers Card to use on the Tube for £35 British Pounds.

17. Be ready to see Maserati, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Those high-end vehicles are a common sight around London. I giggle with glee every time I see one of those beautiful creations driving down the roads.

18. London has a depressing past, and is basically built on top of a massive grave-site. The city was almost destroyed three times. First time was the infamous Great or Bubonic Plague, second time was the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the third was the Blitz, or the Bombings of London by Germany in WWII. Thus you will see a wonderful mix of architectural styles, and at times one on building! Oh, on some of the underground rail routes, you feel the trains take a sharp turn. These are due to the bodies buried compactly together, and the engineers couldn’t remove the bodies for worries of the road and buildings collapsing above the ground. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

19. Double-decker buses are awesome. They’re awesome because they’re a constant reminder that “Hey, I’m in London.”

20. There is no real “British Accent”. You can probably just make one up, and the Brits will just assume you’re from another part of the Kingdom. You’ve got the Australian accent, New Zealand (and Kiwi) accent, South African accent, British-Indian accent, Irish accent, Northern Irish accent, South English, London English, the Queen’s English, RP English, Posh English, Cockney accent, Manchester accent, Coventry accent, Welsh accent, Scottish accent, and so many more. And don’t speak with a posh, or RP accent. It’s usually spoken by the older generation. In fact, QEII uses her own accent called the Queen’s English which is still somewhat posh.

21. British food is…unique. I’d recommend trying out the vast choices of ethnic foods around the city. Indian, Thai, Korean, Chinese, and Italian are always great places to try.

22. Speaking of British food…they like to put sausage in EVERYTHING. Everywhere you go, sausages are on the menu. I guess it’s a good thing if you like sausages for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner as well?

23. Lemonade in the UK. It’s basically Sprite or Schweppes.

24. Museums. London is filled with museums. You’ve got the British Museum (where I spent 4 long hours), Imperial War Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Greenwich Visitor Centre, Tower of London, London Transport Museum, Museum of London, National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, are among the best! But don’t visit all of them – you’ll start to hate the museums, and it will be an expensive vacation if you do visit them all.

25. Castles/Palaces. Being a European city, there are plenty of castles to visit. Some of the more popular castles and palaces are Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Clarence House, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, and Kensington Palace. Pick and choose, pick and choose.

26. The Globe Theatre. It’s not the original.

27. Dining in is expensive. However, there are plenty of affordable options when it comes to restaurants in London. Chinatown/SOHO is one place to find those options (just don’t stay there past 9pm). Also, unlike the U.S., servers in London will not do anything for you other than bring your food, beverage, and check. In the U.S., servers can get quite annoying when checking up on you every 5 minutes. I prefer the London way. Just leave me alone and let me dine.

28. I hate the £1 coin, and so will you. British money makes just as little sense as U.S. currency. The 2 pence coin is larger than the 20 pence, 5 pence, ten pence, and 1 pound coin. Also, what is up with the £1 pound coin. In the UK, you’ll weigh 5lbs more with pockets and wallets full of those annoying £1 coins. On the plus side, if you collect each newly design coin, you can make this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/New_British_Coinage_2008.jpg

29. I highly recommend taking a historic tour. Do it. You will not regret it, and it will be well worth the money. At least take a “Ghost Bus” tour: http://www.theghostbustours.com/

30. Houses of Parliament. No matter how many times you’ve seen the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, or any other popular attraction in London, it is just as breathtaking as the first time you see them.

31. The River Thames. Not the Thames River. And another pronunciation blunder: it’s “Temz”…silly Brits.

32. The rats own the city at night. And they’re not afraid of humans. I don’t mind a rat, but when they’re in groups, I squeal and flail my arms running away.

33. Tea is like water. The Brits will drink tea even on a hot summer day of 80F.

34. The Queen. The day I arrived in London, she left for Belmoral Castle. And the day I arrived back home in the U.S., she returned back to Buckingham Palace. There went my chance of high-fiving Her Majesty. Anyway, see if you can get a tour of Buckingham Palace, and maybe you’ll spot QEII and can take a selfie!

35. Nothing is FREE in London. Nothing.

36. Bacon. Delicious, crispy, greasy bacon. Unfortunately, bacon as we know it here is not the same in the UK. Over there, “bacon” is what we would call ham in the US. And it’s very salty too.

37. Black Cabs. They’ll rip you off if you’re not careful. Find the right one, get his card, and use his cab to get around the city . Great thing about the Black Cabs, is how spacious they are! They’re like mini limousines! But don’t take a Black Cab. Take the Tube. Or rent a Barclay Bike….or walk.

38. Staying hydrated will cost you! Water in London is more expensive than carbonated drinks. Find ways to refill your bottle for free. (Drinking fountains [be cautious], in a cafe, or at your hotel)

39. The entire city has WIFI!…but you have to pay for it…and it’s really slow. If it says it’s free, then it means it’s terribly slow. Just go find a McDonald’s or Starbucks and you’ll be fine.

40. The United Kingdom has five main train companies. Among them Virgin Trains which is a great choice! I took Virgin Trains from London to Coventry in First Class, and it was great! Snacks, drinks, and a comfortable ride.

#london #travel

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