Happy Belated Good Friday! Our Lady of Sorrows Good Friday Procession, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn : Guest Post by Tonya Hurley, Author of "ghostgirl" and "The Blessed"

Following, please find a second fascinating guest post from Morbid Anatomy Library's Writer in residence Tonya Hurley, authoress of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series and The Blessed Trilogy. Here, she reports on her visit to the Our Lady of Sorrows Good Friday procession, taking place annually in the largely Italian-American neighborhood of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. All of the evocative photos you see above were also provided by Tonya.

THE BLACK PARADE

It is an incredible sight, one straight out of a Fellini movie.

A statue of Jesus encased in a glass casket carried by men dressed as pall bearers march somberly ahead of a large group of mourning women holding candles; praying and singing dirges in Italian through the winding streets. They make way for the Mater Dolorosa, the Our Lady of Sorrows statue, hoisted up into the night sky on a bier, veiled in black, a single dagger through her heart. Wood crosses are erected – draped in purple, red or white silk. The marching band plays “There is No Death.” No, this is not happening in a village in Italy, this is Good Friday in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

The faithful have gathered at the Sacred Hearts Church of Jesus and Mary and Saint Stephen for this annual funeral-like procession in Brooklyn since 1948 to honor Our Lady of Sorrows, the patron saint of Mola di Bari, Italy. Thousands from the town immigrated to Carroll Gardens and the surrounding South Brooklyn neighborhoods in the mid-20th Century and brought this somber Holy Week tradition with them.

Our Lady of Sorrows symbolizes the suffering we feel at the loss of a loved one. The dagger through Mary’s heart is a symbol of the pain a parent feels when they lose a child. The procession calls devotees to mourn not just Mary’s loss, but their own. It brings the death of Jesus out from the churches, from the museum galleries, from the pages of the Bible, and literally into their own backyards. A reminder that death is ever present, and though it may be the end of life, it is not the end of faith.

The procession is an old world spectacle seemingly out of place in this modern age. A throwback on these tree-lined blocks, yet hundreds of people, both believers and rubberneckers struck by the sight, line the brownstoned streets silently, reverently, as the worshippers march by. They pray along with the women in the procession, waving vintage handkerchiefs in sympathetic grief, and some even raise glasses of wine as a toast to the sad celebration.

Participant Sal DiMaggio explains that this is the result of two Italian clubs coming together -- the Jesus statue comes from Sicilian Club Nights of Columbus and Our Lady comes from the Pugliese club Our Lady of Loretto. He goes on to explain that it is considered a great honor for the men who carry the statues and for the women who get to sew the new black-laced garments for the Our Lady of Sorrows statue each year.

It is apparent on this night that as much as Carroll Gardens has modernized, Italian Catholic roots run extremely deep.

“I’ve been coming for 44 years.  It’s always the same, and that's the beauty of it,” DiMaggio says as he disappears into the parade.

Thanks so much to Tonya Hurley for providing this really fascinating reportage and haunting images! You can find out more about her work by clicking here. Click on images to see larger versions.

"Phantom Creep Theatre: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die," Tonight at The Coney Island Museum

At the Coney Island Museum in Brooklyn, the Phantom Creep Theater pays tribute to classic horror with its version of the spook show, a macabre entertainment popular in the early 20th century that weds Grand Guignol tradition with modern sideshow showmanship. Hosted by M.C.’s in the vein of late-night television horror hosts like Ghoulardi and Dr. Creep, the shows feature B movies, live music, old-hat magic and a total blackout in which a monster or phantom tears through the theater.
--"No Rest for the Wicked, Undead or Ghoulish," New York Times. July 12, 2012

Tonight, at the Coney Island Museum, I hope to see you for "Phantom Creep Theatre: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!",  an ode to the 1950s spook show organized in part by friend and Midnight Archive creator Ronni Thomas. The night's series of performances, screenings and hijinx will be dedicated to the memory and work of Lon Chaney Sr., patron saint of classic horror, and will feature a live theatrical recreation of the lost 1929 film "Thunder,"which included "insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, [and] ravenous gorillas on the loose" and reputedly killed "the man of a 1,000 faces." In fine spook show tradition, there will also be an attempt to make contact with the ghost of Mr. Chaney, a chance to meet the "Hypno Corpse," varied film screenings, live music, and many thrills and screams, all for only 10 dollars.

Full details follow; hope very much to see you there!

PHANTOM CREEP THEATRE: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!
Location: The Coney Island Museum
Date: TONIGHT Saturday, July 21
Time: Doors 8:00, Event 8:30 PM
Admission: $10
Free Popcorn!

Set your faces to stun for THE UNHOLY THREE (1930), screened from a 16mm film print! This film includes insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, ravenous gorillas on the loose, Lon Chaney, Sr.'s only speaking role, and much, much more!

Experience a one time live theatrical recreation of the (lost) film that killed Lon Chaney, Sr.... THUNDER! No one has seen this gut wrenching, edge of your seat, golden era rail road drama, in over 80 years!! You can't see it anywhere, but the Phantom Creep Theatre stage!

These presentations and more are part of an entire evening celebrating the man of a 1,000 faces, the man who ceased to exist between pictures, the broken hearted clown who was born on April Fool's Day - Lon Chaney, Sr.!

Will you bear witness to COUNT MOLOCH and EK, as they attempt to make contact with the ghost of Lon Chaney, Sr., live on the Coney Island Museum stage?!?!

Entities known, and unknown, may leave the stage and roam the room in the dark. Will you be ripped from your seat, or frozen with fear to it?

"That's all there is to life: A little laugh, a little tear." - Lon Chaney, Sr.

Plus, the HYPNO CORPSE will shock and amaze you!

LIVE performances, FILM (not digital!) projections, LIVE music! ...ONLY ten bones?! YES! 

The team that ran the original Silver Scream Spook Show at Coney Island, reunite for the first time ever on the stage that started it all! NYC's 8mm Movie Matinee, along with Atlanta GA's Silver Scream Spook Show, and the internet's own Midnight Archive web series, are throwing a gala summer-long series!

A spook show collaboration of colossal proportions in Coney Island! Ghosts materialize before your eyes! Monsters summoned from beyond! Strange creatures reach out at you through the darkness!

Including, but not limited to:

Golden era monster movies presented from 16mm film prints!

Live morbid magicians conjuring spirits that may run out into the audience to shake and shock you to your very core!

Each month is a DIFFERENT theme with NEW films, NEW gags, and NEW live hijinks! Collect ALL the memories and experiences!

You can find out more, and get tickets, by clicking here; tickets can also be purchased at the door. You can read the entire New York Times article about the event by clicking here.

Upcoming Morbid Anatomy Presents Events: "Granny Dump Mountain" and "Buried Alive!" A Matchbox Theatre Exploring the 19th C Fear of Being Buried Alive

Coming up tomorrow night as part of Morbid Anatomy Presents at Observatory, we have the illustrated story of Justin Nobel's journey in search of the truth behind the Japanese concept of obasute-yama or Granny Dump Mountain. Coming up next week, we have the eagerly anticipated "Buried Alive," a miniature matchbox theatre performance (pictured above) which describes itself as a "frightfully funny exploration of our fear of being buried alive and of the curious phenomenon of 19th Century 'waiting mortuaries.'"

Full details follow for both events. Hope to see you at one of both!

The Search for Granny-Dump Mountain
Illustrated lecture by Journalist Justin Nobel
Date: Thursday, January 26th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

When elders in rural Japan reached age 70--or so an ancient legend would have it--their sons would carry them to the top of a holy mountain and leave them to die of exposure and starvation. Granny-dump mountain, or obasute-yama, was seen as a way to trim the population and make way for the next generation in cold mountain villages where food was short and winter was long. It is referenced by the obscure eleventh century diarist Lady Sarashina, master haiku poet Matsuo Basho and a 1983 Palme d’Or winning film, yet most anthropologists doubt the practice ever actually existed.

Intrigued by this story, journalist Justin Nobel took to the road to see if he could get to the bottom of this enigmatic legend. His travels ultimately led him to a tiny town in northern Japan haunted by cannibalistic mountain men and shape shifting sprites. After scouring the countryside for clues he came to a shocking conclusion: the legend was very much alive, right in the heart of Tokyo.

Tonight join Morbid Anatomy and Justin Nobel to hear the story of his search for the elusive Granny-Dump Mountain.

Justin Nobel is a freelance journalist. His writing has appeared in TIME, Popular Mechanics, Audubon, Guernica and Meatpaper. His essay, The Last Inuit of Quebec, was recently included in Best American Travel Writing 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). He pens a blog called Digital Dying for the funeral information website funeralwise.com and another called the Absurd Adventurer where he sits for hours in one New York City spot. He lives in Blissville.

Image: A plaque commemorating Granny-dump Mountain in the northern Japan town of Tono. (Photo by Justin Nobel)

PERFORMANCE: Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre
A matchbox theatre performance by Deborah Kaufmann
Dates: Thursday, February 2nd AND Friday February 3rd
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $12
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** Audience limited to 25 people per show; first come, first served

“The way each box reveals its tiny inhabitants is entrancing and Deborah Kaufmann… is sweetly enchanting.” – The Village Voice

“Depicted with comic deadpan perversity… a wink and raised eyebrow of an entertainment.” – www.womanaroundtown.com

Buried Alive! a matchbox theatre, is a frightfully funny exploration of our fear of being buried alive and of the curious phenomenon of 19th Century “waiting mortuaries.” Based on historical and medical facts. Tiny, intimate and interactive, full of dreadful discoveries for an adult audience.

BURIED ALIVE! is performed on a tabletop and is constructed entirely in and of matchboxes. It takes advantage of the unique qualities of these tiny stages. Images and characters slide out, slide through, pop up, and drop out of the matchboxes. A merry eccentric matron is your guide. The Nineteenth Century is evoked, but BURIED ALIVE! is creatively anachronistic and plays with scale.

Buried Alive! was inspired by an article entitled, “Pediatric Brain Death,” found in a hospital resident on-call room, and by research into the myths, truths, history and ethics surrounding the true moment of biological death.

Conceived, constructed and performed by Deborah Kaufmann. Kaufmann has delighted audiences in Europe, Australia and across North America with original physical comedy. This year she celebrates 25 years with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program, where she brings the joy of circus to hospitalized children, their families and caregivers. She has been called, “by no means merely cute ... a performer to be trusted, enjoyed and seen” ---nytheatre.com

To be alerted to future events, "like" Morbid Anatomy on Facebook by clicking here or sign up for the Observatory mailer by clicking here. You can find directions to Observatory here and more on all events here. You can find out more about these events by clicking here.

Image: Photo by Jim Moore, 2011

"Hypnotik: The Seer Will Doctor You Now," Directed by Ildiko Nemeth, Through January 15

In an intimate theater, a showman clairvoyant brings his subjects to the stage and promises his audience a spectacle of “raw shame.” One by one he entrances his chosen ones, leading them to reveal their most abject and malignant drives. But when no redemptive moment follows, the audacious seer must confront his own worst visions.

Loosely based on the story of Erik Jan Hanussen, Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant (as detailed in a book by the the amazing Mel Gordon), this play, directed by Ildiko Nemeth, is a subtle, troubling and thought-provoking meditation on entertainment, shame, and hubris in decadent times. With gorgeous costumes evoking a kind of space-age 1930s, inventive staging that achieves--with minimal resources--a true and creepy uncanniness at times, and excellent acting, this is a really a really fascinating piece that transcends its limitations and lingers with you.

You can find out more--and buy tickets--by clicking here. You can find out more about Mel Gordon's book by clicking here.

Image: Photo by Markus Hirnigel, Collage by Jessica Sofia Mitrani

Grand Guignol Spectacular Reprise with Macabre Muppets

Thanks so very very much to all you who came out to either a) perform in, or b) attend last night's amazing Grand Guignol Spectacular. It was very truly the best birthday ever, and I am still reeling from how many amazing performances I saw, and how many delicious drinks I partook of. Next year, someone simply must do a cover of this under-known Muppet Show segment from 1978, written by Shel Silverstein (!!!) and sung by Marisa Berenson, my favorite when I was a little girl, included above for your convenience.

Thanks again, and see you next time!

Tonight!! The Grand Guignol Spectacular: An Evening of Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage!

Tonight! At the Coney Island Museum! Very much hope to see you there!

Grand Guignol Variety Show at The Coney Island Museum
Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, film, toy theatre, song, dance, film and more, followed by a DJed after-party
Date: Saturday, December 10th
Time: 8:00 (doors at 7)
Admission: $25 (tickets available here)
Location: The Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
Presented by Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum and curated by Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio

From turn-of-the-century Paris through the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear with infamous productions featuring innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society, making it the progenitor of today’s blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” films.

Join us on December 10th at the Coney Island Museum for a one-night-only ode to The Grand Guignol and its legacy. Our evening of variety theatre was developed in conversation with Mel Gordon, author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror; Participants will include Doll Parts, Meg Moseley, GF Newland, Melissa Roth, Shannon Taggart, Alison Termine, Ronni Thomas, and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin and the role of Master or Ceremonies filled by Lord Whimsy. Projects include stagings of two classic Grand Guignol plays, a toy theater version of Bryusov’s “The Sisters,” a harmonious and creepy rendition of “Dry Bones,” and more, all followed by an after-party with music and Hendrick’s Gin cocktails courtesy of Friese Undine.

More here.

One Night Only! An Evening of Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage! The Grand Guignol Spectacular Tickets Now Available!

Tickets for my Grand Guignol Birthday Spectacular on December 10th at The Coney Island Museum are now available for purchase here. And, just to whet your whistle, I post above a sketch of the specially commissioned set by NYU’s Chris Muller which will frame this unforgettable evening of "Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage" (click on image to see larger, more detailed version.) If you are interested in attending, we urge you to to purchase tickets soon, as they are sure to sell out!

Full info for the event follows. Hope very much to see you there!

Grand Guignol Variety Show at The Coney Island Museum
Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, film, toy theatre, song, dance, film and more, followed by a DJed after-party
Date: Saturday, December 10th
Time: 8:00 (doors at 7)
Admission: $25 (tickets available here)
Location: The Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
Presented by Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum and curated by Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio

From turn-of-the-century Paris through the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear with infamous productions featuring innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society, making it the progenitor of today’s blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” films.

Join us on December 10th at the Coney Island Museum for a one-night-only ode to The Grand Guignol and its legacy. Our evening of variety theatre was developed in conversation with Mel Gordon, author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror; Participants will include Doll Parts, Meg Moseley, Robert Munn, GF Newland, Melissa Roth, Shannon Taggart, Alison Termine, Ronni Thomas, and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin with a newly commissioned set by NYU’s Chris Muller (seen above) and the role of Master or Ceremonies filled by Lord Whimsy. Projects include stagings of two classic Grand Guignol plays, a toy theater version of Bryusov’s “The Sisters,” a harmonious and creepy rendition of “Dry Bones,” and more, all followed by an after-party with music and Hendrick’s Gin cocktails courtesy of Friese Undine.

Tickets available here.

NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville, The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio, Through Saturday

Tomorrow and Saturday night at The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio: NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville, the newest production of the very talented and lovely Mr. Jonathan Cross.

Hope to see you there!

NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville
The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio
196 Columbia Street Brooklyn, 11231
Thursday to Saturday at 8 PM
Saturdays & Sundays Matinee at 4 PM

The Follies of Humanity… Enacted by Demonic Puppets!
Grimly Comical Vignettes… and Surreal Melodramas!
Journey Beyond the Grave… and Return!

“NetherWorld, A Morality Vaudeville” is a variety show in hell, interwoven with an operetta which tells the tale of the Demon King, Mister Scratch, and his search for an heir to the throne of NetherWorld. It features creepy & surreal marionettes, live sound effects, and an original live score performed on accordian, piano, and toy piano. NetherWorld was an Off-Off Broadway Review Award recipient for one of the Best Performances of 1995.

You can find out more by clicking here.

19th Century Horror Theatre! An Ode to Absinthe and her Kin! COMPLEMENTARY ABSINTHE!!! Decadent Paris Weekend at Observatory, November 11-12

I am super excited to announce the newly announced Decadent Paris Weekend at Observatory. Night one will feature author and scholar Mel Gordon, one of the best speakers we have ever had at Observatory, presenting a heavily-illustrated and highly-engaging lecture on the largely forgotten history of The Parisian Grand Guignol Theatre (1897-1962). Night two will feature Observatory favorite--and Midnight Archive director--Ronni Thomas for an alcohol-drenched and image-heavy ode to absinthe and her kin. Both events will be supplied with free absinthe (!!!) compliments of La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise.

These are both going to be events not to miss. Hope very much to see you there!

The Grand Guignol: Parisian Theatre of Fear and Terror 1897-1962
Illustrated lecture/booksigning with author and scholar Mel Gordon
Date: Friday, November 11th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
***Complimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
***Signed copies of Gordon's long out-of-print Grand Guiginol will be available for sale at $30 (copies generally go for $60-150)

Hidden among the decadence and sleaze of Pigalle with its roughnecks and whores, in the shadows of a quiet, cobbled alleyway, stands a little theatre... --"Grand Guignol: The French Theatre or Horror," Hand and Wilson

From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol--literally "grand puppet show"--gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today.

Tonight, join Professor Mel Gordon--author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror--to learn about the largely forgotten history of the Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in this heavily-illustrated and highly engaging lecture.

Mel Gordon is the author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.

Absinthe and Other Liquors of Fin de Siècle Paris: Lecture and Tasting
Illustrated lecture and liquor tasting with film maker Ronni Thomas
Date: Saturday, November 12th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
***Complimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise

On Saturday November 12th, join Ronni Thomas and Observatory for an exploration of the exotic and often diabolic liquids of France's antiquity featuring absinthe, a liquor known in fin de siècle Paris as "the green fairy" for its bewitching allure and poetically transporting nature. Among history's most infamous and romanticized liquors, absinthe became a symbol of decadence and was drink of choice of such bohemian luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Jarry, Édouard Manet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. By 1915, it was widely banned after having been publicly tied to sensational stories of madness, murder and degeneracy; recently re-legalized, it has developed a passionate contemporary fan base.

Tonight, absinthe devotee Ronni Thomas will deliver an illustrated lecture on the history of absinthe and other great elixirs of fin de siècle Paris--such as green chartreuse, armagnac, and ricard--complete with artwork and video excerpts; he will also screen his own contribution to the absinthe mythos: a promotional video he produced for contemporary absinthe maker Le Tourment Vert. Liquor samples for tasting will also be available throughout the evening, including complimentary absinthe from our sponsor La Fée. There will also a Francophile music-filled after party. It will be a night straight out of Brassaï's Paris right in the heart of Brooklyn.

Ronni Thomas filmmaker and creator of The Midnight Archive web series is an avid drinker who appreciates both the history of antique spirits and the effects they have on his self esteem. Incidentally, his favorite absinthe is tonight's sponsor La Fée.

Image: "La Muse Verte" (The Green Muse), Albert Maignan, 1895

To be alerted to future events, "like" Morbid Anatomy on Facebook by clicking here or sign up for the Observatory mailer by clicking here. More on all events here. You can find out more about these events by clicking here.

The NEW ClockWorks Theater, Grand Opening Party, Saturday April 30th, 7:30 PM

Exciting news! Good friend and brilliant puppeteer/manifester of alternate worlds Jonny Clockworks is opening a new incarnation of his infamous ClockWorks Theatre! Judging from Clockworks' fantastic former productions, this new venture is sure to become the center for innovative and beautiful puppet works in the New York area.

The theater celebrate its opening this Saturday, April 30th, with an exciting evening's programming; full details follow. Very much hope to see you there!

The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre reopens
The ClockWorks Theatre in it’s new incarnation
The Universal ClockWorks, Inc.
in Carroll Gardens ~ West
the Columbia Street Waterfront
Brooklyn , USA

April 30th Walpurgisnacht!
7:30 PM ~ The Blessing of the Wheel ~ Sidewalk Spectacle ~ Free
8:30 PM ~ Theatre Opens
9:00 PM ~ Der WunderKammer Puppet Kabaret ~ Admission $20

The new ClockWorks Theatre is located on Columbia Street in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. More on the theatre here; more on the opening event here.

"Play Dead," Todd Robbins and Teller, The Players Theatre, New York

The other night, I took my boyfriend out for a night of good, scary, compelling fun at Todd Robbins' and Teller's (of Penn and Teller) new production "Play Dead," on view now at The Players Theatre in New York City.

The production is difficult to describe in normal theater terms; it is kind of like a haunted house meets a 1950s ghost show meets a piss take on a Victorian séance meets a high-end Vegas magic show all staged on a David Lynch film set. The main presence in the production is side-show performer Todd Robbins; he has a wonderfully compelling presence, equal parts passionate story teller, confidence man, and emphatic and empathetic debunker of spiritualist trickery. The piece is a kind of fun yet thoughtful meditation on the mysteries of death, the history of historical monsters in their various forms, and the ways--compellingly demonstrated in the show--that death and loss still make us easy prey for "spiritualist" hucksters.

I don't want to say too much more, as so much of the fun of the production come from the element of surprise, but I will say this: I was seriously amazed; I was amused; and we are still talking about it. I very much recommend checking it out.

"Play Dead" is being staged at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, New York. You can find out more--and get tickets--by clicking here.

Full disclosure: I received free tickets from the Play Dead Production Company in exchange for reviewing this show. Lucky for me I really really enjoyed it! And so did my impartial boyfriend.

Image: From the Studio 360 website.

"Cadmus et Hermoine," The First French Opera from 1673, Period Reproduction by Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar

I just discovered a most amazing cultural artifact: Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar's 2008 resurrection of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Metamorphoses-inspired "Cadmus et Hermoine," the first French opera, which premiered on April 27, 1673 and has long since faded into obscurity.

This 21st Century revival of a baroque original is like a magnificent, life-sized toy theatre come to glorious and uncanny life, and functions as more like time-travel than performance, with its lavishly reproduced stage machinery, sets, costumes, makeup, mannered performance style, dance sequences, and completely candle-lit stage all painstakingly based on baroque originals. The music, too, is unforgettable; hauntingly lovely and slightly alien, yet, somehow, utterly familiar at the same time.

The complete production (Christmas gift, anyone?) is available in DVD form from Amazon.com, which describes it thusly:

The event of the year! The team led by conductor Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar has produced the very first French opera, composed in 1673 by Lully with a libretto by Quinault. With reconstructed sets and costumes, this entirely candle-lit production is a landmark in the rediscovery of baroque opera, providing a unique opportunity to discover a musical masterpiece that has fallen into oblivion over the last 3 centuries. Performers include Andre Morsch, Claire Lefilliatre, Arnaud Marzonati, Jean-Francois Lombard, Isabelle Druet, Arnaud Richard, and Camille Poul with the Orchestra, Choir, & Dancers of Le Poeme Harmonique.
Vincent Dumestre directs this performance of Jean-Baptiste Lully's CADMUS ET HERMOINE. Composed in the 17th century, this libretto is a classic example of a musical tragedy and is known as the first French opera.

Click here to find out more, or purchase the DVD. Click here (highly recommended!) to view many more segments on the Oedipus at Versailles You Tube station. You can find out more about the history of the Cadmus et Hermoine opera here.

Recent related posts: Drottningholm Court Theatre, 1764-1766, Stockholm

Via Le Divan Fumoir Bohémien

5th-Annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, Tuesday, December 7, The Bell House, Brooklyn

This just announced: the 5th-Annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest is scheduled (December 7th at the Bell House) and is seeking contestants! Eligible entries include (in the words of thepress release) "taxidermy (bought, found, or homemade), biological oddities, articulated skeletons, skulls, jarred specimens—and beyond, way beyond..."

To add to the excitement, this year, our friend Mike Zohn--Obscura Antiques and Oddities co-proprietor, new reality show celebrity, and 2007's Carnivorous Nights champion will be a judge and speaker.

Full details follow; so enter away, and hope to see you there, either on stage or in the audience!

The Secret Science Club's 5th-Annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest
Date: Tuesday, December 7
Time: 8 PM
Location: The Bell House
(149 7th St., between 2nd and 3rd avenues in Gowanus, Brooklyn)

The The beasts are back!
Calling all science geeks, nature freaks, and rogue geniuses!

Your stuffed squirrel got game? Got a beaver in your brownstone? Bring your beloved beast to the Bell House and enter it to win at the 5th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest.

Eligible for prizes: Taxidermy (bought, found, or homemade), biological oddities, articulated skeletons, skulls, jarred specimens—and beyond, way beyond

Plus!
--Spectators are invited to cheer on their favorite specimens
--Groove to taxidermy-inspired tunes & video
--Imbibe ferocious specialty drinks!
--Prizes will be awarded by our panel of savage taxidermy enthusiasts!

Entrants: Contact secretscienceclub@gmail.com to pre-register. Share your taxidermy (and its tale) with the world!

Don't miss this beastly event on Tuesday, December 7, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

More here. The image you see above is the Pope Mouse by Mouse Angel/Jeanie M. You can purchase your very own Pope Mouse--or Angel, or Punker Rocker, or Mousealope, or Hamlet (!) at The Morbid Anatomy Library; click here or email me here for details.

Image credit: The wonderful blog Crappy Taxidermy.

Drottningholm Court Theatre, 1764-1766, Stockholm

Today I visited one of the most incredible spaces I have ever had the honor to momentarily inhabit: the Drottningholm Court Theatre, a former royal summer theatre at the Drottningholm Royal Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Drottningholm Court Theatre was described memorably by our tour guide as "an intact baroque theater unique for never having been restored." This intactness includes not just paint, chandeliers, stage, and viewing boxes but also extends--astoundingly!--to the stage machinery and special effects, which are not only original but also still used in productions! The sets and "side flats" are not original, but are utterly convincing and painstaking reproductions in canvas and wood from originals found under a meter of dust when the theatre was rediscovered in 1921. The theatre also has--and continues to use!--machinery for lowering a person from the ceiling, as in the case of a goddess descending on a cloud, as well and a trap door to be used in such cases as "drowning heroines or sudden appearances."

During the summer, the Drottningholm Court Theatre stages 18th Century operas and ballets using these replica sets and the original stage machinery to create a completely immersive 18th Century theatre experience; unfortunately for me, the productions had already ended for the season before I arrived, so I had to content myself with volunteering to operate the "gale machine" (a wooden wheel whirled around inside a tight canvas strip producing with its friction a sound remarkably like howling winds) while my volunteer-partner worked the thunder machine--a box of rocks tossed this way and that by the pull of a rope.

The video above helps give a sense of the charm and wonder of these wonderful antique sets and machineries in motion where my words fail; both the video and a visit to this really fantastic--in ever sense of the word--theatre are highly recommended! I am already fantasizing about a return trip just to see The Magic Flute in this environment.

To find out more about the Drottningholm Court Theatre, click here.

Thanks so much to friend, friend-of-the-blog, and author of the wonderful book Death, Modernity, and the Body: Sweden 1870-1940 Eva Åhrén for telling me about this incredible place, and for all her other wonderful Sweden tips as well.

Maud Allen as Salome, Early 20th Century

Maud Allen as Salome, Early 20th Century.

Click on image to view finer and larger version. Via Elise.

Unknown Salome production, 1900s, NYPL Digital Library

Unknown Salome production, 1900s

From NYPL Digital Library via Turn of the Century Tumblr by way of Billyjane Tumblr. Click on image to see larger version.

"Lenin's Embalmers," Ensemble Studio Theater, New York

"To keep the dream of the revolution alive, forever, we must keep Lenin alive, forever..."

Earlier this week, I had the good fortune to see the truly wonderful play "Lenin's Embalmers,"now showing at the Ensemble Studio Theater. This snappy, inventive, engrossing (sic) and splendidly acted play details the unlikely-yet-true story of the embalming-for-eternity of Vladamir Lenin's body in 1924 by two hapless Jewish scientists. At the time, this feat was considered something of a modern miracle; the resulting artifact, controversially (see below...), can still be visited--86 years later!--in Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square.

The play--narrated by the rueful and absurdist-joke-cracking ghost of Lenin (played by the uncannily Lenin-esque Peter Maloney, whose sad eyes haunt and blame)--is much more than the sum of its parts, and transforms the small, modest theater almost magically into a captivating, enthralling, and atmospheric drama. The dialogue is snappy, witty, and pitch-perfect; the themes--of science religion and magic, the Russian penchant for black humor in the face of unbearable circumstances, the madness of life under tyranny, and the very human drives of the people who make science and history--add depth and interest to the already incredibly compelling facts of the story.

Lenin's Embalming is playing at the Ensemble Studio Theater through March 28th. If you can make it before the run ends, I simply cannot recommend it more highly. Subtle, inventive, informative, splendidly acted... a play that really lingers with you, and a joy to watch. This play is also, notably, part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project, "designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling new theatrical works exploring the worlds of science and technology, and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture." For more on this noble project, click here.

And, on a topical note: as if to prove the relevance of this seemingly arcane topic, just today, the Telegraph ran a story about a man arrested for attempting violence on Lenin's embalmed corpse, who, as the Telegraph describes, claimed "he wanted to let loose a volley of bullets at Lenin's carefully embalmed corpse, one of the Russian capital's most popular and ghoulish tourist attractions!" So, as you can see, the potent symbol of the incorruptible body of Communism continues to resonate and create controversy.

To find out more about the play, visit the theater website by clicking here. You can read a fascinating New York Times review, which parses much of the play's historical content and background, by clicking here. To find out about the book Lenin's Embalmers, which inspired (and provided the name for) the play, click here. You can read the alluded to Telegraph article about the man who tried to destroy the embalmed corpse of Lenin by clicking here. Although Lenin's embalmed body is still on display, it receives regular upkeep; click here to see an online photo show of Lenin's body getting its regular touch-up.

Full disclosure: I received tickets to see this show from the theater, who thought I might like to review it. I did not expect to love it as much as I did, and the free tickets had nothing to do for my ardor! Thanks, Ensemble Studio Theater, for such an excellent night of theater.

Calling all Collectors and Taxidermists! The 4th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest--Sunday, November 15, 2009! Brooklyn, New York!

I just received a call for entries for the upcoming 4th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, hosted by the Secret Science Club. This year's contest will take place at Brooklyn's Bell House at 7:30 PM on Sunday, November 15. Entries can take the form of, in the words of the call-f0r-entries, "taxidermy (homemade, purchased, found), preserved and jarred specimens, skeletons, skulls, gaffs… and beyond." But--they are quick to note--"Wet specimens must remain in their jars."

To give you a sense of what you're in store for should you choose to attend (or, better yet, enter!), above you will find some photos from the 2007 installment of the contest, featuring Mike Zohn--co-proprietor of Morbid Anatomy's favorite store, Obscura Antiques and Oddities--and his grand prize winning piece, a Victorian "Polar Bear" Shadowbox (top 2 images).

Following are the full details for the contest. I will absolutely be in attendance, and plan to cover the event for the Morbid Anatomy. Hope very much to see you there, as competitors or in the audience!

The 4th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest!!
Hosted by the Secret Science Club @ the Bell House
Sunday, November 15, 2009, 7:30 pm, $4

• Calling all science geeks, nature freaks, and other rogue geniuses! Enter your taxidermy to win!

• Show off your beloved moose head, stuffed albino squirrel, sinuous snake skeletons, jarred sea slugs, and other specimens. Compete for prizes and glory!

• The contest will be judged by our panel of savage taxidermy enthusiasts, including Robert Marbury, co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, and Dorian Devins, WFMU DJ and Secret Science Club co-curator

• Prizes for best stuffed creature, most interesting biological oddity, and more!

• Don’t miss the feral taxidermy talk by beast mistress Melissa Milgrom, author of the forthcoming book, Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy

• Plus:

◦ Groove to taxidermy-inspired tunes and video

◦ Imbibe ferocious specialty drinks!

Contest Rules
The contest is open to taxidermy (homemade, purchased, found), preserved and jarred specimens, skeletons, skulls, gaffs… and beyond. (Note: Wet specimens must remain in their jars.)

Entrants: Please contact secretscienceclub@gmail.com to pre-register, and arrive at 7 pm on the night of the contest to log in your beast or specimen. Share your taxidermy (and its tale) with the world!

Spectators are invited to cheer their favorite specimens.

Where: The Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues), Gowanus, Brooklyn. p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

When: Sunday 11/15/09. Doors and pre-show at 7:30 pm. Taxidermy talk at 8 pm. Contest at 8:30 pm!

Cover: $4 (waived for entrants)

Contest Background: The Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest is hosted by the Secret Science Club, an organization dedicated to exploring scientific discoveries and potent potables. The contest was started in 2005 by Secret Science Club co-curators Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson to shamelessly promote their taxidermy-inspired book Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger. The event has since taken on a life of its own, with first-year winners Andrew Templar and Jim Carden—co-owners of the Bell House—now providing a permanent home for this beastly annual smack-down.

To learn more, visit the Secret Science Club at http://secretscienceclub.blogspot.com

You can find out more about the contest by clicking here. Information about the Bell House can be found here. All of the above photos were taken by Eric Harvey Brown (Flickr handle "Dogseat;" click here to see his Flickr photostream) who also, coincidentally, took the fantastic photos for the Time Out New York piece on the Morbid Anatomy Library (click here.) For more about the 2007 taxidermy contest, you can visit the original Morbid Anatomy post by clicking here.

"Cabaret du Néant" (Tavern of the Dead) Revisited, Paris, 1899

I just stumbled across a new and extensive reference to the Cabaret du Néant ("Tavern of the Dead")--the fully immersive, death-themed nightclub which graced Paris during the fin de siècle. The Cabaret (which careful readers might remember from this recent Morbid Anatomy post) was a popular, macabre, and spectacular attraction which re-translated the phantasmagoria of the 18th Century into decadent nightclub for the turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Parisian sophisticate.

The reference, which I came across on the Voyages Extraordinaires blog, is sourced from the 1899 publication Bohemian Paris of To-day, by William Chambers Morrow, and features a very detailed eyewitness account of a visit to the Cabaret. This is probably the closest we 21st century folk will ever get to a virtual visit (unless some inspired film-maker or event-planner is reading this right now?) so I have posted the excerpt here in its entirety:

As we neared the Place we saw on the opposite side of the street two flickering iron lanterns that threw a ghastly green light down upon the barred dead-black shutters of the building, and caught the faces of the passers-by with sickly rays that took out all the life and transformed them into the semblance of corpses. Across the top of the closed black entrance were large white letters, reading simply:

C A F E D U N É A N T

The entrance was heavily draped with black cerements, having white trimmings, such as hang before the houses of the dead in Paris. Here patrolled a solitary croque-mort, or hired pall-bearer, his black cape drawn closely about him, the green light reflected by his glazed top-hat. A more dismal and forbidding place it would be difficult to imagine. Mr. Thompkins paled a little when he discovered that this was our destination, this grisly caricature of eternal nothingness, and hesitated at the threshold. Without a word Bishop firmly took his arm and entered. The lonely croque-mort drew apart the heavy curtain and admitted us into a black hole that proved later to be a room. The chamber was dimly lighted with wax tapers, and a large chandelier intricately devised of human skulls and arms, with funeral candles held in their fleshless fingers, gave its small quota of light.

Large, heavy, wooden coffins, resting on biers, were ranged about the room in an order suggesting the recent happening of a frightful catastrophe. The walls were decorated with skulls and bones, skeletons in grotesque attitudes, battle-pictures, and guillotines in action. Death, carnage, assassination were the dominant note, set in black hangings and illuminated with mottoes on death. A half-dozen voices droned this in a low monotone: "Enter, mortals of this sinful world, enter into the mists and shadows of eternity. Select your biers, to the right, to the left; fit yourselves comfortably to them, and repose in the solemnity and tranquility of death; and may God have mercy on your souls!"

A number of persons who had preceded us had already pre-empted their coffins, and were sitting beside them awaiting developments and enjoying their consommations, using the coffins for their real purpose, tables for holding drinking-glasses. Alongside the glasses were slender tapers by which the visitors might see one another.

There seemed to be no mechanical imperfection in the illusion of a charnel-house; we imagined that even chemistry had contributed its resources, for there seemed distinctly to be the odor appropriate to such a place. We found a vacant coffin in the vault, seated ourselves at it on rush-bottomed stools, and awaited further developments.

Another croque-mort a garcon he was came up through the gloom to take our orders. He was dressed completely in the professional garb of a hearse-follower, including claw-hammer coat, full-dress front, glazed tile, and oval silver badge. He droned, "Bon soir, Macchabees! [This word (also Maccabe, argot Macabit) is given in Paris by sailors to cadavers found floating in the river] Buvez les crachats d'asthmatiques, voila des sueurs froides d'agonisants. Prenez done des certificats de deces, seulement vingt sous. C'est pas cher et c'est artistique !"

Bishop said that he would be pleased with a lowly bock. Mr. Thompkins chose cherries a l'eau-de-vie, and I, une menthe.

"One microbe of Asiatic cholera from the last corpse, one leg of a lively cancer, and one sample of our consumption germ!" moaned the creature toward a black hole at the farther end of the room. Some women among the visitors tittered, others shuddered, and Mr. Thompkins broke out in a cold sweat on his brow, while a curious accompaniment of anger shone in his eyes. Our sleepy pallbearer soon loomed through the darkness with our deadly microbes, and waked the echoes in the hollow casket upon which he set the glasses with a thump.

"Drink, Macchabees!" he wailed: "drink these noxious potions, which contain thvilest and deadliest poisons!"

"The villain!" gasped Mr. Thompkins; "it is horrible, disgusting, filthy!"

The tapers flickered feebly on the coffins, and the white skulls grinned at him mockingly from their sable background. Bishop exhausted all his tactics in trying to induce Mr. Thompkins to taste his brandied cherries, but that gentleman positively refused, he seemed unable to banish the idea that they were laden with disease germs.

After we had been seated here for some time, getting no consolation from the utter absence of spirit and levity among the other guests, and enjoying only the dismay and trepidation of new and strange arrivals, a rather good-looking young fellow, dressed in a black clerical coat, came through a dark door and began to address the assembled patrons. His voice was smooth, his manner solemn and impressive, as he delivered a well-worded discourse on death. He spoke of it as the gate through which we must all make our exit from this world, of the gloom, the loneliness, the utter sense of helplessness and desolation.

As he warmed to his subject he enlarged upon the follies that hasten the advent of death, and spoke of the relentless certainty and the incredible variety of ways in which the reaper claims his victims. Then he passed on to the terrors of actual dissolution, the tortures of the body, the rending of the soul, the unimaginable agonies that sensibilities rendered acutely susceptible at this extremity are called upon to endure. It required good nerves to listen to that, for the man was perfect in his role. From matters of individual interest in death he passed to death in its larger aspects. He pointed to a large and striking battle scene, in which the combatants had come to hand-to-hand fighting, and were butchering one another in a mad lust for blood. Suddenly the picture began to glow, the light bringing out its ghastly details with hideous distinctness.

Then as suddenly it faded away, and where fighting men had been there were skeletons writhing and struggling in a deadly embrace. A similar effect was produced with a painting giving a wonderfully realistic representation of an execution by the guillotine. The bleeding trunk of the victim lying upon the flap-board dissolved, the flesh slowly disappearing, leaving only the white bones. Another picture, representing a brilliant dance-hall filled with happy revellers, slowly merged into a grotesque dance of skeletons; and thus it was with the other pictures about the room.

All this being done, the master of ceremonies, in lugubrious tones, invited us to enter the chambre de la mort. All the visitors rose, and, bearing each a taper, passed in single file into a narrow, dark passage faintly illuminated with sickly green lights, the young man in clerical garb acting as pilot. The cross effects of green and yellow lights on the faces of the groping procession were more startling than picturesque. The way was lined with bones, skulls, and fragments of human bodies.

"O Macchabees, nous sommes devant la porte de la chambre de la mort!" wailed an unearthly voice from the farther end of the passage as we advanced. Then before us appeared a solitary figure standing beneath a green lamp. The figure was completely shrouded in black, only the eyes being visible, and they shone through holes in the pointed cowl. From the folds of the gown it brought forth a massive iron key attached to a chain, and, approaching a door seemingly made of iron and heavily studded with spikes and crossed with bars, inserted and turned the key; the bolts moved with a harsh, grating noise, and the door of the chamber of death swung slowly open.

"O Macchabees, enter into eternity, whence none ever return!" cried the new, strange voice.

The walls of the room were a dead and unrelieved black. At one side two tall candles were burning, but their feeble light was insufficient even to disclose the presence of the black walls of the chamber or indicate that anything but unending blackness extended heavenward. There was not a thing to catch and reflect a single ray of the light and thus become visible in the blackness.

Between the two candles was an upright opening in the wall; it was of the shape of a coffin. We were seated upon rows of small black caskets resting on the floor in front of the candles. There was hardly a whisper among the visitors. The black-hooded figure passed silently out of view and vanished in the darkness.

Presently a pale, greenish-white illumination began to light up the coffin-shaped hole in the wall, clearly marking its outline against the black. Within this space there stood a coffin upright, in which a pretty young woman, robed in a white shroud, fitted snugly. Soon it was evident that she was very much alive, for she smiled and looked at us saucily. But that was not for long. From the depths came a dismal wail: "O Macchabee, beautiful, breathing mortal, pulsating with the warmth and richness of life, thou art now in the grasp of death! Compose thy soul for the end!"

Her face slowly became white and rigid; her eyes sank; her lips tightened across her teeth; her cheeks took on the hollowness of death, she was dead. But it did not end with that. From white the face slowly grew livid... then purplish black... The eyes visibly shrank into their greenish-yellow sockets... Slowly the hair fell away... The nose melted away into a purple putrid spot. The whole face became a semi-liquid mass of corruption. Presently all this had disappeared, and a gleaming skull shone where so recently had been the handsome face of a woman; naked teeth grinned inanely and savagely where rosy lips had so recently smiled. Even the shroud had gradually disappeared, and an entire skeleton stood revealed in the coffin. The wail again rang through the silent vault: "Ah, ah, Macchabee! Thou hast reached the last stage of dissolution, so dreadful to mortals. The work that follows death is complete. But despair not, for death is not the end of all. The power is given to those who merit it, not only to return to life, but to return in any form and station preferred to the old. So return if thou deservedst and desirest."

With a slowness equal to that of the dissolution, the bones became covered with flesh and cerements, and all the ghastly steps were reproduced reversed. Gradually the sparkle of the eyes began to shine through the gloom; but when the reformation was completed, behold! there was no longer the handsome and smiling young woman, but the sleek, rotund body, ruddy cheeks, and self-conscious look of a banker. It was not until this touch of comedy relieved the strain that the rigidity with which Mr. Thompkins had sat between us began to relax, and a smile played over his face, a bewildered, but none the less a pleasant, smile. The prosperous banker stepped forth, sleek and tangible, and haughtily strode away before our eyes, passing through the audience into the darkness. Again was the coffin-shaped hole in the wall dark and empty.

He of the black gown and pointed hood now emerged through an invisible door, and asked if there was any one in the audience who desired to pass through the experience that they had just witnessed. This created a suppressed commotion; each peered into the face of his neighbor to find one with courage sufficient for the ordeal. Bishop suggested to Mr. Thompkins in a whisper that he submit himself, but that gentleman very peremptorily declined. Then, after a pause, Bishop stepped forth and announced that he was prepared to die. He was asked solemnly by the doleful person if he was ready to accept all the consequences of his decision. He replied that he was. Then he disappeared through the black wall, and presently appeared in the greenish-white light of the open coffin. There he composed himself as he imagined a corpse ought, crossed his hands upon his breast, suffered the white shroud to be drawn about him, and awaited results, after he had made a rueful grimace that threw the first gleam of suppressed merriment through the oppressed audience. He passed through all the ghastly stages that the former occupant of the coffin had experienced, and returned in proper person to life and to his seat beside Mr. Thompkins, the audience applauding softly.

A mysterious figure in black waylaid the crowd as it filed out. He held an inverted skull, into which we were expected to drop sous through the natural opening there, and it was with the feeling of relief from a heavy weight that we departed and turned our backs on the green lights at the entrance...

You can visit the original post on Voyages Extraordinaires by clicking here; click here to peruse the entire online version of Morrow's 1899 Bohemian Paris of To-day on Archive.org.

Images sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The Paris Morgue Revisited

After writing a post last month on Parisian Morgue culture in the 19th Century, I came upon Vanessa R. Schwartz's wonderful book Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Paris.The book came up repeatedly in my google searches, and was also recommended by a Morbid Anatomy reader (thanks AH!) It features an entire chapter devoted to the topic of morgues as popular amusement and tourist attraction, a portion of which I quoted in my lecture for Anatomcial Theatre. Following is the portion I quoted; Image: Paris Morgue in 1883, via blog Squirm.

...the morgue transformed the banality everyday life by spectacularizing it. To us, looking at dead bodies seems at best an exercise in morbid curiosity. And some of the late nineteenth-century Parisian press did consider the attraction rather morbid. Yet, as cultural critic Jay Ruby argued [in his book Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America] , assuming morbidity as the impulse to represent death merely reflects "our culturally encouraged need to deny death." In fact, although the morgue clearly displayed dead bodies, the discussion of the popularity of public visits to the Paris Morgue generally placed it outside the death-related and morbid topics of its day: cemeteries, slaughterhouses and executions. Instead, the morgue was characterized as "part of the cataloged curiosities of things to see, under the same heading as the Eiffel Tower,Yvete Guilbert, and the Catacombs.