A nice thunderstorm cruised through last night -- cleaning up the smokey air. The Ospreys are still around, but their young ones are getting big, and they may be gone within weeks.

Sitemeter Sez: This blog had visitors from -- Lggesta, Sweden; Kalispell, Montana (One of several searching the Internet for Lowell Jaeger's book); Somewhere, USA, looking for P-Funk and Flash Gordon; Dublin, Ireland Is that you Eavan, or maybe Roseanne or Rachelle?; Oakland, California; San Antonio, Texas; Vancouver, British Columbia; New Delhi, India; Bend, Oregon; Perth, Western Australia; and finally Cincinnati, Ohio -- reading about homeboy Freekbass.

Remembering my friend George-O at: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!
Read my latest Spitfires in Context essay.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art is closed for the Labor Day weekend. I'm moving into a house instead of an apartment on Wednesday, so I'm using this time to pack up before the van arrives on Wednesday.

Media Watch: I see there's a movie in circulation about the great photographic model Bettie Page -- it stars Gretchen Mol as the lady who disappeared from the twilight world of soft-core nudies to voluntary obscurity in evangelist Billy Graham's organization. Unfortunately, she still had problems. (Bettie's Wiki Page) Playboy Magazine's Hugh Hefner and illustrator Olivia continue to honor her charisma and talent today. You can buy things from her too on Bettie Page's Official Website. An autographed picture costs 200 bucks, but y'know? SHE DESERVES IT!

A tale of two models: The late Irish McCalla (blonde) also did glamor photography in the 50's. She actually had control of her career, and did the TV version of Sheena before retiring and becoming an artist in Arizona. (Sheena's Wiki HERE) Bettie Page (brunette) did many sessions with Bunny Yeager at Africa USA in Florida. Page was associated with some sleazy characters up North who drew the fearful eye of Hoover's FBI and the Keefauver Commission her way. The main reason her photos were so notorious was because she was such a GOOD model. Similar subjects were done by others in the same racket -- a racket never known for originality.


Insets: Brinke Stevens helped re-introduce Ms. Page to the world when she was drawn as "Bettie" in Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Comic Book circa 1980. Sheena was the star of of Jumbo Comics -- this cover artist is unknown, but Jack Kamen or Matt Baker could have been involved. Robert Webb drew her story inside the mag. (Images/info courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.)

It hasn't rained since last week. The cooler weather has slowed the local forest fires down, but the air is still fairly smokey.

Remembering my friend George-O at: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!
Read my latest Spitfires in Context essay.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Classes are starting at Flathead Valley Community College -- our new rooms are ready, but we'll see what other last-minute things may develop!
Museums and Music at the Hockaday Museum of Art was a wonderful end-of-the-summer event last Sunday! The music was good -- I particularly liked what Lee Zimmerman did inside with his singing and cello-playing. We also had the Midnight Guitar Quartet out on our lawn all afternoon. Andre Floyd and Blue Iguana were their usual rockin' selves at Central School a block away, and Cocinando did Latin Jazz at the Conrad Mansion. The Hockaday had about 500 visitors!


Lee Silliman stretches out at the Hockaday Museum of Art during the afternoon of Aug. 26, 2007.

Media Watch: I saw the FVCC Summer Theatre's version of Bye Bye Birdie last weekend -- it's a good play for community theater groups. The characters are such well-known stereotypes, and the songs are so good that if the cast just does their best, it works! Warning -- that constipated movie from the early 60's is not the freewheeling play. Comparing my experience with the so-called professional Bigfork Summer Playhouse, I'd say the acting was as good or better at FVCC. The music was better overall in Bigfork, but FVCC had some good singers too.
Public Radio, Cable TV, and the Blogosphere noted the second anniversary of the Katrina Disaster. Our local, state, and federal governments failed the people at the mouth of the Mississippi, and continue to do so -- it's not just their rampant greed, corruption, and incompetence, but also the Republican Party's ideology that Government can't work, A.K.A. Government must not work, so the GOP will guarantee failure of our public institutions -- overt treason and sabotage.
Sci-Fi Channel's Flash Gordon went back to Mongo for a fast get-in and get-out adventure, so their version of Princess Aura got another few minutes of air time. The dialog says she's hot for Flash, but the visual action doesn't read that way. They wrote in an Amazon-like tribe of yet more beautiful actresses with lousy lines to say. Speaking of which, Baylin had most of the critical scenes again.


Be afraid, be VERY afraid! The REAL Princess Aura, as played by Priscilla Lawson in 1936, inspired by Alex Raymond's original version of the barbaric femme fatale.