2.26.2009

DETROIT RIOTS IN 1967



The Detroit Riot of 1967 began when police vice squad officers executed a raid on an after hours drinking club or “blind pig” in a predominantly black neighborhoods located at Twelfth Street and Clairmount Avenue.

They were expecting to round up a few patrons, but instead found 82 people inside holding a party for two returning Vietnam veterans. Yet, the officers attempted to arrest everyone who was on the scene. While the police awaited a “clean-up crew” to transport the arrestees, a crowd gathered around the establishment in protest. After the last police car left, a small group of men who were “confused and upset because they were kicked out of the only place they had to go” lifted up the bars of an adjacent clothing store and broke the windows.

From this point of origin, further reports of vandalism diffused. Looting and fires spread through the Northwest side of Detroit, then crossed over to the

East Side. Within 48 hours, the National Guard was mobilized, to be followed by the 82nd airborne on the riot’s fourth day. As police and military troops sought to regain control of the city, violence escalated. At the conclusion of 5 days of rioting, 43 people lay dead, 1189 injured and over 7000 people had been arrested. Read Full Article HERE
As a 11 year old kid growing up only 35 miles away from the riot scenes we watched it on the news. With disbelief we thought it would end quickly. It went on and on. Detroit has really never fully recovered from this time. They have rebuilt the down areas that tourists and trade show attendees see but there are still many parts of Detroit that are still burned out. Particularly near the long demolished (1987) Olympia Stadium.
 

2.17.2009

JOHNNY RIVERS!



I have to say that one of my most favorite singers of all time is the soulful and rocking Johnny Rivers. (born John Henry Ramistella, 7 November 1942, in New York) What a unique musician! Johnny has one of the most signature voices in music history. All it takes is two words of lyric for the listener to know it's Johnny. Standing on the Mountain looking down at the city...

Johnny rocks that guitar out on Secret Agent Man which we still jump around the room playing air guitar when we hear it! Seventh Son... same thing. Can't keep my feet from tapping or fingers from snapping. Don't think there has ever been anyone who injected such personality into the music. Not to mention he was a hot looking guy in the 60's. He looked like a city guy with a very country rockabilly style. The closest we come to him now is another of my much loved singer/guitar guys Chris Isaak.

When Johnny covered a song no one minded. (Unlike Pat Boone) He made the song as good if not better than the original. What other singer could cover a Chuck Berry tune? Johnny could.

Johnny Rivers had seventeen songs on the charts from 1964 to 1977. He was versatile enough to do folk songs, blues, covers of old-time rock-and-roll songs, and some original material, all of them in his own very unique style. He is also songwriter, guitarist, performer and producer.

Personally my favorites of JR's records are Mountain of Love and Memphis. Johnny Rivers was really ahead of his time in starting Rivers Music and his own label Soul City Records in 1966.

2.16.2009

"WEAR YOUR LOVE LIKE HEAVEN"


LOVE'S LEMON COLOGNE! My personal favorite and I wish I could buy it now!


LOVE AND YARDLEY COSMETICS RULED THE LATE 60'S



Here's one for the girls... I have written about music for awhile now and need to get back to my hot 60's makeup and mod fashion stuff! One of the most fabulous things about the late sixties was Love Cosmetics! Remember that cool Donovan "Wear Your Love Like Heaven"

We all rushed to the drug store to scoop up the really uniquely named cool products designed for the mod generation and not our mothers.
There is surprisingly little on Love Cosmetics online so if any of you retro peeps have Love images to share let me know!



Love Cosmetics' first line of items included Love's Fresh Lemon (loved that) Cleanser, Lovelids eyeshadow, and Eau De Love. The latter came in a 6 oz. bottle. In all there were eleven products, and with the inclusion of shades, they numbered forty-three. Loveshines was the fun stick to contour and color your eyes, (like Twiggy) face, all your other kissable little curves and hollows.


Lipsticks were called Lovesticks. The remainder of the line was Love's Basic Moisture, Love's A Little Color, Love's Transparent Powder, Love's A Little Cover, Love's Liner, Love's Mascara, and Lovelids. Yardley Slickers Were the BEST


Most of us drew these dark contrast lines in the curve of the eyelid with heavy white highlights at the browline. (Still do but lighter) We did wear the really pale if not white lipstick. Love and Yardley Slickers made a lot of pale varieties. RED was DEAD. Your grandmothers wore the dragon lady reds back then. Not quite as dark as this but similar. Liquid liner pencilas weren't invented yet but we all took black eyebrow pencils and drew in "Twiggy's" bottoms lashes.



Everything in the 1960's was for high drama and effect. Natural? Well that was just a bad phase in the 70's which is why I have a 60's blog!

2.07.2009

THE HISTORY OF THE RUBY SLIPPERS OF OZ


I found this book called The Ruby Slippers of Oz by Rhys Thomas. It reads like a suspense filled detective novel. Keeping up with who just ran off with which pair of shoes...There were many pairs of shoes created for the Wizard of Oz movie. Miss Garland had several pairs and her stand ins had their own Ruby Slippers as well. The Witches shoes were the Slippers on the feet of the deceased Wicked Witch of the East. Her slippers had a much higher heel. (See the photo below)




Back to my personal fascination with the Ruby Slippers. All my life I have longed to own, touch, see, feel, and try on a pair of those slippers! They are a totem for my life. I have always made jokes in reference to OZ. "Somebody always helps that girl..." "These things must be handled delicately..."


Purchase the Book 
Click the links below



The Ruby Slippers of Oz tells a fascinating story of all the designers that worked on making those shoes and the drama behind the scenes of people trying to snatch them for their own financial gain.

Interesting is that there were possibly more than 12-17 pairs or slippers created for the movie. Judy Garland had several, the dead witch wore a pair with higher heels than Judy's. Margaret Hamilton wore a pair in the tornado scene (as the witch of the East). Debbie Reynold's has the the first prototype pair. (ugly ones) The first ones were supposed to be silver but they didn't photograph very well.

The fine print says: Protruding feet of the recently squished Wicked Witch of the East, shortly before she loses her shoes. Slipper fanatics will note a higher heel than on shoes worn by Judy Garland in the film

Arabian Ruby Slippers once owned by Debbie Reynolds

Arabian style ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. Gilbert Adrian designed two different style for Dorothy's shoes but this arabian pair were too exotic and didn't suit the look of a Kansas farmer girl. In the original novel of L. Frank Baum Dorothy wore a silver pair of slippers but it was changed in benefit of the Technicolor.


This book though is a fascinating read with all the background drama that happened to all of these shoes. Drama continues to this day. And the fact that any of them exist is pretty miraculous as they were made of flimsy materials.

They weren't much of a shoe to begin with, just a plain cloth pump but the sequins, bow and red dye made the magic and all the difference...


Western Costume designer Joe Napoli is credited with designing the slippers.

Kent Warner found a few pairs of them while working on a back lot that were supposed to be discarded. He was smart enough to hang on to those slippers!



Read more about the drama behind the 2 different shoes that are on display in the Smithsonian ... Rumor has it that these are a mismatched pair of the slippers..(2 different sizes)

2.04.2009

POPEYE THE SAILOR AND ALICE THE GOON


Alice the Goon! How I loved her! Poor thing I always felt so sad for her. She longed for Popeye and of course she was not the Paris Hilton of her time. Alice was the first assertive woman on screen long before Scarlett O'Hara or Judy Garland we had Alice the Goon!


She originated as a non gendered slave for the Sea Hag Popeye rescued her and her goon baby and she fell for him since that rescue. Popeye even hit her before realizing that Poor Alice was a woman and a single mom! The original goon look was radical for a kiddie cartoon see below:


The irate mommies wrote in and complained that Aliceand the goons were frightening the children! Hey that was the whole point!

Poor Alice with hairy legs..

Ever watch that show? Heck that Sea Hag was pretty scary but my second grade teacher beat her by a mile. So the advertisers buckled under and made Alice more feminine, gave her a dippy hat and goofy skirt. Lame


We rarely saw Alice make an appearance but were thrilled when she came on. Alice moved slowly and we were also afraid of what she might do if she caught Popeye! Luckily we do have a some old videos of Alice in Action as there are very few images left.



2.01.2009

MAJOR FRANK R. MAKI'S DEATH JUNE 22, 1971 AT FIREBASE FULLER


This past Thanksgiving was an interesting one for my family. My mom put a post on The Wall website and then received an email from a soldier that was there the day my dad was killed. I am with holding his name for his privacy. We will call him "John".

"John" wrote to my mother and told her that he had information of interest to our family. My mother sent it to me as I am the queen of the internet! LOL

I was nervous writing to "John" because I was afraid he had some startling and possibly terrifying things to tell me. We had all heard different things concerning the day Major Frank Maki was killed.

So my first question was,"were you there when my dad died"?


He was THERE... and this is what John had to say:

Yes, your father was killed by enemy fire. A rocket hit his bunker (the command bunker) on Firebase Fuller. I was there. There was nothing sinister, strange, retaliatory or subversive about it. It just happened...

Was he courageous? It took a lot of courage to be on Firebase Fuller. Was he scared? Yes -- we all were. Was he a hero? Depends on your definition. If it's being under
fire and still doing your duty -- then yes, he was a hero.






There were five men in the bunker at that time.The Major and
myself included: two ARVN officers and a GI we called "News".

The incoming round that hit the Major was a "dud". It did not explode. Had it exploded, certainly we would have all perished. Instead, no one received a scratch, except for your father. 


Your father did not die alone -- I was with him. He did not suffer. There were many killed during the siege on Firebase Fuller, but your father was the only American.

What a relief to find out that Dad never knew what hit him, his death saved other people's lives and most importantly he was not alone or abandoned.

As I was writing my first post on this topic I found an article on Firebase Fuller concerning that day June 22, 1971 This Day in History

I sent an email to "John" after that post and asked his opinion of the article. He was kind enough to reply:

 Major Freank Rudolph Maki  March 13,1928-June 22, 1971

Hi Kimmer, Yes, essentially the article is correct. One thing is inaccurate: "a 500 man Vietnamese garrison" at Firebase Fuller. There was never more than 100 men on top of that hill. Probably
much less at the end.

To give you an idea of what it was like:

One evening about dusk on Firebase Fuller, I was standing around
watching a long column of ARVN soldiers walk onto the Firebase. Periodically, the ARVNs would rotate a company off the mountain and bring a new company of men to replace them.

Many of these men came from local jails and prisons. They could
get out of jail by serving in the Army. I asked an ARVN who spoke English what the two ARVN officers were talking about. They were obviously agitated/upset.

He said they had done a headcount of men at the beginning of the trek and it was 96, but upon arriving on Fuller the headcount
was 98! They now surmised that at least two men
in our midst were spies...

Wow -- I'm glad that was long ago and far away.
Thank you John! We are grateful that you were there when he needed you.


Maj. Frank Maki served twice in Vietnam 1968-69 and briefly in 1971. Sadly he was killed in action at Firebase Fuller just 3 miles south of the DMZ Here is what happened the day my father was killed.

June 22, 1971 From This Day in History South Vietnamese fight for Fire Base Fuller In a major engagement near the Demilitarized Zone, some 1,500 North Vietnamese attack the 500-man South
Vietnamese garrison at Fire Base Fuller. 

Despite U.S. B-52 raids dropping 60 tons of bombs on June 21 and a 1,000-man reinforcement on June 24, the South Vietnamese had to abandon the base since a North Vietnamese bombardment had destroyed 80 percent of their bunkers.

In an attempt to clear the surrounding area of enemy mortar and rocket sites, South Vietnamese forces swept the region on June 25. On June 28, a Saigon spokesman announced that 120 South Vietnamese had reoccupied.
 

My Dad's name on the Wall

Fire Base Fuller, but would not rebuild the fortifications. Casualty figures were reported at nearly 500 North Vietnamese dead, with 135 wounded.
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