Space-age Saturday: Spy Vibers who were born during the Space-Age may remember a Mattel tricycle with special features called the X-15. This super trike was patterned after the original X-15, which was built by a joint program between NASA, the Air Force, and the Navy. The X-15 had its first unpowered flight in 1959, and then launched from B-52s in a number of hypersonic test flights through the mid-1960s. The data it recorded contributed to the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. Mattel produced their X-15 in metallic blue and blue-green, and outfitted it with cool gadgets like a seatbelt with metal buckle, jet-style navigation stick, articulated back wheels for sharp turns, and Mattel's own V-Rroom engine effect with dash activation and a side speaker. I was one of the lucky kids who had this when I was little- probably a tag-sale find, but I don't remember the details. What I do recall is flipping the V-Rroom! switch and feeling the rush as I imagined my X-15 taking off into the outer atmosphere! Mattel also produced a Batman version of the X-15 in 1966. Vintage ads and images below. Learn more: Nasa history, Eric Mack, Tricycle Fetish. Happy weekend, Spy Vibers!
Before Richard Lester directed The Beatles in A Hard Days Night, this ex-pat was already making films with a focus on the fun and energy of youth culture and the music scene. One of his projects was It's Trad, Dad (1962), featuring this curious segment with rockabilly cat, Gene Vincent, who puts the 'rock' in rocket. The film also features Helen Shapiro, Del Shannon, Chris Barber's Jazz Band, and others.
It's the holiday season and Spy Vibe is giving away a present!
Remember when the whole world looked up? I was lucky to see an advanced screening of a documentary film that was produced on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. In The Shadow of the Moon (2007) tells the story of NASA's exploration of space in the 1960s through the words of the astronauts themselves. Blending rare and remastered archival footage with intimate, reflective conversations with most of the surviving Apollo astronauts, the film brings us closer than ever to their historic experience of space travel. Back on earth, of course, the world was going through turmoil. Norman Mailer criticized the space program in Of a Fire on the Moon, saying: "The astronauts were the core of some magnetic human force called Americanism, Protestantism, or WASPitude... They were the knights of the Silent Majority, the WASP emerging from human history in order to take us to the stars." There was certainly a political imperative in Kennedy's challenge to be the first nation to put a man on the moon- a big-budget continuation of Nixon's "kitchen" debate with Khrushchev? For an interesting look at the space program, nationalism, and the times, check out Atomic Cafe (1982), For All Mankind (1989), Double Take (2009- includes a Hitchcock impersonator!), and Spike Magazine Mailer article here. What save's David Sington's In the Shadow of the Moon is its great sincerity and focus on the experiences of the astronauts. Although the movie might be less philosophical than the documentary For All Mankind, one gets swept away by these elderly pioneers and the telling of their profound adventure- one that was ultimately, in my mind, beyond borders and ideologies. Not to mention that the space r&d of the era spawned all those advancements in new materials and made space-age fashion possible! See our articles: Mods to Moongirls and Fear and Fashion, and recent Space Camp week.
Spy Vibe is giving away a region 1/NTSC dvd copy of In the Shadow of the Moon (trailer below). To enter, just send an e-mail to me at jason@spyvibe.com with the word "space" in the subject line. The third Spy Viber to e-mail will win the movie. We will resume transmissions after the New Year. Until then, keep looking up in wonder. Happy Holidays from Spy Vibe!
