I got a request on my previous post from blogger John Gray of Going Gently
He wants to see a photo of the painting that is hanging above my cat Bosco:
Well, it is actually an antique poster of a 1913 painting by Maxfield Parrish, entitled Enchantment. This particular poster is an advertisement for Edison Mazda light bulbs.
The original painting is on my header photo, and this is my poster:
I specifically hung this poster above my bed, because if it falls off the wall and hits me while I'm sleeping it will do only minimal damage (it's framed under sturdy lightweight acrylic).
I once had a heavy oil painting above my bed. It fell one night and nearly killed me.
I've had this poster since I was eighteen yrs. old and it brings back lots of fond memories. I bought it in an antique shop on Hollywood Boulevard. I loved it at first sight and......these many years later I still love it. It's one of the very few things I have left from my Hollywood days.
My diaries and journals are lost, most of my photos are gone. I'm left with only memories of an incredible time and a fantastic place - when I was adventurous, reckless, enthusiastic, outgoing. A far cry from the introverted hermit that I've become.
I also still have this antique owl, that I bought in another small shop on Hollywood Boulevard.
I had kept the owl on my desk for years. One time long ago, in a blind (and uncharacteristic) moment of rage, I threw it at somebody. It hit the wall and broke apart at the base. I managed to glue it back together and it has endured all these years.
Another of my Hollywood momentos is an antique Turkish hashish pipe made of brass and wood - which I actually used. It might still be around somewhere, packed away. I haven't looked for it.
So why am I mentioning all of this crap?
Tonight as I look at these token relics of the past, I'm thinking of those long-ago times. And I can almost smell the cool, damp air of a misty California autumn night - when I haunted the after-midnight streets of Hollywood.....
....when I smoked Kool cigarettes and sometimes hash, when I swigged whiskey from a pint bottle that I kept in my coat, and popped occasional quaaludes, when I had a switchblade stashed down the side of my boot....when I thrived on adventure, and was always ready for a sexual encounter....
It was a different time, in a world infinitely far away from where I am now, and I miss it immensely.
One of the very few photos left, taken when I first went to Hollywood. It was used in a local periodical, in an article about West Hollywood musicians. I was still pathetically skinny - wearing a loose-fitting shirt from India. I also had on the boots in which I kept the switchblade.
This started out about a poster and somehow got lost in a ramble of memories. But for me it was a satisfying ramble.
Am I living in the past?
Nope. But I'm sure as hell missing it.
