The Tiki, Goth, and Killer Midgets Thread

On 2010-04-06 13:38, FilthyMidget wrote:
Tucson is almost here!

The Filthy Midget

Nice image Natalie !! Are you familiar with its background ?

That's midget Harry Earles who starred in both versions of "The Unholy Three". That's the film where the image is from. There was the 1925 silent version and the 1930 remake which was one of the first talkies. Both versions also starred Lon Chaney (Sr) but the first was directed by the great Tod Browning. Boy, those were the good old days when you could portray midget gangsters strangling small children. :)

Harry Earles also starred in Tod Browning's masterpiece, "Freaks" (1932). He was also uncredited as one of the Lollipop Guild in "The Wizard of Oz" (far right).

Yeah, I know the Poly-Pop folks here could care less but I know a card-carrying Goth girl like you can appreciate this priceless gruesome information !!

And for anyone else who ever wanted to post on Gothic horror or killer midgets, THIS IS YOUR THREAD.

(Edited, in deference to all of the cat lovers out there. I didn't know they had their own special interest group in Washington DC :().

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-04-07 07:57 ]

I love Harry Earles.
I have seen most of the movies he is in.
I love exploitation films of all kinds.
Tod Browning's Freaks, I saw it when I was 10 I believe and it scared the pants off me!
That is how horror was for me, scared the crap out of me, which meant I had to face it more.
I grew up in a family of boys so I couldn't show fear ha!
I have this fascination with midgets possibly since I am only 2 inches from medically being one.
Yes, back in the day you could have cartoon cats smoking and Mexican mice being horribly un-PC and stereo typical! I miss that in film, and in art. Everyone is sooo afraid of stepping on people's toes.

Time Bandits

ahhhh Midgets

Cool, it sounds like your expertise on Midgetology exceeds mine.

I'm sure you've paid a pilgrimage to the historic Culver Hotel. That was the scene of "drunken dwarf orgies" during the filming of "The Wizard of Oz". There's a 1981 movie "Under the Rainbow" based on those hijinks. I need to track that down.

Also if you're into exploitation movies and midgets, how about midget porn ?? That's a whole fetish category in itself. :)

Wait, nevermind. I don't want to derail my original Gothic emphasis for this thread.

Midgets are definitely getting alot more exposure these days. I think alot of the goal is to portray them in a "normal" light. There are alot of reality shows that show midget couples and families living and functioning typical lives. I dont have a fascination of midgets nessasarily. But the misfit midgets i do admire! For example Shorty Rossi who is currently on a show called Pit Boss who was a Crip in Watts and served 10 years in Folsom. This midget intimidates me and i think he could even kick my ass if he wanted to.

Here's another great midget character actor, Angelo Rossitto. Like, Harry Earles, he also appeared in "Freaks". He had a prominent role in the infamous wedding banquet scene which was immortalized in the Ramones song "Pinhead". Unlike Earles however, Rossitto had a long career in Hollywood.

Over the next 5 decades he played assorted pygmies, martians, and was even a stunt double for Shirley Temple.

During the 1970's, he played characters on the Saturday morning kids' shows "H.R. Pufnstuff" and "Lidsville" as well as having a recurring part on Baretta as "Little Moe", shoeshine boy/street informant.

His final role was also his greatest. He was the master half of the Master Blaster duo in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985). That was 53 years after his role in "Freaks" !!

LITTLE RASCALS

I do love me some Billy Barty!

Since you mentioned Porn, can't forget the famous Bridget the Midget. She was in a band for a bit and had a kid.

Werner Herzog's "Even Dwarves Started Small"

"A group of dwarfs confined in an institution on a remote island rebel against the guards and director (all dwarfs as well) in a display of mayhem. The dwarfs gleefully break windows and dishes, abandon a running truck to drive itself in circles, engineer food fights and cock fights, set fire to pots of flowers, kill a large pig, torment some blind dwarfs, and crucify a monkey."

On 2010-04-07 14:25, Mongoloid wrote:
Shorty Rossi who is currently on a show called Pit Boss who was a Crip in Watts and served 10 years in Folsom. This midget intimidates me and i think he could even kick my ass if he wanted to.

my friend was on that show to promote her pin-ups for pitbulls charity;
she has nothing but nice things to say about him.

On 2010-04-09 17:52, exquisitecorpse wrote:

On 2010-04-07 14:25, Mongoloid wrote:
Shorty Rossi who is currently on a show called Pit Boss who was a Crip in Watts and served 10 years in Folsom. This midget intimidates me and i think he could even kick my ass if he wanted to.

my friend was on that show to promote her pin-ups for pitbulls charity;
she has nothing but nice things to say about him.

I know he rescues pitbulls and has compassion for abused dogs which is admirable, he does seem like a stand up guy, but im still pretty sure if he needed to he would kick me in my shins, sweep my legs, then knock me out with a left right combo, but thats what makes him my favorite midget at the moment!

http://www.popeater.com/2010/04/10/meinhardt-raabe-dead/

'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin Meinhardt Raabe Dead at 94

A sad day for the vertically Challenged :(

On 2010-04-12 22:19, FilthyMidget wrote:
'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin Meinhardt Raabe Dead at 94

Wow, it's amazing that someone who appeared in that movie was with us so long.

OK, it's time to focus on some Goth(ic Horror). This is one of my favorite blogs....

http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/

I'll be following up with my Frankenstein/Tiki connection.

John if we are going Gothic Horror I am a Black Sunday gal.
I can stare into Barbara Steel's eyes all day!
First a Witch & consort of the Devil, then a Vamp.
maybe I will wear my Black Sunday Shirt to Tonga Hut tonight and I can show it off to you!

Sorry I missed the "Big Lebowski" night at the Tonga Hut. I'm in Las Vegas right now conducting urban archeology. :)

"Black Sunday". Yes !!

I'm both a big Mario Bava and a Barbara Steele fan. I saw the film last year on the big screen during a Mario Bava retrospect at American Cinematheque.

The scene where they clamp a spiked metal mask on her face is shocking even today.

So if you had to choose between being a witch, a consort of Satan, or a vamp(ire), which would YOU be ?? :D

It is a toss up between a Witch & a Vampire.

I don't do demons. Let me weigh the pros & cons.

On 2010-04-09 17:48, exquisitecorpse wrote:
Werner Herzog's "Even Dwarves Started Small"

"A group of dwarfs confined in an institution on a remote island rebel against the guards and director (all dwarfs as well) in a display of mayhem. The dwarfs gleefully break windows and dishes, abandon a running truck to drive itself in circles, engineer food fights and cock fights, set fire to pots of flowers, kill a large pig, torment some blind dwarfs, and crucify a monkey."

That strikes a resemblance to a scene from Putney Swope. Looks like the same actor. I'd research but I'm late for work!

Paul Glauer was in both of this films.

OK we need more Goth here and less midgets so let me repurpose this from Bilge:

On 2010-05-21 22:52, woofmutt wrote:

To be honest (for once), I've never cared for zombie flicks....

George Romero ruined the whole zombie genre. That brain eating zombies thing has been played out.

You need to go back to the cinema's first zombie flick, 1932's "White Zombie" starring Bela Lugosi. That story took place in Haiti where zombies were part of Voodoo folklore. Those zombies didn't spend time chasing people and trying to eat their brains. Instead they did chores like working the plantation at midnight. Also those zombies would "put out". :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQV7wOg3hYQ

For midgets: Terror of Tiny Town

For Zombies: Green Eyes, by Lucius Shepard