Film Noir Buff Style Forum / John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

Blucher · 2012-01-16 07:21:21

Modernists should be sure to check out John's blog. They will not want to miss out - in particular - on John's reflections on the great Roger Mayne. The book of photographs he refers to is almost certainly out-of-print. I remember Waterstones' ordering me in a copy at £30, several years ago. The images of North Kensington are well-known; Ray Gosling's introduction is well worth reading.

There is also an excellent piece on that great, suave, ultimately tragic actor, George Sanders.

Russell...Street · 2012-01-16 07:55:07

Who is this John Gall you talk about?

With my amazing google skills I have found this interview:

http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEPMag … cle/28770/

Thanks!

Russell...Street · 2012-01-16 08:17:30

Anyway, I still cannot find his blog...

Russell...Street · 2012-01-16 08:24:01

It's not this one:

http://hollywoodandtheivylook.tumblr.com/

is it?

Blucher · 2012-01-16 08:40:59

John Gaul = J.P. Gaul. I'll have to get one of the more computer-savvy members of my family to 'cut and paste' the link.

Blucher · 2012-01-16 08:58:49

http://gibsonssyllabus.tumblr.com/

Blucher · 2012-01-16 09:00:06

^ Okay, there's the link. Took my daughter about five seconds.

Blucher · 2012-01-16 09:06:54

Blucher wrote:
Modernists should be sure to check out John's blog. They will not want to miss out - in particular - on John's reflections on the great Roger Mayne. The book of photographs he refers to is almost certainly out-of-print. I remember Waterstones' ordering me in a copy at £30, several years ago. The images of North Kensington are well-known; Ray Gosling's introduction is well worth reading.

There is also an excellent piece on that great, suave, ultimately tragic actor, George Sanders.

The blog promises much.

John is part of a continuum:

John Simons
Ian Strachan
Graham Marsh
Tony Nourmand
John Lally
Jeff Garet
Ken Lovegrove

et al.

In other words, he has been at the heart of UK Ivy for pretty much all of his adult life.

Russell...Street · 2012-01-16 09:16:29

Thanks!

Oo Bop Sh'bam · 2012-01-16 09:30:42

I find the first post quite interesting.

''I’ve often thought that vanity is as much an expression of self-doubt as self-love though admittedly either way it is a potentially damaging form of self-absorption. One of the reasons I love clothes is because they are a way for me to reinvent myself, or at least the superficial self, the bit most people get to see. Playing dress-up, being a clothes obsessive, allows us the playfulness to adopt unlikely personas. Women have long understood this element of dress, but most men have to hide behind notions of ‘correct dress’ or ‘proper masculine attire’ to disguise their love of staring at themselves in the mirror.''

I always knew my appreciation of clothes was a weird one. Only cause I've always been drawn to the visual. I never stopped to think of history, or connotation, or my own self in a primary way. I'd still prefer to lop my head of a photo. I don't really want people to know me. Just see the clothes. The itch is to produce beauty. My idea of beauty I guess. I've never cared for meaning. But so many people do. The prime example being Chens, the power of clothes. The fetish of dress up. It's like me understanding a foreign language. That's why he calls us fetishist. Because he is in fact one. I never saw it like that, I was just caring about the clothes.

This post on Gaul's blog opened my eyes to a whole new world of terror. This is what advertising men prey on. The promise of a new and better self. Through consumption.

We all want a pat on the back I guess.

Even the most aloof.

Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2012-01-16 09:32:13)

Blucher · 2012-01-16 09:41:54

'Consumption' has been developing apace ever since Americans found themselves with a little surplus cash. I'm going no further back than the 1920s here, using the automobile as the prime example. But there's nothing too wrong in making people feel better about themselves and their lives, is there? It's only when it becomes an uncontrollable sickness you have to begin reassessing values. Most on here avoid 'fashion' nowadays, I should think. They have, instead, bought into dreams and images. Nothing too wrong with that, either.

Oo Bop Sh'bam · 2012-01-16 09:57:47

Apparently the first things humans do when bored is create. That seems as though that has been replaced with buying. I subscribe to the idea of humans working towards truth. And the reason I never liked the look of a Mod, or really felt a connection to the Stones. Or anything that goes for the pack mentality is because. It ain't my truth, it isn't anyone's truth. It is a person lie to themselves. No matter how exciting, sexy or alluring it is.

Ivy is different, well at least my Ivy is different, I'm not looking to be wandering round a campus, or blowing up things on a Pacific Island, or pretending I'm in a band from 1965. Now I like things about those looks. But what I like is the visual aspect. Not the emotional aspect. I actually feel uncomfortable with it. I avoid it. I feel very comfortable and honest in what I wear. Yes sometimes occasion requires a bit more... effort in dressing-up. But on the whole, I want honesty and beauty. That means Coltrane, and a simple shirt and trousers. I think it's the fine line between having no respect for yourself, and enough to duck out on what you believe might be your own terms. Maybe that is where Mr. Coltrane struggled to, that terrible feeling of selling yourself short, by thinking you are the sum of you belongings. You're not, they belong to you. Taste is a terrible word in a way. It means someone who is really good at buying things.

Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2012-01-16 10:01:11)

Oo Bop Sh'bam · 2012-01-16 10:03:19

This is why I hate Jean Luc Goddard films, and love Malle, Godard was interested in hip, Malle was interested in truth.

Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2012-01-16 10:03:42)

Kingstonian · 2012-01-16 10:28:07

"32 YEARS IN WHITE SOCKS AND LOAFERS"

''Allo John gotta a new motor?'

Blucher · 2012-01-16 14:00:00

The wearing of white socks is, in a way, little different to wearing a white tennis or basketball shirt: it signifies both sportiness and cleanliness - Ivy virtues both. I always found the correct balance between break, colour of trousers (including jeans) and colour/condition of loafer to be essential. It's an aspirational sporty look - even for those who don't play much. A white or periwinkle half-sleeve can complete the look; or a short-sleeved shirt with a decent pique. The sad mistake clueless mods make is to wear white socks with black lace-ups and their strides cut too high.

fxh · 2012-01-16 17:44:12

For me I always wear white OTC socks, unless i,m wearing faded rose red OTCs, (with white pants its off white socks) with blue jeans (which I rarely wear these days) and always with casual wear and desert boots. Let the socks fall down and bunch up mostly. They signal clean and washed, not scruffy, much like "white collar" used to. Never with black leather shoes, perhaps with black leather chukkas, often with black suede DBs.

Taylor McIntyre · 2012-01-17 04:30:01

Very pleased to see John is doing this & what a stylish and handsome thing it is. I remember him talking about this years back after he did the original JS site.

Looking forward to more from THE MAN.

Jim

Taylor McIntyre · 2012-01-18 02:37:43

Blucher wrote:
Blucher wrote:
Modernists should be sure to check out John's blog. They will not want to miss out - in particular - on John's reflections on the great Roger Mayne. The book of photographs he refers to is almost certainly out-of-print. I remember Waterstones' ordering me in a copy at £30, several years ago. The images of North Kensington are well-known; Ray Gosling's introduction is well worth reading.

There is also an excellent piece on that great, suave, ultimately tragic actor, George Sanders.
The blog promises much.

John is part of a continuum:

John Simons
Ian Strachan
Graham Marsh
Tony Nourmand
John Lally
Jeff Garet
Ken Lovegrove

et al.

In other words, he has been at the heart of UK Ivy for pretty much all of his adult life.

More goodness from The Man today - The start of something nice on Soho. I also quite like the lesser known Fitzrovia scene but know very little about it beyond it being filled with wonderful drunks...

Blucher · 2012-01-18 02:44:58

I do not get the impression John cares too much for the 'wonderful drunks'; and he is right about Farson's appalling - and overpriced - book. I would recommend a little book by Stanley Jackson, published in 1947, for an alternative view of Soho. More Jewish!

He is also right, really, about 'Humph'. Tedious, bourgeois, chummy, Anglo jazz. Like Melly and Mulligan.

Hard Bop Hank · 2012-01-18 02:48:18

wearing socks is so bourgeois...

Taylor McIntyre · 2012-01-18 02:53:44

I once played with the idea of a 'Soho Split' (there's a thread on here somewhere) between the French & Italian influences in Soho. It was a bit cartoonish as usual but it had the beginnings of an idea in it. I'm all for the boozy 'French' side of it all, John is far more one for the elegant Italian side of things.

Probably this links to your comment about me loving to slum it. J. I see as far more fastidious and controlled in temperament. All entirely to his credit.

I like a bit of mess !

Blucher · 2012-01-18 02:56:04

Present-day Soho is a bit tame, isn't it? Some of you might try Hockley (Nottingham) after dark. I wasn't crazy about Pigalle, either, much preferring the area at the top of Rue Lepic. There is a great bistro there, where the staff pour your Perrier with a style never seen in Blighty.

Blucher · 2012-01-18 03:03:43

Jimmy wrote:
I once played with the idea of a 'Soho Split' (there's a thread on here somewhere) between the French & Italian influences in Soho. It was a bit cartoonish as usual but it had the beginnings of an idea in it. I'm all for the boozy 'French' side of it all, John is far more one for the elegant Italian side of things.

Probably this links to your comment about me loving to slum it. J. I see as far more fastidious and controlled in temperament. All entirely to his credit.

I like a bit of mess !

I remember the thread: back in the good old days. My interest is more in Soho from around the 1880s to the 1940s. Maybe as far as circa 1960. I doubt if either John or I would venture into a pub round there. We would go to an obscure cafe. Italian, French, Greek, whomever. We generally like to see things clearly, rather than through a haze.

4F Hepcat · 2012-01-18 03:04:21

Soho lacks sleaze now.

Taylor McIntyre · 2012-01-18 03:05:47

Mr. Blucher - Different strokes and all that. Diversity is good !

#1 2012-01-16 07:21:21

John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#2 2012-01-16 07:55:07

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#3 2012-01-16 08:17:30

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#4 2012-01-16 08:24:01

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#5 2012-01-16 08:40:59

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#6 2012-01-16 08:58:49

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#7 2012-01-16 09:00:06

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#8 2012-01-16 09:06:54

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

Blucher wrote:

#9 2012-01-16 09:16:29

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#10 2012-01-16 09:30:42

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#11 2012-01-16 09:41:54

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#12 2012-01-16 09:57:47

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#13 2012-01-16 10:03:19

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#14 2012-01-16 10:28:07

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#15 2012-01-16 14:00:00

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#16 2012-01-16 17:44:12

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#17 2012-01-17 04:30:01

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#18 2012-01-18 02:37:43

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

Blucher wrote:

Blucher wrote:

#19 2012-01-18 02:44:58

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#20 2012-01-18 02:48:18

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#21 2012-01-18 02:53:44

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#22 2012-01-18 02:56:04

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#23 2012-01-18 03:03:43

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

Jimmy wrote:

#24 2012-01-18 03:04:21

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

#25 2012-01-18 03:05:47

Re: John Gall's 'The Syllabus'

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