MThis is another REPOST of a popular topic here: HALLOWEEN!!!!
We sure have a reputation for keeping it spooky (since 2011!) so THANK YOU to everyone who helped get us to where we are today with this humble treasure trove of vintage musings...TRICK or TREAT?
It’s Halloween, and we thought that called for a special {PHOTOBLAST} in honor of the occasion!
We’ve devised a ghoulish buffet of vintage Halloween treats for your eyes and minds to delight in and devour!!!
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Halloween Mid-West Mag Cover 1955 Costumes popular with kids and adults as shown on Mid-West Magazine’s cover Oct 30, 1955
We say this a lot, but some things just never change, and if anything, our brothers and sisters of the past were forced to be a bit more creative when it came to the challenges of costuming yourself for the big night!
So, that said, what are you being for Halloween (or what were you, for those enjoying the early bird weekend special)? Let us know in the comment section below! And make sure you have a Happy Scary Halloween!
Science is a land where the truth of our reality (whether space, the earth, our bodies, its cells, of time and reality…the list goes on) is seeked and summoned by lonely hermits determined to find the answer to it all. And there have been many!
Alan Turing in a way also because he he found the truth of his soul and desire…that for which of course he was medically castrated for being queer, and soon thereafter took his life from an apple he had poison himself (a la the Witch in his favourite film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).
I guess there really is a mystical aspect to the art of science…tapping into the unknown is not easy for most.
So that these minds could reach the very depth of their own humanity to unsource some unbelievable triumphs for humanity forevermore.
Click here to read more about the top 5 spiritually mystical scientists 🤟
Let us know what you thought in the COMMENTS below !
We have featured other spiritually mystical folks on our blog including Jack Parsons, and the notorious L. Ron Hubbard so get lost down the rabbit hole of the true {past} that has made our {present} which propels is into the unknown {future} 🔥🔥🔥!!!
When it comes to artists like Kate Bush, they are truly few and far between, if not non-existent! Her music is a wild ride between pop, rock, experimental, and the ethereal sounds of another universe. Haunting, delicate, and slightly witchy… Bush’s music explores unusual themes that many other artists would dare no even attempt.
One of our favourite obscure references is featured in the video “Cloudbusting” which was conceived by iconic British director Terry Gilliam and Kate Bush, herself. Watching the video for the first time, you feel like you are watching a breathtaking sci-fi fantasy accompanied by Bush’s haunting music. However, this story is far from fiction, and is in fact based on the most incredible stranger than fiction true story of scientist Wilhelm Reich.
The video depicts Kate Bush as son, Peter Reich (whose memoir Book of Dreams was an immense inspiration for Bush), watching as his father (played by Donald Sutherland) develops an intricate machine the “Cloudbuster” before men in black come knocking on the door taking the father and destroying his laboratory, as well as taking many of his files for “safe keeping”. As their car drives off, the boy turns the cloud buster to the sky and unleashes a downpour of rain as his father drives off as a captive into the distance.
Strangely enough, this device was absolutely real, and even documented in local newspapers of the time. The basis of its functioning was the concept of “orgone” – an esoteric energy seen as a universal force that could be harvested. This energy was theorized to be an invisible mass of living energy that is omnipresent throughout the universe.
His research garnered a fairly strong following in the United States, with many students who congregated at the Organon Ranch Laboratory (now the Willhelm Reich Museum) located in Rangeley, Maine.
Interestingly Organon is also the formal name of Greek philosopher Aristotle’s works on logic given by his followers…
Being able to control this energy, Reich believed could help people be cured of various diseases or mental health issues (the Orgone Accumulator – a small room made from layers of metal and wood), as well as controlling the weather – hence the Cloudbuster!
The most famous incident would have to be The Maine Blueberry Experiment which took place in Bangor, Maine at 10am on July 6, 1953 after a devastating drought which was directly affecting the blueberry crops that summer. Reich and his assistants set up the cloud buster – a set of hollow tubes suspended over a small cylinder. Later that night
“Rain began to fall shortly after ten o’clock Monday evening, first as a drizzle and then by midnight as a gentle, steady rain. Rain continued throughout the night, and a rainfall of 0.24 inches was recorded in Ellsworth the following morning…The queerest looking clouds you ever saw began to form soon after they got the thing rolling.”
Eyewitness, Bangor Maine (1953)
Much like other great minds in our world, Reich was punished for his forbidden knowledge of the available resources of our universe, and was promptly punished. A salacious article written by Ms. Mildred Eddie Brady also helped to taint his reputation painting him as a sex crazed mad scientist. He was accused of being a communist (of course), and seen as a bit of a loon when he made comments about U.F.O.s (which we all know exist…).Eventually, the U.S. Food an Drug Administration obtained a federal injunction, and seized and destroyed all orgone-related material.
Reich was put into prison where he would die at the age of 60 in 1957. Thankfully, his knowledge has not been forgotten…although you know they wish it were!!!
Reich was definitely a rebel figurehead; part of the second generation of psychoanalysts after Sigmund Freud. His most distinctive works included Character Analysis (1933), The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), and The Sexual Revolution (1936). We definitely always characterize the idea of a sexual revolution with the free love era of the 60s and 70s, but this guy was far beyond his times. During the 1968 student riots in Paris and Berlin, protesters even threw copies of The Mass Psychology of Fascism at the police!
He was quite the activist and fought for the abolition of laws against abortion and homosexuality, free birth control advice and contraceptives,health protection for women and children, day cares in factories, and the abolition of laws prohibiting sex education. And this was in the 1930s, and people are still fighting for the same things!
Interestingly enough, Kate Bush may not have even known about this story if she hadn’t stumbled upon A Book of Dreams (1973) – a memoir written by Reich’s son Peter Reich by coincidence in 1976.
“I was inspired by a book that I first found on a shelf nearly nine years ago. It was just calling me from the shelf, and when I read it I was very moved by the magic of it. It’s about a special relationship between a young son and his father. The book was written from a child’s point of view. His father is everything to him; he is the magic in his life, and he teaches him everything, teaching him to be open-minded and not to build up barriers… But there’s nothing he can do about his father being taken away, he is completely helpless. But it’s very much more to do with how the son does begin to cope with the whole loneliness and pain of being without his father. It is the magic moments of a relationship through a child’s eyes, but told by a sad adult.”
-Kate Bush
Thank god she did, because when we first stumbled upon this masterpiece we were taken away to another world that is as much fantasy as it is real life…
Funny enough, she isn’t the only rebel poet to be inspired by this story. Punk icon Patti Smith, was inspired by the book’s scene where Peter is convinced a fleet of flying saucers are skimming his boarding school’s lacrosse field to reunite him with his imprisoned father in her 9 minute epic “Birdland”…
Sad that much like Nikola Tesla, or our recent {STYLE IDOL} Jack Parsons, knowledge and powers that could greatly benefit our world as a whole have to be held captive by greedy forces…
However, if you have that rebel spirit within YOU ready to soar – let it free, and let it be!!!
Definitely if you found all this interesting, please look more into Orgone, Organon, and everything you can Wilhelm Reich!!!
Scientists often go unrecognized in the realm of style, and there’s definitely no one more deserving to be added to our roster of Idols & Divinities to worship than the original rocket man- Jack Parsons.
Like we always say, style is more than the clothes you wear, its how you carry on your life with purpose and integrity, and Mr. Parsons definitely didn’t hold back! Devilishly handsome, in tuned with his own special brand of spirituality, and ridiculously intelligent – he is definitely an idol worth worshiping.
His story is a strange one that verges on being absolutely unbelievable. Often referred to as the ultimate mad scientist, Parson’s research in the field of rocketry basically gave birth to NASA, and allowed for mankind to release itself from the atmosphere and deep into space.
A true Hollywood boy, Parsons was born on Oct 2, 1914 in Los Angeles and quickly became fascinated by rockets inspired by the many pulp sci-fi magazines he would read as a young boy. It is also said that as a child he would perform rituals to manifest the devil in his bedroom…
This obsession grew and grew over time, and after graduating High School, the young man alongside his best friend Ed Forman linked up with Frank Malina, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology- forming what they would call “The Suicide Squad”…
Whilst the idea of rockets were perceived as nothing more than sci-fi fantasy, him and his peers moved forward with their experiments and research, proving that Parsons was a natural genius when it came to developing chemicals and mixing them in exactly the right amounts that these reactions could be explosive, but controllable. This knowledge was later used by NASA….
Of course, with this knowledge, came questions and queries of who exactly was Jack Parsons, and what the man had uncovered was shocking beyond belief.
While Parsons was pioneering rocket science, he was also an avid follower of occult circles in Hollywood. He was an attendant of the Ordo Templi Orients, and took part in meetings led by the father of modern day occultism – Aleister Crowley. He was even appointed West Coast leader of the OTO by Crowley himself.
Through the money he was making in his rocket business, he bought a mansion in Pasadena which became a party house to facilitate occult rituals and orgies.
Frank Malina’s wife said that the mansion was “like walking into a Fellini movie. Women were walking around in diaphanous togas and weird make-up, some dressed up like animals, like a costume party.” Malina shrugged off his partner’s eccentricities, telling his wife, “Jack is into all kinds of things.”
These stories led to Parsons being a bit of liability to the government, and he was paid out his shares of Aerojet, and was cast out from the field he had himself developed!
This led to a further delve into the occult. In 1946, he would host a series of ritual rites which he called the ‘Babalon Working’ which he performed alongside Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The ritual was performed from January to March in effort to manifest a incarnation of Babalon- a divine feminine spirit described by Aleister Crowley in this 1917 novel Moonchild.
After the first series of these rituals, Parsons was introduced to Marjorie Cameron who he regarded as the manifestation they were attempting to summon. An unsuccessful attempt was made to conceive a child through sex magic (which Aleister Crowley himself regarded as foolish), but nevertheless Cameron was regarded now as the Scarlet Woman / Babylon and the two quickly married.
You can spot Marjorie in Curtis Harrington’s “The Wormwood Star” and “Night Tide” starring Dennis Hopper. She also plays a pivotal role in Kenneth Anger’s 1954 art short “The Inaugaration of the Pleasure Dome” and is renowned as an influential and groundbreaking artist of her day.
His alienation from the world of rocket science, led him to work on explosives for the film industry, while the FBI still paid close attention to his movements.
On June 1952, Parsons was killed by an unplanned detonation in his home laboratory. He was 37.
Cameron and others who knew the man doubt that this genius would ever have made such a fatal mistake. A U.F.O. sighting above Washington D.C. just after his death, led her to believe this was Parsons making communication. Unfortunately her mental state began to deteriorate, and in 1952 she gathered a small clique of practitioners to create a cult called “The Children” whose aim was to create a mixed-race society of “moon children” who would be devoted to the Egyptian god Horus.
A new series on CBS All Access called Strange Angel starring Jack Reynor was just released last year, and attempts to bring this fascinating story to the world. We haven’t had a chance to delve into the series, but it looks like it captures Parson’s dapper charms, the mysterious underworld he treaded through, and the science he developed that changed the world!
I find it very interesting that this story is coming so strongly out of the woodwork, and being explored by a major mainstream network like CBS. Perhaps they are telling us something . . .
Parson’s work in science and the occult are fascinating because they are usually regarded as in opposition of each other. However, it seems like Parsons was able to tread the line between the two, and realize the two are related, if not the same.
Parsons will be known for being a true rebel, a playboy, a genius, and one of a kind of spirit that still permeates today. If there was anyone who represented Hollywood Babylon, it is most definitely him!
Check out these pieces from our {SHOP} to conjure the dapper and mysterious vibe of Jack Parson: the original rocket man!!!
Click here if you like what you see, and browse our other time traveled pieces!!!
What is our fascination with Lizzie Borden? Is it that she possibly got away with the grisly murders of her father and step mother back in 1892? Oh yes, most definitely a major reason, and its this mystery that keeps fascinating new generations everyday.
We may never know, but that’s the beauty in a good mystery! The spaces between not solidified can be filled with many possibilities, and that’s what the new film “Lizzie” starring Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny seems to explore.
If you know us well, and I hope you do, you know that Chloë Sevigny is just one of those people on the top tiers of everything. Goddess of style, art, a muse to many, and obviously one of the coolest women of all time…so needless to say, we are psyched for this film!
Check out the trailer, and you will see why!
Spicy stuff! Looks like a real nail biter, and the period details are absolutely on-point! Have a little bit of a feel where they are going with the story, but excited to see it play out in real life!
Glad to see Kristen Stewart staying dedicated to unique artful films since her return to the screen.
Two modern muses! SIDENOTE: Can huge Edwardian sleeves just take over the scene, already!!! Can’t wait for more inspiration to come…
Fresh off our VMP DRAG FASHION FLAUNT at this year’s Vintage Marketplace, we can’t stop thinking about how incredible drag queens are, especially those of the {PAST} who paved the way for the {PRESENT} culture and creativity and will continue to invoke its {FUTURE}.
We know everyone who is anyone keeps up with RuPaul’s Drag Race, and the past season’s ALL STARS edition featured a wickedly hilarious Snatch Game that had Brooklyn babe AJA take on one of Herstory’s most legendary queens – founder of the House of LaBeija, and star of the cult 1968 documentary “The Queen”, Crystal LaBeija!
And she took her on with gusto and glamour, and also delivered this beautiful spirit back into the forum of the mainstream…much in the way Jinx Monsoon brought us Little Edie of “Grey Gardens”, and Sasha Velour took on Marlene Dietrich; keeping these divinities alive for younger generations is absolutely key!
How sad it is when you hear a young man or woman denote they have no idea who these iconic legends are . . . stay educated, kids!
“The Queen” is a fabulous film directed by Frank Simon, and provides an up close and candid look at the behind of the scenes of the 1967 All-America Camp Beauty Contest in New York City. It is a wonderful portrait of a time gone by. . . New York City is rough and tough, and men from all around America shack up in tiny hotel rooms in anticipation of the pageant discussing the difficulties of being gay in America. They are all fabulous, and its wonderful to see their final transformations from the male versions of them you see in rehearsals. This transformation truly proves the power of style and image to invoke strength from within.
Illustrated herstory by Laurel Lynn-Leake
By far, the most fabulous moment has to be Crystal’s freak out when she is named fourth place storms out and then rips everyone a new one backstage. Absolutely ICONIC…you are going to have to see it to believe it! And if you are a fan of Drag Race, you will really appreciate what Aja brought to the table even more.
We stumbled upon a full version of the film on Youtube, so check it out below and enjoy!
+Look out for Andy Warhol’s cameo (he was a judge in the pageant)+
We love moments like this in pop culture where the {PAST} races into the {PRESENT} and ultimately shapes our {FUTURE}. . . rebel queens like Crystal LaBeija will live on far past those who chose not to be the truest, most incredible versions of themselves.
I don’t need you to tell me I’m beautiful! I KNOW I’M BEAUTIFUL!!!
And really, we should all fell this way! Screw the haters- you rock!
Listen to that spirit within you, and let it free…
There must have been a really urgent calling to help young men who suffered from social anxiety during the Post War period, because this is just one of dozens of educational films distributed to schools throughout America dealing with this.
This one is one of the best called “SHY GUY” and stars Dick York who played the first Darrin Stephens in the cult classic “Bewitched”!
Its quite entertaining, and on top of that, the classic vintage styles of these high school students are on fleek! Special shout out to the many wicked graphic sweaters that the “popular” kids are ALL rocking.
“Whats he got that makes people like him so much?”
attitude.
I think its best to be yourself, but this boy trades out his dapper suit and ties for the more relaxed cool kid vibe of some trousers and a graphic sweater, but sure enough it works, so what do I know?! So many cool jackets and bombers, and then there’s the classic hair!!!
They don’t make them like they used to! Enough hype, watch the video below courtesy of Old Time TV on Youtube!
BEST ADVICE FROM DAD: Just observe what people are doing then imitate them (well, essentially that’s what he says)….thanks Dad! Sociopath much?! As always, I say be yourself and the rest will follow.
“…you don’t know how to get people to like you and you end up holding a grudge against them…”
Life can be so hard for your average teen!
We have some pieces in the {SHOP} we thought reminded us of the “SHY GUY” vibe!
Visit our {SHOP} for more details on these and more time traveled vintage finds…
That’s right kiddos…everyone’s favourite mystery solving duo is back today with all new episodes! So happy they brought this back. It was awesome to get the revamp last year, but the season was rather short (only 6 episodes), so this 11th season will undoubtedly add something special to the X-Files canon.
[ SIDENOTE: X-FILES Promo Shots are legit THE BEST]
11 is our lucky number so we have FAITH that Chris Carter and his team will be creating something for fans to remember with this one. . .
We thought it apropos to delve into the fantastic and fundamentalstylish-ness of this poignant and severely under-rated film.
Whilst the flower power movement is mostly seen as Woodstock, flower children dancing in parks, peace, love, and rainbows – the counter-culture movement that began to arise from the horrors of the Vietnam War and injustices in America was also an aggressive and violent force ready for radical change.
Parties like The Weathermen, Baader Meinhoff, and the Black Panthers fought for revolutionary change from the capitalist bourgeoise regimes that still run the world to this day.
Much the way Antonioni’s fashionable masterpiece Blow-Up captured the Swinging London of the mid-60s in his chic docu-stylized manner, Zabriskie Point aimed to shed light on this particular moment in time.
The film even features a cameo by THE political power-force and activist Kathleen Cleaver (who is also very due to be inaugurated to the rank of E.O.F. DIVINITY}!
The turbulently good-looking Mark Ferchette plays Mark, an armed student radical on the run from the cops.
While flying an airplane over the desert he spots Daria Halprin who plays Daria, a gorgeous bohemian goddess who may or may not have a thing for wealthy older business execs, and they engage in an erotic (and dusty) desert orgy.
Whilst a desert orgy might seem like a tried and true climax for any film- the real climax drifts dreamily to Daria’s increasing discomfort and disgust over bourgeoise attempts to redevelop the gorgeous Mojave desert.
What follows this moment of realization is a fantastical finale that tells a thousand thoughts, statements, and poetic musings through the universality of cinema.
This final moment cannot be denied.
SPOILER ALERT!
{WATCH THE FINALE BELOW}
If you watched the clip, you can see why Zabriskie Point is really fuelling our psych-rock summer.
Would have to recommend musing over the desert love scene, if you’re in the romantic mood . . .
And whether you’re in it to take in all the timelessly cool/counter-culture chic/boho American stylings of costume designer Ray Summers or the epic psych-rock soundtrack that features a theme song by Roy Orbison, and tracks by the Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, The Youngbloods, Patti Page, and the ultimate Pink Floyd– this film is ICONIC in every right!!!
Interestingly, both of the films stars were non-actors who both appeared in exactly three films.
Mark Ferchette was a carpenter discovered during a loud argument on the streets of Boston where he allegedly threw a flower pot at a woman, while Daria Halprin was spotted by Antonioni in the Jack O’Connell documentary ‘Revolution‘ which profiled the counter-culture movement in San Francisco.
The two make for a beautiful All-American bohemian brunette couple, whose enigmatic bond is as mysterious as it is inspiring…
They gained the status of the first counter-culture couple, and actually maintained a real life romance, which later led to them getting a string of magazine covers, TV appearances, and even joining a cult together.
After all, a couple that joins a cult together stays together!
”It put me in a kind of lifestyle and situation that in many, many ways I wasn’t ready to deal with,”
Whilst the film garnered lack lustre reviews at the time for its meandering plot and docu-surrealism which may have just been a little too ahead of its time.
But, that’s what’s great about exploring the {PAST} you have the opportunity of looking at it through the lens of the {PRESENT} and hopefully keep the dialogue going into the {FUTURE}.
In a world as messed up today (if not more than)- a film like Zabriskie Point is a fearless reminder of the people who almost 50 years ago cried for change, the timelessness of true style, and the dreaminess of the desert . . .
Where did this courage and fight go in our day to day? Have we really been brainwashed to believe everything will be OK?
Sometimes it feels like you just might pull a Daria, too?
Talk about American beauty . . . do yourself a favour and watch this film!
It’s Halloween, and we thought that called for a special {PHOTOBLAST} in honor of the occasion!
