GREAT AMERICAN HOME IMPROVEMENT THE OLD SCHOOL BASEMENT BAR

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From the desk of Contributing Editor, Eli M. Getson–

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Our Grandparent’s generation got it right, man– the fully loaded, properly-appointed basement bar. via here

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Like a lot of us affected by the ongoing economic instability, I’ve had to tighten the purse strings a bit lately.  Simply put– I’m spending more time at home, and less dough on going out.  That said, my penchant for enjoying a stiff drink with friends has inspired me to bring back something my Grandparent’s generation held sacred and all had– the basement bar.  Let us be clear before anyone reads on– this is not about having an additional fridge stocked with Corona you bought from Costco, a jumbo bag of chips, and a few crappy bean bags that reek of stale beer from your frat house days.  That’s the JV approach, and not an atmosphere where anyone serious about drinking and socializing wants to hang. In short– it is not a bar.

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Can I pour you a tall, stiff one?  Does anyone wear a tie at home anymore, let alone in their basement? Circa 1965– via here

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The home bar craze started post WWII, as more Americans realized the dream of home ownership (late 1940’s to early 1970’s being my unofficial Golden Years).  As families migrated more and more to the suburbs, they found themselves enjoying entertaining at home.  Probably because as first-time home owners, they truly busted their asses to get into a house– saving every nickel (they’d never even consider defaulting on a mortgage), and when they finally settled on their dream house, they were truly proud of it, and wanted to show it off to friends and family alike.  Also restaurants and bars were still largely urban back then.  It would be many years before the suburbs were teaming with every silly “TGI– what is that ridiculous friggin’ costume” restaurant/bar franchise.  The other great thing back then– the “politically correct” culture of today was not around to stop grownups from socializing– sans kids. Back in the day, entertaining the children  was what the TV upstairs was made for.  With the kiddies safely locked away watching Rawhide, the adults were free to to enjoy top-shelf spirits, Chesterfield smoky treats, and boozy, adult conversation in the privacy of their own homes– truly paradise on earth.

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Circa 1949– Glamour gal, Eileen Howe, having a drink on New Year’s Eve in Samuel Spiegel’s home bar.  Photo by Peter Stackpole for LIFE magazine.

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BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID | BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE 1969 CLASSIC

According to William Goldman, when he first wrote the script and sent it out for consideration, only one studio wanted to buy it, and that was with the proviso that the two lead characters did not flee to South America. When Goldman protested that that was what had happened, the studio head responded, “I don’t give a shit. All I know is John Wayne don’t run away.” Goldman rewrote the script, “didn’t change it more than a few pages, and subsequently found that every studio wanted it.”

William Goldman said that many young people saw the super posse in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ as a metaphor for the government and authority during the years of anti-war protests. He said his students said the similarity lay in the relentlessness by which both “would hunt you down.”

With nine wins, ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ currently holds the record for the British Academy Awards (BAFTAs). It won for picture, actor (Robert Redford), actress (Katharine Ross, direction (George Roy Hill), screenplay, cinematography, film editing, sound, and score. It won every award it could, as its tenth nomination was a dual nomination for Best Actor. It was the top-grossing film of 1969, and today is considered one of Hollywood’s greatest westerns.

Paul Newman said this was the most fun he’d ever had making a film~ and that he and Robert Redford drank a lot of beer in Mexico. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed in 1968 in Utah, Colorado, and Mexico. It cost $6 million to film, but earned over $102 million at the box office in 1969, which would be around $725 million currently, adjusted for inflation.

BUNNY YEAGER’S LEGACY OF EROTIC ART PHOTOGRAPHY & MIAMI’S “JEWISH ORGY”

THE STUNNING MODEL-TURNED-PHOTOGRAPHER BUNNY YEAGER, 1965.

There are many interesting, historical bits to discover in the Bunny Yeager Archive at the University of Miami Special Collections. Bunny Yeager was clearly the “world’s prettiest photographer,” and was into “finding regular girls around Miami,” in the 1960s. She had famously photographed Bettie Page in several exotic locations across Florida too.  

BUNNY YEAGER AND BETTIE PAGE

COOL HAND LUKE BEHIND THE SCENES #1 | WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

BEHIND-THE-SCENES PHOTO OF PAUL NEWMAN AND JAMES GAMMON, WHO PLAYED “SLEEPY” IN COOL HAND LUKE, 1967.

The classic anti-establishment movie “Cool Hand Luke,” was based on a novel written by the American author, Donn Pearce. In the novel, Pearce writes about the personal experiences he went through during his own time spent on a Florida Department of Corrections chain gang, and those of stories of legendary prisoners retold over and over. Pearce was particularly raptured when he heard stories of one prisoner whose legend eclipsed all others, named Luke (Lucas) Jackson, which later became the main character of the film.

THE MUNSTER’S LOVE OF WHEELS | MUNSTER KOACH, DRAG-U-LA, AND GEORGE BARRIS

The Munsters~ Lily (Yvonne de Carlo), Herman (Fred Gwynne, Eddie (Butch Patrick), Marilyn (Beverly Owen), Grandpa (Al Lewis), 1964. Though the show only ran from 1964-66, it’s still a TV classic.

ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH | KUSTOM KULTURE KING’S “CANDY WAGON” HARLEY TRIKE

“I had the pleasure of building the entire machine myself. Doug Kinney sanded it and helped paint it, but the entire concept here was to build a machine for parades and stuff. At the first parade I threw candy from the rear trailer to the kids in the crowd, and it spooked the horses in the parade (kids chasin’ candy) I never did that again! Newton was responsible for the sketches of the ‘Candy Wagon’ after the machine was built. I drove this machine to many bike runs in and around California and it was an exceptional Harley trike motorcycle and very dependable!” ~Ed Roth

WHEN ELVIS PRESLEY TOOK A BACKSEAT TO CLAMBAKE’S RED HOT ’59 STINGRAY RACER

“For Corvette enthusiasts, the real star of ‘Clambake’ is the 1959 Stingray Racer concept— the car that is said to be the opening design salvo in what became the 1963 Corvette Stingray. While Corvette innovation was experience an exciting acceleration, the days of big money movie deals for Elvis were downshifting. Riffing on the similarity of every Elvis movie to every other Elvis movie, a studio executive once quipped: ‘Why do we bother to give his movies titles – couldn’t they just be numbered?'”

PAUL NEWMAN’S COVERT CORVETTE KILLER– “INDY VW” CONVERTIBLE BEETLE SLEEPER

Paul Newman with his 1963 VW convertible Beetle, shooting an ad for Volkswagen in the late ’60s. Soon afterwards race car builder Jerry Eisert was enlisted to stealthily turn this little bug into a covert Corvette killer. Paul Newman’s “Indy VW” would become one of the most radical VW Bugs of its time, and a sleeper legend was born.

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ATOMIC MID-CENTURY VINTAGE FESTIVAL | PHOTOGRAPHY OF BASTIAN GLAESSNER

Photographer Bastian Glaessner shot these incredibly cool pics of the UK Atomic Festival described by the organizers as– “…an international line-up of bands & DJs playing in spectacular indoor venues, traditional flag-start drag racing, air displays, jiving, bopping & strolling, an enormous big-top with a 6,000 sq ft dance floor, a pre-1963 car show and drive-in movie, poodles, roller skating… and the best festival atmosphere ever!” 

“On slight short notice I headed up north last weekend to meet up with a bunch of UK retro heads that got together on an old 30s airstrip outside Northampton to celebrate the annual Atomic bash of serious vintage fair. This mid-century-inspired festival had everything the gentleman drag-strip connoisseur’s heart might desire– a field full of polished pre-’63s metal to draw you in, plenty mean Rock ’n’ Roll fuzz booming from the speakers of the multiple stages, the gravity defying riders of the Demon-Drome of death spinning their 1920s Indians up the 30 foot wall and last but not least a glorious stretch of glaring concrete that just begged the rod riders to be raced!” ~Bastian Glaessner

“Despite the somewhat grey skies the eclectic mob turned out in style! Bombers, raw jeans, pomaded hair and neat pressed curls as far as the eye could see. From gear-heads to knuckle freaks, young-guns to old-timers, everybody made an effort and rocked up spotting their most stylish attire. It all made for a photographers dream really.” ~Bastian Glaessner

LAUREL CANYON DAZE | CSN, JONI MITCHELL, JACKSON BROWNE, MAMA CASS, THE EAGLES

The epic tales of Laurel Canyon’s heyday continues to linger like the warm smell of colitas rising up through the air… It’s here that the SoCal sound was born out of an era of relaxed morals (fucking sex), folks expanding their mental horizons (drugs), and a wave of eclectic misfits coming from all over to launch, reinvent, or escape their musical careers (rock ‘n’ roll) in this sleepy, smoky, winding hippy enclave. And the women, Mama Cass & Joni Mitchell, were the (wise and worldly beyond their years) matriarchs watching over over this peaceful, easy-feeling, community headquartered on Lookout Mountain. Henry Diltz was a friend and photographer to many in the scene those days, and his visual record and memories of these times is priceless.

“When I first came out to L.A. [in 1968], my friend Joel Bernstein found an old book in a flea market that said, ‘Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they’ll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they’ll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they’ll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they’ll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they’ll say Lookout Mountain.’ So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain.” —Joni Mitchell