THE TOUCHABLES

Theatrical trailer for the swinging sixties mod film The Touchables. Directed by Robert Freeman, written by Donald Cammell and Ian La Frenais. Theatrical trailer for the swinging sixties mod film The Touchables. Directed by Robert Freeman, written by Donald Cammell and Ian La Frenais.

Mark Ellis

I acquired the soundtrack LP to The Touchables in the late 80s, hooked initially and unsurprisingly by the groovy girls on the cover and the inclusion of my fave Hammond organ demon, Wynder K Frog, on the track list.

I read somewhere, the synopsis for this long lost artefact of swinging London excess and marvelled at the plot concerning an arrogant pop star kidnapped by four pulchritudinous dollybirds and kept as a sexual plaything in a see through pleasure bubble in the English countryside. Blimey! That’s all I could find out at the time…oh yes and its lack of availability….darn! Nothing on the LP either to convey fevered kinky couplings, except a bit of greasy Hammond courtesy of Mr Frog….the sometimes patchy soundtrack also featured a bit of white soul from Ferris Wheel, flowerpop from Roy Redman and cult psych band, Nirvana. It also turns out to have been directed by Beatles photographer, Robert Freeman and written by the masterful Ian La Frenais and the late great genius, Donald Cammell….I still haven’t seen it!

Anyhow, the wonderous Youtube has come up trumps with some footage from this scarce movie..enjoy….

HEATHER HARRIS: SHOOTS JAMES WILLIAMSON

SEE THE WHOLE GALLERY HERE

ANN ARBOR ROCK N ROLL REVIVAL 2009

GET YOUR ADVANCED TICKETS HERE

Hey all you South Eastern Michigan and surrounding area Detroit Rock fans! Come on out for the up coming once in a lifetime line up of Scott Morgan (The Rationals) and Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman) Hiawatha Bailey and Gorevette!!

They will be playing together once more at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. Tickets will be available online at 10 am tomorrow morning! Get your tickets HERE this show will sell out quickly!

Come on out and hear your favorite tunes from these fantastic founders of Rock and Roll.

Supporting the legendary trio with be Gorevette, Mazinga and the Irrationals!

Here is a little warm up...

SCOTT ASHETON SCOTT MORGAN MIKE KATON

US MARINE CORPS 234TH BIRTHDAY!

WATCH THE GREAT TRIBUTE VIDEO HERE

Thank you to all of our military members!

FRANK ABIGINALE JR 1964: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Frank Abagnale Jr, 16 years old, lives happily in 1964 New Rochelle, New York with his father Frank Abagnale Sr and French mother Paula. When a loan for Frank Sr. is denied at Chase Manhattan Bank, due to a series of IRS tax frauds by Frank Sr, the family is forced to move from their grand home to a small apartment.

Paula carries on an affair with Jack, a friend of her husband. In the meantime, Frank poses as a substitute teacher in his French class. Shortly, Frank's parents file for divorce, and Frank, scared, runs away. When he runs out of money, he begins to use confidence scams. Frank's cons grow ever bolder and he even impersonates an airline pilot. He forges Lufthansa & Pan Am payroll checks and succeeds in stealing more than $2.8 million.

Meanwhile Carl Hanratty, an FBI bank fraud agent, begins to track down Frank with little help from his superiors. Carl and Frank meet in a hotel, where Frank convinces Carl his name is Barry Allen of the Secret Service.

Frank leaves, with Carl angrily fooled. Later, at Christmas, Carl is still working when Frank calls him, attempting to apologize for duping Carl. Carl rejects his apology and tells him that he will soon be caught, but laughs when he realizes that Frank actually called him because he has no one else to talk to. Frank hangs up, and Carl continues to investigate. At a restaurant, a waiter points out to Carl that Frank's false name, "Barry Allen," is from The Flash comic books. Carl then realizes that Frank is probably a teenager.

Frank, meanwhile, has not only switched to becoming a doctor and a Louisiana lawyer, but has also fallen in love with a girl named Brenda. Carl tracks him to his engagement party where Frank admits the truth about himself to Brenda and asks her to run away with him. As he escapes, he asks Brenda to meet him in two days so they can elope.

At the Miami International Airport, Frank sees her waiting as agreed, but he spots FBI agents everywhere and realizes that he has been set up (with Brenda as the bait) and posing as a representative for Pan-Am, goes to a nearby girl's college to "recruit" girls to be "stewardesses-in-training," and returns to the airport the next day, using the girls that he recruits as a distraction to the FBI agents, making his escape to Europe. Seven months later, Carl shows his boss that Frank has been forging checks all over the world and that he is out of control. He wants permission to fly to Europe to look for him. When his boss denies him the permission, Carl takes Frank’s checks to professional printers who deem that they were printed in France. Remembering that Frank’s mother, Paula, was born in Montrichard, France, Carl goes there where he finds Frank. He tells him the French police will kill him if he does not go with Carl quietly.

Frank assumes he is joking, but Carl assures Frank he would never lie to him, and Carl takes him outside, where the French police escort him to prison. Carl promises to have him extradited to the U.S. The scene then flashes forward to a plane returning Frank to the U.S. from France. Carl informs him that his father has died. Consumed with grief, Frank escapes through the bathroom plumbing and out the landing gear when the plane lands in New York. He goes back to his old house, where he sees his mother and Jack Barnes, as well as a little girl that Frank realizes is his half-sister. Frank gives up and is sentenced to prison, getting occasional visits from Carl.

When Frank easily points out how one of the checks Carl is carrying as evidence is fake, Carl gets an idea and calls for an interview with the FBI. At the interview, the FBI informs Frank that he can serve out the remainder of his sentence working in the FBI's bank fraud department, under Carl’s custody, to which Frank accepts. Though somewhat content, Frank still misses the thrill of the chase and attempts to be a pilot again. Carl catches him, but lets him fly anyway, remarking "sometimes it's easier living the lie," and says he knows Frank will be back, as no-one is chasing him.

On Monday, though delayed, Frank does return, and finally reveals to Carl that not all of his careers were cons—Frank passed the Louisiana Bar exam by studying for it for two weeks.

The epilogue shows that Frank is happily married with three sons, lives in the Midwest, and is still good friends with Carl. Frank has helped catch some of the world's most elusive money forgers and earns millions creating unforgeable checks. Frank give lecturers for the FBI and large corporations in check fraud and security.

 Fictions in the Film 

  

RETRO: KIMMER LOVES TROLL DOLLS!!

We loved TROLLS!! Kimmer had tons of them and we had Troll villages and Troll Houses that we made out of old bleach bottles. We would cut out the front of the bleach bottle. Add carpet on the "floor". Paste pictures on their walls, and cut out windows too. The bottle had a built in handle for carrying and the creativity we put into customizing these little troll homes was amazing. Wish I had a photo of one from back then.

We had lots of different colored hair trolls but my two favorites were a white haired one and an orange haired one that my mean step sister threw out the car window when I was about 7 years old. See... emotional damage never heals! I am still mad that my step father refused to turn the car around to go get it...

We even had Troll Animals and I found a picture of one I had, the Troll Giraffe:

We made our own clothes for the Trolls because there weren't any for sale yet. They did have outfits later on but by then I was teen aged and on to other things. Our homemade clothes weren't as fancy as these below but we loved them just the same.

They were addictive! Just like I guess the Beanie Baby craze in the 90's. I still want these dolls when I see those little eyes! Unlike the Liddle Kiddle's they didn't come with any accessories except my Mrs. Santa Claus version. she kind of looked like this one below:

They did bring Trolls back in the late 80's. They had the belly button jewel. Mine didn't have those as I recall. I had both versions of Trolls the Dam and Russ versions. Russ had the best faces and best hair. They cost more too.

TROLL HISTORY

Trolls have been a part of folklore forever--as bad and mischievous creatures who lived in caves, in logs, and under bridges. Trolls are believed to be good luck, which certainly has helped the sale of troll dolls--troll dolls can be found in houses, in cars, even at work, purchased with the hope that they will bring luck to their owners.

Trolls in their collectible form were first created by Thomas Dam and his family, in Denmark in the 1950s. The first Dam trolls were carved in wood. Later, they were made of soft rubber, and finally, vinyl.

The trolls made by Thomas Dam's company became known as "Dam Things," and these are the most popular trolls with collectors today. Most collectors believe that the Dam Thing trolls have the most character, the best clothing, and the highest quality.

Although Dam Things made the most well-known and most collectible trolls, many companies got on the troll bandwagon and began to produce trolls in the mid 1960s. Most of these trolls are unmarked, so it is often difficult to identify trolls from any of the "clone" troll makers. Many of the clone troll manufacturers were from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the trolls they made were cheap imitations and of low quality.

These low-quality trolls flooded the market in the mid-1960s, which caused trolls to become less popular--troll popularity peaked approximately in 1966. Trolls went downhill from there, and became almost invisible by the 1980s.
 

However, starting in 1989, troll production started in earnest again, when troll nostalgia hit big, causing the second boom-period for trolls in the early 1990s. Trolls became ubiquitous again, and were found in nearly every toy shop and gift shop.

Today, trolls are not as common as in the early 1990s, but can still be found. Today's trolls are made by several manufacturers, including Dam Trolls which only sells their current trolls in Denmark.

COLLECTOR TROLLS ONLINE

This is a small group of old troll dolls. These funny little dolls gained popularity in the 1960’s and 70’s and have been in and out of fashion ever since. The first large on measures about 3” high excluding its wild, multi-colored hair.

It has plastic eyes and is wearing a little shirt that has numbers on it and reads; Lucky Lottery Troll. On its feet it is marked with the Russ copyright and China. The other large one is a jeweled troll and is slightly different in character and its plastic eyes are inset more. It has shocking turquoise hair, a matching rhinestone like gem in its belly button and blue eyes.

It measures about 3” high excluding the hair and is marked Made in China - Ace Novelty Co., Inc. on the bottom of its feet. Of the three smaller ones with painted eyes and shocking pink hair, one, I believe, is a pencil topper as shown in the pictures.

It measures about 1 ¼” high and is only marked China on the back. Then there are two tiny ones that measure about 1” tall excluding the hair. On the back they are marked with the Russ copyright and China and they both have their original Russ foil label on the bottom of their feet.

Sherry Groom the current Guinness World record holder 

Check out her The Troll Hole Museum in Alliance Ohio 

where she has over 10,00 troll dolls and troll memorabilia, 

Take a peak at thetrollhole.com 

Sophie Marie Cross, of Ilges Lane, Cholsey

World Record Troll Collector:

A SCHOOLGIRL’S hobby has landed her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sophie Marie Cross, of Ilges Lane, Cholsey, has broken her own record for having the most troll dolls – with a gruesome 545.

The 13-year-old Wallingford School pupil said she had no plans to give up her collection and is constantly on the look out for more of the dolls.

“I first started my collection when I was seven after my brother bought a small troll and I took a shine to it,” she said. Full Story HERE

Troll Mischief Video

Troll Fashion Show!