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| "Wedding on the Steps," from Alan's collection |
Everyone cherished these flowers because they were so fragrant and so fleeting. As a grade schooler, I took the flowers to my teachers. By 1959 I'd given up the notion of buttering-up the teachers and instead, like most teens, preferred to bug them. None of my gang would have been caught dead, kissing up like that. No, we preferred to slouch around in the local hangout, "Welcome Inn," where we crammed eight kids in a booth, sharing one cigarette and one coke and pumping the jukebox with quarters(?) to play our favorite songs. Below is the big hit list from 1959. Why can I still recall most, well— some of these lyrics (never heard of number 100, "Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat") but can't remember where my car keys are?
Curiosity got the better of me. Here's a music video of #100, Seven Little Girls. The video is fun and brings back memories. Is Fred in a lab coat in the back seat? I can almost smell Paul Evan's Brylcreem. My own hair in those years was shellacked into place with AquaNet hairspray. This would make a fabulous retro PSA for distracted driving.
Studying my photo as we do for Sepia Saturday, I was surprised at what I saw that I overlooked for years. Like this man's face nestled/hidden in the bouquet.
Okay, when you get closer up you really have to use your imagination.
I'm currently writing, er....trying to write fiction. I should clarify and say I'm learning about writing fiction. Every second week, I swear to quit because it takes so much time. But then I get an idea and start all over again. I feel a scary story coming on— "The Devil in the Bouquet." Or maybe a tale about those Seven Little Girls or Fred. Or a story about having a song rise to #100 and then stall there?
I think the reason I saw the image stems back to my days growing up in Canada. In 1954, the Canadian one dollar bill was issued. Here's the picture of the Queen on the bill:
And here's a close-up of her image:
As you can see (or not) there seems to be a devil's image in the Queen's curls. A huge controversy ensued over the bill; nut cases came out of the woodwork with bizarre conspiracy theories and the mint had to reissue the bill with the curls altered and the so-called image obliterated.
Googling the matter, I found mention of a memoir of the Royal photographer who took this picture during that time period. It turns out he was gay and involved with the Queen's male hairdresser. Maybe there was some sort of covert statement being made after all? Here's the reference if anyone is interested.
Devils Face in Queens hair
Almost every day, there's some article in "News of the Weird" about a holy image in a fallen ice cream cone or on a stained wall or a baby's diaper. The most bizarre ghostly and holy image I can remember hearing about was the Virgin Mary's image on toast. The holy toast was a decade old when it was auctioned on ebay in 2004 for $28,000. Personally ,I think the image looks more like Marlene Dietrich than I imagined the Virgin Mary might look.
Check out Sepia Saturday for stories from saner people with more organized minds.
Lilacs are beautiful but I had no idea how fleeting their blossoms are till we planted a lilac bush. As to the bloom that looks like a man's face, perhaps that's what Fred looked like after a few years of kissing and hugging with too many girls? Thanks for the video & the top 100 list. Gosh! I still have some of those 45s!!!
ReplyDeletePoor Fred. Over-hugged. Do you ever play the 45's?
DeleteAmazing what you can discover if you look closely enough at some pictures.
ReplyDeleteSepia Saturday changed the way I look at photographs and all art!!
DeleteSo fun to see the top 100 list...and I was squeezed into a booth with my girlfriends many times, unless we got up to dance in our bobby socks and pleated plaid skirts! (I think I seldom had a date for those afternoons at the Pub.) Thanks for the memories...
ReplyDeleteA fun post. In sepia tone the lilacs look more like clouds or cotton candy. The hidden mystery figure as an optical illusion has been used by artists for hundreds of years. Lots of Medieval, Reconnaissance, and Baroque painters put secret figures into their paintings. Early photographers imitated them by figuring out ways to create impossible double exposures and strange perspective images with cameras.
ReplyDeleteI can see faces in clouds and rocks and in the dancing flames of the roaring fire, but I’m struggling to see the devil in the detail here.
ReplyDeleteThe lilacs are gorgeous...you can almost smell them all these decades later. And I'm with you on the toast...it puts me in mind of a flamenco dancer.
ReplyDeleteHa! I loved the face in your bouquet ! Flower Power !
ReplyDeleteYes i remember "7 little girls"
Though no Buddy Holly in your list
? 1959 = "the day the music died" .
Brilliant Post. Those tunes brought back many memories for me too X