Tom Neal was a middling movie actor from the late 1930s to the 1950s who was more known for his off-screen escapades than for his acting. Neal’s best role was in the curious film-noir, Detour. It’s non-copyrighted; check it out. As a young man, Neal was an amateur boxer with a good string of wins.… Continue reading Death Behind Flagstone: Tom Neal, Palm Springs, and Studio City
Author: Lee Wallender
Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.
Farny: Mysterious Drop-Dead Death of Bette Davis’ Husband
An overactive imagination could come up with a scenario where Bette Davis kills her second husband, Arthur Farnsworth. After all, pick any Bette Davis movie at random, and she’s probably killing someone. Just the other night, I caught a very random Bette Davis movie: a weird 1964 late-late-film noir called Dead Ringer where Bette Davis… Continue reading Farny: Mysterious Drop-Dead Death of Bette Davis’ Husband
Bell Telephone Company Pittsburgh Office Snack Bar, 1960
June, 1960: The world is alive. From Architectural Forum, we hear of a snack bar. The 1,600 employees in the Bell Telephone Company’s brand new Pittsburgh office building can point with pride to their new lounge and snack bar. It’s truly one of the interior “showplaces.” Two Natco products were used extensively to help create… Continue reading Bell Telephone Company Pittsburgh Office Snack Bar, 1960
How Waiting in Line Is the Purest Form of Democracy
Nobody likes waiting in line. You’re waiting in line at the DMV, for concert tickets, movie tickets, at the theme park. In non-First World societies or in First World societies that experience temporary collapse, waiting in line takes the form of breadlines, food lines, lines for assistance. Yet the alternative is worse: a mob rush… Continue reading How Waiting in Line Is the Purest Form of Democracy
Hong Kong Bank of China as Giant Protest Sign
As some of us sit around in the burgs and hamlets of the United States, knitting our fingers and wondering about the shape that China’s “invasion” of the U.S. will take, need we look any further than Hong Kong? In 1997, Hong Kong’s sovereignty was transferred to China, and the “one country, two systems” principle… Continue reading Hong Kong Bank of China as Giant Protest Sign