Post #653090 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Sep 23, 2012 5:56 PM

I have it also on CD - but at home, sorry. It is quite cheesy in its datedness, with pipe organ music in the background. Just as much of Blanding's work must have struck folks as cheesy by the 1950s...

My OTHER Blanding theory to some degree concerns that "datedness" in his art work. His illustrative style seems to have been stuck in the turn of the century, and in Art Nouveaux and Art Deco, even by the 1940s. This can partially be explained with "nostalgia", his preference of the olden days as compared to the mid-century (not unlike for some of us now liking the mid-century). Don's depictions of old Hawaii are pure romanticism...

...and romanticism is easily labelled as "old fashioned". The datedness also stems from the fact that he was already a talented artist in the 1920s...

...yet his penchant for this form of elaborate female costume and masquerade continued throughout his career

He often portrays women as a goddess, or queen...

...but never (as a romantic) in an overtly sexual way. It seems he was more popular among women than men...

...particularily older ladies, forming a mutual admiration society. The faces he drew were often androgynous...

...sometimes to the degree of being drag queen-ish

So my theory, based on his art work, is that good old Don was gay. Nothing wrong with that, he just grew popular at a time when that was not something that was openly admitted, as it would have been detrimental to his career.

He was an exceptionally talented artist, stylistically from another time...

...as Pre-Tiki as it can be

But I find my theory that Don The Beachcomber named himself after Don Blanding much more interesting and worthy of discussion here. Anybody care to comment?