Years ago, Marvel used to have pleasant holiday parties at a private club on Gramercy Park. Then, at some point, the money really started flowing and things got out of control. We changed our venue to the Grand Central Hyatt and had a karaoke machine, Captain America and Spidey ice sculptures, food stations featuring cuisines from around the world, and some kind of virtual reality video game thing.
Those days ended abruptly with the first Marvel bankruptcy. The next year the ten of us that were left gathered at Bob Harras' house to eat a few cookies. I'm kidding, but only just.
There were two things that all the parties, no matter the budget, had in common. One was costumed superheroes, like in these photos. The other was that no matter how tight the guest list, I always squeezed in my pals. It no longer matters, so I might as well reveal how I did this. Who is left to get angry with me? I was the editor of a high-profile Japanese comic book, so I just made up additional Japanese names and added them to the list of freelancers. Marie and Nancy don't look very Japanese, but no one questioned them at the door.
Shh. It's a secret.
1991
1993
1994
13 comments:
And see, I really did own dresses. I think I still have these. And some others I seem to have given to Babcock in a "I hate party clothes" frenzy. Babs has been holding onto them all this time in anticipation of me wanting them back one day.
I can totally vouch for the fancy pants dresses Marie used to have. Getting decked out was a specialty. How come no one told me I looked better with my hair down! I can't wait to show my six year old how cool his mom was way back then.
Your six-year-old will just say "Mom, you look cool now. What's the difference?"
Strangely, I looked better with my hair up.
Marie, thanks for letting me be a woman instead of a man in your wedding. I'm two and two at this point, having repped the woman twice (my sister's being the other) and the man twice (Yancey and Bucce). Always a Best Man, never a bride. Isn't that how the saying goes?
FYI, the dresses are:
-blue silk by Joanie James, once of E. 7th St.
-burgundy velvet (worn by other Marie in '94 and me Marie in '93) by Whitegirl, a/k/a Cheryl Roussos of Jersey City.
-spiral print by the same guy who does the semi-famous Elvis print, D. Brooks. I think he may have designed the uh... sperm-print dress too. I wore that to my 30th birthday. But maybe it was just an imitator. The spiral print was also featured on the '92 Marie Javins II trading card drawn by Steve Buccellato. (strange, I know. It was a Marvel thing.)
Maries always look great no matter what they wear...
I opened my mailbox this morning to find a package from Amazon -- omigosh, it's "Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik". It looks great! I immediately sat down and read the intro... and, it blew me away. It's engaging, funny, poignant, and made me want to keep reading. The introduction promises a book that will mix funny and fascinating snapshots of traveling in Africa with an amusing, revealing, self-deprecating and inspiring journey of self-discovery.
Marie, you've always written in a clear, strong-but-humble 'voice', but somehow you've gotten even better at it. Even though I'd previously read an almost-finished version of that intro, it still knocked my socks off. It made me late to work, and everything. Well, okay, that's not such a rare accomplishment. But, now I can't wait to read (re-read) the rest of the book.
So, all you loyal Marie fans, old and newly-discovered, hurry up and order the book. The best way is to click on the link on this site. I think I'm going to go back to Amazon and order several copies, to give as birthday/Christmas gifts. Maybe I can even get the author to sign them.....
I can't believe I wasn't wearing something better. I know I had something better to wear.
Hi Marie and other Marie!
Nancy, you must have come from work or something, because you had all kinds of awesome clothes, including all those hand-me-downs that Otis would bring home from Kim Gordon and Suzanne. Remember when you were wearing that fuzzy coat that used to be Kim Gordon's and we ran into her (old Knitting Factory, was it)? Aaaaiiiieiee! You marched right up and thanked her, if I remember correctly.
Aunt Peggy, I can't believe it's out! I thought it wasn't until the 28th.
Thanks for your wonderful comments. I wrote the Intro and Chapter One in a rather different state than I wrote the rest of the book. I think, perhaps, a wiser and more heartfelt(broken?) state. I hope the stylistic difference isn't too jarring, though perhaps it not an issue as the moments were four years apart.
If you draw my name at Christmas, can you give me something else?
Hey, I remember those dresses--and a bunch of other interesting outfits! Remember the "dog shirt?" I do. In fact, you've inspired me to post a few pictures of my own! Heh heh! And there's more where that came from...
My recollection of the Kim Gordon run-in was as follows: We were in CBGB, I was wearing the conspicuous fake fur coat -- from the Goo video, I was told, -- and Kim looks at me and does a double take. So I went over and she said something like "That's my coat!" and I said. "Yeah, thanks a lot!" and she nodded and told me it looked good on me.
Definitely a good celeb anecdote for me.
Yeah, Nancy, that sounds more familiar now. I wonder who we were there to see. Ah, heck, we were probably out 4 out of 7 nights. How the hell did we ever get up and go to work the next day?
The Other Marie's Husband: I still have that dress. That one made the "maybe-I'll-wear-it-again-someday" cut.
Two comments on these photos.
First, my very foggy memory of when we actually interacted in the Real World was that you weren't a blonde. I'm happy to see this confirmed.
Which leads to your unique opportunity to clear up one of the great philosophical conundrums of the late 20th Century. There was a famous ad which featured a woman saying "If I have only one life to live, let me live it as a blonde!" and this was followed by the question: "Is it true blondes have more fun?"
You can provide valuable insight here. Or do we have to define "fun" first..?
Second: I felt sorry for those actors in the superhero costumes, but that's what struggling actors have to do, I guess, to pay the bills.
"What Hulk really want to do is direct!"
I went blonde when it was the easiest way to obscure the gray. I stay blonde because it's a pain to change it back, though I've been slowing going darker over the last year. (Gray doesn't bother me anymore.)
Do blondes have more fun? The preponderance of evidence, as backed up by the photos, suggests that I had a whole lot more fun when I was a wee lass in my 20s than I have had in the last few years. MariesWorldTour was fun though, and so was some of the time I spent in Oz, as well as the first few months with HM in Uganda. I also enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in early May of this year.
So while there have been isolated incidences of fun in the last several years (during which time I happened to be blonde), there was a whole lot more fun happening when I was a brown-head. Statistically speaking, I think it's safe to say that blondes do not have more fun. Or maybe younger people are too oblivious to be angst-ridden. One or the other.
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