Madame Talbot’s Victorian Lowbrow
(image: Madame Talbot’s Victorian Lowbrow on Myspace)
I was recently reminded of Madame Ashleigh Talbot’s stunning Victorian Lowbrow work while browsing Kirsten Anderson’s Right Some Good blog. Madame Talbot uses her substantial talent to make gorgeous framed curio exhibits, handmade books, hand-illustrated posters, mourning dolls, and more.
Madame Talbot’s creations are composed of items like vintage velvet, century-old paper, and bits of real bone, teeth, and hair. Although her primary implements are needle, thread, and her own hands, she counts among her tools a vintage typewriter from the early 1900s.
Her site and art celebrate:
Sideshows and the Elephant Man, Victorian era tattooed ladies, strange medical exhibits, dime museums and East End shows, the cult of death and the funeral rituals of the lower classes, pubs, bars and saloons, public executions, titillating scandals involving death and betrayal, morbid legends such as Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden, the penny dreadful, Victorian drugs such as Opium dens, Absinthe rituals & Wormwood deliriums, Morphine syringes sold to High Society women, Chloral Hydrate fiends, Laudanum addicts, Secret Hashish Societies, laughing gas parties, and patent medicines.
(image: Framed Witchcraft Curio Exhibit by Madame Talbot)
My favorite objects are the lovingly crafted pieces in the Curio Exhibits section, like the Civil War weeping bottles and the test tubes intended to hold the final dying breath of a loved one. The description that accompanies each curio exhibit is as delightful as the exhibit itself.
Madame Talbot also sells wonderful vintage items, like an engraved mausoleum key and mostly empty bottles of medicinals and poisons.
Many dozens of unique objects are available on Madame Talbot’s Victorian Lowbrow site and some of her less pricey work can be purchased in the Madame Talbot eBay Store.
Vintage Babes with Vintage Guns
This image of Jane Russell comes from a deadlicious collection of 1940s era women in various states of undress brandishing their guns. The images were originally published in pinup magazine Paris-Hollywood which featured starlets like Ava Gardner, Esther Williams, and Rita Hayworth. Some of the images are NSFW (if you work with prudes or minors).
Vincent Price Curls Up with a Good Book
This 1985 commercial for Time Life Books features a very in character Vincent Price shilling as only he can. I remember when Time Life used to put out cool occult themed mini-encyclopedia sets, those were good times.
It’s a different world now, but this commercial reminds me of when I was a young man who had two loves, blasphemous knowledge and campy horror icons:
I found this at The Abattoir, which is the official blog of Rue Morgue magazine. They have a coffin full of Price commercials for various products sure to bring a smile to the face of every fan.
Raquel Welch and a Giant Prehistoric Spider
Raquel Welch, decked out in a skimpy sequined prehistoric cave-chick getup, shares the stage with a googly-eyed, oversized spider monster in this disco song and dance number from a 1977 episode of The Muppet Show.
The song is Baby It’s Me which was recorded by Diana Ross that same year.
Oh, and here’s some Muppet trivia for you. The spider is one of the full-bodied muppet costumes, meaning there’s a person pulling the proverbial strings from inside the costume, rather than puppeteers animating the character externally. In this sketch with Raquel Welch, the giant arachnid moves so rhythmically and gracefully because the costume conceals Graham Fletcher, a former dancer with the Royal Ballet.
Zombies Are the New Bunnies
Just in case you haven’t heard, zombies are the new bunnies, and Etsy crafter Tina Seamonster has all the gear you need to commemorate this shift in the order of the universe. Pictured above is one of her full color “zombies are the new bunnies” cards, complete with an angry green bunny who thinks Easter zombies are “crap.” Guess he liked things the way they were before.
By the way, if Tina’s zombie looks familiar, you might remember her design from the zombie plague holiday cards mentioned in my list of handmade gifts for zombie lovers.
Easter is March 23, 2008, so get thee to the Tina Seamonster shop at Etsy if you don’t want to be stuck sending cards emblazoned with cotton-tailed rabbits and baby chicks. If cards aren’t your thing, you can also pick up a refrigerator magnet, t-shirt, or necklace decorated with the “Zombies are the new bunnies” motif.
Penn Jillette Lost to Zombies; Teller Survives
The zombie apocalypse has claimed Penn Jillette and most others in Vegas. But Teller, the normally silent half of the magic/comedy team of Penn & Teller, has survived to tell the tale. Here’s Teller’s morose film short, aptly titled & Teller:
via Abattoir - Rue Morgue’s Blog