“… as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”Egged On (Charles R. Bowers, Harold L. Muller + Ted Sears, 1926)
Jan
17
inventions
Charley working his Rube Goldberger-esque egg-rubberizing contraption.
An invention for Benjamin Franklin's birthday. Inventor Charley (Charles R. Bowers) comes up with an ingenious method to make eggs break-proof for transport by rubberizing them.
– Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography
Bowers was an almost-forgotten silent era comedian, filmmaker, and animator. In more recent years, his groundbreaking stop-motion comedy has found a new, well-deserved, interest.
USA
– Now, see! You kill-a de monk!
– Pay him for that baboon… or I'll run you in!The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick + Buster Keaton, 1928)
Jan
14
National Dress Up Your Pet Day
Buster (Buster Keaton) with Josephine the monkey on his shoulder. DPs: Reggie Lanning & Elgin Lessley.
A funnily dressed pet for National Dress Up Your Pet Day (USA) (please don't!).
After cameraman Buster accidentally knocks over a monkey, he has no choice but to take the sailor-suited simian along on his movie shoots.
“I came from a dream that the Black man dreamed long ago. I’m actually a presence sent to you by your ancestors.”Space Is the Place (John Coney, 1974)
Jan
5
Space Shuttle
Ra's arrival. DP: Seth Hill.
A film about space travel on the day Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program in 1972.
– Sun Ra
“I hate to see the evening' sun go down
I hate to see the evening' sun go down
It makes me think I'm on my last go 'round Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today
Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today
I'll pack my grip and make my getaway” Saint Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man around by her apron strings
Wasn't for powder and the store-bought hair
The man I love wouldn't go nowhere, nowhere I got them Saint Louis Blues; just as blue as I can be
He's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me”St. Louis Blues (Dudley Murphy, 1929)
Dec
20
Walter “Wolfman” Washington – 1943
Bessie “the Empress of Blues” Smith, singing her blues away. DP: Walter Strenge .
Featuring rhythm and blues, funk or blues, for Walter “Wolfman” Washington's birthday (1943)
– Bessie Smith, St. Louis Blues (W. C. Handy)
“What drives me insane is the twofold nature of this nymphet, of every nymphet perhaps, this mixture in my Lolita of tender, dreamy childishness and a kind of eerie vulgarity. I know it is madness to keep this journal, but it gives me a strange thrill to do so. And only a loving wife could decipher my microscopic script.”Lolita (Stanley Kubrick, 1962)
Dec
18
Daniel LaRusso's birthday
Lolita (Sue Lyon) twirling her hoola hoop in the yard in front of Prof. Humbert Humbert (James Mason). He pretends to read but is mostly ogling her.. DP: Oswald Morris .
A backyard, deck or fences for Daniel LaRusso's (the Karate Kid kid who, as part of his martial arts training, endlessly paints fences) birthday.
– Prof. Humbert Humbert
“I don't need a card to figure out who I am. I already know.”Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962)
Dec
15
bread
Jerry Bondi (Gena Rowlands) kneads dough. DP: Philip H. Lathrop.
– Jack Burns
The Monkey Talks (Raoul Walsh, 1927)
Dec
14
Monkey Day
Jocko (Jacques Lerner) in embrace with his Olivette (Olive Borden). Amazingly, Lerner does not wear a mask; it's all the work of makeup craftsman Jack Pierce. DP: L. William O'Connell.
A monkey for (unofficial) Monkey Day.
“When a boy loses his job, buys a new suit and takes a girl to Coney Island, he's either insane or in love – – and there's not much difference.”Speedy (Ted Wilde, 1928)
Dec
7
National Cotton Candy Day
Harold 'Speedy' Swift (Harold Lloyd ) and his gal Jane (Ann Christy) enjoy big bags of cotton candy at the fair. DP: Walter Lundin .
Cotton candy for (National) Cotton Candy Day. Gifs via Little Horror Shop on Tumblr.
– title card
Sioux Ghost Dance (William K.L. Dickson + William Heise 1894)
Dec
1
Hornbill Festival
A Sioux troupe – these particular people were part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show – perform a Ghost Dance in #ThomasEdison's Black Maria studio in New Jersey. DP: William Heise.
Indigenous dance for Hornbill Festival, Nagaland.
“The way i see it, Harry, everybody lives off everybody else.”Murder by Contract (Irving Lerner, 1958)
Nov
29
candy
In a small movie theatre, a guy in a suit (Phillip Pine) stuffs his face with something from a small brown paper bag. Behind him are the Hollywood idea of an “elderly” woman (Janet Brandt) and a man with a moustache (Albert Cavens), Right next to snack man, a fellow with his hat pulled deeply over his face (Herschel Bernardi) takes a nap.. DP: Lucien Ballard.
– Claude