Thursday, November 11, 2021

For Sale: Fire Resistant Kickstand


This neighbourhood garage fire happened a while ago. Maybe pre-COVID. Certainly pre-"heat dome". The house to the south of it, and the one to the east of it, were also affected, but not enough to burn down. As for the motorcycle, it stands like Shelley's Ozymandias: two round and tire-less rims of steel.

In most parts of the world, the motorcycle is a work vehicle; in the United States and Canada, it is more commonly associated with leisure, escape, a symbol of youth. The Wild One (1953) is an unremarkable picture in terms of story, character and cinematography, but it is fun to watch for its choppers and costumes. 

Marlon Brando's character (above) signifies as butch gay in his jacket and cap, which of course is where that look came from (hello Tom of Finland), but Lee Marvin's character (below) has the artier look. The horizontal lines of his sweater! Who in the Art Department came up with that? I looked on IMDB and found the name Walter Holscher (1901-1973), a Hamburg-born art director whose last gig was in 1965, when he worked on 12 episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, including my favourite episode of that series: "Aunt Bee Takes a Job". 



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