Occasionally a posting seems to generate a sequel. So it is as regards yesterday's posting on Diana Dors and comments thereon. Above is of course the Sergeant Pepper cover (again) and Diana is now clearly established front row right in the gold lame dress and white gloves. Some shameless plundering from Wikipedia discloses the identity of the rest...Top row:
Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru)
Aleister Crowley (occultist)
Mae West (actress)
Lenny Bruce (comedian)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)
W. C. Fields (comedian/actor)
Carl Gustav Jung (psychiatrist)
Edgar Allan Poe (writer)
Fred Astaire (actor/dancer)
Richard Merkin (artist)
The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)
Huntz Hall (actor)
Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers)
Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)
Second row:
Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister)
Aldous Huxley (writer)
Dylan Thomas (poet)
Terry Southern (writer)
Dion (singer)
Tony Curtis (actor)
Wallace Berman (artist)
Tommy Handley (comedian)
Marilyn Monroe (actress)
William S. Burroughs (writer)
Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru)
Stan Laurel (actor/comedian)
Richard Lindner (artist)
Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian)
Karl Marx (political philosopher)
H. G. Wells (writer)
Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru)
Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist) - barely visible below Bob Dylan
Anonymous (hairdresser's wax dummy)
Third row:
Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle)
Anonymous (hairdresser's wax dummy)
Max Miller (comedian)
A "Petty Girl" (by artist George Petty)
Marlon Brando (actor)
Tom Mix (actor)
Oscar Wilde (writer)
Tyrone Power (actor)
Larry Bell (artist)
Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer)
Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor)
Stephen Crane (writer) - barely visible between Issy Bonn's head and raised arm
Issy Bonn (comedian)
George Bernard Shaw (playwright)
H. C. Westermann (sculptor)
Albert Stubbins (soccer player)
Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru)
Lewis Carroll (writer)
T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia")
Front row:
Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer)
A "Petty Girl" (by George Petty)
Wax model of George Harrison
Wax model of John Lennon
Shirley Temple (child actress) - barely visible, first of three appearances on the cover
Wax model of Ringo Starr
Wax model of Paul McCartney
Albert Einstein (physicist) - largely obscured
John Lennon holding a Wagner Tuba
Ringo Starr holding a trumpet
Paul McCartney holding a Cor Anglais
George Harrison holding a flute
Bobby Breen (singer)
Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer)
An American legionnaire
Diana Dors (actress) HOORAY!!!
Shirley Temple (child actress) - second appearance on the cover
Evidently Jesus and Hitler were in line to be included but were excluded (for different reasons).
Findon mentioned that Diana Dors starred late in life in a TV sitcom called Queenie's Castle, which was set and filmed in Quarry Hill Flats in Leeds. Now the rabbit was born and brought up in Leeds and remembers Quarry Hill Flats. It's an interesting story.The Quarry Hill area of central Leeds has quite a history. In the seventeenth century it was used for plague cabins (isolation units for plague victims) but by Georgian times it had become a popular spa (very sulphuric water evidently), Mary Bateman - a mass poisoner - was active in the area and bodysnatchers (for anatomical dissection) were active in the graveyard of the nearby Parish Church.
This is Allisons Buildings, Quarry Hill. The area was overcrowded and insanitary resulting in outbreaks of cholera and it was proposed to pull down the slums and rebuild as early as 1910. Quarry Hill Flats were in fact completed in 1938. The flats were apparently modelled on Karl Marx Hof flats in Vienna and built by Leeds City Council. It was the largest housing scheme in the country at the time and aimed to incorporate the latest housing ideas and techniques. Flats had solid fuel ranges, electric lighting, a state-of-the-art refuse disposal system and communal facilities.
The story of Quarry Hill Flats is an illustration of the problems I mentioned in guest posting on the Charon QC blog (link below). It was on a huge, ostentatious - perhaps even inhuman - scale and although considered state of the art at the time it soon became something of a disaster. The problem was the steel frame and concrete clad construction. It was uneconomic to renovate and in 1978 the whole complex was demolished.
I mentioned in a comment that British imitators of US stars tend not to work - and that Donovan was no Dylan but I like him. I like Catch The Wind in particular. Was there ever a better romantic song?
Oh and I mentioned that the Quarry Hill Flats were modelled on the Karl Marx Hof (how's that for an address?) in Vienna. So here is Ultravox with Vienna - how contrived a link is that?
8 comments:
I never really took a good look at all the faces on the Sgt Pepper album, except for the ones i could recognize, and all this time I thought Diana Dors was Marilyn Monroe. Colour me surprised!
Dylan performed in concert in our area on Friday. I never much cared for his singing, but I do like his music sung by others. I posted one on my blog today.
I always liked Donovan (much better singer than Dylan IMO). Catcher liked Catch the Wind from the first time she heard it as a young girl. It has a very catchy refrain.
I've never quite understood the SPLHCB album cover, although (at age 8) it was the first LP I bought. The thing has been parodied by others (e.g., Frank Zappa and the Mothers We're Only in It for the Money). While we are on the topic, I still have my copy of the White Album complete with number and £Sd (pre-decimal) price.
We could get into the mess that Coventry became post bombing as well. Toss in Exeter for good measure, but it is still somewhat attractive even if some of the city was bombed into modernity.
But worse, are the projects where things were modernised just to be modern (e.g., Birmingham's Bull Ring).
The Leeds stuff is fascinating!!
I love Donovan! But, yeah - not more than Dylan. :)
The book is on Amazon (second hand copies), see here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Closed-Dors-Star-book/dp/0352303352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288080847&sr=1-1
Must be in demand, it's a penny:-)
Didn't Diana Dors feature in an Adam Ant video - Prince Charming as I recall?
JoJo - I've got out my crayon set. What colour is surprised?
Catchy - Well he can sometimes sound like he has some major obstruction lodged in one of his nostrils. Only saw him once live - well so far I suppose as he is still touring always time for a repetition - back in 1995. He was good on the night but I gather at his worst he can pull a dreadful concert.
Laci - I visit Coventry quite regularly for work. The town planners finished off what the Luftwaffe started. I live less than 10 minutes walk from the Bullring (but that's about to change). Ermmm....
Well I quite like the actual bull.
Sybil - Thankies. No, not more than Dylan.
Barmaid - I'll have a whip round and see if I can afford it (postage would be more expensive than book)!
Richard T - Welcome to my humble blog. She did indeed. I'd quite forgotten that.
I like Donovan too!
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