NEW PODCAST WITH GUEST HOST

This is a trial run for a new format for the Desdinova Super Villain of the Ozarks podcast. I've turned the hosting duties over to some friends, Jeff & Jamie. They ad libbed a stream of consciousness podcast at the last minute. They will be working out the bugs for next time. Right now give a quick listen (less than 20 minutes) as they discuss cartoonist Syd Hoff, fast food restaurants Mr. Swiss and Del Rancho, the Ripley's Believe It or Not TV shows, the Playskool McDonalds playset, Andy Warhol illustrations in a children's book and a mention of the resent blog post about Laredo. Enjoy!

ELF ON THE SHELF - DISCO ERA

The "Elf On The Shelf" has never been a stranger to me or at least the image of the elf has never been a stranger. The "Elf" was a part of my childhood before there was a story or name. My sister has an "Elf" from her childhood that looks identicle to the one in the The Elf On the Shelf book.

My mother bought this one and a whole box of smaller ones in the early 70s. They either came from the Ace Hardware or Matinglys in Lebanon, MO (We can't remember which one it was). This one is obviously wearing his disco clothes. Silver lame suit trimmed in fur and a gold foil bow-tie with a gigantic bell on his cap. Nothing says Christmas like a styling 70s elf. He doesn't move around like the one in the story, but I did prop him up to take this photo with my phone (I may try to retake this with a real camera). Note: the "Elf" is sitting on a DVD of the Filmation The New Adventures of the Lone Ranger cartoons from the 80s.

THAT PICTURE OF JESUS YOU ALWAYS SEE

Not sure how readers will take this post. It may seem unusual discussing a religion on this blog, but I feel this is appropriate, because this is Easter Sunday. I feel it will fit in with my general theme on this blog, which is pop culture.

It is a painting we have all seen. As a matter of fact, The New York Times said it was probably the most recognized American paintings of the 20th Century. It has been seen on calenders, bookmarks, hand fans, notebooks and other things given away by funeral homes and churches. It has even been features on greeting cards, T-shirts, lamps, coins, stamps and, oddly enough, a toilet seat cover (Sold through a mail order company).  You probably didn't know it had a name nor did you know the name of the man who painted it, but in the back of your mind it was "That-picture-of-Jesus-you-always-see."

The painting is called The Head of Christ and it was painted by a commercial artist named Warner Sallman in 1940. Sallman originally created a charcoal version in the 1920s which he called Son of Man. He made the first oil version in 1935. He was asked to create another version in 1940, which attracted the attention of the owners of Gospel Trumpet Publishing. They were so impressed, they created a company just to sell Sallman's other paintings of Jesus Christ. The Head of Christ became popular immediately. Smaller versions were sent with American soldiers in World War II. Through this and his other paintings such as Christ At Heart's Door (A very symbolic painting showing Jesus in front of a house, knocking on a door without a knob or latch), Sallman created the modern image of Jesus Christ much the way artist Haddon Sundblom's Coca Cola ads created the modern image of Santa Claus. Sallman's Head of Christ portrait and Da Vinci's The Last Supper are two of the most famous paintings of Jesus Christ.

One theory on the popularity of Sallman's Head of Christ was that it looks like a yearbook photo or a personal portrait from a coin-operated photo booth. From the very beginning, there were critics who felt that Sallman's Jesus was not "manly" enough. One person called Sallman's Jesus "sissified." Later, some noticed that the painting looked like the Breck girl ads.  In the 60s, some conservatives began to despise Sallman's Jesus Christ, because of his shoulder length hair and beard was similar to that of many male members of the counter culture (After all, he is the Prince of Peace). Others have noted that Sallman's Jesus Christ is too white, middle American looking, especially noted is Sallman giving Jesus blue eyes.

As I mentioned before, I saw this picture for years, never giving its origins much thought until I viewed a TV documentary, narrated by Hal Holbrook, about the painting and Sallman a few years ago on TV. Unfortunately, I could not find it on You Tube, but I did find this old film short. It features Warner Sallman creating a charcoal in front of a church while a choir sings (Okay, there may have been some editing). There is also a little inspirational story here, similar to the Union Pacific/Jam Handy productions that turned up on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Look for Hope Summers, who played Aunt Bea's rival Clara on The Andy Griffith Show).     

A BOX OF 8 TRACKS

A man at my church gave me a box of 8 track tapes. I have been wanting to post photos of them since I began this new blog. How many of these did you own? Click on the photo to make them larger.

UPDATE ON THE "CUTTING LOOSE" LP - I'M NOT ALL WET (BUT SHE IS)

One of the early post on this new blog was about a 70's hits compilation I bought at the Heartland Antique Mall in Lebanon, MO. It was called Cutting Loose and featured a photo of a sexy girl in denim cutoffs painting a rainbow down the center of a highway. I also noticed that she had a "stain" on the seat of her shorts. I thought it was possible water damage to my cover, until I saw photos of it on other websites. It was on that photo too.
I made jokes to the effect that the girl had an "accident."
Last week, I began receiving several hits on this post from a progressive rock forum called Progressive Ears. There was a post from a forum member saying their brother had the LP when he was a kid. Another forum member posted a link to the post on my blog. Some commented on my evaluation of the cover and my questions about the model being incontinent. One person said the post was "tasteless" and one said I needed to get a life (How many times have I heard that?).
They also posted a link to another website with a photo of the LP with a credit to a website called Bizarre Records. I looked at this website until I found a post about it. The post on that website is entitled "Technicolor Pee."
Glad to know I'm not crazy.

I WAS IN A GROUP BEFORE I WAS A STAR

I thought it would be fun to list the solo artist, who first got our attention as a member of a group that their solo career later eclipsed. I left off a few obvious ones because we knew the group well enough that we followed them on to a solo career, i.e: All four Beatles, Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Phil Collins, Ozzy Osbourne, Diana Ross and Kenny Rogers. The groups I mention either had very minor “bubbling under” or regional hits, one hit or two or three minor hits. In some case another person’s name was on the band, but a major star was in the band or group somewhere. Also many of these were years before the artist made it big


Al Kooper - The Royal Teens/Blues Project/Blood Sweat & Tears
Wilson Pickett/Eddie Floyd - The Falcons
Bert Convey (game show host) - The Cheers
Patti LaBelle/Nona Hendryx - The Blue-Belles
Jake Holmes/Joan Rivers - Jim, Jake & Joan
Carly Simon - The Simon Sisters
Alan Arkin (actor) - The Tarriers
Tommy Chong- Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
John Phillips/Scott McKenzie - The Journeymen
Michael Martin Murphy/Boomer Castleman - The Lewis & Clarke Expedition
John Denver - The Mitchell Trio
Linda Ronstadt - The Stone Poneys
Billy Joel - The Hassles
Debbie Harry - The Wind & Willows
Rick Derringer - The McCoys
Nick Gilder/Bryan Adams - Sweeny Todd
Duane & Greg Allman - The Hourglass
Joe Stampley - The Uniques
Delbert McClinton - The Ron-Dels
Ted Templeman (producer) - Harper’s Bizarre
Eddy Grant - The Equals
Marc Bolan (T.Rex) - John's Children
Gary Busey(actor) - Carp
Todd Rundgren - The Nazz/Runt
Dusty Springfield - The Springfields
Keith Emerson - The Nice
Rod Stewart - The Moontrekers/Jeff Beck Group
Peter Frampton - The Herd
Boz Scaggs - The Steve Miller Band
Don Williams - The Pozo Seco Singers
Chuck Woolery(game show host) - The Avant-Garde
Ted Nugent - The Amboy Dukes
Teddy Pendergrass - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
Billy Squire - Piper
Paul Carrack - Ace
Vince Gill - Pure Prairie League
Bobby Brown - New Edition
David Lindley - Kaleidoscope
Don Glut (filmmaker/film historian/author) - Penny Arkade
Taj Mahal/Ry Cooder - The Rising Sons
Rupert Holmes - the Street People
Chevy Chase (actor) - The Chameleon  Church
Billy Idol - Generation X
John Beck (actor) - The Leaves
Nick Lowe - Kippington Lodge
Dave Edmunds - The Love Sculpture
David Bowie - David Jones & the Lower Third/The Manish Boys
Warren Zevon - Lyme & Cybelle
Albert Hammond - The Magic Lanterns

I put the Magic Lanterns last to clear up one of the great misconceptions of rock and roll. Albert Hammond, who wrote the Hollies classic “The Air That I Breath” and had a hit with the song “It Never Rains In Southern California,” joined the group after they had a hit with a song called “Shame Shame.” However, many people have been under the mistaken impression that the bass player, Mike “Oz” Osbourne is Ozzy Osbourne. Some record stores and dealers have sold the Magic Lanters LPs for high prices, claiming it is early material from Ozzy Osbourne. Don’t be fooled!

THE MYSTERY OF THE LITTLE BEAVER PUZZLE

I may have a retro toy mystery on my hands. When I was about seven or eight years old, I was visiting my sister in Oklahoma. I went with my brother-in-law to get the car serviced. Since it was going to take awhile, we walked over to an antique shop (It was the only thing close) and looked around. Most of the stuff was vases, china and lamps (You know - old lady stuff). The only toy of any kind in the store was a Whitman tray puzzle. The picture was of a Native American boy and girl. The boy had caught a fish and the girl was cooking a fish in a frying pan. My brother-in-law pointed out that the boy was Little Beaver, the sidekick of a comic strip cowboy named Red Ryder. The puzzle was about $1, so he bought it for me. The copy write on this puzzle is 1954. There is a code number of some sort on it of 2628:29.

I have for the past few weeks been Googling to find out information on a possible price for this puzzle. I can't find any information on this puzzle. I can't even find a picture of it. I have seen several collectors and website showing two different Little Beaver puzzles. One pictures Little Beaver carrying an injured deer through the woods, as the other woodland animals look on in appreciation. The other puzzle depicts Little Beaver walking on rocks in a brook. I also cannot find any reference to a girl in the comic strip.
So I have decided to post photos here of the puzzle. If you have any ideas on this or have any info, you can either leave a message or contact my by e-mail at d4windsbar@yahoo.com.

CUTTING LOOSE (AN ODD 70's COMPILATION LP)

I collect various artist compilation of the 70s and 80s. These were the forerunner of today's Now That's What I Call Music and Totally Hits CDs. Most of them were put out by K-Tel, others by Ronco and a few were by Tee Vee Records.
I purchased one at Heartland Antique Mall in Lebanon over the weekend. This one is odd. It is a 1978 Tee Vee compilation called Cutting Loose.

The track listing is:

Samantha Sang – Emotion
Atlanta Rhythm Section–So Into You
Tina Charles–I Love To Love
Three Degrees-When Will I See You Again
Bachman-Turner Overdrive-You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
Gloria Gaynor–Never Can Say Goodbye
Jim Stafford–Wildwood Weed
Lou Rawls–Natural Man
KC & The Sunshine Band-Keep It Coming Love
The Emotions–Best Of My Love
David Soul-Don't Give Up On Us Baby
Lighthouse–Pretty Lady
Righteous Brothers-You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Joe Simon–Get Down, Get Down
Lou Christie-Lightnin' Strikes
Eric Burdon & The Animals–San Franciscan Nights
Rod Stewart–Maggie May
Atlanta Rhythm Section-Imaginary Lover

Granted most of these compilation, as with their current counterparts, have a wide variety of current hits on them. Most of the songs on this LP are within four years of 1978. Two, "Maggie May" and "Natural Man" are from 1970/71, but both Rod Stewart and Lou Rawls were having hits in 1978, so we can overlook their inclusion. Now what is odd is the inclusion of "Lightning Strikes" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" (both from 1966)  and "San Franciscan Nights" (from 1967).

Now for the other odd thing about this: the pretty girl on the cover. On the back, she is smiling at us while she paints a rainbow down the center of the road. On the front, is a view of her cute derriere in denim cutoffs. On closer examination we find that our sexy cover model is apparently incontinent. I thought that was the roughed up copy I got maybe had something spilled on it, but them I saw the photo of the cover on Disc Dogs and it too looks like she had some sort of "embarrassing little accident" in her tight cutoff shorts. So why did they release the cover that way? Would it have cost that much to either airbrush that out or re-shoot the photo after she changed her pants? Did she sue them after the record was released or die from embarrassment? Did wet or mess her pants, because an 18 wheeler nearly run over her while she was painting the rainbow down the center of the high way? Too many unanswered questions.

VINTAGE CHILDREN'S BOOKS

I found these children's books in an antique store, here in Springfield, Mike's Unique. I bought them for my nephew's one year old son. He loves books with colorful pages and I like retro cartoon-related merchandise. The book based on Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Fireball XL5 is part of the Little Golden Book series. Random House reprints many of the titles. Here is their website (and you can download an animated Poky Little Puppy for your computer). They obviously new the audience for a Fireball XL5 book might be kind of nerdy, so on the back there is a promotion for a series of Little Golden Science books.

The other book is by Whitman Publishing and is about King Leonardo. I should point out that even though Tudor the Turtle is on the back cover, he appears no where in the book.

Yes, you greatest fear has come true folks. Desdinova has become an old softy. As much as I hate to quote former President George H. Bush, you are seeing a "kinder, gentler" Desdinova.