“Most of Winogrand’s best pictures-let us say all of his best pictures-involve luck of a different order than that kind of minimal, survivor’s luck on which any human achievement depends.”
~John Szarkowski / Winogrand: Figments from the Real World
© Garry Winogrand / Fraenkel Gallery
Anthony Esposito, 1941 by Weegee (Arthur Fellig). © Weegee / International Center of Photography.
Brand Mascots 100
No.99: Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Cereal’s Tony the Tiger.
Created by ad exec Leo Burnett, Tony began his career in 1952, sharing package labels with Katy the Kangaroo on a new product, Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes of Corn. (Other contestants for representatives were Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu.) Tony proved to be more popular than Katy, so she was retired after the first year.
In 1953, Kellogg’s advertising agency further developed Tony with a four color spread in the August issue of Life magazine. His career since would be the envy of any human star. Various animation studios draw Tony, with the majority of the work being handled by Hanna-Barbera.
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was an American voice actor and singer best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger’s “They’re grrreat!” in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, however uncredited, as the vocalist for the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from the classic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! His voice acting career began in 1940 and lasted until his death in 2005 at age 91. (Source: Wikipedia; Thurl Ravenscroft.)
A clip of Tony jamming on the Monkeys TV program in which Kellogg’s was a sponsor.
From Eddie Vedder’s Water on the Road DVD
We celebrate the life of Indian composer and sitar master Pandit Ravi Shankar, who died yesterday at the age of 92 (one week after the death of Jazz great Dave Brubeck, the day before his 92nd birthday).
One of my favorite albums is “Passages,” a beautiful 1990 collaboration between Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, who first met in the early 1960s. Here is the entire album on YouTube to give you a taste — I heartily recommend that you buy the real deal to hear it in the fidelity it deserves. I can’t think of a more fitting memorial and tribute to Ravi Shankar than the opening track, “Offering,” which he composed:
Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass: Passages
Tracks 1,5,6 Composed by Ravi Shankar
Tracks 2,3,4 Composed by Philip Glass
The start times are approximate ~
00:00 Offering 9:40
09:40 Sadhanipa 8:31
18:11 Channels and Winds 7:56
26:07 Ragas in Minor Scale 7:32
33:39 Meetings Along the Edge 8:05
41:44 Prashanti 13:37
It’s impossible to overstate the influence of Ravi Shankar on the music and culture of the world. In the ideal afterlife of our imagination, Ravi Shankar and George Harrison can pick up where they left off after George’s death in 2001, and maybe John Lennon will drop by to sing a little. Happy travels, Ravi Shankar.
From “Lee Friedlander At Work” Richard Benson (Author), Lee Friedlander (Photographer)
In the Industrial North at the end of the 1970s, people were at work using hands and machinery to make things we all use. In the mid 80s, in Wisconsin, they built supercomputers; at the same time, near Boston, they typed on desktop computers. In New York City, in the early 90s, people stood on stock floors, trading. In 1995, in Omaha, they sat at computers, cold calling as telemarketers; and in Cleveland, in that same year, they used their human skills in traditional ways to once again craft products we all depend on. Work, work, work–we spend the better part of our lives on the job, be it in a factory or an antiseptic office, or somewhere else in the vast assembly line in between. Tireless photographer Lee Friedlander, the maniacally inclusive but blessedly nonchalant cataloguer of Americana–her monuments, jazz musicians, and urban landscapes–here presents 16 years of Americans at work. A collection of commissioned portfolios, some made at the request of art institutions, others at the behest of company CEOs, Lee Friedlander At Work also documents, albeit subtly, 16 years of one of America’s most exceptional and hard-working photographers–at work. (source: Amazon)
From “Lee Friedlander, At Work” by Richard Benson (Author) and Lee Friedlander (Photographer).
In the Industrial North at the end of the 1970s, people were at work using hands and machinery to make things we all use. In the mid 80s, in Wisconsin, they built supercomputers; at the same time, near Boston, they typed on desktop computers. In New York City, in the early 90s, people stood on stock floors, trading. In 1995, in Omaha, they sat at computers, cold calling as telemarketers; and in Cleveland, in that same year, they used their human skills in traditional ways to once again craft products we all depend on. Work, work, work–we spend the better part of our lives on the job, be it in a factory or an antiseptic office, or somewhere else in the vast assembly line in between. Tireless photographer Lee Friedlander, the maniacally inclusive but blessedly nonchalant cataloguer of Americana–her monuments, jazz musicians, and urban landscapes–here presents 16 years of Americans at work. A collection of commissioned portfolios, some made at the request of art institutions, others at the behest of company CEOs, Lee Friedlander At Work also documents, albeit subtly, 16 years of one of America’s most exceptional and hard-working photographers–at work. (source: Amazon)
Psycho Killer performed by Talking Heads from Jonathan Demme’s 1984 film, Stop Making Sense.
The Brand Identity 100
No.99: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Here is an excerpt from the official history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration “Meatball” logo on the NASA History Program Office website.
Bringing back memories of NASA’s early successes, this logo dates back to 1959, when the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) metamorphosed into an agency that would advance both space and aeronautics: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After a NASA Lewis Research Center illustrator’s design was chosen for the new agency’s official seal, the head of Lewis’ Research Reports Division, James Modarelli, was asked by the executive secretary of NACA to design a logo that could be used for less formal purposes. Mr. Modarelli simplified the seal, leaving only the white stars and orbital path on a round field of blue with a red airfoil. Then he added white N-A-S-A lettering.
In the “meatball” design, the sphere represents a planet, the stars represent space, the red chevron is a wing representing aeronautics (the latest design in hypersonic wings at the time the logo was developed), and then there is an orbiting spacecraft going around the wing.
Known officially as the insignia, NASA’s round logo was not called the “meatball” until 1975, when NASA decided a more modern logo was in order and switched to the “worm”–a red, stylized rendering of the letters N-A-S-A.
The use of “meatball” for “any combination of raw or cooked meat shaped into balls” dates back much farther, at least to 1838 (the Oxford English Dictionary’s oldest citation). An 1877 recipe used mutton and veal necks, but variously seasoned meatballs had been known by other names in other cultures. There were spicy Greek keftedes containing minced veal, onions, herbs, and breadcrumbs; olde English pome-dorries (dating back to at least A.D. 1381) made of beef and egg yolks or pork liver and flour; and the much loved Italian and Swedish meatballs (whose ethnic names I could not find in time for this article). “Meatball” has also been used for a dull, unattractive person and for a penant for battle efficiency or an athletic scholarship.
The use of “meatball” in aeronautics also predates NASA’s round insignia, but not by much. In 1957, the U.S. Navy referred to a “meatball of light” in its procedure for landing aircraft on aircraft carriers: “The mirror reflects a bright light astern and upward into a beam which the pilot follows straight to a landing by keeping the “meatball” of light precisely centred in the mirror.”1 This eventually became known as the meatball landing system.
In 1992, Administrator Dan Goldin brought NASA’s meatball back from retirement to invoke memories of the one-giant-leap-for-mankind glory days of Apollo and to show that “the magic is back at NASA.” Lewis’ hangar and publications now reflect this change. But nostalgia has its price.
When the “meatball” was designed in 1959, printing was a completely photographic process. Photocopiers were just beginning to be available, and their quality was too poor for printing; no one was even dreaming of digital printing.
“It’s a design nightmare,” sighs Greg Patt, Graphics Manager for Lewis’ Publishing Services contractor, Cortez III. “It doesn’t print well on laser printers because of the gradations on the airfoil, and it can’t be used at less than 5/8 inch because the stars disappear and the type becomes illegible.”
Jazz master Dave Brubeck (Wikipedia entry) died yesterday of a cardiac arrest on his way to see his cardiologist, one day before his 92nd birthday. To remember this musical genius, check out the video above of Dave and his band performing his most famous composition, “Take Five,” on German television in 1966.
“Take Five” first appeared on the 1959 album Time Out, by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The “Classic Quartet,” from 1958-1967, featured the following lineup, which appears in the video above:
Dave Brubeck – piano
Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
Eugene Wright – double bass
Joe Morello – drums
Fast Company has a great post today, The 5 Most Innovative Takes On Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, with videos of these fantastic cover versions, including one from the Spanish language version of The Simpsons!
Brand Mascots 100
No.100: United States Forest Service’s Smokey Bear
Smokey Bear often called Smokey the Bear or simply Smokey is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created to educate the public about the dangers of forest fires. Smokey’s debut poster was released on August 9, 1944, which is considered his anniversary date. Overseen by the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign, the first poster was illustrated by Albert Staehle. In it Smokey was depicted wearing jeans and a campaign hat, pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. The message underneath reads, “Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!” Knickerbocker Bears gained the license to produce Smokey bear dolls in 1944. Also in 1944, Forest Service worker Rudy Wendelin became the full-time campaign artist; he was considered Smokey Bear’s “caretaker” until he retired in 1973. (source: Wikipedia: Smokey Bear)
Resources / Video / Film
History of Smokey Bear from National Archives and Records Administration.
Heaven performed by Talking Heads from Jonathan Demme’s 1984 film, Stop Making Sense.