Geraldine Hoff Doyle (1924-2010)

Geraldine Hoff Doyle, who as a young woman was the model for the Rosie the Riveter image of WWII, died on Sunday from complications of arthritis.  She was a 17-year-old metal-presser at a factory outside of Detroit when an Associated Press photographer took a picture of her at work.

She quit two weeks after the photo was taken, as she was a cellist and didn’t want her hands crushed like another woman’s were in a factory accident. She took a job at a soda fountain, where she met her husband. They had 5 children and were married 66 years.

A few liberties were taken with the image by a graphic designer (she wasn’t flexing her guns in the photo), and was used by Westinghouse as part of a campaign to deter strikes. In the mid-70s it was embraced by the feminist movement.

[WaPo and NYT]
36 Comments

The things we can become famous for!

Years ago I read a story in the Standard (London rag) about a man who had been a Chelsea Pensioner for some time and who was celebrating some advanced birthday. The story was about the fact that when he was 19 he’d modeled for fucking Rodin’s fucking The Kiss, fer chrissakes! (I know, we all thought it was Catt but turns out it wasn’t) (said sculpture was originally conceived as being part of the larger Gates of Hell). There was a picture of this wizened little man (not Catt, I do want to stress that) gazing up at the image of himself as he had been: the most beautiful man who ever drew breath (also not Catt). I found it intensely moving.

I think I’ve shared enough for one day. Plus since I’m working here on my own time and not on billable hours angling for some kind of internet immortality by turning imaginary milestones that no one else was aware of I better go feed the dogs.

@Benedick: One of my former law partners was involved in a rights dispute over music that was used in a porn video. So he got to bill time to the client for watching said video. We also had a case involving porn providers that had more than just jerkoff value; the central issue was the right of a porn aggregator to use, without payment, thumbnails taken from a small website. The plaintiff in that case went on to sue Google and Yahoo on the same theory, without success. But I digress: in our case, people did get paid for looking at porn.

@Dodgerblue: The plaintiff in that case went on to sue Google and Yahoo on the same theory, without success.

That one turned up this week…

No linque, but from memory: The porn outfit is now suing Google for sending the DMCA takedown notice to Chilling Effects, which is standard procedure for such things. (Alas, we haven’t received one yet. Where’s the love?) The takedown notice included reproductions of the Offending Images (ahem), which the porn outfit argues are copyrighted and should have been redacted.

@nojo: Yep. Here is a link to Chilling Effects’ amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit (federal court of appeals): http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/10-56316/32/. Who knew there was so much money to be made from masturbation?

@Dodgerblue: Who knew there was so much money to be made from masturbation?

Geeks, of course. Every technological advance of the past generation, from VHS to online payments to load-balancing web servers, can be credited to either the popularity or technical requirements of porn.

@nojo: If the holodeck from Star Trek is ever invented, civilization as we know it will come to an orgiastic end.

TJ/This is some fucked-up shit that I totally love.

What were they on when they conceived and produced that sequence? We may never know, but it is possibly the best acid-fodder I have ever had the pleasure to review in my life.

Why do I post it? Why not?

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: If there was ever a movie that made my childhood mind tilt, that was it.

@nojo: It’s like a Seuss fantasia as produced and directed by Fritz Lang.

@Dodgerblue: Yup. Haven’t you ever seen that?

ADD: If you look carefully, Benedick is in it as well. He is the one with the rose petals and perfect point. I think he was in his mid-thirties back then….

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: The Lang reference makes perfect sense. There was always something so odd about it — like a chill came over my soul, to use language I wouldn’t have known at the time.

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: No! I can’t believe I missed it. Conreid was the voice of Snidely Whiplash, IIRC.

@nojo: I guess it was a huge flop when it came out. Seuss himself didnt even like it. It’s much better than other live-action adaptations of his work, IMHO.

@Benedick: We went to the Rodin on a field trip when I was in 2rd, 3rd, or 4th grade (we were an “open classroom” experiment — pretty cool for me until 3rd and 4th grades). On the way, the docent on the bus mic mentioned The Thinker. I raised my hand and said that my uncle Earl posed for it.

Docent: [smiling sweetly] Is he still alive?

Me: Yup

Docent: The Thinker was sculpted in [some year long ago]. How old is your uncle?

Me: He’s pretty old, and he spends alotta time in the bathroom.

Moral(s): Little pitchers have big ears and bigger mouths. Don’t joke about your husband posing for the thinker around small children. Don’t believe shit your relatives tell you: gum does not stay in your stomach for six years, and your face will never “freeze that way.”

@JNOV: your face will never “freeze that way.”

Mrs. Gingrich III begs to differ.

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: Funny number. I turned it down. Naturally I had the horrors about rehearsing the damn thing and making the clothes work. Kind of hard to hear what he’s singing – which is possibly a good thing. I did a show (score by Todd Rundgren, book adapted from Joe Orton, big old dud) in which about ten of us had to strip onstage and dress in drag. The dresses and accompaniments all had to be pre-set in a shopping cart which was wheeled about the stage as we sang and danced about some shit or other. Took forever and was a lot more fun to hear about then be in (In answer to your question, yes, everything is about me).

@JNOV: Next thing you’ll be telling me is not everything I read in the papers is true. I remember a picture of the Pensioner (not Catt. I want to make that clear) looking up at the statue. There are several versions of it but that one was at the Tate and is in marble (I think). And Rodin did live for a time in London till he couldn’t stand the endless sniveling of the Brits, I should think.

@Benedick: Imagine taking two teen boys to the museum who found the various Balzac nudes (maybe Catt). I ditched them and hid in the garden.

@Benedick: You dance! Sing! Act! Write! Direct! In baseball, we call someone with that level of skill a five-tool player, someone who could likely go and buy his native Dominican Republic were he so inclined.

@Dodgerblue: a five-tool player

That might be my new nickname for Our Preznit. But for different reasons.

Speaking of tool players, check out the relief on the right of Michael Jackson’s tomb. Zoom in.

@nojo: Because he’s boffing Michelle and we’re not?

@Dodgerblue: You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen me sing and dance.

@SanFranLefty:

You think that is fucked up?

Check THIS part out.

oh my God sooooooo genius….the one dude has no nipples. NO NIPPLES.

@Tommmcatt is with Karin Marie on This One: I had no idea that this was the source of Sideshow Bob’s name.

Ha! I’ve totally reached “My Xon You Will Dire” status. Time for a porn post, Nojo.

Add a Comment
Please log in to post a comment