Jamie

@vanjpes

Tired enthusiast. Mostly here to post about old television shows, films, comedy, books, and horror. Rambles and tangents on culture here:

298 Folgt1.199 Follower2.242 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir vanjpes.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Jamie@vanjpes· 16d

The film discourse in these times

Lee Mack on stage doing stand up, asking a decorator if his job is good, and after the response ‘some good, some bad’ asking “Does it have its medium bits? Or is it all very extreme? It’s joy! Or it’s shit!”

Jamie@vanjpes· 17d

An outstandingly good Chaney is at times heartbreaking and others unnerving as a man pushed beyond what he can take when the past won’t leave him be. Thematically very grim, it’s an intense film juxtaposing moments of hope and darkness until a disturbing, grotesque, ultimately sad final reel.

Chaney in dark top part make up on the right of frame as another clown on the left in a white top with dark spots applies his makeup. Chaney looks haunted, and a little in this moment like Karloff’s monster to be years later.

A shot of the circus tent outside at night. There is a large sign of Chaney’s clown getting slapped hovering over it made from light bulbs.

Norma Shearer helps sow back on a heart patch to Chaney’s costume. He looks down at her, clearly smitten.

Chaney in full makeup and costume in the circus arena. He is standing as if ready to pounce, a look of despairing rage on his face.

Jamie@vanjpes· 17d

Tonight’s 📽️ He Who Gets Slapped (1924, dir. Victor Sjöström). Filled in more of my Lon Chaney filmography with this wild tale of a scientist betrayed by his benefactor and his wife finding a new home in a circus as a clown who gets slapped, until the unlikely opportunity for revenge presents itself.

Stark poster for He Who Gets Slapped has the name set against a black background with only Chaney’s illustrated face in clown makeup with a look of anguish

Jamie@vanjpes· 19d

Been a while since a good horror 📽️ so went for a favourite: House of Dark Shadows (1970, dir. Dan Curtis). Borderline incoherent, it’s a bloody treat for those familiar with the show. Gloriously unhinged, with beautiful production design and yet looking like it was shot in 48hrs, it’s a delight.

Poster for House of Dark Shadows (1970) shows several illustrations of events from the film alongside the taglines ‘Barnabas Collins, vampire, takes a bride in a bizarre act of unnatural lust’ and ‘Come see how the vampires do it’

Jamie@vanjpes· 21d

It does mean new book day, and even if anyone dies in something like this, there’s a good chance they’ll pop up later on alive in the shower

A photograph of the book Love in the Afternoon, and Evening: Essays and Conversations on Soap Operas by Charlotte Druckman and Mayukh Sen, cover art of two people about to kiss by Evan Gaffney

Jamie@vanjpes· 24d

You: a refined adult who breakfasts on muesli and fresh fruit Me: technically grown up, eating alphabet cereal in the middle of the day

A photograph of a bowl of cereal in letter shapes, which some idiot has used to spell out the word BOOBS with on the top of pile

Jamie@vanjpes· 26d

Touché, charity book store I just dropped about 50 books off with, touché. It would be rude not to.

A photo of the book How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession by Caitlin Blackwell Baines

Jamie@vanjpes· Jul 14

Pictured: me and my friends hanging out

A person in a checked jackets sits in front of an array of dials, bulbs and a microphone/receiver of sorts. They hold two ventriloquists dummy heads, one in each hand.

The actual caption to the photo is: “Ventriloquist's dummies were part of John Logie Baird's equipment during his research in the 1920s”

Jamie@vanjpes· Jul 12

Happy BOTD…uh…day to Tod Browning (in 1880), one of the great, genuinely weird American filmmakers. Treat yourself to one of his silent pictures today, maybe one with Lon Chaney in it, but not this one, because it doesn’t exist anymore. Then read how fucked up Browning’s life was. You know, for fun.

Tod Browning, Lon Chaney, and Conrad Nagel on the set of London After Midnight (1927), Browning gawping at Chaney and Nagel’s creepy hand poses.

Jamie@vanjpes· Jul 9

Jack Palance, dressed in a suit smiling like a dickhead in a room on fire, a speech bubble by his head saying “This is fine”

Jamie@vanjpes· Jul 7

Love this only remaining still from a children’s version of the Ring legend, BBC, late 1970s

A black and white electrical scan image of a baby crawling out of something, looking cute as a button, honestly

Text with the image read: “A reproducton of an image transmitted by electrical scanning in the Farnsworth laboratories in Philadelphia in 1935. The original image appeared on the flat end of a cathode ray tube and measured six by eight inches.”

Jamie@vanjpes· Jul 5

On a little journey through the original The Addams Family, and (by no means a novel thought) the way they love each other and are completely, thrillingly comfortable and comfortable in who they are - particularly Morticia and Gomez, apart and together- is beautiful. But, you know, with gags.

Jackie Coogan, John Astin, Marie Blake, Ted Cassidy, Carolyn Jones, Lisa Loring, and Ken Weatherwax posing in costume for The Addams Family (1964)

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 30

The whole thing is one step away from ‘started with a small inheritance’ for sure

Aside from their good incomes, their extreme saving habits meant they were able to retire early - and they put as much money as they could possibly afford into investments.

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 23

Fascinating because it crosses several lines, from (mostly) straight ahead period police procedural, to pitch black comedy, and strange, almost poetic slivers of rural fantasy and rural horror, playing like a child’s fantasy of right and wrong. Plus June Carter Cash as a fortune-telling witch.

Newspaper advert for the premiere showing Cash, the film title, a car chase at the bottom, and Andy Griffith wielding a pistol. The tagline is ‘“The Kingdom,” a backwards dynasty of moonshine and murder. This is the story of the man who ran it, and the man who crushed it.’

A frame showing a man on horseback riding ahead in a wooded area, and behind him, two men carrying a pole with something suspiciously human-body sized hanging from it.

A frame showing Cash as Sheriff Potts on the right of frame and June Carter Cash as Mayhaley Lancaster on left of frame sat in chairs in front of a fire. Lancaster is using a stick to read the ashes in front of her.

In a wooded setting, a figure of a man wearing a hat can be seen at the bottom of frame, with light streaming in from above creating shadows of both him and the trees.

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 23

Still mulling over the weekend’s 📽️ Murder in Coweta County (1983, dir. Gary Nelson), a fascinating, unusual television movie retelling of a true crime story, with Andy Griffith in a heel turn as a thoroughly bad guy and Johnny Cash as the sheriff who won’t let him get away with murder.

Screenshot shows four men standing against or leaning on two 1940s period cars in a town square type area. A sign can be seen between the two cars saying CLEAN REST ROOMS in red lettering. The men are intimidating another man who is offscreen.

Two cars on a country road, in pursuit of another vehicle out of sight, and in the foreground a sign reading COWETA COUNTY

A sleepy eyed, stern looking Johnny Cash in the foreground, dressed in shirt, red tie, jacket and wearing a hat. He has a sheriff’s badge pinned to the jacket. He is in a prison corridor walking off while another man, dressed in a suit, watches him.

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 20

You gotta love a good niche topic book

A photograph of the book Sitcom Style: Inside America’s Favorite TV Homes by Diana Friedman, alongside the title the cover is made up of images from several sitcoms

Page from the book showing Lucy from I Love Lucy in her apartment, and below it a floor plan of the apartment

Another page from the book showing a floor plan of The Jetsons’ futuristic home

A final page from the book showing Don Robert’s set design ideas for All in the Family and a photo from the set of the kitchen

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 12

Up to the ‘Freaks, Geeks & Outsiders’ episode on a run through of History of the Sitcom, about the importance of different stories being seen, and apparently The Munsters and The Addams Family are about ‘freaks’ and ‘outsiders’? Not blueprints for how to live. Huh.

Poster for History of the Sitcom shows images from several sitcoms including I Love Lucy. M.A.S.H. and Black-ish.

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 11

On a train, possibly - almost certainly - the only passenger listening to The Witch’s Tale, this one about two brothers who inherit a place in Louisiana nicknamed ‘Graveyard Mansion’, arrogantly mocking the local legends… They don’t know what they are missing.

Cover of an audiobook release of several episodes of The Witch’s Tale, with an image of a creepy fellow menacing a woman, and behind him, a malevolently smiling witch figure

Jamie@vanjpes· Jun 7

Quite taken here with how the original voice cast of The Flintstones - if you squint - look a little like middle-aged real life versions of their cartoon counterparts, all except Mel Blanc, who is no Barney Rubble however you shake it (no shade on Blanc inferred)

Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone), Jean Vander Pyl (Wilma Flintsone), Bea Benaderet (Betty Rubble) and Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble) recording voices for The Flintstones

Jamie@vanjpes· May 27

I love this photo of birthday boy Vincent Price (botd 1911), in his element at a 1965 Dodger Stadium game, handing out hot dogs

In a stadium seating area, Vincent Price, in white dinner jacket and bow tie, is handing out a box of hot dogs to a crowd member. He looks happy as shit, and thrilled to be there.

Jamie@vanjpes· May 27

Remembering Christopher Lee on the occasion of his birthday (botd in 1922) and celebrating this, one of the greatest publicity photos in cinema history

Christopher Lee, Stephanie Beacham, Marsha Hunt, Janet Key, and Caroline Munro in a publicity photo for Dracula AD 1972. The four women are messing around with poses, having fun at the back of frame. Christopher Lee in Count costume is at the front, sat on a coffin, looking bored and miserable.

Jamie@vanjpes· May 26

On this World Dracula Day, let us remember Jeremy Brett and Raúl Juliá in their stage Count costumes, with Edward Gorey-designed scenery

Jeremy Brett in full seventies/thirties crossover costume as Dracula in front of an Edward Gorey painted library and fireplace set

Raúl Juliá in a similar costume, arms spread wide making his cape look like bat wings, on another Gorey stage, this one an old Gothic building

Jamie@vanjpes· May 26

Remembering Peter Cushing, one of the best to ever do it, on the occasion of his birthday (botd in 1913)

Peter Cushing near some boats rested on shore, a blue sky behind him. He is painting, a brush in his hand, the photo capturing him looking out ahead of him.

Jamie@vanjpes· May 25

As ever, I admire Price’s commitment to the advertising/ah fuck it why not buck for projects

Vincent Price advertisement for Sears’ kitchen carpet. He is in a suit looking handsome against a red background, the carpet is orange patterned and together they make it look like Price is playing a butler in hell.

Jamie@vanjpes· May 25

Watching a VHS rip of all of the remaining scenes Vincent Price shot for his ultimately abandoned 1982 directorial debut, a faithful adaptation of Stoker’s classic

Title screen for ‘Vincent Price’s Dracula’

Jamie@vanjpes· May 24

Fascinating reading this for a little background research for the asides about art and integrity

Photograph of an issue of Rolling Stone magazine with Sam Kinison on the cover with the tagline ‘Sam Kinison Comedy’s Wild Thing

Kinison had his first taste of big-time Hollywood filming a scene with Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short in John Landis's Three Amigos. (The scene was later cut.) "I used to want to work with those guys," he says. "But they're just so dead. They fucking do slop. Caddyshack II? Dan Aykroyd's got an arrow on his ass, going, Will you Please suck out the poison? Oh, man.
What the fuck is that, man? All they care about is the check. I defy Aykroyd or Chase or John Candy to come forward and tell me about any commitment to art. If the yardwork paid what they get for a movie, they'd show up and do it"

Kinison's favorite movie is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He loves the way the Midwestern hick, played by Jimmy Stewart, takes on the corrupt system. And though Kinison's approach was typically indelicate, there's something similarly innocent, even touching, about a comedian in Hollywood refusing to participate in a mediocre movie. "I'd rather have five lawsuits like this," says Kinison, "than be in one Twins."

Jamie@vanjpes· May 23

Dug out Dick Briefer’s collection of Frankenstein horror strips, for fans of an iteration of the monster who is absolutely not here for people’s pitchfork mob bullshit at all. Carnage.

A photo of the book The Monster of Frankenstein, a collection of Dick Briefer’s horror comic strips

Jamie@vanjpes· May 20

I finished @jnraeside.bsky.social’s very, very good Don’t Make Me Laugh yesterday and its tale of scumbaggery (men), skullduggery (women, because men), and the dark side of the comedy industry is going to linger for a while. Cracking ending, too, satisfyingly brutal. Very much recommended.

A photograph of the book Don’t Make Me Laugh by Julia Raeside set against a backdrop of red tiles

Jamie@vanjpes· May 8

Today’s 📽️ Dr Pyckle and Mr Pride (1925, dirs. Pembroke, Rock). Stan Laurel experiments with good and evil sides in this enjoyably light froth, his wickedness confined largely to annoying the shit out of people. Some solid filmmaking balances out a lot of appropriately shameless mugging. It’s decent.

Frame from ‘Dr Pyckle and Mr Pride’ showing Stan Laurel as the rotten alter ego ready to blow a party favour disguised as a flower at a woman in her doorway. ‘Stan Laurel in “Dr. Pyckle and Mr Pride”’ is in the bottom left corner.

Jamie@vanjpes· May 7

I may also have stumbled onto these elsewhere, who can say