The Boy With A Bumble Bee On A String---Young Art Collector Had a Bumblebee Tied On A String Attached To His Shirt

Have you ever seen a person with a bumblebee tied on a string attached to their shirt?  I did back in 1969. The young art collector mentioned in Paul Richard's Review in the Washington Post of the very first ever exhibit of underground original comic art in a major museum was the person with a bumblebee for a pet.
See my blog post below this one for information on that show and to read Paul Richard's two reviews of that show. The show of underground comic art was at The Washington Gallery of Modern Art in May of 1969.

I will not name the young collector since I want to protect his privacy.
   He bought some art by Gilbert Shelton. I know he bought the Billy Graham and the Dope Mystics(see it it in the post just below this one) because I saw it in his home. He showed it to me. Paul Richard writes that he bought a Wonder Wart Hog original by Gilbert Shelton also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Wart-Hog
After the show this young man called me up and wanted to come into D.C. to see me.He lived nearby in Arlington, Va.  I remember he also invited me to his home and showed me slides of pictures he had taken in  Antarctica. He projected the images on a large movie type screen.
 They were professional quality photographs of ice he had taken on some assignment.

When he came into D.C. he had a bumblebee on a string attached to a button on his shirt. It flew around and around. He explained to me that he had taken the stinger out of his pet bumblebee.
I see by looking at Youtube there are several people who have put bumblebees on strings and filmed the bees flying around. They seem to think it is funny.

For lunch he told me he could only eat hamburgers from a place like Burger King where the meat was flame broiled.

Then we went to a small museum or gallery of African Art.  Standing in the front room of an old D.C. townhouse  we began to look at the art on the walls. He bent over to pick up something and a pistol fell out of his coat. I heard something hit the highly polished blond hardwood floor. I looked down to see a pistol spinning around and around.

   D.C. has some very strict gun laws. I think they were just as strict in 1969 as they are now. Guns are not allowed in D.C. Only criminals and the D.C. police can have them. Well, that is not exactly true anymore. Someone sued over this law recently and through a very complicated and difficult process people can obtain a license for a gun. But back then I don't think they could.
   I suggested we leave the gallery after he picked up his gun.

Wahington Post Art Critic Paul Richard Reviews The First Underground Comic Art Exhibit In A Museum---Washington D.C. May 1969 At The Washington Gallery Of Modern Art--Walter Hopps Director

I have written more on this blog about Paul Richard and Walter Hopps and The Washington Gallery of Modern Art circa 1967-68-69. You can search for those posts by clicking on the names in the Label Box below.
I recently found my copies of Paul Richard's Reviews of this show from 1969. Since they not on the web anywhere as far as I know here it is now.

The above picture is of Walter Hopps taken around the time he was Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Click on the photos to enlarge them and double click if necessary to read the above.
The drawing is by Robert Crumb.
   Paul Richard Reviewed the Show again about a week later on June 1, 1969. Here is that Review below.
It was too large for my scanner so I had to do it in pieces to get it all in.

The above drawing is by Robert Crumb. Click on it to enlarge it. This is from 1969. Do the freeways in the cities look like this now. I would say Yes.
   
For all the information and photos I have on this comix art show search my blog for the labels shown below.

And below is the Gilbert Shelton drawing the young collector bought in the show that is referred to in the review above. Click on the picture to enlarge it. And double click if necessary.

Billy Graham / Dope Mystics

Gilbert Shelton

Radical America Komiks

1969

Pen & Ink

19 x 12.5


And click on the link below to see the whole Comic book this drawing comes from which includes stories of Wonder Wart Hog.

The original artwork was large in size. 19 inches by 12.5 inches.

http://www.undergroundcomixart.com/drawings/main.php?g2_view=slideshow.Slideshow&g2_itemId=260

Pan Am Flight Bag 1960s Style And Pan Am Holiday Junket To San Juan

I used to have one of these. I went looking for it yesterday and today and could not find it.
 The originals are now selling on Ebay from 40 to 100 dollars or more.
Here is one that is part of a Western Auto Junket to San Juan in the 1960s including the bag and much more.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1960-PAN-AM-CANVAS-OVERNIGHT-BAG-TICKET-JACKETS-FLIGHT-MAP-ETC-/200657120558?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb818ad2e
I met a 89 year old man this morning who went on one of these junkets on Pan Am to the Caribbean back in the 1960s when they were introducing jet air travel.
He won the trip in a contest. He said he went to the airport and they flew down to the Caribbean and got off and he went and got drunk and then later they returned to the airport and flew home.

Here is a link to a really good website that is Everything Pan Am.

http://www.everythingpanam.com/index.html

tour of Walter Anderson's home with Sissy Anderson

I have several more posts on this blog about Walter Anderson and his art. Just click on the name Walter Anderson in the Label Box below to find them.
 Also the wikipedia article about Walter Anderson is excellent.
The video above is important because it was made before 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of this property. Although the "Little Room" shown in this video had  been removed from its original location and moved to the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs so it was not destroyed. All his art in the museum survived Katrina but much of his art stored at this place (Sherwater Pottery) just outside Ocean Springs was damaged or destroyed.  You can read all about it in the Wikipedia article on Walter Anderson below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Inglis_Anderson

Walter Anderson Art Exhibit

I have several more posts on this blog about Walter Anderson.

Pan Am New Extended Trailer

"Come Fly With Me"-1963

Pan Am introduction to jet service

The Tarnished Angels (1/6) Watch The Whole Movie Here--Based On The Novel PYLON By William Faulkner

See my post below about William Faulkner's book PYLON and deaths at air shows.
As good as this movie is the book PYLON is much much better.

Deaths At Air Shows This Past Weekend Reminded Me Of William Faulkner's Book PYLON

Two different air shows had crashes that caused deaths this past weekend. It reminded me of one of the lesser known William Faulkner books PYLON. Click on the link below to read some of the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Pylon-Corrected-Text-William-Faulkner/dp/0394747410#_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pylon_(novel)
It was made into a movie called THE TARNISHED ANGELS.

Nixon Visits Mobile Alabama - President Richard Nixon Visited Mobile Alabama On May 25th 1971 And The Nixon Drug Store(No Relation)On Old Shell Road Was Robbed While He Was In Mobile--True Story

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/nixon-tombigbee-waterway-silver-coin-may-25

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

On May 25th, 1971 then President Richard Nixon came to Mobile to celebrate the beginning of the construction of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. I went downtown and watched the parade. He stopped his limo and got out to talk to some of the fancy dressed Azalea Trail Maids.
  The next day I was reading the Mobile Press Register and I read that someone had robbed The Nixon Drugstore on Old Shell Road. This was either a strange co incidence or somebody's idea of a strange sense of humor.
You can see and read all about Nixon's visit to Mobile on the link below. I could not find the Mobile Press Register Story but I clearly remember reading it and if the Mobile Press Register can be believed it really did happen while Nixon was in town.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ad7x_dick-george-tenn-tom_news

And the link below is information about the Nixon Drug Store with a map that shows its location.
http://www.wellness.com/dir/2707438/pharmacy/nixon-drugs-inc/mobile/al

Information about the Tenn-Tom Waterway in the link below.
http://tenntom.org/

The 9/11 Commission Report

You can read it all here.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html

The 9/11 Commission Report Found A Failure Of Imagination On Our Part

Click and double click on the photos to enlarge and read them.

I wonder how many have bothered to read this book. It is excellent. I recently found a copy at a used book sale.
   I was pleased to see a chapter on Foresight And Hindsight. Because I could not understand how someone had not been able to forsee such an attack by air from inside our country.
Anyone who reads Tom Clancy novels and watches movies like Escape From New York would have been able to use their imaginations to study the possibility of such attacks.
When I moved to Washington D.C. in 1967 I was told the airspace over the Pentagon and The White House was "restricted". Yes it is restricted is was just not protected.

The commission concluded there was a "lack of imagination" on the part of those in our government in not being able to imagine such an attack could happen.
And what to do about it.

THE SPRINGFIELDS - COTTON FIELDS 1962/63

Chubby Checker - Hooka Tooka (Original!)

Fats Domino - I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday [2001, Subtitled]

American Cooking Southern Style - Southern Cooking - Eugene Walter And His Cookbooks - Time Life Southern Cooking Cookbook By Eugene Walter

Click on the photographs to enlarge them.  That is the Time Life Southern Cooking Cookbook and Spiral Recipe Book. It contains a long article on Southern Cooking by Eugene Walter who was the editor of the book. In fact, he wrote the whole book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Walter
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2557
   The links below are to this cookbook by Eugene Walter and others he wrote.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350459927872

http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-cooking-southern-style.html

http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/delectable-dishes-from-termite-hall.html

http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/search/label/Eugene%20Walter

http://lucindaville.blogspot.com/2010/01/eugene-walter.html