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Baker Romance
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13,498 posts in this topic

33 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

I think we've discussed this one before.  Although not listed in The Art of Glamour checklist, it's pretty clearly Baker.  

Now that I own a copy, it's most definitely Baker! :sumo:

2019-04-24-0001.jpg

clearly Baker :golfclap: And welcome to the club on that one. It has another attractive angle as I've pointed out before, that it's up in the air who is leaving with who? hm

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1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

I agree that it looks like Baker, although the woman looks very much like Colletta.  I also wonder whether Colletta did the layouts because the composition seems more like what he did than what Baker did.  I've made this point a bunch of times before, but I do wonder what was going on with Baker during this period because there is such a falloff from the great work he was doing near the end at St John to the mediocre stuff he turned out for Quality and Atlas. 

Most of Baker’s Quality and Atlas work just doesn’t do it for me. The St. John stuff was stellar but if not for that, I actually prefer his earlier work to the later stuff.

Heck, his Lassie stuff is pretty good too!

Edited by Robot Man
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1 hour ago, sagii said:
1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

I think we've discussed this one before.  Although not listed in The Art of Glamour checklist, it's pretty clearly Baker.  

Now that I own a copy, it's most definitely Baker! :sumo:

2019-04-24-0001.jpg

clearly Baker :golfclap: And welcome to the club on that one. It has another attractive angle as I've pointed out before, that it's up in the air who is leaving with who? hm

But ... but ... Nan's clearly leaving with the guy in the bow tie.  Baker always liked a bow tie.  Of course, he also liked ....

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32 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Most of Baker’s Quality and Atlas work just doesn’t do it for me. The St. John stuff was stellar but if not for that, I actually prefer his earlier work to the later stuff.

Heck, his Lassie stuff is pretty good too!

I'm going to have track down his issues of Lassie. 

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5 minutes ago, Dr. Love said:

Don't forget - his world ended in August 1955.  It was so much more than just losing the job of Art Director for a prestigious publisher.  He lost his friend, maybe his best friend, Archer.  And who knows the damage caused and what survivor guilt may have come into play because Archer apparently took his own life. 

And then to end up working for Vinnie at some reduced page rate, Vinnie who in some strange way had many of the qualities and life style Baker wanted - handsome, hard living, flashy dresser, charismatic, knew everybody and everybody knew him, hung out with models and movie stars and gangsters, making serious money.  It must have tore him up inside something awful.

He had a bad heart, but sometimes I wonder if he died from a broken heart. Ah, Matt.

Good points that may well account for what happened.  

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2 hours ago, Dr. Love said:

 

Don't forget - his world ended in August 1955.  It was so much more than just losing the job of Art Director for a prestigious publisher.  He lost his friend, maybe his best friend, Archer St. John.  And who knows the damage caused and what survivor guilt may have come into play because Archer apparently took his own life. 

And then to end up working for Vinnie at some reduced page rate, Vinnie who in some strange way had many of the qualities and life style Baker wanted - handsome, hard living, flashy dresser, charismatic, knew everybody and everybody knew him, hung out with models and movie stars and gangsters, making serious money.  It must have tore him up inside something awful.

He had a bad heart, but sometimes I wonder if he died from a broken heart. Ah, Matt.

 

374px-Bakerstjohnarcher_zps0b58839f.jpg

Lovely essay Andy. Baker's life was filled with highs and lows. He had a prosperous life while at St. John's with his yellow Cadillac and nicely tailored suits, and an exotic lifestyle in Mexico. The Archer St. John story is filled with sadness and apparent shame as he was discovered with a mistress. Nowadays no one would bat an eyelash. You're right, it was more than his heart, he went into a depression when St. John's went down. And he went to work for Vinnie who many have speculated was mob connected. 

His is a great American story set with all the elements that make that story. Money, beauty and race. I'm surprised Spike Lee hasn't thought about doing something. I worked with his cousin Malcolm many years ago on a movie called Undercover Brother and showed him Baker's work. His response? "A brother did this?" I think it is time to bring his story to the mainstream.

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1 hour ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

 Ha ha! I wish I got tax refunds :flipbait:

Yeah, tell me about it!  Made some overly optimistic assumptions and ended up seriously in the red -- and not the washed out red like on an average copy of DS 16.  More like fire engine red -- as in a five-alarm blaze in my bank account. :cry: 

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1 minute ago, comicnoir said:

Lovely essay Andy. Baker's life was filled with highs and lows. He had a prosperous life while at St. John's with his yellow Cadillac and nicely tailored suits, and an exotic lifestyle in Mexico. The Archer St. John story is filled with sadness and apparent shame as he was discovered with a mistress. Nowadays no one would bat an eyelash. You're right, it was more than his heart, he went into a depression when St. John's went down. And he went to work for Vinnie who many have speculated was mob connected. 

His is a great American story set with all the elements that make that story. Money, beauty and race. I'm surprised Spike Lee hasn't thought about doing something. I worked with his cousin Malcolm many years ago on a movie called Undercover Brother and showed him Baker's work. His response? "A brother did this?" I think it is time to bring his story to the mainstream.

Yeah, there's no doubt that in the right hands Baker's life could be made into a great movie.  That Baker is largely unknown to the general public might add to the appeal the story would have to some film makers. The movie would certainly not be retelling a familiar story.  The source material is unfortunately pretty thin, though.  Although I suppose good films have been made with less.

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2 hours ago, Dr. Love said:

 

Don't forget - his world ended in August 1955.  It was so much more than just losing the job of Art Director for a prestigious publisher.  He lost his friend, maybe his best friend, Archer St. John.  And who knows the damage caused and what survivor guilt may have come into play because Archer apparently took his own life. 

And then to end up working for Vinnie at some reduced page rate, Vinnie who in some strange way had many of the qualities and life style Baker wanted - handsome, hard living, flashy dresser, charismatic, knew everybody and everybody knew him, hung out with models and movie stars and gangsters, making serious money.  It must have tore him up inside something awful.

He had a bad heart, but sometimes I wonder if he died from a broken heart. Ah, Matt.

 

374px-Bakerstjohnarcher_zps0b58839f.jpg

I assume they are in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.  I wonder whose handprints St John is pointing to? hm

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On 4/24/2019 at 10:03 PM, sagii said:

After seeing @Sqeggs deep colored copy and the discussion about his Quality and Atlas work come up, a perfect time to share my copy of this again....

Wedding Bells #15.jpg

Great copy!  And the only one on the census.

 

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On 4/24/2019 at 10:06 PM, sagii said:

..and this Atlas, (maybe his last cover?) as per AOG and GCD

20190424_215805.jpg

Nice.  Another cover that looks like it was either roughed out by Colletta or Baker was attempting to copy Colletta's approach. 

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On 4/25/2019 at 12:43 AM, OtherEric said:

And, to follow up on last week's first appearance of Canteen Kate, the last appearance of Canteen Kate.  Since the cover isn't Baker, I'm including the 1-page Baker story as well.  There's a longer CK story in the issue too.

Anchors_Andrews_01.jpg

Anchors_Andrews_01_int.jpg

I picked up the Southern States copy of this one when DTA was selling them off a few years ago.

ss10-074_zpse4292c42.jpg

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2 hours ago, telerites said:

You stay gone too long - miss seeing your posts :foryou:

Thanks so much for the kind words.  They're much appreciated.  Unfortunately I've been super busy lately and looks like I'll continue to be for the next few months.

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