Yes, there were REAL black "minstrel" shows, and here is snapshot proof. These performers didn't need to blacken their faces. How were they received? I am sure they put on a regal show. "Twelve Talented Negro Singers and Dancers"
For a time, Texas piano player and vocalist Curtis Jones toured with the group. Jones recorded some one hundred sides for the Bluebird, Okeh and Vocalion labels. Curtis had a long career and was eventually associated with Jazz Gillum and Alex Moore. His most popular number was "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" which hit...but I prefer his Highway 51 Blues and Reefer Hound Blues. As for the other members of the act, we seem to be out of luck. I am sure there are a few local reviews in regional papers... but I find none.Until others get in touch, I guess we file this certainly magnificent group under "information needed." Original snapshot circa 1925 - 1935 Collection Jim Linderman
Nellie Bellmore Female Trapeze Artist 1895 Circus Cabinet Card Pair by Frank Wendt. Wendt was understudy to famed "circus freak" photographer Charles Eisenmann. He took over the studio when Eisenmann moved on. Two Nellie Bellmore Frank Wendt Cabinet Cards Collection Jim Linderman
Here comes Tokey, buzzing out of the pages of pulp history from the back cover of TORRID TWINS, just one of the capers solved with his tiny fists and subtly implied detective dong pounding. Tokey's secret weapon other than his quick wit was his manhood. You want sex and hardboiled action in your reading? Put down that limp "best reading" from the New York Times Book Review and grab yourself a big deep toke...of TOKEY!
A man's man and a women's dream, Tokey raced around the twirling paperback racks when the top presidential philanderer of all time, Jack Kennedy was in the White House. Did Jack care if his "arranged" girlfriend Judith Exner was usually in bed with mobster Sam Giancana and reported back to the wise guy after every presidential performance? HELL NO! Because Jack was a MAN'S man, just like Tokey Wedge. Screw that, and screw THAT, organized crime. No wonder (and no coincidence) Tokey gets involved with some anti-Castro gun runners in BROAD BAIT...just like big Sam!
So Tokey had a buzzcutt instead of Kennedy's Nantucket tousle...when you are racing to action in your midget muscle-car, there is no time to brush anything out of your eyes. Here comes Tokey, nostrils flared...nay SMOKING. Never mind that Tokey was actually no taller than 5' 4"...he was big where it mattered. One book adds an inch to his frame...but does not specify if he had bought some lifts.
Jack Lynn wrote the Tokey Wedge novels. Who was Jack Lynn? WHO CARES! This isn't about some fussy, anonymous, elite font prissy with an underwood, it's about Tokey Wedge. The paperback community speculates who Jack was and you are more then welcome to browse around to speculate while REAL men just read the novels (from Novel Press) a sleazy Chicago outfit with questionable organized crime ties but outstandingly bad fiction!
There were at least twenty one books by Jack and all of them had a serious problem with inaccurate perspective and unrealistic rendering on the covers. So the real question is not who wrote this stuff, but who the hell did the art? Check out the Torrid Twins Tokey is running down. Not only are they twins, their burning breasts have exactly the same flame pattern! Tokey had a thing for twins...witness Mary and Beth in another split zygote thriller "Double Seduction" which is no problem for Tokey. He loves them and leaves them...looking exactly the same. And yet AGAIN...there are twins in the later Desire in Duplicate...in which a $5000 a night hooker charges that much because she is...a twin! So the price is really $2500 each. Does Tokey get a discount? You have to ASK?
Other Jack Lynn books are listed below, but not all feature the diminutive dick Tokey. In fact, one of them introduces a far taller character, a Danny Thomas look-a-like who actually towers over the dames who moan his name!
Tokey Wedge fears nothing as he solves the case of Nympho Lodge. In another, Tokey struggles with a trio of "women loving women" In Wild Women. AS you can see, another cover with burning dames for Tokey to struggle through.
Clearly Tokey's biggest challenge was Ten Shockingest (sic) Seductions, in which he has do do just that...seduce them all to determine which were guilty of murder and which were guilty of lesbianism. There is only one man for the job...look down.
Vintage Folk Art Tramp Art Miniature Dresser made of Matchsticks and Glitter. Circa 1960? Click and Scroll for free preview of books by the author of Dull Tool Dim Bulb. Ebook versions instant downloads are less than $10, Paperback and hardcover also available. Collection Jim Linderman
A redware glazed lamb, likely 19th century. The piece has characteristics of Pennsylvania and Shenandoah Valley Virginia figural redware toys like those of Samuel Bell. A large group of similar figures (and glaze) are found HERE. Age and maker unknown. Redware Lamb collection Jim Linderman
Four drawings with watercolor by Lucy Moose (1921 - 2010) Miss Moose was born August 28, 1921,in Charlotte, N.C. and passed away
on October 7, 2010 in Atlanta, GA at the age of 89. She attended Queens
College in Charlotte, N.C. and also served actively in the United States
Navy at The Pentagon during World War II, followed by 3 years in the
Naval Reserves. Miss Moose had a long-standing career in fashion
merchandising with several large retailers, in addition to retirement
from the United States Army & Air Force Exchange Service. After
living for many years in New York City and abroad in Hong Kong and
Germany, Miss Moose retired to Atlanta, Georgia where she became a very
active volunteer and received her 20 Year Volunteer Award from The Jimmy
Carter Presidential Library. Miss Moose was a member of Peachtree Road
United Methodist Church. ART BOOKS AND INSTANT EBOOK DOWNLOADS BY JIM LINDERMAN AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE OR FREE PREVIEWS HERE
Colorama Crazy Ball Vintage Hand-painted Carnival Sign Folk Art. He started out bold with a giant C but ended up with a tiny A. Collection Jim Linderman
These drawings
were done from 1918 to 1919 by Elizabeth Stohn. Ms Stone was a child at the
time, and was something of a "cross-category" artist. Part Schoolgirl art, part naive,
part trained (as she had just completed her "art school training" by
correspondence school. ) Certainly not what is generally considered
"outsider" art, though that term is pretty widely applied as far as I
can tell. These are folky and charming, but not really folk art
either. Outsider Art? Nah.
While
thousands of women studied art and (like Ms. Stohn) aspired to be an
artist, even naming early woman artists is hard. They were screwed over
ever since they were here in every field. Why should art (or comics,
for that matter) be the domain of men? Plus, here is a secret…they were
often better than the men and never received the credit. They were
lost and laboring as "anonymous" in quilting, needle-point, and other
acceptable near domestic arts.
I
remember respected art scholar and dealer Randall Morris saying
somethinglike "Cartoonists have their own school, they aren't outsider
artists" and I don't differ with him. Still there are many standards
being applied on the walls of the outsider art fair, and each show will continue the
mixed blessing of being labeled as an outsider.
"I
know it when I see it" was used to describe pornography by Justin Potter
when ruling in a landmark obscenity case heard by the Supreme Court in
1964. I am pretty sure he threw his hands up when he said it. "I
shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I
understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core
pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing
so. But I know it when I see it..." he said. We should avoid that esteemed opinion
when evaluating outsider art.
A wonderful group of "comic books" were one of discoveries at the last Outsider Art Fair. I'll guess
he took some courses too, but it is a guess. Dan Nadelwould be the person to ask. I sure would love to see
them, but as I say, I wasn't there.
(There was another Johnson
(real name Ferd or Ferdinand Johnson) working at the same time in
Chicago, and he became quite well-known among other cartoonists. Same
fellow? I can't tell…I didn't go go cartoonist school! (joke) It was certainly
not the same fellow, but neither of them were being "obsessive" about
drawing. They were just doing what comic book artists do. That would be
filling page after page with drawings. Ask Gary Panter, a great artist
who is not an outsider. He published a massive book containing his
sketchbooks. Read the great essay on Frank, the outsider HERE by Dan Nadel. There were other great cartoon artists (Basil Wolverton, Windsor
McCay for example) and there were plenty of bizarre comic strip artists
who were visionaries. Mr. Nadel knows his stuff…See the magnificent
volumes he put together on some HERE. Any library specializing in any art must have
these two books. Like the books displayed at the last outsider art
fair, he reveals dozens of quirky and magnificently talented artists, be
they self-taught or not.
Ponder on what an outsider artist is,
and if the work you are appraising fits some arbitrary non-definition
like Justice Steven's frustrated legal opinion of smut, ponder more. Everyone
has their own concept. But can we agree, at least, that if one went to
art school, he isn't an outsider? Outsider Art...I know it when I see it.
Other articles in the I'm Not at the Outsider Art Fair series are HERE. See also two books on Folk art Outsider art by the writer Jim Linderman HERE and HERE.
Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber folk art sculpture made of clay. Joe was active in the late 1930's to the late 1940's. Born in Alabama and moved to Detroit after being visited by a gang of the Klan. Let's not let that happen again. Best known for his professional record, but also for standing up for civil rights all his life. In 1934, Louis won his first professional title (for which he earned $59.00) and went on to win all 12 of his fights in 1934, ten by knockouts. THANKS TO NATALIE CURLEY ANTIQUES Joe Lewis clay sculpture Circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman
Cutest little Valentine's Day Cards I have ever seen...and I met the artist! The woman selling them told me she made them as a young schoolgirl after I bought 'em. Makes these little bundles of bitter about 50 years old. I am really glad she kept them. Three vintage handmade Valentines circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
