Monday, May 11, 2015

Metropolis II


Metropolis II isn’t a layout in the traditional model railroad sense, but it does capture the frenetic energy and insanity of our modern urban world. No doubt about that. I was saddened to hear that its maker, the pioneering performance artist, Chris Burden, died over the weekend. Metropolis II was but one piece in a long and successful artistic career. You can get a sense of his life and work at these articles in the LA Times  and NY Times.
{post updated on 12 May 2015.}

7 comments:

  1. J.D.,
    Have been enjoying your blog, especially the focus on E.L. Moore. He's one of my model railroad inspirations, as I feel, as you do, the cold "Sgt. Friday" (in your words) approach today leaves a lot to be desired. One note, in your past entry regarding E. L.'s outhouse fascination, another of my modeling heroes, Frank Ellison, also shared this quirk with Mr. Moore. Frank built a manufacturing plant that was a part of his town of Raymondale, called Chic Sale Mfg. Their product was outhouses. This puzzled me and I did some research. Seems there was a vaudeville comedian by the name of Chic Sale who wrote a book called "The Specialist". It concerns a (fictitious) carpenter who decided to specialize in the construction and repair of outhouses. Chic wrote the book to copyright the material that he used in his stage act, since it was all too common at the time for other comedians to steal material. The book was a good seller, and in fact can be purchased from his grandson today. It sounds like E.L. and Frank Ellison, being from the generation that grew up with vaudeville, both admired Chic's humor and wanted to incorporate that homey style in their work.
    Keep up the good work, very inspiring and enjoyable.
    Lou Keister

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    1. Hi Lou,
      Thanks for the story about Chic Sale. That answers the questions about who 'Chic' was that E. L. Moore often refers to. Sorry you feel that way about the post. No offence was meant. Thanks for coming by the blog. It's most appreciated.

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    2. Sorry I read your reply incorrectly, at 6:30 am I guess I wasn't properly fueled with coffee :-)

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  2. JD, what a great find this is. You're right that it isn't a "layout" in the traditional sense, however the chaos and movement he has achieved is most mesmerising. I'd happily stand on that balcony and watch the stream of cars for hours!

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    1. It is an amazing setup. It's interesting how the slower motion of the streetcar contrasts with the crazy fast motion of the cares.

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    2. J.D.,
      Somehow I've given the impression there's something I didn't like regarding a post of yours. Not at all. My "Sgt.Friday" comment was referring to today's model press's having a somewhat cold and sterile ("just the facts m'am) feel. You had, in your post on E.L.'s outhouses, celebrated his sense of humor. I'm in your corner on this.
      Again, great blog, always look forward to your posts.
      Lou

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    3. Once again, thanks for alerting me to the Chic Sale connection. I found the website where his books are sold: http://www.chicsale.net/ and was especially intrigued by the photo gallery section that contains a number of portraits. I’ve seen some E.L. Moore self-portraits that had me a bit puzzled, but now I understand that he may have shot them in manner that made him look like Chic Sale, or at least emulate Chic Sale’s style. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to scan them for a side-by-side comparison. For reference, here is the Wikipedia entry for Charles ‘Chic’ Sale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_%22Chic%22_Sale

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