TIKI CULTURE

Burlesque in South Florida: Morgan La Rue & The Shimmy-Shake Revue at The Monterey Club

Morgan La Rue & The Shimmy-Shake Revue

When you think of South Florida entertainment, things like Hip-Hop, Techno clubs and $30 Martinis usually come to mind. Retro-tastic burlesque shows, on the other hand, are more often linked to Vegas and SoCal.

Not this weekend. Tattooed beauty Morgan La Rue has been shaking the rafters at The Monterey Club on US 1 in Fort Lauderdale for some time now, and the doll and her ladies will be vamping it up again Saturday night.

This Saturday, December 17, Ms. La Rue will bump and grind on the Monterey Stage along with Val Vampyre, Francean Fanny, and Ember Furie (great names for some very hot chicks).  If the show is anything like past acts, it’ll be full of edgy, mod-retro burlesque performances, live music and plenty of punk-rock-a-billie rebels in the audience.

The show starts at 9; Beer and wine are served and there’s usually a BBQ truck in the parking lot. The Monterey Club is a very kool place for kats and kittens who dig the other side of the retro scene…the tattoos, bikes, hard-slammin’ rock and scantily-clad dolls usually associated with the seedy (and fun) underworld of the mid-century era. But if you miss this show, you’ll miss it forever…unfortunately The Monterey Club is scheduled to close just after New Year’s (for economic reasons). So get your kicks before it’s too late, Jack.

Morgan La Rue’s Shimmy-Shake Revue

Saturday, December 17, 2011, 9pm

The Monterey Club, 2608 South Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

954-598-1887

http://www.themontereyclub.net

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the pool hall at Tiki Lounge Talk.

Cary Grant: Sophisticated Style for Retro Lovers

Cary Grant

This isn’t going to be a particularly original post, but a fun one nonetheless. Today’s post at the Tiki Lounge is dedicated to that debonair man,

Mr. Cary Grant.

Equally at ease in a wool suit playing a heavy, or goofing around in a tennis sweater, Cary Grant played every part with the sophistication and charm just not found in today’s movie scene.

Known for about a thousand great movies, Cary Grant’s career spanned over five decades and included such notables as The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gunga Din (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), His Girl Friday (1940), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Notorious (1946), To Catch A Thief (1955), An Affair to Remember (1957), Houseboat (1958) North by Northwest (1959) and Charade (1963).

Six of his films are on AMI’s list of top 100 romantic films. He gave his entire salary for both Arsenic and Old Lace and The Philadelphia Story to the war effort. He turned down the role of James Bond in Dr. No because he felt at 58, he was too old to play the part (of course he was mistaken). He had his face on an American postal stamp and did almost all of his own stunts.

And he looked damned good in a suit.

Even in those days when men wore suits the way people wear ripped jeans and corny t-shirts today, the man had a way of letting those threads drape down, that set him off in some kind of mid-century GQ hipsterland.

Just dig this kat standing in front of that 1930s roadster. Sharp lapels, pinned collar, tilted pork pie. Now that’s how a man should dress, right?

Still lookin’ sharp as a tack, even as he got older. I think that old saying “men look more distinguished with age” originated with this picture. Dig those cuff links. Real men wear cuff links.

“A hat’s not a hat ’til it’s tilted”, the old song goes. Mr. Grant proves that point quite succinctly here. I wonder what color that tie was.

Even as the bad guy he looked good. Check out the dimple in the tie. I wonder if anyone but me and a few of you reading this even know how to do that with a tie.

This one almost makes me want to take up smoking.

Sure, these were publicity shots and clips from movies. The man was made up by the wardrobe and make up departments to look the part. Sure, it’s just a part, but it’s the part he played and made us believe.

This guy was the original Mr. Smooth; suave, funny and smart, tough when he needed to be and sweet when the ladies wanted it. Throw in the English accent and you’ve got the one and only Cary Grant.

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the wardrobe department at Tiki Lounge Studios, Miami Beach

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Monsters, Inc. 2001 For Mod Movie Monday

Monsters, Inc. I know this ad/poster is a taken from another movie poster...anyone guess which one?

Just one look at this flick and you know that the creatives at Pixar really did an homage to the old-school Disney films when they put together

Monsters, Inc. 2001

starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly and Mary Gibbs.

I include this flick in the Mod Monday gig because there’s so much in it that screams of vintage while being made with technology way ahead of its time that the movie itself is a sci-fi wonder come true.

The opening credits alone will swing you back to Disney’s “first” golden era, with a clarinet-lead jazz instrumental that’s perfectly paired to a snaky monster and a plethora somewhat confusing and mod-looking doors, reminiscent of the Disney musicals of the 1940s and ’50s.

Then the story opens with a couple of very kool monsters, not particularly scary at all but kind of Muppet-like. They live in an apartment decorated with old-school furniture, one has a jalopy that looks like a ’60s sports car with teeth, they walk down a very 1940s-New York-looking street and report for work in a factory that’s sort of a mix of mid-century modern and minimalist industrial designs.

Doesn't this look like something from a retro-50s sci fi thriller?

The retro/vintage themes rack up from there. James Coburn’s voiceover sounds a lot like the bad guys in the old Hannah-Barbara cartoons from the ’60s and ’70s (or Burgermeister Meisterburger in Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, voiced by Paul Frees). There are retro Disneyland posters on the walls, and a 1960s-style newscaster. There’s even a scene on a tropical beach with a couple of Tiki huts!

The story? Oh, yeah…sometimes I forget to tell you about the story, don’t I. Ok, it’s about a couple of Monsters who work on the scare floor of the corporation who provides electricity for Monstropolis by collecting the screams of human kids and bottling them. The corporation reminded me a lot of Office Depot’s corporate headquarters where I worked briefly at the time this movie was made. The whole thing they do with “I am Monsters, Inc!”…yeah, Office Depot did that with their employees for a training video. Oy.

Uh...yeah. Mid-century Retro-rama, baby!

Anyway, back to the subject…It’s a great flick and the added retro-isms will have kats and kittens like you digging it even more. For a sneak peak (and the numbero uno reason this flick fits the Mod Movie Monday category), check out the two videos below. The first is the opening credits to Monsters, Inc., the second is a clip from Make Mine Music (1947) featuring the Benny Goodman band and visuals by Disney. You’ll see immediately where the designers for Monsters, Inc. got their inspiration. Even the music is similar…not the same, not copied…but inspired. Great job, Pixar. Keep the faith, baby.

Here’s the Intro to Monsters, Inc. 2001

And “After You’ve Gone” from Make Mine Music, 1947

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the Scare Floor at Tiki Lounge Talk. BTW…the bear in this photo look familiar? It should…he’s the original Winnie the Pooh

The House on Haunted Hill, 1959 for Mod Movie Monday

There’s nothing like a good old fashioned 1950s horror flick to get in the Halloween spirit. And when Vincent Price is in the mix, you can be sure it will be spooky, fun, and even a little cheesy in a good way.

One of my old favorites is

The House on Haunted Hill, 1959

Vincent Price plays an eccentric millionaire who invites 5 guests to a “haunted house” for an overnight party, promising each of them $10,000 if they can make it through the night alive. Ghosts, murder, and a walking skeleton terrorized the guest until morning.

It’s also fun to point out that the “haunted house” exterior used in the film is The Ennis Brown House in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924. They mention that the house is 100 years old, but it’s so obviously not that it makes it really funny. The house is imposing though, and the procession of “Funeral Cars” that take the guests there is a nice touch.

This B&W classic gets my vote for a fun and creepy midnight movie. Sit back with a box of popcorn and Hershey bars, turn out the lights and prepare to be creepified!

Drinks: Only the best for Vincent Price’s guests. Crack open a bottle of champagne with your popcorn. And don’t forget your .45 automatic.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the screening room

Here’s the Trailer…

The Playboy Club Already Canceled; Pan Am Soars; International Exotic Cocktail Day Almost Here

"Two double Martinis, Jimmy...and whatever the lady wants."

Well, I guess my scathing review of the premier of The Playboy Club was on the mark. After only three episodes, the retro drama is off the air…So far NBC doesn’t even have plans to run off the remaining episodes in another time slot. Poor initial ratings and sharp viewer decline in the last two episodes (along with some squawking from a big-mouthed religious group who thinks Playboy is pornographic, ugh) caused the advertisers to jump ship. And without dough, there’s no show. Shame, since episode two was a thousand times better than episode one. Haven’t seen the third one yet.

Now…when you swing over to Pan Am, you can’t help but smile. They’ve really captured the era, and give people like us an hour a week to feel like we’re back in the days when you could get a real martini (in a real glass martini glass), complete with olives and pretty, smiling stewardess on an airplane.The story lines are solid and keep us interested, and peaks of vintage Cadillacs and Chryslers remind us of the days when the most elegant, luxurious and powerful cars were built in Detroit.

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Friday is International Exotic Cocktail Day!

At the Tiki Bar...

We’ve been waiting all year for Friday, October 7 just so we could drink a cool rum concoction! Ok, we didn’t wait. But what better way to pledge our allegiance to the Exotic Cocktail than to have a day dedicated to it? This Friday, raise a glass and toast your friends, family, boss, gardener, dog, whatever, wherever you are, whatever time you can make it. Celebrate International Exotic Cocktail Day with me, and show the world you’re a Tiki Drink Lover!

We’ll be celebrating at the famous Wreck Bar in Fort Lauderdale, watching Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid’s show through the portholes. Then it’s off to the Mai Kai for a nightcap. Hope to see some of you there!

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the Tiki Lounge