Rare Photos of Freddie Mercury Riding on the Shoulders of Santa Claus at The Forum in Inglewood on Dec. 22, 1977

This is the final night of the News of the World Tour. To celebrate it there are some holiday festivities on stage. First, during the acoustic set, Freddie Mercury and Brian May perform a one-off version of “White Christmas”. Later, for the first encore of “We Will Rock You”, the band’s bodyguard, Paul Korzilius (“Big Paul”, as the band and crew called him), comes on stage dressed as Santa Claus. Instead of the expected toys in Santa’s sack, Freddie emerges from it in his silver lurex suit where he then sings the song on Santa’s shoulders. Prior to this, Brian May plays a bit of “Deck The Halls” in his solo spot, which is greatly enjoyed by the audience.

Earlier in the evening, Mercury refers to the medley as a “cornucopia of delight. Something nice and pretentious, just for all the critics.”

The performance is nothing short of ferocious from Mercury and the band, certainly one of the finest of their career. While the band were always on their game during this period, on this night they tap into their energy reserves and give a little extra in nearly every song. Mercury’s delivery of “Somebody To Love”, “It’s Late”, “Liar”, “My Melancholy Blues”, and “White Man” are amongst his best ever, and the band, now with 25 shows on the tour under their belt, are tight and focused.

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Hans Trapp, the Terrifying Boogeyman of Christmas

Hans Trapp is a legendary boogeyman from the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France. He accompanies Santa Claus to punish naughty children at Christmas. While Santa delivers presents and gifts, Hans Trapp delivers beatings.

The Christmas legend of Hans Trapp is based on a real German knight, and begins with a wealthy man stealing people’s money and partying so hard that the pope ex-communicates him. The story goes that Trapp then sells his soul to the devil to pursue a life of sin, which naturally forces him into a hobby of eating human flesh, as one is known to do. 

Banished from society for being one creepy mofo, he lived in the woods and dressed as a scarecrow, stuffing straw into his clothes and at times wearing a black cloak. He spends his time trying to lure children into the woods to eat them. 

Hans Trapp coming through the window like a creep.

One day after roasting a shepherd boy over a fire (or just getting ready to, the legend goes back and forth on this one), God decided enough was enough and struck him down with a lightning bolt that split his head open. 

But that didn’t stop this cannibal – he got a new gig helping St. Nick out by keeping naughty kids in line. 

This terrifying Boogeyman of Christmas is said to scare or punish children in the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France to this day. Some accounts of Hans Trapp paint him in a rosier light, saying he regrets his life of sin. In these versions, he visits misbehaving children dressed as a scarecrow and tries to persuade to be more virtuous than he was, usually by scaring them into it. 

Le Hans Trapp - 1953 à Wintzenheim (Alsace, France)

But other stories, in classic creepy Christmas fashion, say he goes around marking children he wants to eat on Christmas Eve. 

The German knight this legend is based on was named Hans Von Trotha and was born in 1450. Apparently he didn’t really do any of this stuff except get into a war against an abbey, which led to him being ex-communicated by the Pope. But who really cares about those pesky details when you can just scare the crap out of your kids on Christmas instead?

(via MissDirection Entertainment)

Rare Photos of The Beatles Throw a Fancy Dress Party to Celebrate the Release of ‘Magical Mystery Tour’

As The Beatles typically celebrated Christmas with a party, in 1967, John Lennon suggested that they have a costume ball for the launch of their Magical Mystery Tour movie, scheduled to be shown on BBC television on December 26, and invite friends, family, and the film crew. The invitation read “Magical Mystery Tour Fancy Dress Party.” In other words, it was a costume party which was held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on December 21, 1967.

All The Beatles and their partners attended the costume ball. John was an Elvis-style rocker while Cynthia Lennon dressed as a Victorian lady. Paul and Jane Asher wore matching King and Queen outfits. Ringo was a Regency gentleman and Maureen Starkey an Indian maiden. George came as an Errol Flynn-style swashbuckler while Pattie Harrison was in an Eastern Princess costume later described by Cynthia as “incredibly sexy in an eastern dancer’s seven-veils-and-not-much-else outfit.”

At the party, the nineteen year-old singer Lulu, who was riding high on the success of her movie and single To Sir With Love, came dressed as Shirley Temple in a blond wig and carrying a large lollipop. Seeing a drunken John Lennon ignoring his wife and concentrating his attention on the sexily-dressed Pattie Harrison, Lulu went over to John and scolded him in a loud voice, waving her lollipop in the air at him. The normally-macho Lennon sat quietly and contritely with his head bowed, taking the criticism. Cynthia later wrote about the incident: “It was such a lovely sight, Lulu cornering John and giving him what for. John was much taken aback by Shirley Temple’s serious lecture on how to treat his wife.”

No photographs survive documenting this surreal incident, but there are a few scattered photos from the Magical Mystery Tour party itself. The most famous one is of John, holding a glass of wine, along with Paul and Ringo and their mates. Oddly, three of the night’s four main characters are not featured in the picture. George, Patti, and Cynthia are nowhere to be seen. One can surmise George and Patti may have left the party early. Or maybe they just stayed away from John for the remainder of the night. Ditto for John’s poor wife Cynthia.

Remember the Pet Rock, a Short Lived Fad That Peaked in Popularity During the 1975 Holiday Season

Pet Rock is a collectible toy made in 1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl. Pet Rocks are smooth stones from Mexico’s Rosarito Beach. They were marketed like live pets, in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes. The fad lasted about six months, ending after a short increase in sales during the Christmas season of December 1975. Although by February 1976 they were discounted due to lower sales, Dahl sold over 1 million Pet Rocks for $4 each, and became a millionaire.

Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior. (Al Freni/The LIFE Images Collection)

Gary Dahl came up with the idea in a bar while listening to his friends complain about their pets; this gave him the idea for the perfect “pet”: a rock. A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed, and it would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. Dahl said that they were to be the perfect pets and joked about it with his friends. Dahl took his “pet” idea seriously, however, and drafted an instruction manual for a pet rock. The manual was full of puns and gags that referred to the rock as an actual pet.

“Your PET ROCK will be a devoted friend and companion for many years to come,” stated Dahl’s booklet, which featured illustrations of the rocks in inaction. “Rocks enjoy a rather long life span so the two of you will never have to part –– at least not on your PET ROCK’s account. Once you have transcended the awkward training stage your rock will mature into a faithful, obedient, loving pet with but one purpose in life –– to be at your side when you want it to, and to go lie down when you don’t.”

Gary Dahl in 1975 with the Pet Rock, a product that sold for $3.95 and made him a millionaire practically overnight.

Gary Dahl in 1975 with the Pet Rock.

Dahl’s biggest expense was the die-cutting and manufacture of the boxes. The rocks only cost one cent each, and the straw was nearly free. For the initial run of booklets, Dahl had a printing job for a client, and “tacked” the pet rock booklet onto the main job. This resulted in a batch requiring only a cut and trim, at almost no cost to him.

A 32-page official training manual titled The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock was included, with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one’s new Pet Rock (notably lacking instructions for feeding, bathing, and so on). The instruction manual contained gags, puns and jokes, and listed several commands that could be taught to the new pet. While “sit” and “stay” were effortless to accomplish, “roll over” usually required a little extra help from the trainer. “Come,” “stand” and “shake hands” were found to be near-impossible to teach; however, “attack” was fairly simple (also with some additional help from the owner’s force).

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Over Fifty Years, the V-Shaped Three-Point Safety Belt From Volvo Saved Well Over One Million Lives

There is a saying that the simplest is often the best. However, it was only towards the end of the 1950s that the car safety belt evolved into its current design, thanks to Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin.

There were different types of belt before that. Back in the 1930s, US doctors were beginning to impose demands that cars should be equipped with safety belts. The two-point lap belt was the most common solution, but there were also different variants of the three-point safety belt. The problem was that they did not protect their users sufficiently effectively, especially not at high speeds.

During the latter half of the 1950s, Volvo engineers had developed a number of protective systems intended to prevent a vehicle’s occupant from hitting interior components or to lessen the severity of such consequences in a collision. These systems included a collapsible steering column, padded dashboard and attachment points for diagonal two-point belts in the front seats.

Volvo had already been equipping its vehicles with anchors for two-point front safety belts since 1957, but early tests of a third “diagonal belt” did not meet the company’s safety standards. The inconvenient buckle positioning at the ribcage caused damage to the body’s soft organs instead of protecting them.

Volvo president Gunnar Engellau had a relative die in a road collision, owing partly to the shortcomings of the two-point belt. He therefore gave Bohlin the brief to develop a better alternative. Bohlin soon realized that both the upper and lower body had to be properly secured in place, with one belt across the chest and another across the hips. His biggest challenge was to create a buckling system that was both effective and simple to use. Bohlin wanted a three-point belt that could be put on using just one hand.

In 1958 his work resulted in a patent application for Bohlin’s three-point belt. What Bohlin integrated into his design, and which he regarded as most important for a vehicle’s safety belt, involved both a hip or lap belt and also a diagonal belt across the upper body, which was positioned correctly from a physiological viewpoint, and attached at a low anchorage point beside the seat. The belt geometry formed a “V” with the peak pointing down towards the floor. This design allowed the belt to stay in position when it was under load.

Nils Bohlin, inventor of the three-point seatbelt. The reason the three-point seatbelt is so widely adopted is actually because Volvo opened up the patent so that any car manufacturer could use it in their design. They decided that the invention was so significant, it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from.

The anchorage points was the crucial difference between the effective V-shaped belt according to Bohlin's design and the previous three-point Y-type design. Bohlin’s belt was, in fact, an effective demonstration of geometrical perfection rather than a cutting-edge innovation. The solution and the benefits of the three-point design soon spread throughout the world since Volvo immediately made Bohlin’s patent available to all automakers.

In 1959, the patented three-point safety belt was introduced in the Volvo 120 (also known as the Amazon) and PV 544 on the Nordic markets. Volvo thus became the first automaker in the world to equip its vehicles with safety belts as standard equipment.

During his time at Volvo, Bohlin came to lead the company's safety drive towards ever-safer occupant protection in Volvo vehicles. He was quick to realize the need for side-impact protection, so in the 1970s he started working on what eventually resulted in the patented Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) of which Volvo was among the world’s first automakers to introduce.

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Frau Perchta, the Terrifying Christmas Witch

Frau Perchta was also known as Berchta, or Bertha, and has also been called “Spinnstubenfrau” or “Spinning Room Lady.” She is often depicted with a beaked nose made of iron, dressed in rags, perhaps carrying a cane, and generally resembles a decrepit old crone. But this old crone packs a mighty wallop... and carries a long knife hidden under her skirt.

Percheta, a Christmas European tradition is shown here as Peruehty in the Kingdom of Bohemia, 1910.

In the folklore of Bavaria and Austria, Perchta was said to roam the countryside at midwinter, and to enter homes during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany (especially on the Twelfth Night).

She would know whether the children and young servants of the household had behaved well and worked hard all year. If they had, they might find a small silver coin the next day, in a shoe or pail. If they had not, she would slit their bellies open, remove their stomach and guts, and stuff the hole with straw and pebbles.

She was particularly concerned to see that girls had spun the whole of their allotted portion of flax or wool during the year. She would also slit people’s bellies open and stuff them with straw if they ate something on the night of her feast day, other than the traditional meal of fish and gruel.

Frau Perchta (right) from Hans Vintler’s Die Pluemen der Tugent.

When Hallmark Commissioned Salvador Dali to Create Christmas Cards for Holiday Season in 1960

Throughout its history Hallmark cards has engaged a number of prominent contemporary artists and designers to create original works for its printed products. Among the most radical partnerships was with the visionary Salvador Dali, who painted works on a number of holiday themes during the height of his international fame.

In 1948 Hallmark released the Gallery Artists line of Christmas cards, featuring works by artists throughout history including El Greco, Van Gogh, Grandma Moses, and Salvador Dali. A recent convert to Catholicism, Dali contributed devotional images of a Madonna and Child, Three Wise Men, and an angel. Although Hallmark’s initial venture into fine art was a great success overall, Dali’s images proved a bit too avant-garde for traditional consumers.

However, ten years later Hallmark commissioned Dali to design a new series of greeting cards. The painter asked for $15,000 in cash in advance for 10 greeting card designs, with no suggestions from Hallmark for the subject or medium, no deadline and no royalties.

This time, in addition to Christmas scenes, he painted images for Valentines Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day. The seven watercolors feature a recurring motif of the butterfly, which Dali described as “a symbol of the soul.” These paintings reveal the increasing mysticism that would guide Dali’s art through the rest of his life.

Despite the fanfare aroused by the unlikely collaboration of Hallmark and Salvador Dali, only three of the new designs were ever printed. Undeterred, Dali created further greeting card lines for other clients in Spain and France.

In the 1950s, Elvis Presley’s Manager Sold ‘I Hate Elvis’ Buttons to Profit From Haters

Colonel Tom Parker (1909–1997) was a Dutch-born musical entrepreneur who was the manager of Elvis Presley. He discovered the then-unknown Elvis Presley in 1955. He maneuvered himself to become Presley's sole representative. Within months, he had won him a recording contract with the RCA Victor record label. This led to Presley having a commercial breakthrough in 1956 with his first single “Heartbreak Hotel” and rising to become one of the most popular and commercially successful entertainers in the world.

Colonel Parker was able to receive more than half of the income from the enterprise, an unprecedented figure for a music manager. He negotiated Presley’s lucrative merchandising deals, TV appearances, and acting roles in film musicals. He turned down offers to allow Presley to tour overseas, probably due to his status as an illegal immigrant, which would have been exposed had he consented for Elvis to go abroad.

Parker signed a merchandising deal with Beverly Hills film merchandiser Hank Saperstein for nearly $40,000 to turn Presley into a brand name. With over 78 different ranges, from charm bracelets to record players, Presley merchandise had brought in $22 million by the end of 1956. Parker, with his 25% share of profits, was finding many new ways to make money from his artist that managers before him could only have dreamed about. He had even come up with the idea to market ‘I Hate Elvis’ badges to make money from those who otherwise wouldn’t have parted with their cash.

Parker, who tied on a vendor’s apron to peddle both I LOVE ELVIS and I HATE ELVIS buttons to folks who reacted strongly one way or another, didn’t care what the newsmen said as long as they said it — and paid their own admission to the shows. Not even an “Elvis is queer” story got his feathers up. When Gabe Tucker threw just such a magazine piece on his desk, Parker didn’t say a word until his friend stopped sputtering. “Well,” Parker finally said, “did they spell his name right?”

The Story of Famous Geisha Teruha (aka Chishō Takaoka) and Her Lesbian Love Affair in the USA

Her real name was Tatsuko Takaoka. She was born in Osaka in 1896. It is unclear how, or under what circumstances she made her way to Tokyo but at the age of 13, after a brief training period, she became a Shimbashi Tokyo Geisha, and took the name Teruha [shining leaf].

In 1920, after years of several teenage love affairs, and being a Geisha mistress to at least one of her patrons for 5 years, Teruha got sick of the dead-end road she felt was ruining her youth, and jumped at the chance to marry a stock broker. Thus ended Teruha’s days as a Geisha, at least for a while.

In the spring of 1920, they went to the United States where she ended up making friends with Hollywood actor Sessue Hayakawa. Teruha and her husband traveled all over the country, and it was an exciting time for her. However, the un-exciting part was that her new husband dumped her at whatever hotel they were staying in, and spent his nights out on the town with his buddies –– getting drunk, and chasing women. At least once, he didn’t even come back to the hotel for several days.

But it was Teruha’s fame, and not her husband’s, that preceded her all the way to the ‘Big Apple’. When she arrived in New York City, the people there had prepared a big welcome party for her in a cabaret. Broadway choreographer Michiro Ito hosted the party for Teruha. After the party, 24-year-old Teruha got tired of living at her New York City hotel with a husband who just wanted to go out drinking and womanizing while she was left alone.

Having been a self-educated woman since becoming a Maiko, she decided to take advantage of her stay in America. She left her carousing husband to his wine and women, and headed off on her own, eventually landing at a “Domestic Science School” somewhere out in the suburbs of New York. Teruha stayed in the school dorms while taking courses (and probably learning a lot of English). She also met a very nice girl, and took up something else –– becoming a lesbian. Her lover’s name was Hildegard, and for most of the nine months that Teruha studied, lived, and loved in America on this first trip, it was the love of a woman –– and not a man –– that sustained her.

Portrait of Chishō Takaoka (a geisha and, later Buddhist nun) with her lover Hildegard in New York City, ca. 1920.

Teruha would eventually return to Japan with her husband who didn’t care about her lesbian affair. However, Teruha soon found a man to cheat with to get back at her own cheating husband. She did so with revenge in her heart for all of the womanizing and affairs he was constantly involved in.

However, as all Japanese men know, married men can have all the women they want, but their wives can have nobody but them. That is to say, when he found out about Teruha’s affair with another man, he made life a living hell for her, leading to at least two failed suicide attempts to escape life altogether.

The still married Teruha went back to the USA. From there, she went to London where she once again met up with her old friend, the popular movie star Sessue Hayakawa –– who just “happened to be there.”

What happened between them is not written in words, but Hayakawa told her that she should go and live in Paris. She took his advice, and went to France, where she gave birth to an little girl. Suffice it to say, her husband was not the father. Teruha was now 28 years old.

The Bread and Puppet Theater

Peter and Elka Schumann began The Bread & Puppet Theater in 1962–1963 in New York City. It was active during the Vietnam War in anti-war protests, primarily in New York City, prompting Time reviewer T.E. Kalem to remark in 1971, “This virtual dumb show is as contemporary as tomorrow’s bombing raid.”

Many people remember it as central to the political spectacle of the time, as its enormous puppets (often ten to fifteen feet tall) were a fixture of many demonstrations. A Sicilian puppet show had inspired Schumann, and TB&PT inspired other groups across the continent, including Gary Botting’s Edmonton-based People & Puppets Incorporated, which in the early 1970s also used effigies yards-high to depict political themes and social commentary in radical street theatre.

In 1970 the Theater moved to Vermont, first to Goddard College in Plainfield, and then to a farm in Glover where it remains. The farm is home to a cow, several pigs, chickens, and puppeteers, as well as indoor and outdoor performance spaces, a printshop, store, and large museum showcasing over four decades of the company’s work. TB&PT has received National Endowment for the Arts grants, awards from the Puppeteers of America, and other organizations.

Until 1998, Bread & Puppet hosted its annual Pageant and Circus (in full, Our Domestic Resurrection Circus), in and around a natural amphitheater on its Glover grounds. In the 1990s, the festival began drawing crowds of tens of thousands, who camped on nearby farmers’ land during the annual, summer weekend of the pageant. The event became unmanageable, and concerned itself less with the theater’s performance.

In 1998, a man was killed by accident in a fight while camping overnight for the festival, forcing director Peter Schumann to cancel the festival. Since then, the theater offers smaller weekend performances all summer, and traveled around New York and New England, with occasional tours around the U.S. and abroad. The theater runs a program where apprentices help produce and act in performances. In New York City, Bread & Puppet performs at Theater for the New City during the holiday season each year.

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Chevalier Jackson Demonstrating Michelle the Choking Doll, 1937

Pictures of Dr. Chevalier Jackson “operating” on Michelle the Choking Doll, used to demonstrate his techniques in laryngeal surgery for the removal of foreign bodies. The images taken from his 1937 text The Larynx and Its Diseases.

Pioneering otolaryngologist Chevalier Jackson (1865–1958) used this doll, named “Michelle,” to demonstrate his non-surgical techniques for removing foreign objects from the throats of children. Jackson’s longtime French assistant Angele Piquenais sewed Michelle, who simulates a small patient with a child-sized trachea and esophagus. Jackson also once demonstrated an emergency tracheotomy on Michelle, an event documented on home movie film; her throat still shows the scar.

Jackson was world-renowned for his skill in the rapid use of endoscopic instruments to remove inhaled and swallowed foreign bodies without anesthesia, which greatly reduced the risks of the procedure. He combined his technical skill with a bedside manner that could keep distressed young patients calm. Jackson developed many specialized instruments and techniques for removing swallowed or inhaled objects, and could extract safety pins, nails, broken glass, and other dangerous objects without injuring the patient. His advanced techniques also enabled him to perform surgery to repair damage, such as removing scar tissue from accidental swallowing of caustic materials.

Jackson wrote that his father’s advice to “educate the eye and the fingers” spurred him to “continuous effort” in refining and improving the techniques of laryngoscopy. As a professor at medical schools including the University of Pittsburgh, Jefferson Medical College, and Temple University, Jackson also sought to educate the eyes and fingers of many medical students. By one estimate, the students he trained saved as many as half a million lives using his techniques.

(via The College of Physicians of Philadelphia)