The Jungle-style Thread - Pop Culture Iconography of the Dark Continent

That's interesting but how about a picture of Vampira on the set of a cheesy 1950's Jungle picture?

C'mon I know you can find it. :)

Actually Vampira would have more significance in my mid-century Las Vegas thread. She appeared for a while as part of Liberace's act and hung out with a young Elvis. I have a photo of her, Liberace, and Elvis at the Aku Aku that I'm going to post later. ( :D )

This thread is dead so I thought I'd serve up this leftover cheesecake (before it goes bad)....

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-07-11 20:41 ]

On 2010-07-11 20:30, JOHN-O wrote:
This thread is dead so I thought I'd serve up this leftover cheesecake (before it goes bad)....

message was edited by: JOHN-O 2010-07-11 20:41 ]

You can't keep a good thread down.

African mask and Tapa cloth from House Of Ming first and best Spanish Tiki Bar.

This hard to find Tak Shindo album was recently (re)released in CD format a few months ago. It has a Jungle Exotica theme throughout (a la Les Baxter) and features elephant and monkey noises as well as some vague African chanting. If you like the lush orchestral Exotica landscape that Les paints then you'll love this. It's too bad they didn't use the master tapes as the source (it's recorded off records).

It's part of a twofer CD that also include Ethel Azama's "Exotic Dreams". This is a good showcase of Japanese Americans' contributions to Exotica and Tiki culture. :)

Also here's a plug for TC's Digitiki. His web site has a page focused on recent Exotica digital releases like this...

http://www.digitiki.com/digital_reissues.htm

One-stop shopping, it's INVALUABLE !!

On 2010-05-29 12:47, martian-tiki wrote:

On 2009-12-30 17:33, martian-tiki wrote:

On 2009-12-04 22:22, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Well until I have something more rare, Bettie will have to do.
Unless anyone has a pic of Vampira in a bikini?

Art Photography
Jan 1953
Featuring Maila Nurmi pre-Vampira

Picture Scope
Jul 1955

Martian-Tiki, go start another Vampira thread in Beyond Tiki !!!

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

As unlikely as it seems, the jungle icon of my youth, Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan of the Apes, Jungle Jim), once lived and roamed the Space Coast of Florida in of all places, Titusville. The echoes of his jungle call still reverberate in the minds of those who were here at the time, especially his neighbors around the former home on Knox-McRae Drive...

It started with a failed amusement park called Florida Wonderland that opened in the 1960s across from the Indian River on US Hwy 1 just south of the intersection with SR 50 (Cheney Highway)...

Florida Today April 30, 1968

In April of 1971, the makeover of Florida Wonderland, now known as Tropical Wonderland was complete, minus a few features...

Florida Today April 16, 1971

Florida Today July 4, 1971

Florida Today July 27, 1971

Then, in less than a year, things soured between Johnny and the other business principals for good reason...

Florida Today April 21, 1972

The Space Coast fondly remembered Mr. Weissmuller and followed the rest of his life’s trajectory...

Florida Today June 2, 1979

Florida Today May 22, 1980

The end came in January 1984...

Florida Today January 22, 1984

There are a couple of related photos and documents posted at the Historical Society of North Brevard’s flickr site... http://www.flickr.com/photos/ed_kindle/2367470367/in/photostream/

The main entry building at Florida Wonderland (aka Tropical Wonderland) still stands today, though it has gone largely abandoned through the years...

BTW, exotic animals periodically escaped from Florida Wonderland, and troops of escaped monkeys reportedly wandered the Live Oak and Sabal Palm hammocks of Titusville for decades...

-Tom

On 2009-12-17 08:55, JOHN-O wrote:
Monkeys and lions are nice, but how about some mid-century "Jungle" pulp art.....

Good post.

WTF ....!!???

Tom, again that is some smashing research! From evolution to devolution....AND even an A-Frame at the end!

You now my ears perked up when I saw the place being mentioned in your Moon Islander research, because I had never heard of it - now I know why! :) I looked for a vintage postcard of the entrance, but came up empty. They were too briefly in existence - or too cheap to ever print one. There's gotta be some Florida amusement park collectors out there who have something, though.

Thought you'd appreciate that A-frame, Sven.

Digging through the archives, I found that the monkey tales associated with the defunct Florida Wonderland / Johnny Weissmuller's Tropical Wonderland occasionally moved beyond the purely anecdotal to become newsworthy...

Florida Today June 16, 1974

Florida Today April 15, 1977

Florida Today December 15, 1980

And one more article on devolution...

Florida Today March 30, 1974

-Tom

Really nice work Tom. Thank you! :)

Cheeta, who is the last surviving cast member of the 1930's films, was interviewed just a few years ago…

"Yes, I'm forever grateful to Mr. Weissmuller who first helped me obtain my Screen Actors Guild card. Those SAG benefits enabled me to retire with dignity rather than wind up in that snake pit hell hole, Tropical Wonderland".

UNGAWA !!

Which translates to "Great posts, TikiTomD". You've brought us full circle in this thread. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-04-10 09:49 ]

On 2011-04-10 03:29, TikiTomD wrote:

And I LOVE stories and images from abandoned theme parks. There are websites dedicated to them, like:

http://amusementparksoftheworld.com/amusement/10-most-incredible-abandoned-theme-parks-on-earth/

http://www.nileguide.com/blog/2010/05/26/8-abandoned-american-theme-parks-open-for-exploration/

...and lots of Google images. I have been to the "Spree Park" in Berlin...

...and of course all our favorite, "The Tikis" in Lake Elsinore, CA:

And now, back to JUNGLE & SAFARI style :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-04-10 15:30 ]

It's never too early to be introduced to Exotica.

Bear

Which begs the question, where did the whole "Being boiled alive by cannibals" scenario originate ? I don't think there's any anthropological basis for this, it's probably a figment of popular fiction.

There's the 1930 Disney short, Cannibal Capers...

And did you ever hear about the cannibal who had a wife and ate kids?

Ha, ha. :)

Update - Brudda Bear got his in below but let's NOT turn this into a joke thread !!

If anyone is a fan of pre-1930's fiction and knows of a depiction of people being boiled alive in a pot, that would be intesting to know about.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-04-12 14:53 ]

On 2011-04-12 14:37, JOHN-O wrote:

And did you ever hear about the cannibal who had a wife and ate kids?

Ha, ha. :)

Or the cannibal who informed his wife that he hated her mother's guts, so she told him to push them aside and eat the vegetables?

Bear

Interestingly, someone used the pictures I took of the old Jungle Island, Buena park area....for their blog...

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/06/jungle-island-buena-park-california.html

My original post

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30585&forum=1&hilite=jungle island

On 2011-04-12 14:37, JOHN-O wrote:
Update - Brudda Bear got his in below but let's NOT turn this into a joke thread !!

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-04-12 14:53 ]

Apologies JOHN-O and everyone else, I certainly didn't intend that.

Bear

On 2011-04-12 16:14, Brudda Bear wrote:

On 2011-04-12 14:37, JOHN-O wrote:
Update - Brudda Bear got his in below but let's NOT turn this into a joke thread !!

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-04-12 14:53 ]

Apologies JOHN-O and everyone else, I certainly didn't intend that.

Bear

No problem Brudda Bear. BTW, for cannibal jokes and stories, there's lots a room for more over here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=12391&forum=13&start=0

Actually Lucas, we've already visited Jungle Island on this thread before. :)

And don't feel bad about someone else "stealing" your content for their blog, I've seen entire paragraphs from my Las Vegas thread lifted for a travel website article (with some minor word-smithing).

Here are some more great German and Austrian mid-century "Africa Exotica" ceramics
(I forget which page my first examples were on):

On 2011-04-12 17:08, JOHN-O wrote:
Actually Lucas, we've already visited Jungle Island on this thread before. :)

And don't feel bad about someone else "stealing" your content for their blog, I've seen entire paragraphs from my Las Vegas thread lifted for a travel website article (with some minor word-smithing).

Well, I would'nt actually call that "stealing", because once you post a picture it becomes public domain....but I just want everyone to know that those pictures were taken by ME from my cellphone camera, and were part of my first, last and only foray into documenting my attempt at urban archeology.

i agree... i have been amused by seeing the text i put together for the mainlander restaurant ending up in every other ebay listing for the mainlander tiki mug :D

Lucas, you need to copyright yourself before someone steals your brand !!

Copyright Laws for Using Pictures on Internet / Public Domain?

And BTW, here's the Bigbro's orginal "Afrika Exotika" post.

On 2011-04-13 09:14, JOHN-O wrote:
Lucas, you need to copyright yourself before someone steals your brand !!

Copyright Laws for Using Pictures on Internet / Public Domain?

And BTW, here's the Bigbro's orginal "Afrika Exotika" post.

I am not worried about pictures. I am much more worried that some time in the near future, some "tiki" musician will release an album of "dark continent" styled music. There have been a few instances of direct and indirect examples of musical plagarism in the tiki scene already. It does dissapoint me, because I believe artists should carve their own niche and not straight out copy the format and concept from other bands. Tikiyaki orchestra was totally the victim of this, and that's a shame, since they were very unique in my opinion.

Though I am not the first musician to do "dark Continent" styled songs, (and keep in mind that I was doing "exotic" music for years before I ever discovered this forum, and have only released 1% of that type of material here) I have a feeling my ideas will be ripped off eventually. But good luck with that, because you need more then a casio keyboard and a band of Rhesus Monkeys to make good jungle music!

On 2011-04-12 14:37, JOHN-O wrote:
Which begs the question, where did the whole "Being boiled alive by cannibals" scenario originate ? I don't think there's any anthropological basis for this, it's probably a figment of popular fiction.

There's the 1930 Disney short, Cannibal Capers...

And did you ever hear about the cannibal who had a wife and ate kids?

Ha, ha. :)

Update - Brudda Bear got his in below but let's NOT turn this into a joke thread !!

If anyone is a fan of pre-1930's fiction and knows of a depiction of people being boiled alive in a pot, that would be intesting to know about.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-04-12 14:53 ]

John-O, let me put on my film historian hat for a minute and answer your question. The earliest "boiled in a pot" movie I've seen is Ham and Bud's one-reel comedy THE PHONY CANNIBAL (1915). I don't have a still for that, and I'm sure the boiled-in-a-pot motif goes back pre-motion picture era long before that, but it was definitely a popular motif in a lot of comedy films of the 1910's, 1920's, 1930's and on. I don't have a still for THE PHONY CANNIBAL, but here is one I used in my book Mack Sennett's Factory (http://www.amazon.com/Mack-Sennetts-Factory-Brent-Walker/dp/0786436107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302721876&sr=8-1).

This is from the 1926 Mack Sennett Comedy A SEA DOG'S TALE. Billy Bevan is about to become the main dish for gourmet cannibal chef Vernon Dent, far left (some of you may recognize him, out of blackface, for his later frequent work in Three Stooges comedies).

Caltiki Brent

PS - When I was editing our Ding Dong Devils video for Jungle Doctor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DUHPfCgc6I) I was going to use a boiled-in-a-pot clip for Puka von Pele's line "Headhunters? Now I'm in a stew!", but opted not to because it seemed too literal (and was too short a reference).

[ Edited by: congawa 2011-04-13 12:21 ]

The cannibals boiling person alive in pot was used by Pia Zadora in her video of The Clapping Song sometime in the Eighties. It was later edited out when many viewers claimed it was racist.

On 2011-04-12 14:37, JOHN-O wrote:
If anyone is a fan of pre-1930's fiction and knows of a depiction of people being boiled alive in a pot, that would be interesting to know about.

Now when surfing the Interweb for earliest cannibal cauldron images, the oldest image that comes up continuously depicting cannibals is this German one from 1590:

But WHERE is there a big pot in the picture, you ask. Well, I am assuming that today's culinary preference for barbecuing instead of boiling has made this image so preferential on the net.

But good old Theodor used his imagination when he illustrated the reports of explorers and came up with over 1500 illustrations in two volumes. Here's the one with the pot:

Now that looks just like the famous Mauna Loa cauldron mug!:

Ok ok, so it's not WHOLE whities sitting in the pot - but we get the picture.

I might have posted this earlier, but this is one of my favorite Cannibal Cauldron jokes:

Maybe because it reminds me of my favorite Cannibal Cauldron video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbv8p1YfJbI

Pia was clearly paying homage to Joy Lansing

On 2011-04-12 17:35, bigbrotiki wrote:
Here are some more great German and Austrian mid-century "Africa Exotica" ceramics
(I forget which page my first examples were on):

Guau! I think I'm love...

Some more European jungle fever from le France

And from Spain, poorman plastic version

And modern

Adding to the story of Johnny Weissmuller’s Tropical Wonderland in Titusville, Florida (posted back on page 20), I ran across an interesting web article by Ron Masters from August 14, 2010. It seems that Ron acquired an original theme park map and got permission from the current property managers to do a bit of urban archeology among the ruins. His story, complete with photo slide show, may be found at

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5685986/the_abandoned_tropical_wonderland_theme.html

Here’s the map Ron used (pardon the poor resolution)...

The surviving building with the A-frame structure apparently housed the “Snake Farm” according to Ron’s map. In Ron’s article, he noted that “No one has been able to tell me exactly how long the park was open, but it apparently wasn't very long.” From the newspaper archives, I was able to pin that down to the period, 1971 to 1972. There’s in fact much confusion about this among various web references as well. People’s memories are no doubt challenged on this point because there existed a Florida Wonderland at the site from the early 1960’s that went defunct before the park was reincarnated as Tropical Wonderland, and it lived on without Johnny Weissmuller for a bit longer.

My wife came across this personal souvenir from the earlier Florida Wonderland period when Michael Landon (aka “Little Joe” from TV’s Bonanza) made an appearance. She was in her early teens...

An article from the local newspaper helps to place it in time...

Titusville Star-Advocate May 29,1964

-Tom

Thanks TikiTomD. :)

I want to go to Tropical Wonderland !!

I may have to skip some Hukilau events on June 10th and venture out to this place instead.

I wonder how hard it will be to sneak in there ??

John-O, it should actually be pretty easy to sneak in, as monkeys and bears had no problems in breaking out of Tropical Wonderland when it was occupied and maintained! There's a fence line around it, but I believe it has breaks.

Rather than an obvious frontal assault in full view of many from US Hwy 1, it would be a simple manner to hike in from the backside. For those that would like a nice semi-tropical hike through the hammocks, you could start from Titusville's nearby Enchanted Forest Nature Sanctuary. Even closer would be a hike in from Breakaway Trail in Sisson Meadows subdivision where I recently had a home. It's a very short distance (less than three city blocks) through Live Oaks and Sabal Palms and across a railroad track. Not that I'm condoning this as more than a thought experiment! :wink:

Oh, just a word of warning for hikers... alligators, some quite large, inhabit lowland hammocks and marshes in this area (really anywhere in Florida where there's similar topology).

-Tom

We went to this attraction as kids and it was pretty lame even for back then. And as a Florida-native that grew up pre-Disney, I've seen my share of lame attractions. I had a girlfriend who worked as a waitress when they briefly converted the main building into a bar/special event center during the post-Tropical Wonderland/Snake museum days and they had pretty much stripped it of all the Tropical Wonderland trappings. The big holes for the snake cages where still along the walls, but they didn't serve any other purpose but a convenient place to put your drink.

A little bit down from there, approximately across the street where the ASRC building is now, they had a really big train derailment also when I was a kid. People from miles around came to see the piled up train cars. I think that drew more people than Tropical Wonderland ever did!

George, interesting, I didn't remember that the Tropical Wonderland main building served as a bar in one of its reincarnations. It has the bones for a really great tiki lounge, with that A-frame central structure. I can just imagine torches flanking the entry and Polynesian dioramas in the wall cavities once occupied by the snake cages... where sipping one too many a Cobra's Fang could conjure up serpentine spirits of a former venomous occupant...

[ Edited by: TikiTomD 2011-05-14 06:28 ]

On 2009-12-04 13:37, JOHN-O wrote:

Check out BigBro's shirt.

Proof positive that African Pop Primitism is the key to unleashing your inner Tarzan sex appeal.

Forget, Tiki-style. If you wanna get lucky with the wahines then go Jungle-style !!

That's good advice!

On 2009-12-03 07:45, JOHN-O wrote:
Muy bueno, Senor Naufrago !! Los Banana Splits es muy magnifico.

BigBro, would it be possible that the most famous shield and spears in Tiki iconography might have been "African" ?

I'm sure the native Polynesians carried such things but did Tiki-style include weapons that were uniquely Oceanic? I always assumed these items were part of the African Pop Primitism cross-over. Uga Booga natives were always chasing the white expeditions with spear and shield in hand.

Excellent pointing out of how American Poly-Pop uses African iconography to create Tiki.

Here is the shield and spear in a less inconographic manner:

[ Edited by: christiki295 2011-05-19 07:44 ]

UPDATED: OK, never mind... :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-05-19 10:16 ]

I'm not quite following...but just as a reminder:

The shirt I am wearing above at the Mai Kai depicts Papua New Guinea shields and spears:

PNG art is where Polynesian and African tribal art intersect, and blur the line and connect it to Polynesian pop.

PNG warriors

The same thing goes for MASKS. There were no masks used in Polynesia, basically. But many, many different ones in Papau New Guinea - and of course Africa. So mid-century Tiki designers freely chose from both. Case in point: Tiki Bob's origin. Anything that says "Safari" on it is clearly African (or Jungle) pop, though.

Here's another nice mid-century Cannibal pot graphic, by the way:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-05-19 09:33 ]

On 2011-05-19 07:43, JOHN-O wrote:
UPDATED: OK, never mind... :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-05-19 10:16 ]

It's all good, John-O.

Great Thread!

Where is my time machine so I can go back and visit Jungleland?
Melody May take me away

Page 7 of this thread for those that have no idea what I'm talking about
http://pineapplemantiki.blogspot.com/

Fort Lauderdale, host city of Hukilau 2011 (in progress at this time), has a strong connection to Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan the Ape Man and Jungle Jim... he lived here for years and served as a director for the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

This afternoon, while taking a walking break from Hukilau to get a late lunch/early dinner at Coconuts along the Intracoastal Waterway, I ran across this only a block north of the Bahia Mar Beach Resort along Seabreeze Boulevard...

Three large placards were affixed to the walls; here's two of them...

John-O, if you need a short breather from the Mai-Kai, there's an idea for a short walk from Hukilau central...

-Tom

Its human spaceflight plans in disarray, NASA is searching to rediscover its mojo. Meanwhile, back in the jungle...

Esquire November 1959

-Tom

Never heard of this, but Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan the Ape Man) had plans in Fort Lauderdale for an "Ungawa Cocktail Lounge of the posh Mai-Kai type"...

St. Petersburg Times October 4, 1969

-Tom

A Jungle-style cocktail lounge on the scale of the Mai Kai ?? It boggles the mind.

I also appreciated the ironic use of "Ungawa" outside the context of a Tarzan picture. :)

Good research Tom !!

Gotta love YouTube…

I've read about Josephine Baker's infamous "Banana Dance" at the Folies Bergère in the 1920's. Footage of it actually exists, albeit in a more conservative version for the American audiences that it was intended for.

For the French, she only wore a skirt of bananas, that's it... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmw5eGh888Y

chub factor 10.

Bless you, John O!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cso3CxWJzoM&feature=related

I found this while stumbling around the internet. I think it can go here.