He's Pretty Good, Too

[Guest guest]

On Tuesday, August 26, 2003, at 09:02 AM,

wrote:

 

> Message: 1

> Tue, 26 Aug 2003 04:08:16 -0000

> " Sheryl " <ssarndt

> Re: More Boring Art History

>

>

>>

>> This in turn aped the suppressed Beatles Butcher cover that graced

> the

>> first printing of the compilation YESTERDAY...AND TODAY, which

> shoes the

>> Fab Four in white butcher aprons with raw meat draped over them

> and a

>> dismembered doll.

>

>

> I wonder what vegetarian Paul has to say about that cover today?

 

Actually, they all later claimed to have disliked the idea, lol. It was

hijinks, really, and a commentary on them just being perceived as cuts of

meat by their rabid fans. And it's true.

>

> Interesting about the Guignol theater. One of the museums here in

> Santa Fe has a bunch of Guignols displayed. Interesting, but I

> never knew much about what type of theatre it was.

 

It's an interesting development. Here's a brief overview: THE GORE AND

GLORY OF THE GRAND GUIGNOL

By Russell Blackwood

 

From CALLBOARD Magazine

April, 1996

 

     A Chinese torture master rips a strip of flesh from his victims naked

back. A lunatic gouges out a young woman's eye with a knitting needle. A

French soldier's hands are chopped off by the enemy. What's more, all

these atrocities and more have been witnessed by thousands of onlookers

during a 60 year rein of terror that shocked and stunned Paris. Thankfully,

no one got hurt. This murder, mayhem, and mutilation was staged for the

enjoyment of ticket buyers at Theatre du Grand Guignol. Indeed, the

victims and villains in these gruesome crimes are actors, playwrights, and

prop masters who created plays so horrific that a doctor was stationed in

the lobby to revive fainting spectators.

 

     Established in 1897, the Grand Guignol quickly gained a reputation

for staging one-acts. By far the most notorious was their repertoire of

horror plays. The theatre's fame was so great that for many years Parisian

guidebooks hailed it among the city's most popular attractions rivaled

only by Maxim's, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and legalized brothels.

History has remembered this fact and the phrase " Grand Guignol " has become

synonymous with over the top bloodletting and gore.

 

     Mel Gordon, currently a theatre Professor at U.C. Berkeley, is one of

America's foremost authorities on the Grand Guignol. His book The Grand

Guignol -- Theatre of Fear and Terror (Da Capo Press, 1997), chronicles

the history, repertoire, and special effects of this unique theatre. Mel

has let me in on some of the secrets that artists employed to induce sheer

terror in an audience.

 

     The stage trickery of the Grand Guignol was a closely guarded secret.

Some of the effects were even patented. Mel says " The secrecy probably

had more to with concealing their simplicity of design than a desire to

prevent other theatres from using them. " Old publicity photos picture

oddly proportioned daggers and wounds that are no more than a streak of

blood across an actress' neck. Hardly the kind of effects that could

frighten an audience. He reminds me that " the audience wanted to believe

in what they were seeing, the acting was intense, and there was 20 to 40

minutes of suspense and dread leading up to the bloodletting. "

 

     The theatre itself is eerie and foreboding. Built as a convent in

1786, the interior is decorated with grinning cherubs carved into the

beams of the vaulted ceiling. The front doors are solid oak and cut with a

pseudo-gothic pattern. The building served as a blacksmith's shop, a

fanatical preacher's pulpit, and an artist's studio before being converted

to a 285 seat theatre complete with a balcony. The twenty-by-twenty foot

stage was so close to the audience that one critic joked that you could

shake hands with an actor during the show without leaving your front row

pew. There's even a confessional booth from which some say you could hear

the prayers of nuns as grizzly events were enacted on stage. Sets were

often dimly lit with faint hints of red and green light around the

proscenium. An orchestration of live sound effects, painstakingly

rehearsed for each play, added to the gloom and impending horror.

 

     Blood flowed like water at the Grand Guignol. A heated mixture, half

carmine and half glycerin, is the base of the blood recipe. It drips and

splatters like fresh blood, but will coagulate after just a few minutes to

form scabs. Mel says that in later years, as money got tight at the

theatre " Large body wounds were limited to women (smaller costumes to

clean) and head wounds for men (less hair to clean). " On the subject of

weapons he says " Daggers with retractable blades spurted blood when the

blood-filled handles were squeezed. " A turkey baster, rubber ball, or an

eye dropper could provide a good base for building a blood squirting knife.

A knife can also penetrate an arm or leg. Not unlike the old arrow

through the head gag, a prop knife can be separated from it's handle by a

curved metal clasp that can then be fitted around an actors limb.

 

     Mel has several suggestions on how to gouge out an eye. A female

victim can be fitted with a plaster or latex quarter-mask (holding a sheep

iris, lactose powder, and blood capsule) which is partly concealed by her

hair hanging over that side of her face. The sheep's eye can be popped out

of the mask with a knitting needle or even a bare hand. He grins and says

" If it's a Veronica Lake hair style and the sheep iris matches her real

eye it's a beautiful effect. " Another eye-popping effect is to scoop it

out with a spoon. A sheep's eye can be hidden in the hollowed out handle

or in a tight fitting sleeve on the handle of the spoon. The actor doing

the scooping conceals it in his grasping fist and squeezes the eyeball out

of the handle and into the bowl of the spoon. Mel says " Using an animal

eye works best because it bounces a bit if it hits the floor. " One method

even produces an eyeball skewered on the end of a jack-knife. The

retractable blade of the knife moves into the handle which squirts blood

when pressed against the victim's face. Affixed to the end of the handle

is a piece of adhesive " skin " (latex or lamb skin) with a slit to allow

the blade to move through it. As the handle is pressed against the victims

eye the sticky " skin " is pressed to the eyelid leaving a gory empty eye

socket. When the knife handle is pulled away the blade is released back

into position. The actor with the knife squeezes a air pump in the handle

and a rubber eyeball on the end of the knife inflates. The eye appears to

be impaled on the tip of the knife. Many magic shops sell an inflatable

ball and pump mechanism that could work as a base for this prop.

 

     Cutting off a man's hand is easier than it sounds. Stiffen a glove

with glue water so it holds it's shape and paint it like a real hand. The

actor wearing the glove should still be able to move his fingers a bit.

When the hand is chopped off the " chopper " removes the glove and the

" chopee " moves his hand up into his cuff which is reinforced with a

cardboard tube and fitted with a blood pack. The stiffened glove should

hold it's shape perfectly as the unwilling amputee writhes in pain.

 

     Many plays outside of the repertoire of the Grand Guignol call for

realistic scenes of murder and mutilation. Look at Shakespeare, for

instance. The secrets of the Grand Guignol coupled with a prop master's

own skill and ingenuity can provide an arsenal of horrific tricks and

turns. The effects can be so startling that it can surpass what we see in

movies. After all, our audience witnesses the crime.

 

1996 Russell Blackwood

 

 

from: http://www.thrillpeddlers.com/gggg.htm

 

Also remember that Sir Paul is a painter who studied art at art school, as

did Lennon, so it's likely that they were fully aware of what they were

doing.

>

>

To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right

is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.

~ Marcus Aurelius, " The Meditations "