Wally Wood worked on a hipster version of "The Night Before Christmas." I don't have the poem at hand, but I have these three illustrations (above and below) to remind us of what a knack Wood had for modernism.
Wood would have made a terrific architect. That fireplace (above) is beautiful, and the tree that spans two floors is pretty neat. I love the brickwork in the foreground and the idea of a mat-framed print to set it off. I love how the whole place is on levels. What do you think of the cheetah skin beret on the guy on the lower right?
What do you think of this photo (above) from the Christmas sequence of "Meet Me in St. Louis?" I get sentimental when I see pictures like this. Imagine how great Christmas would be if you had this many kids...okay maybe half this number, say...five or six. I had two and it definitely wasn't enough.
Thinking about that reminds me of why I like Christmas so much. It's a time of the year that's steeped in profound tradition and sentiment, and it's simultaneously a fun celebration that's always trying to re-invent itself.
8 comments:
Those Wally Wood drawings seem to pop out at me for some reason. Coolest cartooning effect ever. Hipster Christmas indeed. Put some modern jazz/bebop in the background or Vince Guaraldi and it would truly be a Hipster Xmas, to be honest.
Can't believe 2012's right around the corner? A little bit afraid for the new year, but very excited at the same time. Hopefully none of those conspiracy theories or the Mayan Calendar aren't true after all.
First image, the beatnik in the upper left looks JUST like Sherm Cohen!
I need to take a picture of the makeshift Christmas tree at the local library. Somebody made it from old plastic milk cartons, added lights inside, and put it on display. It's actually pretty cool.
Holy mackerel! Xmas has come true after all. Look what I found on the net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OeUEWjX170
Haven't seen these in five years. I remember them very well from the Sunday Pants show Cartoon Network used to have, but had no idea Aaron Springer created these. These are genius. Hardly any dialogue at all, and nothing but funny and clever, just like what you'd see in the old Chaplin and Keaton films of the 20s.
I don't think I've ever read anyone suggesting arcitecture as a vocation for Wally Wood but you are so right! His touches in the EC "There Will Come Soft Rains" was slightly sterile but inspired. He could've been a great set designer with the right production. In fact, think how he could have enhanced The Incredibles design.
Brian O.
the chubby kid with Santa looks like he's getting abducted. Lol!
Some people on the internet figured that last picture you posted looks a lot like Ariel from the Little Mermaid, and photoshopped a pair of hipster glasses onto some still from the movie
She kinda became a whole meme of her own
Jazzbo ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ Mad Magazine #52 Jan 1960
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,
Not a hipster was swinging, not even old Dad;
The chimney was hung in the stocking routine,
In hopes that “The Fat Man” would soon make the scene;
The moon and the snow were, like, faking together,
Which made the scene rock in the Day People weather,
When, what to these peepers should come on real queer,
But a real crazy sleigh, and eight swinging reindeer,
As sidemen in combos pick up as they stomp,
When they swing with the beat of a Dixieland romp,
So up to the top of my bandstand they flew,
With the sleigh full of loot, and St. Nicholas, too.
His lids-Man, they sizzled! His dimples were smiles!
His cheeks were like “Dizzy’s,” his break was like “Miles!”
His puckered-up mouth was, like, blowing flat E,
And his chin hid behind a real crazy goatee!
He blew not a sound, but skipped right to his gig,
And stashed all the stockings, then came on real big,
And flashing a sign, like that old “Schnozzle” bit,
And playing it hip, up the chimney he split;
And then, in a quick riff, I dug on the roof,
The jumpin’ and jivin’ of each swinging hoof.
As I pulled in my noggin, and turned around fast,
Down the chimney came Nick like a hot trumpet blast.
The tip of a butt he had snagged in his choppers,
And he took a few drags just like all cool be-boppers;
He had a weird face, and a solid reet middle
That bounced when he cracked, like a gutbucket fiddle!
He was wrapped up to kill, Man, a real kookie dresser!
And his rags were, like, way out! Pops! He was a gasser!
A sack full of goodies hung down to his tail,
And he looked like a postman with “Basie’s” fan mail.
He was shaking with meat, meaning he was no square,
And I flipped, ‘cause I’d always thought he was “longhair!”
But the glint in his eye and the beat in his touch
Soon gave me the message this cat was “too much!”
He flew to his skids, to his group blew a lick,
And they cut out real cool, on a wild frenzied kick.
But I heard him sound off, with a razz-a-ma-tazz:
“A cool Christmas to all, and, like all of that jazz!”
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