March 29, 2008

THE PLASTOCK ROOM

If you're a regular reader, a friend of mine, or somebody who has passed me on a sidewalk then you've heard me raving about the Minneapolis based Charles Spencer Anderson design firm. They've been my favorite since a day, long ago, when I was performing my duties as a corporate mail boy and laid eyes on one of my deliveries— the CSA Archive of rescued, restored and/or revamped stock illustrations from the early to mid twentieth century.

(See CSAImages.com for a look at the collection.)

After witnessing this gorgeous tome I went in search of more of their work. I was shocked and amazed upon my discovery of their phenomenal original designs. Here's a sampling that spans more than a decade...










Not to even mention their historic 2003 Target Halloween campaign.

If your eyes are still intact then please read on. In the tradition of a crazed stalker, I took matters into my own hands and visited their offices in 2001. They resided in a single floor of this building..


To my chagrin Mr. Anderson happened to be accompanying his wife as she gave birth to their daughter that day, but his lackeys were friendly and accommodating. My friend Jason and I received a satisfying tour on which we observed the crack team of designers in action. Eye candy spilled from their work spaces in the form of current projects and objects of inspiration. Every available nook seemed to be stuffed with printed wonders both foreign and familiar to me.




I was enthusiastically making a fool of myself, rattling questions at our guide in a fanboy mania when we suddenly ran out of square footage to tour. When this realization struck I started to feel that same little panic I get when I step off the last ride on the last day of a Disneyland visit. But wait a minute, there was no need to despair because I remembered that we hadn't seen the archive yet; which is to say the vaults where they stored their collection of vintage artwork. The first edition of their catalog goes on for several pages detailing the painstaking process they've undergone to protect and preserve their visual treasures. I'd seen photographs of long hallways lined with steel doors, and portraits of qualified art retrieval technicians who carefully managed the depository.

In fact, I recognized the building across the street as being home to this massive operation...


"So, are we allowed to see the archive?" said I.
My request was met with a grin and a chuckle.

"Heh, I guess that's off limits, huh." I continued.

"Oh, are you being for real?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but I'll understand if that's not possible."

His expression changed and he said,
"Well, you realize that whole archive thing is just a big put-on, right?"

"Huh? But what about all those photos in the catalog? The metal vaults and the guys in the rubber gloves, and the storage building?"

"I think we made it pretty obvious that it's all a joke. That's just our sense of humor. We started with a picture of the building down the block and made up the rest. The archive only exists digitally."

At that moment I was Pee-Wee Herman standing in the Alamo asking to see the basement.

I, a man with a taste for wit, a passion for pranks, and a bookmark on snopes.com, had been severely and humiliatingly duped. (Upon rereading the captions in that catalog (seen above) the humor is unmistakable, but it's the pictures that nailed me.) I stood there confounded, feeling like the traditional Midwestern dimwit who gets chewed up by the city slickers. Our guide must have sensed my defeat because he quickly followed with a question.

"Would you like to see the Plastock room?"



Ah, glorious, sugary, eye-pleasuring Plastock. The only thing I adore in the CSA universe more than the black ink that makes up the original rights-managed Archive. Basically, Plastock is the three dimensional embodiment of vintage stock art. Anderson started by amassing tens of thousands of old plastic toys, charms, game pieces, models, cake toppers, railroad scenery, and doodads, then his team customized them with paint and frankensteining techniques before photographing them in the most beautiful ways imaginable, and finally Photoshopping them to perfection.

Get your Plastock right here.

Anderson has since explained to me that the photographs were originally captured on one of the first digital cameras on the market. Each image was around 80 megs and at the time (mid 1990s), the storage technology available on that level was ridiculously expensive– digital tapes at $150 apiece which had extremely limited capacity. Ironically, they ended up having to convert the entire catalog to film for the Japanese market.


"Sure. I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing the Plastock room," I said.

"I'll never wash these eyes again."

The title of this photo is "Dream Job."

Heads and head accessories to the left, globes and Plasticville buildings to the right.

Please don't forget to click on these images to enlarge them.

It was a joyous whirlwind. We were only in there for a handful of minutes and the whole time my attention was divided between being awestruck and trying to take decent snapshots. Prior to my visit I would regularly sit down and ingest the Plastock catalog like it was a novel, so I recognized a large portion of the pieces in the room. It's ridiculous, but I felt the same way that I do when encountering celebrities in person.

The collection of toys isn't organized in any particular system. For instance here we have some Shriners, a bum, a wino and a Scotsman.

Note The Great Garloo by Marx toys hiding behind the flag.

That green robot is Big Loo, another Marx favorite.

They kept plastic stuff on the shelves.

Regarding these photos Mr. Anderson adds "That's a fraction of the plastic stuff. We no longer display it on shelves-dust multiplied by tens of thousands. It's now in plastic Ziploc bags, inside of plastic Sterilite containers, in storage. Unfortunately very hard to see. But for me the art I'm interested in is not so much the object as the photo and finished color Photoshop version of the object-that's the Pop Art. We figured if Andy Warhol could take low, common objects and elevate them to the level of fine art, we could take this plastic stuff and elevate it to the much less ambitious level of stock art."


Plastock kicks Warhol, I say.



P.S. Yes, I was ripping off Plastock when I recently made this poster.

March 28, 2008

TALK ABOUT CREATIVITY


Not that it's relevant to 99.9% of you, but I'm speaking at the art department of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas on April 2nd. If you're an SHSU student popping in to check out the Secret Fun Blog then I heartily invite you to have a look around! The presentation will actually be a lot like this site– A lot of fun, mildly funny (or not), and chock full of pictures. (Averaging one image every 19.64 seconds!)

The talk will center around my own creative path, lessons learned along the way, and how totally confused I was when I was about to graduate. So if you are an SHSU art or media student in good standing, and you're up to date on your tuition, various fees (including parking tickets, etc.), and you wish to voluntarily spend an hour sitting in a classroom after regular class hours, then I hope to see you there!

March 24, 2008

IT'S ALIVE (1969) OPENING TITLES (FEATURING LAND OF KONG)



In my recent Dinosaur World post I mentioned that the park (known as Land of Kong in its early days) appeared in the first few minutes of It's Alive (1969). Well, here are those very minutes, immediately available for your eyes in the form of moving colored pixels. As you will see, the scaffolding is still present around a couple of the dinosaurs indicating that the footage was shot in the earliest days of the attraction (maybe even before it was open to the public). About 80% of the rest of the feature takes place in nearby Onyx cave which is still open to the public. If I would have seen this film before I toured that cave years ago I would have appreciated it about a thousand times more.

March 11, 2008

THE ABANDONED DINOSAUR WORLD


Updade: I'm sad to report that the former Dinosaur World gift shop and restaurant have burned down.

Dinosaur World of Beaver Springs, is a defunct roadside attraction that was a jaunt from the better-known tourist haven of Eureka Springs. I recently visited the remains of the place and snapped quite a few shots, so that I might share them here. And that, my friend, is the true origin of this internet blog post which you are reading...right now.

During most of my lifetime this prehistoric landmark was called Land of Kong named for its 40 foot monument to King Kong which boasted flashing eyes and a soundtrack of gorilla growls. The place got a new name about the time America flocked to Jurassic Park to watch Jeff Goldblum. (Also some dinosaurs.) According to Wikipedia "the park was started in the 1960s" and though "it is the largest dinosaur park in the world" it has been "closed since 2005." Oddly enough, that was the same year Peter Jackson's King Kong hit the screens. It seems that they could have swapped names once more and been on the cusp of cultural relevance again.

UPDATE: It seemed cruel to discuss the Kong statue without offering a visual (I wasn't able to see it on this particular visit) so I asked to borrow this one from RoadsideArchitecture.com...

(And if you want to see a Dinosaur World tour that is far more dinosaur infested than mine, check out theirs.)


Though it has been closed down for nearly three years, no efforts have been made to communicate this fact on the numerous billboards (seen above) or directional signs that point the way to the former tourist trap. The dinosaur park is at least ten winding minutes off the main highway, so there's no telling how many barrels of oil have been burned by eager travelers fatefully racing towards the first defeat of their family vacation. The returning lane of traffic probably moves much slower as brooding parents explain the concept of false hope to their crestfallen children.

But the trek isn't a total loss for those of us with an affinity for decaying amusements and cement cavemen. There are enough photo-ops available in the parking lot alone to support an argument for keeping the billboards intact, and almost enough fun stuff to even quench one's temptation to trespass deeper.

A single look at that giant spider and one's soul is awash with the distinct feeling that everything is going to be alright. (Click any photo to dino-size it!)

A duo of excitable cavemen welcome one and all. The one on the left struggles to hold his ax upright. Close inspection reveals that these guys are actually no more than torsos; probably due to the prohibitive cost of caveman legs.

The glimpse of the letters "ND" hint at the original Land of Kong bone typeface.

This is as good a time as any to point out that the park makes an appearance in the first few minutes of It's Alive (1969).
UPDATE: See the Dinosaur World footage from It's alive HERE.


In fact one of the original co-owners of Dinosaur World was American B-movie actor (and Shirley Temple's first husband) John Agar (1921-2002).

This building was home to the ticket booth, souvenir shop, and snack bar.

Boom! Just like that- a free fun house mirror right in the entryway. You haven't paid a dime yet and your day just got 100% more awesome.

Not only that, the laffs start to roll in for anyone who lays eyes on this single panel gorilla-related gag. It took me way too long to decipher their monkeyspeak. Translation: "Eat yet?" "Not yet. You?"

I pushed the camera up to the door to get a peek inside. It's a wonderland of lattice and Corona boxes.


The guy on the right looks like Jimmy Carter. Leftover satire from the 70s, maybe? I wonder if the guy in the trucker hat is the proprietor.



The props have no regard for dimensional continuity. I like that.

This is where the official tour once began. While it would not be difficult to breach Dino World proper, trespassers are challenged by the current caretakers who live in a home that overlooks much of the area. (I have friends who have been swiftly busted.) It would seem that guarding this Dinotopia would be a full time job. I imagine every year there must be a handful of disgruntled Clark Griswold types who vow to tour the park by any means necessary.



The caveman torso lookouts are losing the battle.

More former Kodak moments.

I wonder why so many tourist attractions are equipped with rickety swinging bridges of death. These bridges automatically divide visitors into two types of people- those who simply want to pass and those who take time out of their day for violent jumping and shaking.

After my visit, I was driving away when I noticed a nearby gravel pull-off which seemed as though it were created solely for illegal Dinosaur World entry. In the name of blogging I stopped the car, walked down an embankment and and briefly set foot in the forbidden lost world where I took these last couple of photos.

More from Wikipedia: "The sculptures were created by Emmet Sullivan, who also designed the dinosaur statues in Dinosaur Park and Wall Drug in South Dakota, and the Christ of the Ozarks statue in nearby Eureka Springs, Arkansas."

Those dinosaurs (and one big King Kong) are all standing out there at this very moment, waiting to terrorize and amuse; a fact that is both comforting and depressing. Please, someone, buy this place, reopen it and bestow a little more joy to our planet! (Oh, and change the name back to Land of Kong.)

UPDATE: Secret Fun reader Flashfink offers even more information on John Agar's connection to Land of Kong via an obscure reference in Psychotronic Magazine, issue 9 (Spring 1991). Thanks Flashfink for using your powers of information finding!

[after mentioning Agar's part as the New York district attorney in the 1976 version of KING KONG, the article's author - Dennis Daniel - continues with : "A while later, a JOHN AGAR'S LAND OF KONG opened in Arkansas]

Agar:(Laughs) "Yes, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A friend of mine who's now deceased, Ken Childs, he bought this place that a farmer had built up with a bunch of dinosaurs and stuff like that on it. They wanted to build a King Kong and refurbish the existing dinosaurs there. They looked like cartoon characters, instead of what they would actually look like. It was like Walt Disney went down there and did them. Ken contacted a guy in Texas to build this Kong for him. The place was eventually called "John Agar's Land of Kong." I just let them use my name. I think it's still there. I've never seen the actual place in person, only photos. He was a friend and I just let him use my name. I guess he figured, since I was in KING KONG it had some relevance."

If this is true and not the distorted memories of an aging alcoholic, it means that his roles in two of Larry Buchanan's films and the park's appearance in one more of them is nothing more than an (AMAZING) coincidence.