SKU: 3385627129

Vice President Nixon Meets 1950s 3D Sci Fi - Delighful Photo Print From The Original - It Came From Outer Space - 1953 Packard Convertible

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Vice President Nixon Meets 1950s 3D Sci Fi - Delighful Photo Print From The Original - It Came From Outer Space - 1953 Packard ConvertibleTreasures from THE FILM & THEATER COLLECTION at The Willing Mind. By exclusive arrangement with The Grand Review. Print size 24 x 20 and consciously formatted to work with a standard 24 x 20 frame, or custom framed as you see fit. Well, I suppose all this had to begin somewhere. Let me carry you back to the beginning of the year 2000. I was running a successful moving company of hard working artists and musicians and tithing from my company to support

Treasures from THE FILM & THEATER COLLECTION at The Willing Mind. By exclusive arrangement with The Grand Review.

Print size 24 x 20 and consciously formatted to work with a standard 24 x 20 frame, or custom framed as you see fit.

Well, I suppose all this had to begin somewhere. Let me carry you back to the beginning of the year 2000. I was running a successful moving company of hard working artists and musicians and tithing from my company to support my work as an historian, my field being the history of living on wheels. You know, trailers, motor homes, mobile homes, auto camping, turn of the 20th century through the 60s.

We had a huge loft space in the historic Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia that cost us practically nothing where we set up an archive and research library to house my collection, put the headquarters for the moving company in the back, and had great exhibition space in the center. Right across the street from Ben Franklin's house and the first post office in America.

I curated a number of exhibits, mostly within my field but we also brought the amazing futurist illustrator Arthur Radebaugh back from the dead there in a pretty damned fabulous show that ended up traveling in the States and Europe and, much to our own surprise, an exhibit about Vice President Richard Nixon and his visual relationship with the newspaper cameras.

As a gallery owner in Old City and a member of the Old City Arts Association, the local papers came and asked what we all planned for the upcoming Republican National Convention. It was going to be big and a mighty, mighty spotlight on Philly, and we wanted to show well. I stuck my thumbs in my imaginary suspenders and boasted that I planned to show 'Republican-y art, and I'll hire comely coeds in very short skirts to hand out fliers about it at the entrance to the Convention Center.' I of course thought that bit of sophomoric repartee was very witty and clever and was thrown a bit when they quoted me in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Hmmmmmmm, I thought, now I have to put up or shut up.

It just so happens that I had salvaged a massive collection of press photos of Richard Nixon's political career from the late 40s through the early 60s and this particular one struck me as so riotously funny that I figured it'd work as the centerpiece for a proper exhibit. We looked through the pile and so many of the photos were a nightmare. To put it politely, Nixon didn't photograph so well. It seemed in his role as public whipping boy during his tenure as VP that newspaper editors went out of their way to run the absolute worst photos to keep that national chuckle working for 8 years. That said, in total the effect was depressing, like kicking a drunk.

To buck that trend, we set aside the absolute worst photos that just made him look ugly, haggard, out of condition, stupid, angry or outright disturbed, and they were legion. What we focused on were the charmingly goofy pictures of a political everyman who willingly put himself into the front seat of the political public relations roller coaster. Regional photo ops with the expected local flavors reduced to a single shot cliche. The opening of this or that building or gathering, the awkward guest of honor at our fundraiser or their dinner, touting some American something to some foreign lesser dignitary or potentates of countries not on our bigger radar.

The comedic tension was knowing who Nixon really was as a personality of that era, and who he would become as President of the United States, made more intense by us feeling empathy for this facet of goofiness left after the obvious was washed away in our choice of photos to display.

I CONSIDER THIS PHOTO TO BE A MASTERPIECE, a word I damned near never use, because of all that went into preparing for and then successfully capturing the moment. All odds were against it being this good. Note that the street is nearly empty, so while this may be on the parade route, it is not where the crowds were. The photographer understood the route, saw this marquee, set up and framed the shot and then waited. How he got Nixon to notice him and wave perfectly is beyond me. Did his brother hold his three year old daughter up and tell her to wave wildly as the car approaches? A big sign that said 'Please pause for the camera?' I don't know, but it wasn't chance. Also note that nowadays, if you really wanted that cop in the picture, you could snap him and drop him in later with Photoshop, that was chance and pure serendipity, and this is in the days of one click on the shutter button and no second chance. Amazing!

We needed a poster and ended up creating three different gems. I worked with my friend Max with me serving as art director and Max tickling the ivories. We found a button on the fledgling eBay, copied the image and removed the text. What was I LIKE IKE or I LIKE IKE & DICK became, awkwardly, WE LIKED DICK. We took an old hand held flag, extended it digitally, grabbed my wife's old sunglasses and scanned those as well and tied all the elements together in what was the first print I ever crafted. There were roar of success when it came out just as imagined, with a real rush of excitement that returns every time we start a fresh restoration.

You can see it on Etsy here.........
https://www.etsy.com/listing/170346741/nixon-exhibition-print-main-line

One of the IKE dresses in the photograph on the exhibition poster was on display at the Atwater Kent Museum during the Convention, now known as the Philadelphia History Museum. The show was a hit with Republicans in for the Convention as well as folks of all political views from near and far.

From a creative standpoint, I'd found my calling!


  • Handmade item
  • Materials: Art stock enhanced matte paper, archival ink
  • Made to order
  • Only ships within United States.

SHIPPING

All prints are shipped in a sturdy mailing tube for $8, which covers postage, tube and S & H.

BUYING MORE THAN ONE PRINT? Add a second print or any number thereafter of this or any other prints in our catalog and shipping is still just $8, total!!!

International shipping is available and reasonable. Please contact us for details.

A NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.

Every print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps. The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands. That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here. See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”

There is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.

There is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.

Then there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road. I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle! So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.

This dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.

 

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SKU: 3385627129

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Long Beach Native
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 4
Audiobook has TERRIBLE narrator; book is very techical
Format: Hardcover
So this is a fascinating book -- the author has an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge in a vast array of technical (and medical) subjects. Note this is a much more technical book than your typical science book intended for the educated layperson. That's a big plus for me, but others might be put off by the level of detail. The main fault with the book is the audiobook's narrator, Adam Barr. He has a deep voice that is easy to understand, but he is just about as dull as can be, sounding as if he's reading the ingredients on a can of soup. I ended up buying the hardcover version of the book because the audiobook could not hold my attention -- because of the narrator, not because of the content, which is amazing. I wish more narrators would take a page (ha ha) from talented pros such as Ray Porter and Wil Wheaton. Just because this book is nonfiction doesn't mean it can't be read with heart, as if the reader was speaking to me personally, with enthusiasm, and not just reading words out loud.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2024
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James Walker
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
The Final Warning
Format: Kindle
No more heads up after this one guys. Ray is not known for missing futurological insights. He’s placed many predictions within this work and it’s my belief that they will occur even sooner than he imagines. That said, the time for comfort with our current way of living is over, and this book functions as the last glance of insight to carry you through with knowledge of what could be. Without it, you are very likely to be entirely blindsighted. The world is changing much faster than the vast majority of people realize. Even those paying close attention to technology. Learn what you can do you can prepare. This book is likely the best way to get ahead of the curve, and adds many new concepts and refinement than the first in the series
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Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2024
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Steve
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 5
Superior purchase
Format: Hardcover
Book was in better condition than was advertised. Book was delivered earlier than expected. Book was packaged very very well. Excellent transaction and experience!! Will look forward to purchasing items from this seller in the future! Added bonus-reading the book was a great and thought provoking experience.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2025
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R. Jones
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 4
An Excellent Behind-The-Scenes Account Of A Chaotic Congress
Format: Kindle
This book was exactly what I hoped it would be - informative, well written, and a little bit gossipy while also thoroughly researched and fair to both sides. Do the Republicans who ran Congress in 2023 and 2024 come off looking incompetent and foolish? Yes, but that’s because the authors accurately report the things they did, not because of any bias they have. If you’re a political junky or just interested in how our political system works (or, in this case, doesn’t work) then you’ll enjoy this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2025
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KM
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 5
If you are even remotely into politics you will throughly enjoy this book
Format: Hardcover
Totally entertaining. Finished the book in one afternoon.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2025

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