One-of-a-Kind Historical Photos Worth Learning About

Scoop, ... 14 comments.

I really enjoyed this gallery. I was curious about the picture of the Klansmen riding the Ferris Wheel.

Here is the story:

In April 1926, dozens of Ku Klux Klan members in Cañon City, Colorado walked down Main Street and enjoyed some fun and frivolity on the Ferris wheel set up by a traveling carnival. There they posed for a photo at the carnival owner’s insistence and a story about it appeared on the front page of the local newspaper the next day. At the time, the Klan were one of the most popular groups in America and free to conduct their business in the open with the government’s blessing. Local Klansman’s children were even known to write “KKK” on their school uniforms and call themselves the Ku Klux Kids.

I found out in researching this that Colorado was a hotbed of Kan activity, and had the second-largest Klan contingent among the states. I didn’t expect that.

In Colorado, the Klan held significant political power in the mid-1920s, with a Klansman serving as governor (Clarence Morley) and another as Denver’s mayor (Benjamin Stapleton). History Colorado has digitized extensive records of Klan membership ledgers from this period, which are available to the public for research.

#1 also surprised me: Indiana.

Ali Larter in the new episode of Landman (s2e8)

Scoop, ... 8 comments.

She isn’t nekkid, but she sure is hot in that bikini!

Besides, I like Ali. I’ve been sayin’ for 20 years that she’s underrated and miscast, and now that she’s totally nailing this over-the-top role in a major show from Taylor Fuckin’ Sheridan his ownself, I’m showin’ her some love.

If anyone ever decides to make a proper version of Semi-Tough, to cleanse the palate from that dumb Burt Reynolds version, Ali would be the perfect Barbara Jane Bookman. She’s already playing that character!

That’ll never happen. The world has changed, and no filmmaker (that I know of) has the balls to do it. It would be considered racist, homophobic and misogynist. Oh, yeah, it was based on the way athletes of that time really thought and talked, but to paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s famous line, “We can’t handle the truth.”


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Video. The film clip is very entertaining. I’ve actually started watching this show instead of fast-forwarding through it.

By the way, Ali turns 50 next month!

Moira Kelly, Diane Lane and Milla in Chaplin (1992)

Scoop, ... 12 comments.

It was interesting to read what I wrote about Robert Downey, Jr 30 years ago.

Chaplin showed that Robert Downey Jr. might have had the potential to be the greatest actor of his generation. How many actors can assay the role of a certified genius and not look like a complete schmuck? Remember Paul Shenar as Orson Welles? James Brolin as Clark Gable? Ray Liotta as Sinatra? Michael Chiklis as Belushi?

When he was just 27, Downey had been nominated for an Oscar for his brilliant turn as one of film’s greatest geniuses. Whereupon he faded into a drug haze and became uninsurable, therefore persona non grata anywhere the major studios were involved. He took whatever work he could get, consisting of forgettable indies and an occasional minor role in a major film, but only if he could knock it off in a day or two, Eric Roberts style. Nobody would count on him to stay sober long enough to play a significant role in a big-budget production.

I wrote about his performance as Chaplin:

Was he just a mediocre actor who was lucky enough to get the career-defining role so early in his life? It isn’t completely rare for an otherwise average performer to deliver a spectacular performance when handed the perfect part. One need only mention Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Bubba Smith in “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.” But I don’t think that’s the case with Downey. I think he’s always had a superior level of talent, but his private life has consistently stood between him and greatness.

Based on the “blind pig and truffle” theory, even I can be right once in a while. Downey did finally get his act together, sobering up so completely that Marvel was willing to bet their deep pockets on him in a long-running, multiple-picture role. It would make him a superstar, while affording him the freedom to pick a variety of other roles that proved he was not just a star, but a great actor as well.

You know the rest of the story. He played Sherlock Holmes. He did comedies and dramas. He picked up two more Oscar nominations after his 16-year drought. The former bad boy even became something of a wise éminence grise in Tinseltown.

Diane Lane

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Milla Jovovich

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Moira Kelly

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Videos

Janis Joplin topless

Scoop, ... 3 comments.

More from the mailbox:

I thought I might send this picture of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the holding company, one tit out. I have never seen this pic anywhere else. It’s from the Grateful Dead Family Album book from 1989. Photo credit is Jerilyn Lee Brandelius. It’s a photo of a photo. I’ll try to scan, and maybe it’ll look better.


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Scoop’s note: I’ve seen the pic before, but never in very good quality. Anybody got it in good resolution?