Archival Gent: Shelton Doyle Blalock

(via AAPC)

VIA

Archival Lawn Tennis: Wimbledon 1938

Budge

Moody

And a related, floral tribute to King Gustav:

Shopping from John Ford: Neckerchiefs

Directed by John Ford (Bogdanovich 1971)

Visual addendum:

Ford Home Furnishings

Ford x Bogdanovich

For practical purposes, I've been wearing and carrying kerchiefs on longer, hot weather brevets (one for the neck, one for the handlebar bag). Rivendell has nice, all cotton, US made bandanas available for the wild price of $2. Why pay more?

Arnys Gent

I first bonded with friend J. by way of his Arnys jacket (it was a corduroy Forestiere, I believe).

Here's a photo of J. in a different model Arnys jacket. In Eugene (or Portland for that matter), one doesn't see many men wearing tweed jackets, let alone lovely French-made iterations with shawl collars, mustard color piping and nice pocketing.

As it turns out, our shared loved of Arnys extended to a mutual appreciation of Raleigh bicycles, Brooks saddles and American cabaret singers.

J. sent along this link to photographs by the Sartorialist of the Brothers Grimbert and their shop in Paris. Check out the hand sewn hunting cape.

Shopping from the Past: Simpsons Fall/Winter 1918-1919 Catalog

Images from this fine flickr archive of vintage US mail order catalogs.

Archival Gent: Elocutionary Manual Man

Archival Gent: (early era) Michael Jackson

I didn't see this coming but I've become a bit of a come-lately fan of Michael Jackson (the early years). It started out with a larky screening of the video retrospective, History Volume I. Now, a week later, I find myself checking out the VHS copy of "The Making of Thriller" and including "Wanna be Starting Something" on a mix tape for my L.A. friend, Mimsy. To keep everything structurally sound and straightforward, I want to say that I'm primarily obsessed with Michael's proto-MTV sartorial style: black loafers, exposed socks, slim-legged trousers, and sometimes, rolled up suit jacket sleeves. If you're curious about this fine archival edition of MJ, check out the video to Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. Though I rejected MJ as a teen, I can now appreciate the homages to Judy Garland, Bob Fosse and Fred Astaire buried in MJ's videos and dance choreography. On the Making of... video, MJ recounts how Fred Astaire phoned him up after his moonwalking performance on the Grammy awards show and told him that he liked how he [Michael] moved. Endorsement enough from the original archival gent!

More Pictographic Gents: George Hearn and Aspen Man

On the tail of a disappointing Johnny Depp/Sweeney Toddy, ST and I are revisiting the original source material, the 1982 Showtime production featuring Angela Lansbury and the amazing George Hearn as Benjamin Barker, alias Sweeney Todd. By way of Sweeney, we're now moving on to a full blown George Hearn fan spree (though I love Lansbury, her work does not inspire/require repeat screenings). After going through the Showtime production several times, I dug up an old VHS recording of the San Fran concert version featuring Hearn and Patty Lupone (OK... but why must concert versions of musicals make ANY attempt at costuming or dramatic staging???). Now, we've abandoned Sweeney for Hearn in the La Cage Aux Folles broadway cast recording. Perhaps, because I'm surviving winter by high coffee dosages and rousing musical anthems, I cannot get the La Cage, Hearn/All cast finale out of my head:

The best of times is now.
What's left of Summer
But a faded rose?
The best of times is now.
As for tomorrow,
Well, who knows? Who knows? Who knows?
So hold this moment fast,
And live and love
As hard as you know how.


I like this part best:


La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la



Another entry in the pictographic archive of gents: Aspen man. Not certain of this gent's printed identity (pullled from the pages of an old Vanity Fair magazine, now lapsed), but he's been a standing sartorial role model for me for several years. To him, I attribute my ability to wear Troentorp wooden clogs.

From the Archives: More Pictographic Gentlemen

Dr. Ralph McFarland


Don Draper, Creative Director

Out of the Past: A Dover Pictorgraphic Gent

Last week, I met a fellow who appeared to have stepped directly out of the pages of the Dover Pictorial Archive of Men. This living lithograph--code name DJ--was in town to deliver a lecture on the scanning efforts of an enviable archive in a foreign land. Friend RG took a series of photographs of DJ's tour of our own archive. Both in photographs and in person, DG struck wonderfully stylized line drawing type poses (perfect for tracing or for use in clip art illustrations). In costume, DG sported a Euro spin on Henry Fonda playing young Mr. Lincoln (the spin being his cravat).