Hidden Findings discovered in Backspacer Cover (Updated)

pleatherman
pleatherman Posts: 472
edited April 2014 in The Porch
backspacer-cover.jpg

pearl_jam_amongst_the_waves.jpg

From Life Magazine:
the_most_beautiful_suicide_evelyn-mchale.jpg

From Andy Warhol:
evelyn_warhol_lg.jpg
Now, I am intrigued as to the back stories on the other eight illustrations. Looks like the treasure hunt has just begun.

http://kottke.org/08/07/the-most-beautiful-suicide
The most beautiful suicide
On May 1, 1947, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Photographer Robert Wiles took a photo of McHale a few minutes after her death.
The photo ran a couple of weeks later in Life magazine accompanied by the following caption:

On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.

From McHale's NY Times obituary, Empire State Ends Life of Girl, 20:

At 10:40 A. M., Patrolman John Morrissey of Traffic C, directing traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, noticed a swirling white scarf floating down from the upper floors of the Empire State. A moment later he heard a crash that sounded like an explosion. He saw a crowd converge in Thirty-third Street.

Two hundred feet west of Fifth Avenue, Miss McHale's body landed atop the car. The impact stove in the metal roof and shattered the car's windows. The driver was in a near-by drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury.

On the observation deck, Detective Frank Murray of the West Thirtieth Street station, found Miss McHale's gray cloth coat, her pocketbook with several dollars and the note, and a make-up kit filled with family pictures.

The serenity of McHale's body amidst the crumpled wreckage it caused is astounding. Years later, Andy Warhol appropriated Wiles' photography for a print called Suicide (Fallen Body).



EDIT 4-06-14: I decided to clean up the last edit of this post because it was rather convoluted and most of the links died anyway. Feel free to roam this thread for further concepts concerning the Sirens, Cosmic Drummer, Brain in a Jar theory, along with most of the other photo references Tom Tomorrow utilized. Here are some of them.

gemini_4_fdc1.jpg
vlcsnap2009082416h21m22.png
BrainInJar.JPG
61MEKLM%2BwSL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
Raquel_welch_1millionyearsbc.jpg
321px-Thurston_magician_poster.jpg
_1949073_mouse_ear300.jpg
original.jpg
Post edited by pleatherman on
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Comments

  • 4Powers20
    4Powers20 Posts: 1,233
    nice find!!


    "We're running out of beer, too?" EV 6/19/08

  • smiley-sad056.gif smiley-sad023.gif
  • pjsteelerfan
    pjsteelerfan Maryland Posts: 9,904
    Nice find it willbe interesting to see what all the images are about and everyone's interpretations of them
    ...got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul...
  • NoelMichael
    NoelMichael Posts: 1,635
    Can't wait to hear the story of the pimp on the tricycle with the giant women
    9-28-96 Randall’s Island NY; 9-01-00 Camden NJ; 7-05-03 Camden NJ; 10-01-04 Reading PA; 10-03-05 Philly PA; 5-27-06 Camden NJ; 5-28-06 Camden NJ; 6-19-08 Camden NJ; 6-20-08 Camden NJ; 6-24-08 NYC NY; 8-7-08 EV Newark, NJ; 6-11-09 EV Philly PA; 6-12-09 EV Philly PA; 10-27-09 Philly PA; 10-28-09 Philly PA; 10-30-09 Philly PA; 10-31-09 Philly PA; 5-15-10 Hartford CT; 5-18-10 Newark NJ; 5-21-10 NYC NY; 6-21-11 EV NYC NY; 6-22-11 EV NYC NY; 6-25-11 EV Philly PA; 7-1-11 EV StL MS; 9-3-11 E Troy WI; 9-4-11 E Troy WI
  • I sure hope the next issue of DEEP scores an interview with Tom Tomorrow. And who knows what other vignettes await us in the booklet that comes with Backspacer.
  • pleatherman
    pleatherman Posts: 472
    edited August 2009
    This might be another one? If so, I am sensing a theme.

    pearljambackspacer6.jpg


    http://www.aversion.com/news/news_artic ... ws_id=4057
    Bad Astronaut Drummer Commits Suicide
    Mar 31, 2005
    Bad Astronaut drummer Derrick Plourde was found dead yesterday (March 30), the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
    Post edited by pleatherman on
  • IamMine
    IamMine Posts: 2,743
    smiley-sad056.gif smiley-sad023.gif

    :cry:
    I sure hope the next issue of DEEP scores an interview with Tom Tomorrow. And who knows what other vignettes await us in the booklet that comes with Backspacer.

    That's a good idea! I'd love an interview with Tom Tomorrow in the next DEEP issue.

    Wow... good job on finding the real story behind one of the illustrations.
    JA: Why do I get the Ticketmaster question?
    EV: It's your band.
    ~Q Magazine


    "Kisses for the glow...kisses for the lease." - BDRII
  • Brony
    Brony Posts: 652
    theme = yikes
  • IamMine
    IamMine Posts: 2,743
    Brony wrote:
    theme = yikes

    dreams and memories....
    JA: Why do I get the Ticketmaster question?
    EV: It's your band.
    ~Q Magazine


    "Kisses for the glow...kisses for the lease." - BDRII
  • Plankton
    Plankton Posts: 692
    That's awesome. The original photo is crazy, really amazing.
  • Poncier
    Poncier Posts: 18,183
    How do Gilligan, the robot from Lost in Space and The Penguin fit in with a suicide theme?
    This weekend we rock Portland
  • pearljambackspacer8.jpg

    I think one of the girls standing directly behind him is Raquel Welch, in her famous pose from the movie One Million B.B.

    Raquel_welch_1millionyearsbc.jpg

    And the other two girls outfits look strangely familiar as well.
    2006/05/25 - Boston
    2008/06/30 - Mansfield
    2009/10/31 - Philadelphia
    2010/05/17 - Boston
    2011/06/15 - Providence (Eddie Vedder)
    2012/09/02 - Made in America
    2013/10/17 - Worcester
    2013/10/25 - Hartford
    2015/09/26 - Global Citizen Festival
    2016/08/05 - Fenway
    2016/08/07 - Fenway
  • pjsteelerfan
    pjsteelerfan Maryland Posts: 9,904
    pearljambackspacer8.jpg

    I think one of the girls standing directly behind him is Raquel Welch, in her famous pose from the movie One Million B.B.

    Raquel_welch_1millionyearsbc.jpg

    And the other two girls outfits look strangely familiar as well.

    Now that you mention it, the one on the right is probaly ursula andress from "Dr. No"
    ...got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul...
  • Poncier
    Poncier Posts: 18,183
    pearljambackspacer8.jpg

    I think one of the girls standing directly behind him is Raquel Welch, in her famous pose from the movie One Million B.B.

    Raquel_welch_1millionyearsbc.jpg

    And the other two girls outfits look strangely familiar as well.
    The right would be Ursula Andress in Dr. No

    ursula_andress.jpg
    This weekend we rock Portland
  • pouch15
    pouch15 Posts: 436
    Im loving this thread!!!
  • einatshaul
    einatshaul Posts: 2,219
    Wow, this thread revealed to me that Raquel Welch isn't dead...
  • einatshaul wrote:
    Wow, this thread revealed to me that Raquel Welch isn't dead...


    That made your day didn't it :D
    2006/05/25 - Boston
    2008/06/30 - Mansfield
    2009/10/31 - Philadelphia
    2010/05/17 - Boston
    2011/06/15 - Providence (Eddie Vedder)
    2012/09/02 - Made in America
    2013/10/17 - Worcester
    2013/10/25 - Hartford
    2015/09/26 - Global Citizen Festival
    2016/08/05 - Fenway
    2016/08/07 - Fenway
  • gndcd402
    gndcd402 Posts: 2,577
    einatshaul wrote:
    Wow, this thread revealed to me that Raquel Welch isn't dead...
    oh that raquel welch, she's such a phony!
  • einatshaul
    einatshaul Posts: 2,219
    ...And you guys know your thighs...
  • Valerio
    Valerio Posts: 5
    And this is the robot from the bottom-left image:

    B-9_Robot.jpg