Post #737571 by creativenative on Tue, Feb 17, 2015 5:33 PM

I don't connect tiki Pacific and Fez mid-east myself but surely in the broader early century and mid-century American periods these fascinations were both present and at times they intermingled. I personally am more of a purist even with tiki culture, I ponder the relationship between leopard/zebra skin rugs and female sexy outfits and tiki. But again this tiki sub-culture can be a little more mid-century broader and include this African exotic and erotic jungle escapism with Pacific Island exotic and erotic jungle escapism. There is abundant evidence of this combination in TC. Mid-east also had this sexualized fascination from the west. Many "hula hula" dancers were neighbors to belly dancers on the circus mid-way and vaudeville stages and reportedly hung out because of their commonality. In the Laurel and Hardy film "Sons of the Desert", that BigBro eluded to earlier on this thread, it is about Ollie's faking a sickness and that he and his partner, Stan, received approval from their wives to go to Hawaii for Ollie's health but instead they snuck to a non wife approved, mid-east theme men's lodge ("Sons of the Desert" with fezzes)convention in Chicago. There, the theme for one night of festivities was Hawaiian hula. Fun was had by all who wore fezzes and enjoyed leis and hula skirts, but more so, this movie demonstrates the intermingling of these American popular sub-cultures.

Another example of this intermingling (including space-age)during the later part of mid-twentieth century are paintings by one of my favorite tiki mid-century revival artist Edwin Wade (not sure if he's been covered in TC - someone let me know). Below are three example of his work, enjoy.

[ Edited by: creativenative 2015-02-17 17:48 ]

[ Edited by: creativenative 2015-02-17 17:53 ]