Edward Piercy

Internet Junk Drawer 10

Monday, 2. November 2009, 18:14:53

Well it's been a while since I've done one
of these. But getting the new laptop gives
me the perfect opportunity to go through
some old files, and a few new ones.

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable.

Hey, people, get a room!

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg
in Breathless (1960).

One of my favorite movies.

Valentina Tereshkova

The first woman in space.
(Vostok 6, 1963)

Billie Holiday and her dog, Mister.

Comedian Soupy Sales.

(d. October 22, 2009)

Marilyn Monroe and Groucho Marx, 1949.

Boy you can really tell she was a
redhead in this one.

Is it just me, or was Morticia Addams HOT?

Yvonne Craig as Batgirl.

A still from Mars Needs Women (1967).
Yvonne Craig (above) was in this movie too.

Natalie Wood.

No, Natalie, don't go near the water!
DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER!!!

(Sorry, just had to do it!)

The BMW Isetta.

The one BMW doesn't like to talk about.

Andy Warhol at The Studio.

William S. Burroughs in a sleazy hotel
in Paris, 1959.

The Theramin, one of the first electronic
instruments. The photo is from 1927.

A nurse during the great Influenza pandemic
of 1918-19. The epidemic killed between 50
and 100 million people worldwide.

London, England, 1940.

Wesel, Germany, 1945.

I and the schoolboy know
What every schoolboy knows –
That those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

– W.B. Yeats.

As is the custom, we conclude with some
sleazy photo of an actress or celebrity.
This time it is Oksana Baiul, 1994 Olympic
gold-medal ice skater.

I'm speechless.

The Blue NotebookA Billion Years Away

Comments

Allan # 2. November 2009, 18:46

I choose to comment on the BMW:

I'd bet BMW would like to talk about that. It's an icon - a collector's gem. I drove such a thing once - it goes like a tin cup on wheels and is extremely noisy. But it's cute. Very cute.

Darko # 2. November 2009, 18:46

I am speachless too.....

Darko # 2. November 2009, 18:47

I have seen that BMW once when I was a kid

Allan, you drove it? Wow...

dirk # 2. November 2009, 18:52

Jean Seberg

Billie Holiday

Natalie Wood

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 18:52

@ Allan.

Well, maybe it would go better in Europe.

Over here the normal line on BMW marketing is keying in on the upscale and well-shod luxury car buyer. The Isetta image -- not so much.

I personally think it is a cool car. Though the body would have to be made of depleted uranium for me to drive it.

Allan # 2. November 2009, 18:54

I did

I knew this guy who was a collector, Darko. Do you remember how the entire front end was the only door?

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 18:56

@ Darko.

Oksana is amazing really. You know, what do you do when you've had success like she has had and get too old to do it anymore? I guess one answer might be to pose for really hot photos -- remind me to do that if I ever achieve any success.

@ Dirk.

So if I am interpreting the smilies correctly you don't like Jean Seberg?

You know she committed suicide. After having many failed attempts at doing it. A sad story.

Linda # 2. November 2009, 18:57

Oksana Bayul was a great skater till she moved to the U.S. and started living the high life---way too well. She got too fat and her skating career went down the tubes. She tried to make a comeback couple years later, but it didn't work. Don't know what she is up to these days. She was a very pretty girl.

dirk # 2. November 2009, 19:02

... Jean Seberg ... ah, someone to look at a looooooooooooooooooooooong time ... and I never forgot her face

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 19:05

Oh, okay. Say no more say no more!

dirk # 2. November 2009, 19:17

so I can tell you that I once ... way back when ... had a ride with the lovely BMW Isetta ... yeah, noisy and ridiculous but

... and too short ... the ride I mean, too short for a 6 or 7 year old boy

Darko # 2. November 2009, 19:18

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 19:21

Dirk, here's another for you.

dirk # 2. November 2009, 19:23

aaah ... isn't she ...

... thanks

Angeliki # 2. November 2009, 20:19

wonderful group of "junk" Eddie,
Natalie Wood gets my vote!

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 20:32

How are you today, my dear?

Martin K # 2. November 2009, 21:43

I've actually had the pleasure of playing the Theramin once. Technically it wasn't in public, but there were other people around. It's fairly easy to operate. Makes strange noices. And that's about all it does. Shows what you can manage with a metal coat hanger, a nine volt battery and a piece of antique toilet furniture.

I wouldn't mind making noices with that skater girl, though.

Edward Piercy # 2. November 2009, 21:50

It got a little bit better. They dropped the coat hanger.

I don't know if Carlos used antique toilet furniture or not.

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 00:45

Hey Martin, I was just thinking that if you DID have a theramin, you could make a cheesy video and put all sorts of theramin noises in it.

"Now with 100 percent of the recommended daily dose of theramin!"

PainterWoman # 3. November 2009, 01:06

Love these old pictures!

I think that's the first pic I've seen of Gable without a mustache. That is really a sexy pic of them.

Marilyn looks like she's still a teen in that one.

Breathless is one movie I always wanted to see but never did. I'll have to look for it.

That BMW....like Allan said....a tin cup with wheels.

I remember seeing Oksana skating that year. She was a babe then and now. Her little skating outfits weren't that skimpy though. Wow!

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 02:47

Well I had to look it up and MM was born in 1926. So in 1949 that would make her 22 or 23 depending on what month the photo was taken.

Pretty young.

Breathless is a strange movie, Godard's wonderfully improvised, low budget, masterpiece actually shot on old news film stock because it was cheap and using whatever cast and crew happened to be willing to do it.

That's what I like about it -- what he creates with so little. Certainly no Hollywood effort, let's put it that way.

Stardancer # 3. November 2009, 03:06

Man, I love that car!

I want one.

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 03:18

I thought you had one. Oh, that's a Geo.

Stardancer # 3. November 2009, 03:24

They're just about the same size.

Stardancer # 3. November 2009, 03:25

And I bet mine cost about $20,000 less, too.

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 04:13

I'm sure.

Martin K # 3. November 2009, 08:15

I don't have a theramin, but I know a place where they have one. Strange noices don't necessarily aquire theramin, though. Very tight shorts or helium inhalation can effect the voice in a way that resembles the theramin sound.

dirk # 3. November 2009, 09:44

Originally posted by Aqualion:

Very tight shorts or helium inhalation ...

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 12:05

Do you think that's why you hear theramin music in all those old science fiction movies? Because the director was sitting in tight shorts inhaling helium? I had always heard talk about those Hollywood types and their helium habits. And of course with all those starlets running around the set one's shorts tended to tighten quite frequently. A sordid world.

dirk # 3. November 2009, 12:22

never tried helium in my wild times ...

Martin K # 3. November 2009, 16:52

Those were other times, Ed. I think the last helium rehab center clozed down in the early nineties. The puritans couldn't really get rid of helium, though. Rumour has it, there's still a lot of it about.

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 18:13

Most of it's in Canada I think.

Linda # 3. November 2009, 18:27

I think most of it is in Denmark.

Edward Piercy # 3. November 2009, 18:42

And Texas.

And the sun.