“It’s Stuff We Like and You Might Too”
A Visual sampling of our latest Adventures and Undertakings
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The Museum of the Moving Image recently celebrated the essence of the Halloween season with a gala costume party held on the premises. Located in Astoria Queens, New York – a neighborhood linked to the filmmaking industry for over 100 years – the museum offers visitors a detailed look at the historical and technological gestation of the art of cinema.
Hosted in partnership with YELP, museum members and invitees enjoyed a Mexican themed buffet and refreshments by QSNY Cocktails before partaking in the seasonally themed tours and competitions. Throughout the night DJ AI spun a solid block of dance floor classics, from “Electric Slide” to Michael Jackson hits, ensuring a good time for the costumed party go-ers.
Head Spinning Highlights…
Highlighting the event were flashlight illuminated tours of the scariest parts of the museum’s collection. Escorted by a masked guide, guests saw production sketches and set miniatures from Silence of the Lambs, outsize physical FX props from the A Nightmare On Elm Street series, and sculpts for the make-up appliances from The Elephant Man.
The most unique exhibit was a collection of artifacts documenting the production of The Exorcist (1973,) still considering of of the most chilling cinema excursions of all time.
The life-size model of actress Linda Blair as Regan, the movie’s possessed youngster, sat menacingly in a show case. This is the prop used for the 360 degree head-spinning scene. It is quite a bizarre piece of film history and holds a creep factor that was accentuated by the dimly lit surroundings.
The Exorcist exhibit also includes examples of make-up artist Dick Smith’s ingenuity. Of special interest was the apparatus that was fitted to stand-in Eileen Dietz to achieve the famous pea soup projectile vomiting scene.
Projections of the Past…
To conclude the tour we were treated to a live Magic Lantern show. Magic Lanterns were the progenitors of film projectors. A beautifully restored 1890s era lantern was operated by Joel Schlemowitz, a collector and conservator of vintage audio-visual inventions. He featured an appropriately spooky selection of glass slides, that included burial scenes and hordes of skeletal apparitions. Schelmowitz explained the workings of the machine and how its dual lens system allowed for seamless slide changes and effective collaging of images. For a truly old school effect, the presentation was accompanied by a recording played on a vintage Gramophone.
During the heart of the evening revelers participated in several competitions. Drag performance personality Avant Garbage MC’d a multi-round costume contest.
Avant Garbage is noted for a found item, trash aesthetic, fashion sense. For example, a rag-mop wig is one of the clever hallmarks of the performer’s look. In addition to hosting duties Avant Garbage took center stage with a scary lyrical rap while transforming into Freddy Krueger.
Terrifying Trivia…
Later in the evening Mike Drake, author of Contemporary Krampus: A Modern Look At An Ancient Legend, posed a batch of brain busting questions on horror movie minutiae. Guests had an impressive knowledge of some pretty obscure facts about scary cinema. Winners received an assortment of prizes contributed by sponsors Factory Entertainment, Paragon FX Group, Universal Films‘ Exorcist: Believer, Eric Pigor’s Toxic Toons, Trick or Treat Studios, Warner Bros.’ IT and the TerrorVision Haunted House.
The Museum of the Moving Image can be visited throughout the year. It offers a rotating schedule of film screenings in addition to the onsite exhibits. On-going exhibits include a career spanning look at the work of Jim Henson (The Muppet Show, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal) and the aforementioned space dedicated to production of The Exorcist.
Please check MoMI’s website (linked above) for upcoming presentations and information on membership opportunities.
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It’s Wednesday Wednesday…
Wednesday Friday Addams, the pig-tailed, oval faced, little girl with a deadpan demeanor and a predilection for beheading her dolls, has come a long way since her creation at the imaginative pen of cartoonist Charles Addams.
Originally published in The New Yorker Magazine, the characters of Addams’ droll one pagers became household familiars when, in 1964, ABC television launched The Addams Family series based on the clan’s outre exploits. Composer Vic Mizzy’s finger-snapping earworm of a theme song helped the show burrow its way into the American psyche and pop culture history.
Elevated to main character in the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday the impish Goth fledgling has once again proliferated the spirit of the times. The Netflix series spins Wednesday as a High School sleuth. A Nancy Drew for the end-of-days. Her protective compadre, Thing, is always nearby to – well – lend a hand.
Big Beat from Badsville…
Boomer aged Addams fans will remember Wednesday being portrayed by the late Lisa Loring. In season 2, her quirky dance “The Droop” (meant to lend Butler Lurch a groovy charm and impress his inamorata) gave the young actress a chance to show off some impressive James Brown moves. The well performed shuffle, remembered by fans and rediscovered by vintage TV enthusiasts and YouTube spelunkers, was ripe for reinvention in Netflix’ Wednesday reimagining.
Current Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega interprets the dance (performed to The Cramps forever awesome “Goo-Goo Muck”) as an angular set of moves. She intertwines flamenco with austere 80’s new wave and beatnik hand jive. Think Carmen Amaya watching Who Killed Teddy Bear? on the Kraftwerk tour bus, with Robert Fraser driving.
Head Scratching History…
Why a seemingly staid, still mid-Century minded, general public took to the surrealistic scenarios of the show (and its competitor The Munsters) is worthy of a sociological dissertation.
I’m tempted, but for now we’re simply going to offer up a glimpse of the latest Wednesday related items available for your collecting enjoyment that we saw at The Toy Association’s 2023 New York Toy Fair. These include several Royal Bobbleheads statues, NECA’s Toony Terrors, a Super Impulse Poptator, Toy Tokyo Phunny Plush, and even a Thing Chia Pet from JE.
Slap Happy…
Despite exponential tech advances in video gaming, Pong is still my favorite. My Dad and I spent hours in front of our 13” black & white TV trying to stop that pesky pixel from getting past our paddles. That is what drew my interest to Fat Brain Toy’s VolleyShot during the Toy Association‘s 2023 Toy Fair New York.
VolleyShot can best be described as a non-electronic version of Pong. If the ball gets past you – into the groove below your paddle – your opponent gains a point.
52 years ago today, what is now considered a milestone album in the history of rock music, Who’s Next was released. With a massive Super Deluxe Edition of early 70s Who music looming I had cause to reminisce about my personal attachment to the Who‘s Next album and the uncompleted project called Lifehouse that spawned it.
Hot Mash…
Super Impulse, famous for their line of impossibly small replicas of iconic toys, games and products, showed off a basket full of their Poptaters at the recent Toy Insider Sweet Suite Event.
Poptaters are a mash-up of Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head and the world of pop culture personalities. A bit bigger than SI’s usual licensed collectibles, Poptaters feature characters from fandoms both obvious and surprisingly obscure. There are also generational leaps from Boomers to Gen A giving the product a wide appeal.