Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Long Search...

1933 Colonial New World Globe Radio in Ivory...design by Raymond Loewy
...is finally over.

After several years of frustration I have at last acquired this most spectacular example of all the art deco radios, courtesy of ebay seller "pilgrimhands".  Her specialty is vintage textiles - see her ebay profile here: pilgrim_hands_ebay_profile - but this radio belonged to her father, and I am the fortunate soul who now takes stewardship.  She's been selling on ebay for 30 years and is a delightful person as well as a highly rated seller.  Do yourself a favor and check out her ebay offerings.

Next step is to drive the radio down to Tom's Antique Radio Repair for electronic restoration.  Tom has restored / repaired many of my vintage tube radios and always does a fabulous job...can't wait to get this one fully functional.  I don't know why I enjoy these vintage, tube, radios so much...I suppose it's the idea that something created 80 plus years ago is a beautiful objet d'art while still serving its original purpose.  There's something reassuring and comforting about that type of longevity and stability.

Switching gears, some encouraging news:  my son who suffered a stroke is now at home...not fully recovered, of course, but making progress.  My sincere thanks to any and all who offered up prayers to God in heaven on his behalf.

Today was Saturday but a work day...spent most of the day trying to catch up and write some programs that have been hanging over my head.
Wood etching of the Sword of Damocles
Ok, so it's not quite that bad, but still felt good to catch up a little...but I do mean a little...plenty more to do.

Tonight Karen and I watched an old Marilyn movie, The Prince and The Showgirl.  Previously we watched "My Week With Marilyn", a disputed account by Colin Clark of the making of that movie.  He claimed to have worked on the original 1957 film and to have grown close to Marilyn after her husband, famed playwright Arthur Miller, left England and returned to New York.

Fact or fantasy, is was an interesting movie and provided some context for watching the original.  As always, Marilyn was captivating on the silver screen, even if the film itself was little more than a costume epic.


Not really sure what the above advertising slick has to do with the actual movie; Laurence Olivier never appears on screen dressed like that...he is always in formal attire that I suppose was appropriate to the time frame depicted (1911) and to European royalty...and Marilyn spends almost the entire movie in a white evening gown.

An mcm objet d'art that graces my loft fireplace mantel:
Kitsch Kats
Not really a cat person, but I like the tall, elegant lines of these 1950's porcelain cats.  These types of "kitschy" art sculptures were common in the 50's and 60's as people started bringing "art for the masses" into their homes.

Another restoration project for Bob Adams of Ronson Repair:
Not Ronson, but an obvious mimic of the Ronson Bartender lighter style.
Scheduled to arrive at his place tomorrow, he's going to work some magic on this piece from the 1950's.  Eventually it will grace an art deco bar in the basement of our future mcm ranch:

If we build, these are the starter plans
Duty screams as always, so until next time...

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow...

James J Jeffries vs Jack Johnson, July 4, 1910
...for you do not know what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)

Life's a battle, yes?  If you've reached the age of 40, you will undoubtedly agree...if you haven't, and are blessed enough to live in what was once the good ol' US of A, you might not have experienced that truth yet.

But it is...and last week one of my sons got an up close and personal view of that truth when he suffered a stroke.  He is currently in the hospital in the very early stages of recovery...don't know exactly what that means yet, or how steep his personal mountain to climb will be, but I'll update this blog as I learn more.

In the meantime, if anyone who happens onto this site is on praying ground, I / we appreciate your prayers to God Almighty in heaven on behalf of my stricken son.

Since there is no segue from the dismal to the delightful, I won't attempt one.

Any idea what this is?

If you guessed a hotel key, please award yourself 10 points to be used however you wish...but then answer this question...when was the last time you used an actual key at a hotel?  Everything is a swipe card nowadays...but we stayed at the Campus Inn in Ann Arbor recently, and they're still using genuine metal keys, God bless their backward hearts.

And it's a lovely, old hotel, too:

Campus Inn lobby, as seen from the 2nd floor
I was there for a company strategy meeting, at which much was accomplished, at least as far as strategy planning goes...now we'll see if execute what we planned or not.

A fun event to start the meeting was attending the U of M vs MSU basketball game in Crisler arena.  It got loud in there, especially toward the end when U of M rallied and then took over the lead on their way to a close victory:


I don't really have a dog in this hunt, so it didn't matter to me who won or lost...ever since my sons stopped competing, I haven't had to care about sports...but the folks at Crisler on the U of M campus had a definite point of view, and the home crowd went home happy.

On the mid century modern front, here's a pic of an original, 1959, #1 Barbie doll I bought for my wife at Christmas:

If you're a barbie collector - I'm not, but my beautiful wife is - you know this is the holy grail.  She's standing in front of a 1962 Barbie's Dream House and behind a 1962 Austin Healey convertible.  This is Barbie heaven for the serious collector.  Doesn't get more mcm than that.

Hasta la vista, mcm fans.