It's on tonight. Remember the first time you saw it? You might have been six, and tree smelled like pine, and the large bulbs glowed a halo into the room. Your family was there, and there were stockings hanging, and carols filled the air everywhere you went.
That isn't the case any more. In this sad, dangerous, and dreary world, Charlie Brown and his friends mean even more to me. In a year with no tree, or presents, and turmoil everwhere, the Peanuts gang brings back the happiness this season once brought. I have to watch this and the other specials, if only to be six again.
Helen and Teacher
The Story of my Life
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Big Eyes, "Big Lies," Walter and Margaret Keane
We didn't call them "Big Eyes" when I was little, we called them "Moppets." I still have the paintings, prints, greeting cards, and dolls that featured the sad, big eyed children. Other artists made them, too, I know, and some versions of these paintings featuring older children hung at Ben's, our favorite restaurant.
Sunday Morning today feature the story of the Keane's, and the fact that Walter painted nothing; Margaret painted and let him take the credit. It was the early to mid sixties, and per "The Feminine Mystique" as Betty Friedan penned it, the credit for a woman's work went to her husband. We call it fraud today, but really, this is more common than we know.
The dolls of Bernard Ravca were allegedly made by his wife, Frances. She made a few smaller dolls on her own, but she is also supposed to be responsible for the realistic and fantastic needle sculpted and bread-crumb dough creations. Mme. Tolstoy heavily edited Count Leo's work, as told in Edward's "Sophia." I have to wonder how much she actually wrote. In the 80s, a California woman took the bar for her husband. He had threatened her and placed her under terrible duress. She dressed as a man, beat all the security, suffered because she was in the last stages of a difficult pregnancy, took the test, then had to go to the hospital. She passed.
I remember writing an article for a magazine I and my then "insignificant" other both wrote for. He hadn't finished his article, and pressured me into letting him take mine and put his name on it. That was the begininng of the end. No money was involved, and we weren't married, so I left.
Shortly after I came back home, before Walter Keane died, My aunt ran into him in hte Bay Area. She was buying some cards by Keane, and he told her he was the artist. He signed them for her, and she sent them to me, so I have Walter Keane's signature, and his provenance that a lie was perpetuated.
Many dolls like Lonely Lisa were created in the image of the Big Eye kids. I always thought they took after the Googleys, Kewpies, and Campbell Kids, but Margarate Keane didn't say this. Besides, her children are sad eyed as well, where most ofhte Googleys are happy.
Still, I love my moppets, and can't wait to see "Big Eyes," even if the artist took being an "excellent woman" to such an extreme, but we do what we must to survive.
Sunday Morning today feature the story of the Keane's, and the fact that Walter painted nothing; Margaret painted and let him take the credit. It was the early to mid sixties, and per "The Feminine Mystique" as Betty Friedan penned it, the credit for a woman's work went to her husband. We call it fraud today, but really, this is more common than we know.
The dolls of Bernard Ravca were allegedly made by his wife, Frances. She made a few smaller dolls on her own, but she is also supposed to be responsible for the realistic and fantastic needle sculpted and bread-crumb dough creations. Mme. Tolstoy heavily edited Count Leo's work, as told in Edward's "Sophia." I have to wonder how much she actually wrote. In the 80s, a California woman took the bar for her husband. He had threatened her and placed her under terrible duress. She dressed as a man, beat all the security, suffered because she was in the last stages of a difficult pregnancy, took the test, then had to go to the hospital. She passed.
I remember writing an article for a magazine I and my then "insignificant" other both wrote for. He hadn't finished his article, and pressured me into letting him take mine and put his name on it. That was the begininng of the end. No money was involved, and we weren't married, so I left.
Shortly after I came back home, before Walter Keane died, My aunt ran into him in hte Bay Area. She was buying some cards by Keane, and he told her he was the artist. He signed them for her, and she sent them to me, so I have Walter Keane's signature, and his provenance that a lie was perpetuated.
Many dolls like Lonely Lisa were created in the image of the Big Eye kids. I always thought they took after the Googleys, Kewpies, and Campbell Kids, but Margarate Keane didn't say this. Besides, her children are sad eyed as well, where most ofhte Googleys are happy.
Still, I love my moppets, and can't wait to see "Big Eyes," even if the artist took being an "excellent woman" to such an extreme, but we do what we must to survive.
Monday, December 8, 2014
An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: An Allusion to Erzebet in The Book of Lost Things ...
An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: An Allusion to Erzebet in The Book of Lost Things ...: In some versions of Erzebet's legends, she has a great white wolf for a pet. Wolves are linked to vampires, and Dracula, whom Stoker al...
Saturday, December 6, 2014
New Book on Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A treasure trove of new details about the life and experiences of Little House on the Prairie creator Laura Ingalls Wilder and her pioneer family is offered in this book, edited by award-winning Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill and based on the author’s letters, manuscripts, and other documents from the time. Morris says, "Perhaps the biggest draw of Pioneer Girl is that it was written as more of a diary of memories, skipping back and forth as her mind saw fit, and it was not changed as the Little House ...more A treasure trove of new details about the life and experiences of Little House on the Prairie creator Laura Ingalls Wilder and her pioneer family is offered in this book, edited by award-winning Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill and based on the author’s letters, manuscripts, and other documents from the time. Morris says, "Perhaps the biggest draw of Pioneer Girl is that it was written as more of a diary of memories, skipping back and forth as her mind saw fit, and it was not changed as the Little House on the Prairie books were to add that little zing of which publishers are so fond. This is her story, stark, detailed, and wonderful, as she meant it to be."
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A treasure trove of new details about the life and experiences of Little House on the Prairie creator Laura Ingalls Wilder and her pioneer family is offered in this book, edited by award-winning Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill and based on the author’s letters, manuscripts, and other documents from the time. Morris says, "Perhaps the biggest draw of Pioneer Girl is that it was written as more of a diary of memories, skipping back and forth as her mind saw fit, and it was not changed as the Little House ...more A treasure trove of new details about the life and experiences of Little House on the Prairie creator Laura Ingalls Wilder and her pioneer family is offered in this book, edited by award-winning Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill and based on the author’s letters, manuscripts, and other documents from the time. Morris says, "Perhaps the biggest draw of Pioneer Girl is that it was written as more of a diary of memories, skipping back and forth as her mind saw fit, and it was not changed as the Little House on the Prairie books were to add that little zing of which publishers are so fond. This is her story, stark, detailed, and wonderful, as she meant it to be."
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: "I am Excellent Woman, and I Pack Heat" Charlie's...
Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: "I am Excellent Woman, and I Pack Heat" Charlie's...: Over the last few months, I've caught up with Charlie's Angels on Cozi TV. I confess to never having seen many episodes when they w...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)