Whitleystreibers

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992) dir. David Lynch

LA Cares AIDS campaign (c.1984) starring Zelda Rubinstein Zelda Rubinstein was a little person (the term she preferred) who began acting in her 40's. Her big break came in 1982 with her role as Tangina Barrons in the film Poltergeist.

In 1984, she was the the central figure in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness. Rubinstein did so at risk to her own career, especially so shortly after her rise to fame, and admitted later that she did "pay a price, career-wise." "I lost a friend to AIDS, one of the first public figures that died of AIDS," the actress said in an interview with The Advocate. "I knew it was not the kind of disease that would stay in anybody's backyard. It would climb the fences, get over the fences into all of our homes. It was not limited to one group of people." She attended the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk. (Source:Wikipedia)

Miss Atomic Bomb, 1957 Atomic Test, Yucca Flat, 1953

“The atomic test series was a wonderful thing for Las Vegas in terms of publicity. Not only did we publicize the bomb with photos and anything we could, but all of the national press, international press were here for weeks on end … we had Miss Atomic Bomb, a cheesecake picture of a girl in a bathing suit with cotton in the shape of a mushroom cloud …. what could be more frivolous than that? We just didn’t realize the seriousness of what was going on.” - Don English, Las Vegas News Bureau.

There was no “Miss Atomic Bomb” pageant, no contestants, and no winners or losers. The photo was pure publicity, one of a series of photos by Las Vegas News Bureau aimed at getting the Las Vegas into the national news.

A previous photo captioned “Miss Atomic Blast” (Candyce King) had been a PR success for Bureau photographer Don English in '52. This was followed by “Atomic Ballet” photos, a “Miss Cue,” a “Miss Radiation,” and others.

The model for Miss Atomic Bomb was Anna Lee Mahoney, Sands Copa Girl who used the stage name Lee A. Merlin. Her identity was unknown until 2025.

Miss Atomic Bomb, May 24, 1957. Photo by Don English, Las Vegas News Bureau, LVCVA Archive.

Atomic Test, Yucca Flat, March 17, 1953. Photo by J. R. Eyerman, LIFE Magazine.

Published 1/16/2018, Updated 3/6/2025

anthony perkins and audrey hepburn on set of green mansions

BILLY BRANDT for UNZIPPED magazine NOVEMBER 2001. $6.95 US

Prophecy preacher Jack Van Impe, his flighty, high-pitched wife Rexella, and their gravel throated, trumpet playing announcer Chuck Ohman, are a fire and brimstone dream team. Their’s is low-budget television evangelism at its best/worst.

Based in Detroit, they were a staple of Canadian television growing up. Van Impe used the bible to predict the future and explained each week how the bible had forecasted the week’s headlines.

Some of Van Impe’s most famous sermons were in the 1960s when he railed against the devil music of Herman’s Hermits and the MC5.

They’re still cranking out an episode each and every week. All three of them are almost 90 years old.

Tenshi no harawata: Akai inga (Angel Guts: Red Porno), 1981, Toshiharu Ikeda

Homens (1999)