The Wounded Bird

A very popular deco era painter working in 1920's - 30's France was Jean Hardy, aka J. Hardy who, like Louis Icart, produced a dazzling array of beautifully rendered, superbly soft, and feminine works of art during the popular era trend of "boudoir style" illustration. And once again I was lucky enough to be in the right place at just the right time to actually acquire one of Hardy's loveliest signed and hand numbered, original antique framed prints: "L'Oiseau Blesse", or, "The Wounded Bird." It's a gentle winter forest scene, featuring a gorgeous girl in a fur trimmed jacket rescuing a tiny "wounded" bird. The pictures below were taken in my car the day I purchased it, and I assure you, it currently looks incredible on my office wall next to my Horror Hotel '62 theatrical one-sheet, and just above my assorted Aurora model kit and monster mask display...

5th, 6th, and 13th Periods

I picked up a stack of these cute, mid century "Period" calendars recently, all dating from 1956 and 1957. Each has a colorful, electrically designed backing card, and most importantly, a stocking clad pin-up gal to grace your pool hall, garage wall, or where ever (the backside of the card contains an assortment of mediocre text jokes, oh well...) Out of all of these that that I scored, the trio I've chosen to spotlight in todays post are the most interesting, ie: the 5th Period inverted leg table being the oddest, the darling 6th Period roller derby queen preparing to shoot the duck, and my absolute fave, the 13th Period glamor puss who appears to be judging an elementary school owl drawing contest, or some-thing. This last card also has the weird addition of a spilled red ink drip, or is it a drop of blood? Hey, what kind of period calendar is this now, anyway?!!

My Son The Vampire

Here's another fun Super 8 find, a rare version of a silly 1950's British sci-fi horror comedy starring Bela Lugosi. Originally titled, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, it all concerns Bela's madcap attempt at taking over the world with killer robots, or something (ehh, you can read more about HERE.) Anyway, the 60's Super 8 version I now possess becomes, "My Son the Vampire", which is just one of many mind boggling US re-titles (see also: Vampire Over London, and Dracula's Desire!) The box art though contains a truly fantastic United Arista illustration that is seriously a million times better, and definitely way more atmospheric than the actual mundane movie. Bela also makes it into the design on the back of the Super 8 box, and just for fun I added a few of the film title cards featuring a cool, 60's greeting card style illustration. If you're still interested in any of this, you can watch the condensed Super 8 version of My Son the Vampire HERE, or just watch the entire film HERE! You have been exhaustedly warned though!

Two Nymphs are Better Than One

Presenting my other Nouveau era lamp that I mentioned in the previous post HERE. I was actually going to wait to post about it after I found the perfect shade, but alas, finding just the right one is quite a bit harder than I anticipated (and expensive!) Now what I have here is actually a 19th century bronze vase that has been converted into a lamp. It is adorned with two very lovely nymphs in individual poses on either side, plus plenty of gorgeous floral detail from the top, down to the obsidian green base. It weighs well over 20 lbs and is 35" tall, and is honestly just a thing of jaw-dropping beauty from every possible angle. Look closely at the bottom and you will also see the sculptor's signature, "C. Bonnefond." While researching him, I stumbled upon another lamp exactly like mine for sale, and noticed it listed as "one-of-a-kind", which is of course not true because, well, --here is my proof! The only difference being the flower extentions at the top were missing. So which nymph is your favorite? I sure am a sucker for girls with flowers in their hair...

 

The Alabaster Nymph

In my never ending re-design process to spruce things up here in the 'ol office, I've recently acquired a couple of beautiful Art Nouveau era lamps. The first being a beautiful, 18" tall, carved alabaster figural, unsigned, and complete with marble sphere and base. Dating from the early 1900's, this lovely Nouveau nymph appears innocently enough in her long, clingy dress and sandals, running her fingers playfully through the loose strands of her flower adorned head of hair (incidentally, she matches an antique, oval framed silk print I have hanging on the wall in my office as well, --see last photo below.) The base column behind her which holds up the sphere (where the lightbulb goes inside) is given a bit more height with what appears to be a stack of three very thick books. Finally, after getting the lamp into the office and plugging it in, the marbled sphere above her is now fully illuminated, and suddenly, the neat thing about alabaster becomes apparent as well. Softer than marble, and almost translucent, the most noticeable detail being the alabaster nymph's face seems to glow rather spookily in the dark, especially around her eyes. Is she trying to hypnotize me from the corner of the desk? I believe so. Come back in a few days for an equally stunning example of another Nouveau style lamp which is also now in my possession.

Halloween in March!

Found this super fun, old time, Bugle Toy Company Halloween noisemaker the other day and couldn't believe how cool the graphics were on all sides. A skull headed ghost attack! A jack-o-lantern on a pole! Witches, black cats, a ring of black bats, and a wizard conjuring an owl (haha!) Not sure how rare this tin litho masterpiece of Halloween macabrey is, but I know I've never seen one like it before. Looking around online it seems that Bugle made these toys from the late 20's up to 1950... wonderful stuff, and hey, only 231 days until Halloween!

March of the Mannequins!

Just because March Mannequin Madness has ended over at THOIA, doesn't mean the fun stops here at AEET! Yep, today is the perfect day for a perfect pair of hysterical tales featuring two of comicdom's most lovely ladies of the laffy pages, --magnificent Moronica from the August - September 1950 issue of The Kilroy's #25, followed by cutie pie, Katy Keene from the September 1947 issue of Pep Comics #63. Highlights include some really attractive artwork and comedic cartoon gags and timing from legends, Owen Fitzgerald and Bill Woggons, (natch!) and as mentioned, both tales not only feature mannequins, but both stories also contain important insight into what could happen when you simply borrow one from a local department store! Enjoy! :)