Norma Talmadge

An appreciation of Norma Talmadge in today's paper. Didn't know she was satirized as the silly Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain and the tragic Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. Times article says she's unfairly neglected and didn't deserve the ridicule and pity heaped on her.

Photos from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Craphound

 

What is Craphound? A more than slightly subversive approach to clip art, each issue grouped around certain themes. Beloved by zine makers, collagists, art directors, the usual suspects. This is a 2006 reprint of issue no. 6, which first appeared in 1997. Don't know if editor Sean Tejaratchi has any more issues coming out. 

UPDATE: I just received Issue No. 7, Church and State, from Buy Olympia. $12.

I'm annoyed that I didn't know about this 10 years ago, and even more annoyed that the early issues go for a lot of money (No. 6 is now selling for $25; I paid about $12 in 2006). Interview with Tejaratchi here.

Note the word of warning below...

 

  

Bonus TV guide spoof. Yes, I loved Mad magazine as a child. And if you didn't, you might not get the humor here. Sick, sick, sick. What is this world coming to? 

110th St. Elevated Curve, New York City 1906

I love finding these postcards of long forgotten corners of New York City. 

4-11-1906. Dearest Mrs. Sachs: Have been on the elevated cars every day since I am here. Am having a delightful time, may change my mind & live here. Tomorrow in Trenton, N.J. 10-16. Love, Anna.

According to the Wikipedia entry:
The 9th Ave El was over 100 feet above the street at "Suicide Curve", which made a 90-degree turn from 9th Ave onto 110th St. then another from 110th St. onto 8th Avenue. The line ran along 9th and Columbus Avenues in midtown and upper Manhattan, and Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan, and ran until it was closed in 1940 and dismantled, following the purchase of the IRT by the City of New York. The line from 155th Street north into the Bronx was continued as the "Polo Grounds Shuttle" until 1958.

Also: in 1927 the New York Times reported that 11 people had jumped to their deaths from the station. Merchants complained it was souring business and people avoided the area at all costs.  More here.

Rebecca Kelly for Papyrus

 

There's a lot of glitter on this sweet Mother's Day card, but what really drew me in was the pocket on the cover, which contains a little fold out message. Anyone who's ever made an artist zine (a do-it-yourself  magazine with inserts) would smile to see a greeting card adopt the technique of an "envie" with a tiny pamphlet inside. Produced for papyrus. Shimmering art work by Becky Kelly.

  

Allee Willis Kitsch O' The Day

 
Check out Allee's blog today to see more of the Green Acres Magic Stay-on Paper Dolls. I have Allee's blog updated automatically on by Google home page, so I can discreetly check in at work. She has some amazing and hilarious stuff, all part of her humungous kitsch collection. I like her attention to detail, as found in the title "Kitsch O' The Day." Ms. Willis knows kitsch!

Greeting card royal gown

 

This card is just crying out for a paper doll! You'd have to create slits at the sleeves for her hands to slip through. Produced by Carol's Rose Garden, watercolor by Elizabeth Campbell. Embossed with hand sculpted dies.

 

  

  

Rag doll paper doll greeting card

Found in a 99 cent store, to my surprise. A sweet watercolor by Image Arts Inc., Marshfield MA 02050. Printed in UK. Priced originally at $2.40. I couldn't resist punching this cutie pie out of her birthday card when I found it about 3 years ago. Now I know better!