Where ideas spring to life
These rare 1955 commercials designed by Tom Oreb feature a modern-style Mickey Mouse as the pitchman for American Motors’ Nash Rambler. Oreb was one of the main designers in Walt Disney’s television commercial unit that operated only during the 1950s. He’s the same artist who designed “Destination Earth“.
Enjoy Mickey’s interesting “new” look.
One in a series of original illustrations inspired by Mid-Century Modern music and entertainment, this particular scene was loosely inspired by a clip from the 1961 B-movie “Twist All Night” starring Louis Prima. A twisting Prima sings his song “Continental Twist,” which is one of several twist-related songs he recorded on the album “Doin’ the Twist.” While these songs come across as more gimmicky (and underutilize his songwriting and performing talents better showcased in his swing and jazz tunes), he was enthusiastic about the dance craze that swept the world in the early 1960s.
Here’s the scene from the movie:
Even though it’s still not officially summer, here in the desert it’s HOT! What better way to escape the heat than with a trip to the beach? This month my newest Desert Gang original illustration has Cass K. Bell, Gil A. Monster, and Otis Kennicott traveling south of the border. Come along for some sun, surf, and sand in Acapulco, the ultra-cool vacation destination of Hollywood stars and jet-setters in the 1950s and ’60s. Find a shady spot, pour yourself a cocktail, and let the tropical ocean breeze whoosh your cares away.
Published by the Phoenix Historic Preservation Office in January 2011 (and now in its second printing), the coffee table book “Midcentury Marvels: Commercial Architecture of Phoenix, 1945 – 1975” is features a great collection of photographs and details about the history of mid-century commercial architecture in Phoenix. It also profiles the architects who shaped modern Phoenix — Frank Lloyd Wright, Ralph Haver, Al Beadle, and Bennie Gonzales among them. In some cases, photographs (and the memory of long-time locals) are all that’s left of these architectural desert jewels. But despite some lamentable tear-downs, the Phoenix area still boasts some fine examples of high-style Modern and Googie architecture in everything from banks and offices to restaurants and hotels. This book covers just commercial structures, so we’re hoping a companion book on Phoenix’s residential mid-century marvels will come out some day. Meanwhile, this book is a must-have for anyone fascinated by the Valley of the Sun’s mid-century modern architecture like we are.
Above are advertisements for new homes from an old Arizona Republic newspaper dated Nov. 9, 1969. The yellowed newspaper was stuffed behind an old medicine cabinet we were replacing at home. What a find!
For more cool Mid-Century modern finds in Phoenix, the place to turn is the Modern Phoenix website — the go-to source for Mid-Century Modern architecture in the Valley of the Sun, and the group’s annual Modern Phoenix Week is happening right now. Check out this lineup of events for the big Modern Phoenix Expo taking place Saturday, April 21, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts:
The Ambushers is a 1967 spy comedy flick that is so bad it’s fantastic. Filmed in Acapulco and starring Dean Martin, Senta Berger and Janice Rule, it is loosely based upon the novel of the same title by Donald Hamilton. The film was the third in a series of four produced in the late 1960s starring Dino as secret agent Matt Helm. Dino both spoofs James Bond and plays up his own wisecracking playboy persona with plenty of references to two of his favorite pastimes — singing and boozing. The Matt Helm series was reportedly Mike Myers’ inspiration for “Austin Powers.”
With a flying saucer, a bevy of beauties, a fight sequence inside a giant vat of beer, and a return to Acapulco in its glory days, The Ambushers is cinematic “queso dip” at its finest. Get a little taste of it in the intro song performed by Boyce and Hart:
The above original illustrations are from my Mid-Century Modern Entertainment series. These particular designs were inspired by a scene from the 1964 movie “Campeón del Barrio” (Neighborhood Champion) starring Sonia Lopez. This popular Mexican singer of the 1960s was famous for her tropical-themed songs. Below is a clip of the floor show scene from the movie in which Ms. Lopez sings “Castigo” accompanied by fancifully costumed dancers that look both tropical and space age at the same time!