starring Dr. Hal !
THEY CALL IT A "CRICKET"--
March 7, 2025 10:00pm
...BUT LET'S TRY TO KEEP IT HONEST, shall we? We begin with Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush." And: Experiences as a grave-robber. The allegedly evil skull destroyed by occult practicioners. How the Martians got that way. The Nasmork. Jon's World, Second Variety by P.K. Dick. Conversation with Jett. The return of Janor (with Phineas and Aunt Bertha). Love for the Broken-Hearted. SubGenius ranters and howlers. Puzzling Evidence hovers, with Ivan Stang. Watching the lovely and talented Appel Berry get a tattoo at Dermaphilia. The Convergence of the Twain, by Thomas Hardy. The Jerusalem Cricket-- it's not really a cricket. Don't let one inflict "a painful nip." A love letter to THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, a gloss on the recent SCARY MONSTERS article (in Issue #138) by Allen Champion. And to the great Ernest Thesiger, born 15 January, 1879, in London, the third of four children of the Hon. Sir Edward Peirson Thesiger (1842–1928), K.C.B., Clerk Assistant to Parliament, and Georgina Mary, daughter of William Bruce Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, of the family of the Earl of Courtown. Ernest was the grandson of the 1st Lord Chelmsford, first cousin once removed of the explorer and author Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003), and the nephew of the 2nd Lord Chelmsford.
As a young man, he attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art, with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to the study of drama (though he never gave up painting and brought some of his canvases to the set of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, as we once saw photographic confirmation of in Forrest J. Ackerman's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine). Let's mention here that he also walked in demonstrations with the Men's League for Women's Suffrage at their history-making mass rally in 1909.
Then there was his service in the Great War for Civilization: after the outbreak on 31 August 1914, he volunteered with the British Army's Territorial Force, enlisting into the 2nd Battalion of the 9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles), as Rifleman No. 2546 at its Regimental Headquarters in London's West End. After training in England for three months, he was sent to the Western Front in late 1914 with the Q.V.R.'s 1st Battalion. And on 1 January 1915, he was wounded in the trenches, and medically evacuated back to England. Thesiger's interest in needlework had begun with buying and repairing pieces of historical embroidery with his brother in law William Ranken while in France. After the military incident in a combat-related barn explosion, his hands had been damaged-- and on return home, despite the Ministry of Pensions declaring it "too effeminate an occupation for men," Thesiger developed small sewing kits for soldiers similarly injured to provide activity and pain relief. These eventually provided the basis for what was to become The Disabled Soldiers' Embroidery Industry, still to be found active at 42 Ebury Street, London. As "Honorary Secretary Cross-Stitch," Thesiger was convinced that needlework could improve injured men's morale and earn some money, for he also obtained multiple commissions, including an Altar frontal for private use in Buckingham Palace itself.
At a dinner party shortly after his return, someone asked him what it had been like in France, to which he is supposed to have responded "Oh, my dear, the noise! and the people!"
In 1917, he married Janette Mary Fernie Ranken (1877–1970), sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Bruce Ellis Ranken. In her biography of Thesiger's friend, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling has suggested that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement. Another source states more explicitly that Thesiger made no secret of his bisexuality, which public acknowledgement we should believe in, though he has been smeared by Clive Barker as a single-sex player in recent years. The great Thesiger, whose movies are all worth tracking down, moved in several artistic, literary and theatrical circles, and is reported to have spent time with her Highness Queen Mary, both doing needlework. And the OTHER movie featuring "Doctor Pretorious" with a secret history. Would you believe... Cary Grant? That movie is PEOPLE WILL TALK. Three hours, with a brief "after-show..."
As a young man, he attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art, with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to the study of drama (though he never gave up painting and brought some of his canvases to the set of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, as we once saw photographic confirmation of in Forrest J. Ackerman's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine). Let's mention here that he also walked in demonstrations with the Men's League for Women's Suffrage at their history-making mass rally in 1909.
Then there was his service in the Great War for Civilization: after the outbreak on 31 August 1914, he volunteered with the British Army's Territorial Force, enlisting into the 2nd Battalion of the 9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles), as Rifleman No. 2546 at its Regimental Headquarters in London's West End. After training in England for three months, he was sent to the Western Front in late 1914 with the Q.V.R.'s 1st Battalion. And on 1 January 1915, he was wounded in the trenches, and medically evacuated back to England. Thesiger's interest in needlework had begun with buying and repairing pieces of historical embroidery with his brother in law William Ranken while in France. After the military incident in a combat-related barn explosion, his hands had been damaged-- and on return home, despite the Ministry of Pensions declaring it "too effeminate an occupation for men," Thesiger developed small sewing kits for soldiers similarly injured to provide activity and pain relief. These eventually provided the basis for what was to become The Disabled Soldiers' Embroidery Industry, still to be found active at 42 Ebury Street, London. As "Honorary Secretary Cross-Stitch," Thesiger was convinced that needlework could improve injured men's morale and earn some money, for he also obtained multiple commissions, including an Altar frontal for private use in Buckingham Palace itself.
At a dinner party shortly after his return, someone asked him what it had been like in France, to which he is supposed to have responded "Oh, my dear, the noise! and the people!"
In 1917, he married Janette Mary Fernie Ranken (1877–1970), sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Bruce Ellis Ranken. In her biography of Thesiger's friend, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling has suggested that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement. Another source states more explicitly that Thesiger made no secret of his bisexuality, which public acknowledgement we should believe in, though he has been smeared by Clive Barker as a single-sex player in recent years. The great Thesiger, whose movies are all worth tracking down, moved in several artistic, literary and theatrical circles, and is reported to have spent time with her Highness Queen Mary, both doing needlework. And the OTHER movie featuring "Doctor Pretorious" with a secret history. Would you believe... Cary Grant? That movie is PEOPLE WILL TALK. Three hours, with a brief "after-show..."
