Junnu

In the 1920's, comics were widely read by children and adults alike. Somehow, a collective amnesia ensued after WW2 in the Western world, and comics were increasingly demoted to "kid's stuff" and regulated as a potential threat to the child's development. (In Japan, comics were reborn as the modern manga instead, but that's another story.)

One of the most popular comics in Finland was the homemade "Junnu", written by Veli Giovanni (humour editor of the popular weekly Suomen Kuvalehti) and drawn by Alexander Tawitz and Poika Vesanto (who introduced speech bubbles)and later by Arnold Tilgmann. The following page is an example of A. Tawitz's artwork from 1929. It's a meta comic discussing readers' opinions of Junnu's personality - should he be nice or naughty?



Junnu, the protagonist, was a young man with a prominent nose and an eternal crush on the pretty Alli. Nice guy Junnu's everyday adventures recycled some ancient comic strip themes: his awkward attempts at romance would annoy Alli, which gave the dandy rival Tip-top-Olli an advantage. Junnu's little helpers, the mischievous twins Niku and Naku, would often cause more shenanigans. The Junnu stories are like a realistic version of Donald Duck's triangle drama, of course created many years earlier.

Junnu appealed to both children and adults. Junnu merchandise included a china set, a toothbrush set and tableware.

Junnu strips have been republished in the anthology Laikku 05 - Kotimaiset kuvasarjat 1900-1945. (Review in Finnish)

The Finnish Valentino

Theodor Tugai alias Teuvo Tulio, originally uploaded by punalippu.

This is a tinted version of a photo found in an article by Anu Koivunen on the concepts of stardom and women as consumers of film and filmstars in the 1920's, which features our favourite Finnish Tatar in a major role.

Under the name Teuvo Tulio, Theodor Tugai became an influential film director who put a passionate stamp on the Finnish film industry in the 1930's and 1940's. His early career as "the Finnish Valentino" is less well known. In Mustalaishurmaaja ("Gypsy Casanova", 1929), the 16-year-old Tugai plays Gypsy leader Manjardo. Koivunen describes how the camera focuses on him as on a beautiful object, with closeups of his half-shut eyes. His makeup and costume are chosen to accentuate this - dark skin, enhanced lips, jewellery, accentuated waist, occasionally shirtless... You get the picture.

But to be a desirable object for women - paradoxically put his masculinity into question. Watching and looking is an act of power, to be looked at is to become passive, traditionally feminine. But Manjardo does both. In the movie plot, he is a fiery character who is forced to accept an arranged marriage. He is an ethnic other who is both attracive and repellent (although his love interests in the movie are all "Gypsies", too - Koivunen hints that it would have been less acceptable to show "Finnish" women openly desiring a man). Two women, Glafira and Akris, fight for his attention, but the film finds a more conventional solution - Manjardo ends up with the motherly and caring Esmeralda, who tends to his wounds.

Next time, I will write more about the reception of Tugai's film persona among film critics, and the decline of the "Valentino" type.

Source:
Anu Koivunen: "Näkyvä nainen ja 'suloinen pyörrytys'", Vampyyrinainen ja Kenkkuniemen sauna - Suomalainen kaksikymmenluku ja modernin mahdollisuus ["Vampire Woman and the Sauna of Kenkkuniemi - The Finnish 1920's and the Possibility of Modernity"] Ed. Tapio Onnela, SKS, Helsinki 1992

Cross-posted at Chirayliq

From the LIFE photo archive

Google has made the incredible photo archives of LIFE magazine digitally available to the general public. Many of the photos have never been published before and include works by celebrities like Alfred Eisenstaedt, less-known photographers like Hugo Jaeger (colour photos of the Third Reich, a creepy experience), and unknown illustrators. Here are some of my favourites in no particular order, perhaps they give an impression of my main interests :)

Helsinki; in front, the Russian Orthodox church, in the back, the Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral. I bet the photographer chose this angle because of the "red scare" during the general strike in Finland in 1949. An anecdote about Ronald Reagan tells that the President during a visit in Helsinki quipped, "I can see Russia from here!"
Date taken: August 08, 1949 * Photographer: Mark Kauffman

Ella Fitzgerald at "Mr. Kelly's" nightclub in Chicago, 1958. Photographer: Yale Joel

Jesuit novices contemplating their breviaries at Los Gatos Novitiate a.k.a. Sacred Heart Novitiate, San Jose, California. There are many more beautiful photographs from their vineyards and the varied work of the novices by Margaret Bourke-White. Date taken: October 1953


Carl Mydans, who also documented the Winter War from the Finnish side, took beautiful colour photographs of Venetian life in the 1940's.


This is adorable. A man is combing his girlfriend's hair in Italy, 1963. The photograph Paul Schutzer clearly enjoyed documenting Italian masculinity since there are many charming photographs of men doing nice things like dancing, mountain-climbing, relaxing or just goofing around. It is nice to rest one's eyes on those pictures after an overdose of full-colour Nazi and Fascist parades...
Tragically, Paul Schutzer was killed while covering the Six-Day War.


From peace to war, and to yet another war: This photo was taken in Khe Sanh, Vietnam, by Larry Burrows in 1968. The American soldier under siege is gently holding a native puppy. I hope they both got away alive; the photographer himself died while covering the invasion of Laos in 1971, when the helicopter he was flying in was shot down by North Vietnamese forces.

Unknown Finns with Dogs

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Found here: Tuhat tuntematonta (1 000 Unknown People)
An online exhibition of old photographs by The National Board of Antiquities, Finland.



Salvation Army?



My favourite, she reminds me of all women in my family...



This dog looks like our Priska (1973-1989).



Cute!



Serious family.



Finally, not a dog, but a kitty and her elegant owner.

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Kohtalon kolmas hetki

Aarno Karimo - Kohtalon kolmas hetki, originally uploaded by punalippu.

1920's nationalist science fiction...

In a future world, set in the 1960's but strangely similar to a steampunk version of the 1910's (airships! duels! evil emperors! damsels in distress!), Finland is overrun by the reborn Russian Empire. A brave Finnish officer goes undercover and succeeds in defeating the Empire with the help of superior Finnish technology - with just a bit of help from the descendant of Genghis Khan and his countless Mongol hordes...

What could have been a great pulp story (with unusually positive roles for Tatars and Mongols) is unfortunately marred by a racist and antisemitic subplot. Karimo didn't want to depict the Russians as noble and worthy enemies. Instead, he pre-echoed the Nazi argument that Russians were a slave race, led by evil Jewish leaders, destined to be destroyed.

Still, it's a unique piece of work, one of the sources that inspired me to draw Goldenbird.

Veli Giovanni Rotundassa

Jos olette Helsingin tienoolla, käykää, hyvät ihmiset, Kansalliskirjaston Rotundassa ihailemassa Veli Giovanni-näyttelyä.
Veli Giovanni (synt. Hillari Johannes Viherjuuri, 1889−1949) oli muun muassa pakinoitsija ja pilalehtitoimittaja, mutta hänen suurin saavutuksensa on nerokas keksintö, itse sana "sarjakuva". Veli Giovannin ansiosta suomella on neutraali sana tälle paljon parjatulle taidelajille. Hupisarjakuvien lomassa hän käsikirjoitti myös parisuhdetarinaa Junnusta ja Allista 1920- ja 1930-luvulla, jota Suomen Kuvalehden lukijat seurasivat innolla kuin televisiosarjaa ikään. Veli Giovannin sarjakuvat olivat sopivia koko perheelle, kuten myös oheiskrääsästä käy ilmi. PopuLaarilla (hieno blogi, jota valitettavasti ei enää päivitetä) on myös vähän raflaavampi kansikuva Veli Giovannin "Pilajuttuja ja piirroksia"-lehdestä. Miksi kansalliskirjasto mainostaa näin hauskaa materiaalia tylsillä ja huonolaatuisilla kuvilla?
Näyttely on esillä 1.8.−5.11.2008. Vielä ehtii!

Celebrating my soon-to-be Ph.D.

- Dad, I got my degree now.
- Well done! Now you can start looking for a man who can cook, tend to the children and keep the house in order.

From the satirical magazine Kurikka, Finland 1926

Edith Södergran

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En fågel satt fången i en gyllene bur
i ett vitt slott vid ett djupblått hav.
Smäktande rosor lovade vällust och lycka.
Och fågeln sjöng om en liten by högt uppe i bergen,
där solen är konung och tystnaden drottning
och där karga små blommor i lysande färger
vittna om livet, som trotsar och består.

"En fången fågel", ur Dikter (1916)

Cylinder Recordings

Originally published on historia.ainurin.net (2006/10/30)



The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the Department of Special Collections, Donald C. Davidson Library, University of California (Santa Barbara - phew, that's some name!) has made available an incredible amount of digital versions of cylinder recordings from the late 19th and the early 20th century. Browse through themes such as Jazz, Dance Bands, Swedish or Finnish or Japanese music, ethnic humor at the expense of Italians, Irish or Jews, and contemporary events such as the Great War or the Prohibition.

Thomas Alva Edison's invention, the phonograph cylinder (in wax and celluloid), was not easily defeated by the disc. Today, restoration is hard work, since celluloid deteriorates with age, and wax is notoriously fragile. Although Edison was not the only one to produce them, the age of cylinder recordings ended when the Edison Company left the recording business in 1929.

Goldenbird fans can enjoy the novelty jazz song that Mayann is singing on stage in chapter one: Jazz Baby, performed by Rachel Grant (a k a Gladys Rice) in 1919.
Afterwards, you may refresh your Italian with this basic lesson from the 1900's. It seems that it is rather difficult to catch a train directly to Milan. But it is a pretty language, no?