Keith Allison's Blog
March 25, 2019
The Pleasure Girls and the Profumo Affair
I'm on Diabolique, writing about the swingin' 1965 British film THE PLEASURE GIRLS and it's strange relation to a famous British scandal.
Read it: One Slow Descent into Respectability: Prostitutes, Profumo, and the Pleasure Girls
Read it: One Slow Descent into Respectability: Prostitutes, Profumo, and the Pleasure Girls
March 7, 2019
Machine Made Dirt: “Beat Girl” and the Birth of the British Teenager
I have joined the Diabolique magazine online team, and my inaugural rambling essay is about the things I love most in life: Beat Girl, Gillian Hills, go-go dancing, hip slang, seedy nightclubs, teenage rebellion, and Oliver Reed in a checkered shirt. It's part one in an ongoing exploration of films released as part of the BFI Flipside series.
Machine Made Dirt: “Beat Girl” and the Birth of the British Teenager
https://diaboliquemagazine.com/machin...
Machine Made Dirt: “Beat Girl” and the Birth of the British Teenager
https://diaboliquemagazine.com/machin...
February 19, 2019
Important thoughts about GI Joe: The Movie and Angry Red Planet
Catching up on some writing elsewhere, I have two new reviews up on The Cultural Gutter, for GI JOE: THE MOVIE and the Sid Pink classic ANGRY RED PLANET:
I WAS ONCE A MAN
"After a pretty great opening battle full of jet packs that affords the Joes an opportunity to pose majestically on the top of the Statue of Liberty, the action proper picks up with Cobra Commander and a guy named Serpentor screaming at each other. Serpentor was engineered from the DNA of history’s greatest conquerors to be the ultimate warrior. Cobra Commander should have known better than to trust the work of a genetic researcher who walks around shirtless and wearing a billowing purple cape, because it turns out Dr. Mindbender didn’t take into account how many of history’s greatest conquerors were insane. Thus, Serpentor emerged as something of a mixed bag. Everyone should have been clued in as soon as he started insisting on wearing a hilarious snake costume 24 hours a day. Where the hell did Serpentor even get that outfit? Did Cobra just have it lying around, like the mascot outfit at a fast food restaurant?"
MARTIAN MAN HATER
"According to Sid Pink, he wrote the first draft of the script sitting at his kitchen table, with his children serving as judges of would and would not be cool. I assume they were involved only in the Martian portions of the story — that or Sid Pink’s children have a voracious appetite for stock footage of airfields and scenes of guys standing around in meeting rooms. The dinnertime script apparently still needed a little punching up, which is when Pink called in Ib Melchior to jazz things up a bit with more scenes of guys in military uniforms sitting at a meeting table."
I WAS ONCE A MAN
"After a pretty great opening battle full of jet packs that affords the Joes an opportunity to pose majestically on the top of the Statue of Liberty, the action proper picks up with Cobra Commander and a guy named Serpentor screaming at each other. Serpentor was engineered from the DNA of history’s greatest conquerors to be the ultimate warrior. Cobra Commander should have known better than to trust the work of a genetic researcher who walks around shirtless and wearing a billowing purple cape, because it turns out Dr. Mindbender didn’t take into account how many of history’s greatest conquerors were insane. Thus, Serpentor emerged as something of a mixed bag. Everyone should have been clued in as soon as he started insisting on wearing a hilarious snake costume 24 hours a day. Where the hell did Serpentor even get that outfit? Did Cobra just have it lying around, like the mascot outfit at a fast food restaurant?"
MARTIAN MAN HATER
"According to Sid Pink, he wrote the first draft of the script sitting at his kitchen table, with his children serving as judges of would and would not be cool. I assume they were involved only in the Martian portions of the story — that or Sid Pink’s children have a voracious appetite for stock footage of airfields and scenes of guys standing around in meeting rooms. The dinnertime script apparently still needed a little punching up, which is when Pink called in Ib Melchior to jazz things up a bit with more scenes of guys in military uniforms sitting at a meeting table."
January 22, 2019
A Visit to Honolulu's Last Old School Tiki Bar
I call it research for the next book, or an article on Alcohol Professor about La Mariana Sailing Club in Honolulu, a glorious survivor from the grand old tiki bar days of the 1950s.
La Mariana Sailing Club: Honolulu's Last Old School Tiki Bar
La Mariana Sailing Club: Honolulu's Last Old School Tiki Bar
December 14, 2018
Best Boozy Book Gifts
Alcohol Professor has compiled a fantastic list of fantastic books about booze and booze history, including humble li'l Cocktails and Capers nestled in among the heavy hitters. A good many of these books were essential reading and research resources while I was writing my own wee tome, so go directly to the sources!
Check out the list, buy something for a friend, then pick up a few things for yourself.
Top Shelf Boozy Library Essentials
Check out the list, buy something for a friend, then pick up a few things for yourself.
Top Shelf Boozy Library Essentials
November 21, 2018
Talking Cocktails & Capers, Jewel Robbery, and Diabolik on Feminine Critique Podcast
I'm happy to be a guest podcaster on THE FEMININE CRITIQUE. Emily and Christine invited me on to discuss the new book and review 1932's JEWEL ROBBERY and 1968's DANGER: DIABOLIK, both films about swanky thieves and the people who love them. There might be a short diversion into "putting things in a horse's butt" territory. What can I do? I grew up on a farm.
Give it a listen or download from iTunes.
Give it a listen or download from iTunes.
