Halloween Vintage style

(Picture taken from verybadfrog.com)

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of its original title "All Hallow's Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the eve before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows. According to some scholars, All Hallows' Eve initially incorporated traditions from pagan  festivals and festivals honouring the dead, particularly the Celtic Samhein, other scholars maintain that the feast originated entirely independently of Samhain.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving pumpkins, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

(Taken from Wikipedia)

Being a fan of all things vintage, I particularly enjoy the slightly older style of Halloween celebration. I adore the fun, pin ups of a by-gone era...

Dusty Anderson

Peggy Ryan

Veronica Lake

Adele Jergens

Joyce Holden

Ava Gardner

(All of the above images taken from verybadfrog.com)

I also love the vintage greetings cards sent to friends and loved ones in the past, at this time of year. In England where I live, Halloween cards are not often sent, but in America, where the celebrations are much bigger, there were some absolutely adorable images on these cards.

(Image taken from Ebay)

(Image taken from Pinterest)

(Taken from billcasselman.com)

(Taken from etsystatic.com)

(Taken from flickriver.com)

Take a look at my Pinterest board, 'This is Halloween' for many more Halloween pictures, ideas and suggestions.

CLICK HERE FOR MY PINTEREST, HALLOWEEN BOARD.

HAVE A GREAT VINTAGE STYLE HALLOWEEN!!

Preparing For Christmas In October!

Here at Vintage Vic's, I start preparing my Christmas stock early.

In fact, I spend the whole year preparing!

I buy my vintage cards, from many sources all over the world.

Then, as if by magic, I turn them into new cards!

I NEVER reproduce images. I attach the artwork from the vintage card, to a new card, and add any other alterations needed. A touch of glitter here, a little text there...

I pop in a new envelope,

add my Vintage Vic stamp to the back and there you have it. A gorgeous new card, featuring some wonderful vintage artwork!

Over the next few days and weeks, I shall be making and adding lots of Christmas cards to my shop, so please keep popping back to check on new arrivals.

I also make and sell, lovely ready to frame vintage illustrations, for you to decorate with, or give as gifts

and framed vintage cards and illustrations, for you to simply enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR VINTAGE VIC'S WEB SITE

CLICK HERE TO GO TO VINTAGE VIC'S SHOP

Vintage Pinup Artist, Gil Elvgren

If you have been browsing my blog, you will have seen that I had a Vintage Vic stall, at the Deal Braderie craft fair last week. Whilst there, I spotted a wonderful piece of art. A canvas upon which an artist had painted  a copy of a Gil Elvgren pinup girl. It was beautiful, but someone else got to it before me. :-(

As I work with vintage cards, illustrations and ephemera, I have come across this name often, so I decided to find out more about this man and his amazing pinup art.

Gil Elvgren (March 15, 1914, Minnesota – February 29, 1980, Florida), born Gillette Elvgren, was an Americanpainter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Elvgren was one of the most important pin-up and glamour artists of the twentieth century.

He attended University High School. After graduation he began studying art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He subsequently moved to Chicago to study at theAmerican Academy of Art. He graduated from the Academy during the depression at the age of twenty-two. Elvgren joined the stable of artists at Stevens and Gross, Chicago's most prestigious advertising agency.

In 1937, Gil began painting calendar pin-ups for Louis F. Dow, one of America's leading publishing companies, during which time he created about 60 works. Around 1944, Gil was approached by Brown and Bigelow, ( also home to the wonderful Hilda, by Duane Bryers) a firm that still dominates the field in producing calendars and advertising specialties. He was associated with Brown and Bigelow from 1945 to 1972.^[5]

Elvgren was a commercial success. He lived in various locations, and was active from the 1930s to 1970s. His clients ranged from Brown and Bigelow and Coca-Cola to General Electric and Sealy Mattress Company. In addition, during the 1940s and 1950s he illustrated stories for a host of magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Good.

(Taken from wikipedia)

Elvgren's Coca-Cola subjects portrayed the American dream of a secure, comfortable lifestyle, but his well-known illustrations for magazine stories often captured timeless scenes that reflected the hopes, fears and joys of their readers. These publishing assignments were commissioned during the 1940s and 1950s by a host of mainstream American magazines, including McCall's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Woman's Home Companion.

(Taken from www.gilelvgren.com)

The discovery of Elvgren’s collection of over 350 nude photographic slides was a fascinating find that forms a more complete picture of his artistic process. Elvgren’s paintbrush could capture the exact angle of a hip or line of a leg seemingly effortlessly. He understood intrinsically how women moved. It is thus perhaps not such a surprise to realise that he worked from nude photography as well as his more formal, clothed, studio set-ups. As Elvgren himself once commented, ‘Working from photographs is funny. Once in a while you hit one which has everything you want, but most of the time it’s like life in a mannequin factory. A leg here, an arm there, a little from this one, something else from another. Finally you have a picture.”

(Taken from www.reelartpress.com)

(Above pictures taken from fashionism.ca)

One of the most fascinating features of the Elvgren collection is the glimpse this one box of slides gives into the still relatively unknown subculture of amateur camera clubs and underground nude photography that existed at a time when even topless modeling was taboo and full nudity was classed as illegal pornography.

(Taken from www.reelartpress.com)

For further reading, I suggest you click here to take you to www.gilelvgren.com

One Vintage Song 3 Ways...

On 23rd June, I wrote a blog post, in which I showed you a fantastic vintage song performed 3 different ways.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW BLOG POST ON SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT...

Got lots of feedback on my Facebook page and have been meaning to do another for ages!

CLICK HERE FOR VINTAGE VIC'S FACEBOOK PAGE

So here it is, better late than never!

The song I have chosen this time is the well known vintage tune...
You're So Vain.

In 1973 Carly Simon scored the biggest success of her career with the classic global smash "You're So Vain". It hit #1 on the U.S. Pop and Adult Contemporary charts, and sold over a million copies in the United States alone. It was one of the decade's biggest hits and propelled Simon's breakthrough album No Secrets to #1 on the U.S. album charts, where it stayed for six consecutive weeks. The album achieved Gold status that year, but by the album's 25th anniversary in 1997, the album had been certified Platinum. "You're So Vain" received Grammy Award nominations for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Additionally, in 2008, it was listed at #72 on the Billboard Hot 100's list of the top 100 songs from the chart's first 50 years, August 1958 through July 2008.

The subject of the song itself has become one of the biggest enigmas in popular music, as this track also carries one of the most famous lyrics: "You're so vain/I bet you think this song is about you." Simon has never publicly admitted who the song is about. She hinted that it could be a composite of several people, and for many people the most likely "suspects" have always been Beatty or Jagger, who sings backup vocals on this recording. Simon has given vague hints over the decades to a variety of talk shows and publications, saying that riddles wouldn't be interesting if everyone knew the answers to them. On August 5, 2003, she did finally auction off the information to the winner of a charity function for a grand total of US$50,000, with the condition that the winner (a television executive, Dick Ebersol on NBC's Today Show) not reveal who it is.^[7]

(The above information is taken from Wikipedia)

(PLEASE BE AWARE, TWO OF THESE ARE ROCK VIDEOS AND MAY CONTAIN A FEW PICTURES OF VERY SCANTILY CLAD WOMEN!)

SO, HERE IS THE FIRST VERSION, SUNG BY CARLY SIMON HERSELF...

THE SECOND VERSION, IS A LESS WELL KNOWN COVER OF THE SONG, BY POPULAR HEAVY ROCK BAND, FASTER PUSSYCAT...

Click here for more information on Faster Pussycat

LAST BUT BY NO MEANS LEAST IS THE MOST RECENT OF THE 3 VERSIONS. THIS ONE IS BY THE SURPRISE PAIRING OF MARILYN MANSON AND JOHNNY DEPP, WHO APPARENTLY HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FOR YEARS. JOHNNY IS ON GUITAR...

I love all 3 versions, but for me the Marilyn Manson/Johnny Depp version is best. I love my rock music and I just think it has great depth.

Let me know which you like best, or least. Leave a message, or pop onto my Face book page.

(Please be aware this is only about the music and not any personal opinions you may have against any of the performers!)

CLICK HERE FOR VINTAGE VIC'S FACEBOOK PAGE

If you enjoyed this post, please follow MY blog, as I intend to do more of these in the future!

Deal Braderie 2012

Sunday 16th September, the lovely seaside Town of Deal, (Kent, England) home to Vintage Vic, is having a braderie.

A braderie or jaarmarkt (respectively meaning roasting and annual market in Dutch) is a type of grand yearly street fair and street market. 

Deal hosts one every year and it is always wonderful! 

The Braderie is fast approaching, this very popular annual antique, collectables and bric a brac street fair is on Sunday 16 September and will run along  Deal High Street from Church Path (St Georges Church) to just past the junction of Water Street (near Alfred Square).

This event is very popular with local residents and tourists, there will be approximately 130 pitches selling a variety of antiques, memorabila, bric a brac, jewellery etc.

All pitches are now booked, however, if you would like to be added to the waiting list please contact, Deal Town Council, Town Hall, High Street, Deal, Kent  CT14 6BB,
telephone:  01304 361999, email:  deal.town.council@deal.gov.uk.

                 

At the same time, there is a contemporary craft fair, in St George's hall. Vintage Vic is having a stall there. I shall be selling my handmade from vintage illustrations, greetings cards and my ready to frame and framed vintage illustrations.

On 30th September, Vintage Vic's will be selling all this and lovely vintage items, such as books, games, china and anything else I decide to throw in, at the Whitstable Past & Present Fair.

If you are too far away to come along and say hi, not to worry, just take a look at my website and details of how to shop with me are all given.

www.vintagevic.co.uk

You can also find me on Facebook, under Vintage Vic and on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/vintagevic?ref=si_shop

and

http://www.etsy.com/index.php?show_panel=true

Woodstock, 15th August 1969...

Today, 15th August 2012, marks 43 years since the Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place , in Bethel, New York.

Bethel is a town in Sullivan County, New York, USA, whose name derives from Bethlehem. The population has been estimated at 4,255 in 2010.^[1]

The town received worldwide fame after it became the host of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, which was originally planned for Wallkill, New York, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew.

(Taken from Wikipedia.)

The outdoor rock concert attracted many top performers, including Jimi Hedrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who. An estimated 300,000 people were expected to attend, however approximately 500, 000 turned up.

CLICK ON ABOVE TO SEE A 3 MINUTE FILM ABOUT THE ORGANISING OF WOODSTOCK.

Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time and, perhaps, the most pivotal moment in music history.

Joni Mitchell said,

 "Woodstock was a spark of beauty" where half-a-million kids saw that they were part of a greater organism." 

According to Michael Lang, one of four young men who formed Woodstock Ventures to produce the festival, 

"That's what means the most to me – the connection to one another felt by all of us who worked on the festival, all those who came to it, and the millions who couldn't be there but were touched by it."

(Taken from www.woodstock.com)

• The festival created massive traffic jams and extreme shortages of food, water, and medical and sanitary facilities.

• No incidents of violence occurred at the Woodstock festival.

• Most of the 80 arrests at Woodstock were made on drug charges involving LSD, amphetamines and heroin.

• Marijuana smokers, estimated to be the majority of the audience, were not arrested at Woodstock.

• Three accidental deaths were reported at Woodstock.

• The Festival had been scheduled to be held in Walkill, New York.

• After Walkill townspeople objected, it was moved to the 600-acre farm of dairyman Max B. Yasgur.

• The organizers of the festival, John Roberts, Michael Lang and Joel Rosenman, had originally estimated expenses, to be covered by admissions fees, at $750,000.

• The crush of spectators, however, caused ticket-taking to be abandoned.

• Ultimately, Woodstock Ventures, Inc. spent $2.5 million while collecting only $1.5 million.

• The $1 million debt was to be offset by a film of the festival and recordings of the music.

• Acts at Woodstock included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, Santana, The Who and a nascent Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

• Festival featured 33 musical acts

• Janis Joplin was paid was paid $7,500 at Woodstock.

(Facts taken from www.foxnews.com)

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2009/07/19/fast-facts-woodstock/#ixzz23bl5EMAs

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE FOR FOOTAGE OF SOME OF THE CROWD MEMBERS