Saturday, August 7, 2010

I'm here...still here!

Ok, so I've been missing in action lately, and I'm so terribly sorry. First of all, it's been hot. Like surface of the sun hot with humidity that lets you swim to the mailbox. THAT kind of summer and then there's work; I have a residential and commercial window tinting business and with the heat, comes the business which is good.  VERY good since last year stank.  But enough of excuses...I have been sewing a lot lately and made myself a wonderful ruffled shirt and long wool coat for Hallowe'en.  For those who sew, I have 3 words of wisdom...Butterick, Simplicity and McCall's.  I wouldn't deviate from the mainstream pattern companies anymore because I had forgotten how much easier they were to sew than the independent companies that I have used.

Now, for something that I've decided that I HAVE to collect...
The Dennision Bogie Book series ran from 1909 (NO, I WAS NOT BORN YET THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!) to the mid 1930's.  These were basically idea book/catalogs featuring the Dennison line of holiday decorations.  This is the one that I bought from Amazon.  Now my review:
Wow!
This is a glimpse back into history when Hallowe'en was for adults and not children, the days before it was associated with the gore genre.  The illustrations (and they are lavishly illustrated) show elaborately decorated rooms for parties, that could be done with Dennison's crepe paper and paper decorations.  The costumes, well, let's say we've come a long way baby, they looked kind of goofy but they might have been the height of haute couture back then.  Charming but goofy.
The bad news is that the 10 cents price tag has gone up...considerably.  If you get your sights on an original Bogie Book for less than 100.00, then you're lucky.  Fortunately, there are high quality reprints out there (the route I took) for 12.00 to 14.00.  Yes, they're worth it.  A fanatic of Hallowe'en should have at least one of these on their shelves to see where we came from and what out ancestors did (at least the rich ones, all the people in these books look well off) to celebrate the most fun night of the year.
Some vintage photos from the interwebs (not from the Dennison books)...Please visit the blogs, I happened up on them and they're great!

This one scares the %$#@ out of me! (via Halloween Monster Party)

This SHOULD be a LOL Cat saying 'I iz skard fur life' (via Johnny Cupcakes, a really cool blog and store!)

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET (via Ethics Soup)


All I can say is WTF?! (Via Ethics Soup)

12 comments:

FoolishCop said...

Mr. Macabre,

Well the swastika would be a pretty scary thing, but what it has to do with Halloween I'm not sure. However, I do not that most of the swastikas are left facing as opposed to the right facing style used by the Nazis.

A left facing swastika is more closely associated with Hindu and Oriental religions, as well as early, pre-Christian religions so it may be more of a "pagan" symbol in the picture than anything else.

And since the catalogs only ran up to the mid-1930's, it didn't have the same connotations then as it does today.

But it's a bizarre Halloween costume nonetheless.

Rich

The Captain said...

Those pictures are great! It is way too hot this year, I'll be glad for Fall to come and be only 88*.

I remember reading that a lot of cultures used the swastika and that it was the Nazi's that gave swastikas a bad name. I looked up the Nazi swastika and it points in the opposite direction of the girl's in the photo. I don't no what that means, but I don't think she's supposed to be a goose stepping jack boot wearing Nazi circus clown.

Mr. Macabre said...

Very very interesting! Thanks y'all!

It's still a weird costume, swastika or no swastika.

Mr. Macabre said...

And yes Captain, it's WAAAAAY too hot. We got a reprieve from the heat yesterday, it was only 95. I should have brought a jacket so I wouldn't catch chill.

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Hey Mr. Macabre...
I feel your pain on the summer heat and humidity. FL is melting into the sea I think. I also laughed because I just posted a little about the Dennison books too today. Then I come over here and see that you did as well. Great nefarious minds think alike.

I was more carrying on about what I've found in the stores so far, and the books were just mentioned in passing. But boy would I love to have even just one. Your other B&W pics are terrific too! I hope you will post pics of your coat and shirt at some point. I wish I could sew because I would love to have a long coat and shirt just like that, but in shades of purple, brocade and with some feminine touches like long lacy cuffs hanging out the bottoms of the coat sleeves. I so admire people who sew! Try to stay cool, Fall is on the way....should arrive in the South some time around January...ha! ;o)

Wings1295 said...

Quite interesting stuff!

cindy said...

want some of our rain? ;) those pics are pretty funny!

suzanne said...

Intriguing photos. Like The Captain, I also remember hearing that the swastika had positive and peaceful connotations before being adopted by the Nazis. Nevertheless, an interesting costume choice. Glad your summer is going well, despite the heat.

Anonymous said...

We've got buckets of cool and damp here in England. I'll send you some. Nice to see you back.

PumpkinBrain said...

Interesting stuff...

How can you survive such a heat? 88 is to hot for me... 72 is good but more than that I don't like. (Now I begin to understand why I'm still living in the North).

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

Sorry about the heat. I have heard the reports from that area and I feel for all of you. I think I am staying where I am for a while.

And THANK YOU, is that not the greatest find. I so have to have collect those too!!

Awesome....you always find the coolest stuff...that is why I gave you an award on my blog :)

Stay cool.

Cheers!

Pam Morris said...

well, mr macabre--another award awaits you on my blog, too! maybe it's the same one---the price of fame and popularity...