The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-21
LIVE TALKS WITH DEAD ONES
1.-THE Late Michael Angelo Discusses An Art"
BY IRWIN S. COBB

self. Nor Titan unless he's a come-on.
We're mostly cracks and faded colors and
blistered canvassers that look like porous
plasters on the retired list, anyhow, we
old masters are, and when something
that's more expensive and in an equally
poor state of repair comes along, we can
prepare to kiss ourselves goodby, SO far
as importation into the United States
goes
But If you are speaking of the
purely decorative in art 1 can truth
fully state that I note a slight i'm
provement, at least. l use the word
Improvement advisedly, because moth
ing could be worse than the Queen
Anne habit, to which your country was
terribly and frightfully addicted few
years back. I presume you can re-
member how 1t was during the Queen
Anne period. A man who contemplated
building himself a domicile would lay
out $1,000 or $4,000 on insane cupolas
and Intoxicated towers and jig jaws
and dufickers and dormer windows
that didn't worm properly and then,
II he had anything left over he'd tell
the builder to fill in the background
with a bathroom and a place for
couple to sleep. To that same period
the world was indebted for the crazy
quilt, the hand-painted plaque, the
heavy gold frame TO rthe family por-
traits with red plush insets, and the
hand embroidered sofa pillow. 1 take
1t that nobody ever slept on one of
those sofa pillows. They weren't meant
to sleep on any more than music
box js while It's playing The Battle
OF Prague with the muffler o.. In
the extreme cases l doubt II any light
sleeper could even take nap with
one in the same room with him I'M
less he put 1t in a bureau drawer and
closed the drawer tight to subdue the
riotous clamor caused by a blue moss
rose worked into pink silk back
ground.
This period was also responsible for
the what-not in the cornor holding on
its shelves the suvenfr that Uncle
Hennery brought home from the Phila-
delphia centennial. and the two sprays
OF coral. one pink and one white, and
the shell with the Lords Prayer en-
graved on It, that you could hold to
your ear and hear the murmur of the
sea. OF course, you could have held
one OF those old-fa shioned china Gus
pidors to your ear and heard the muir
muir of the sea just as well, but that
wouldn't have been SO poetic. And In
the spaces between the front windows
were the two Rogers Brothers groups,
respectfully entitled, Bringing Home
the Bride and Weighing the Baby;
also the large bronze piece entitled,
Boy With Splinter in His Toe which
was very highly thought of. The style
of hotel that was built like a barn
only not SO comfortable. also flour
ished along back here. The lobby was
nice and dark and gloomy and full of
large, solid iron pillars, and the floor
was done in white and black marble
squares like mortuary vault. Up
stairs no guest room was complete
without cake of impervious marbled
pink soap that smelled like dentists
finger tastes, and would give off al
most as much lather as a milestone;
also a white china wash stand set and
a towel that could readily be distin-
guished from a strip of stewed tripe
by the taste. Anybody who'd ever eat
en- cold stewed tripe would know the
difference in a minute. OF course, tn ere
may be some of these left, but in New
York at least they have been sue
cededw, as you know. by ornate palaces
of gilt and gold. each with lobby
about the size of a union depot train
shed, but not SO homelike."
THE Queen Anne style of residence
is no longer being INDUCED in to any
extent" I pleaded In extenuation of my
countrymen.
II am aware of the fact" said
Michael Angelo. But" he added, with
q SnuQQer, no sooner 1a0 you Deg un
to recover from that disease than you
succumbed to one almost equally ter
rible, which still RACES amongst you.
refer to the deadly bungalow craze,
now prevalent in a highly contagious
form and often complicated with mis-
sion furnishing in It's most virulent
form. Along with the -squatting
bungalow with its massive pillars and
its lock box windows and it's heavily
enclosed porch like the front entrance
to the county Jail. goes<ne fumed oak
hat rack that Is so very Roycroftic and
weighs a ton and half, and the mis-
sion chairs that would be just the right
thing for troupe OF performing
dachshunds to Sit upright in, but are
not adapted to human use, and the set
of mission bedroom furniture that can
readily be put into the average bun
galow bedroom, II the proud owner Will
sit on the bureau and hold the chif-
fonier in his lap In order to make the
room for the hassock and the chair.
The picture frames are more subdued,
so as TO give the pictures as good as
an even break. and the plush album
is upstairs holding the door OF the
spare room ajar, but the low-browed
bungalow reigns supreme. Sometimes
| think there's really no hope for you.
And here's another thing have
noticed in my studies of art. both do
nestle and brought-on," continued
Michael Angelo. There Is a relation
between the kind Of houses that the