Poking Stick Thread

[cripes]

Pinup Bettie Page hospitalized after heart attack
By JAMES BELTRAN – 3 hours ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven-haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.
"She's critically ill," Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told The Associated Press.
He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.
A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, "I would not deny that," but he would not comment further on her condition.
Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.
Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.
Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.
After resurfacing in the 1990s, she occasionally granted interviews but refused to allow her picture to be taken.
Mueller credits his business dealings with Page for bringing her out of seclusion. He said he first met her in 1989 when he offered her "a bunch of money" to show up at autograph signings.
"I probably sold 3,000 of her autographs, usually for $200 to $300," he said. "Eleanor Roosevelt, we got $40-$50. ... Bettie Page outsells them all."
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jZUqEZI68r9LHs45IyvnFNrflxowD94SVL800

[dino]

STILL ALIVE??

[dino]

no more alive

[manho]

Elvis Hair Fetches Small Fortune

Last month we mentioned that a wad of Elvis Presley's hair was going on up for auction. It sold for $115,000 the Chicago Tribune reports:

An unidentified collector of Elvis Presley memorabilia agreed early Saturday to pay $115,000 for a small jar filled with what is purported to be the late singer's hair, collected by his barber.


Greasy clump of Elvis's hair

The winning bid is proof, observers say, of the growing, if macabre, popularity of hair collecting--and that Elvis Presley is still the King.

"I kind of thought it had a chance for six figures," said Brian Marren, vice president of acquisitions for MastroNet Inc., the Oak Brook-based company that conducted the Internet auction.

MastroNet officials have not released the winning bidder's name, citing confidentiality agreements. But Marren said the person was a "big Elvis collector" who fought a last-minute bidding war before typing in the winning bid about 2 a.m.

"I have no idea what they intend to do with it," Marren said.

The black hairball, which had been up for auction since Oct. 28, was purportedly saved by Homer "Gill" Gilleland, Presley's barber for more than 20 years. Gilleland, who traveled with the singer to shows, would color the King's sandy-blond hair black, then cut it into a towel around Presley's neck.

Friends of the barber said he bundled up the towels with the hair inside and took them home. He then put the hair in a plastic bread bag, where it stayed until Presley died in 1977. Shortly after, friends said Gilleland began selling strands of the hair in a souvenir shop across the street from Presley's Memphis home, Graceland.

....Reznikoff said the six-figure price tag for the Elvis locks "shows that hair collecting has really come into the 21st Century."

Some have speculated the hair could be resold, strand by strand, for a profit. In an auction, MastroNet sold a strand of John F. Kennedy's hair for about $3,000. A strand of Abraham Lincoln's hair recently sold for $811 on eBay.
Auction officials did not count how many strands of Presley's hair are in the jar, but they have said there are hundreds, if not thousands.

Bidding on the hair opened at $10,000 and started slowly but picked up steam over the 20-dayauction, ending with a frenzy of activity early Saturday. Marren said there were several bidders until the price hit roughly $50,000, when all but three dropped out.

The winner went back-and-forth with the two others before agreeing to pay $100,105, plus a 15 percent commission to MastroNet. Seriously, this is going to become a huge collector area for one reason: cloning. I'm serious: with hair you have DNA in abundance, and with DNA, when the technology comes around, you will be able to make your own Elvis, store him in your closet, and bring him out for parties and whatnot.

I'm not the first person to think of this: there is already an Americans for Cloning Elvis website where you can sign a petition requesting the return of the King. But armed with hair, you can do it yourself. I'm serious.

[digit]

calling goph....

www.theneverendingpool.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,22/func,view/id,31793/catid,6/

[cripes]

goph came up with the poking stick idea too.

[digit]

ollie on the word

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8z4a86aggU&feature=fvw

[manho]

24-hour partly people:
www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/26/fitting-headstone-tony-wilson-grave

[cripes]

Lee Harvey Oswald's original coffin up for auction

CNN) -- On November 25, 1963, representatives from more than 90 countries attended the Washington funeral for President John F. Kennedy. Millions watched the somber events on television.
On that day, 1,300 miles to the southwest, the man accused of killing him was quietly and simply buried in Fort Worth, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald's remains were interred in a simple pine coffin with the help of volunteer pallbearers.
The deteriorated coffin, which was replaced after Oswald's body was exhumed briefly in 1981, is now up for auction.
A Fort Worth mortuary owner is selling the box, which had a bid of $5,000 on Wednesday.
Also for sale are an Easter card signed by Oswald, a first draft of his death certificate, funeral records, an embalming table used to hold Oswald's body and assorted mortuary instruments.
Bidding ends December 16, according to Nate D. Sanders Auctions of Los Angeles, California.
Another seller is auctioning a patch of seat leather from the limousine that carried Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy through the streets of Dallas, Texas, during the shooting November 22, 1963.
Funeral director Allen Baumgardner, 68, who assisted at the original embalming, purchased Miller Funeral Home along with all of its property. "He felt the time was right to sell," said Laura Yntema, auction manager at Nate D. Sanders.
"What strikes me about it is what a simple pine coffin it is," she said, adding that the company expects the coffin to go for $70,000 to $100,000.
Asked about the macabre nature of some of the items, Yntema said "this is definitely a special situation." Collectors look at the items more for their historical value, she said.
Oswald was buried one day after nightclub owner Jack Ruby (born Jack Rubenstein) fatally shot him at Dallas Police headquarters while he was being transferred to the county jail.
The death certificate draft lists "shot by Jack Rubenstein" under a section asking how the fatal injury occurred. The name was scratched out because Ruby, who died in 1967, had not been tried. Another death certificate was officially filed.
Yntema said she expects the death certificate to go for $10,000 to $20,000
Oswald's body was exhumed in October 1981 during a fierce legal battle between his widow, Marina, and brother Robert.
Conspiracy theories abounded over whether a Soviet agent was actually buried in the grave. Marina Oswald won the dispute, and the coffin was exhumed, according to the auction house.
"As Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin was lifted, evidence of extensive water damage to the casket was apparent," said the company.
Pathologists identified the decomposed remains as Oswald's, and he was reinterred in a new casket and vault.
Baumgardner could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Serious collectors and museums are likely those most interested, Yntema said.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, site of the assassination, is not interested in the coffin, curator Gary Mack told CNN.
"It doesn't really fit what we collect," he said. The nonprofit museum is in a building that once housed the famous Texas School Book Depository. Oswald is believed to have fired on Kennedy from an area that is now part of the museum.
The museum is focused more on the events of November 22, 1963, and has a large collection of films, photos and local news coverage archives, Mack said.
Mack related an account of the burial of Oswald at Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth.
Two newsmen from competing news wire services volunteered to serve as pallbearers, he said. The funeral was attended by federal agents, police officers and five family members, according to the Dallas Morning News
Jennie Roberts, a spokeswoman for Service Corp. International, which owns the cemetery, said she could not discuss any details on the grave or visitors because of privacy policies. Visitors are not allowed to take photographs, Roberts said.



www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/01/oswald.coffin.auction/index.html