Maybe you've seen this, and maybe you haven't. It shows up on blogs from time to time. It's posted on YouTube as the Ratfink Nazi Helmet Commercial. It alludes to a possibly long-lost '68 Ed Roth TV commercial that advertised his "Surfer's Helmets" (as Roth called them, along with his Iron 'Surfer's' cross), which may have run in the local SoCal area at one time. Not the case.....
The segment is actually from the movie You Are What You Eat, released at the end of Sept. of 1968. The movie is an early underground "documentary", in the vein of later works, like The Monkees' Head, The Mothers' 200 Motels, and the Jimi Hendrix docu Rainbow Bridge. The "commercial" was actually a satirical spoof included in YAWYE, lampooning the Teenage Fairs, a yearly 10 day event held at the Hollywood Palladium from 1964 - 1972, expressly to market wares to the emerging teen market segment who had for the first time, a lot of discretionary income to buy with. The Teenage Fairs were held at different times, but always held to coincide with the L.A. Basin's high school's Easter Spring Break, to maximize the attendance. A good thumbnail history, and the actual purpose of these Fairs can be found here:
The IMDB credits the voiceover in the film to "Emperor Rosko", BBC radio DJ Joey Pasternak, son of movie producer Joe Pasternak, but that isn't correct. The voiceover for the movie was actually done by Rosko, the black DJ at the time for L.A. radio station KBLA.
Interesting to note, the Teenage Fairs (as you'll see in the link I provided) had both an amateur "Battle Of The Bands" to provide music during the event, and also well-known groups that played during the event as well. Some of the groups that appeared over the years were Sonny and Cher, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Chambers Bros., and Sly And The Family Stone. It's also funny to note that Capt. Beefheart and His Magic Band won one of the Teenage Fair's Battle Of The Bands competitions.
Also, in the link I provided, it states that there were always hot rods on exhibit, along with a full midway of vendors. While I've not read anyplace for sure if Roth (or a designated outside vendor) had a booth set up at any of these Fairs, or had any of his cars appear there, but the chances of both those things happening were probably pretty good. Roth would have never missed a chance to sell his wares to an eager teen audience with money to burn, and the Teenage Fairs were a perfect place to do just that. Also, it was right in Roth's backyard. I think that the film YAWYE culled from whatever source for the commercial spoof was probably shot during the Teenage Fairs around '65-'66, not in '68 (Roth started selling the helmets and crosses around mid-year of '65 in magazine ads), and I'll bet that Roth was indeed set up there, selling those Surfer's Helmets at the Fair as fast as he could stack them up - hence the proliferation of them on attendee's heads in the film segment.
Anyways, here you are, the Roth "commercial" that never was........
Duane sent in some progress pics of his BF5 Kawasaki Drag bike build. He is looking right on track to be done and running at BF5..stay tuned for more updates from Duane and the other builders...HE WRITES...Here it is as of this morning( LAST WEEK). I should have the head back from APE this week do I can finish the motor up and get it in the bike. Pete Hot Dog Finlan is in the middle of paint. I have no idea what he is doing except the main color and a VERY vague direction for him to do his thing. That tiny gauge from Dakota Digital is a speedometer, tachometer, odometer, oil pressure light, neutral light, turn signal indicator, etc. Im looking forward to having a gauge on one of my bikes. I like diggers but think if the originators of that style had the performance brakes, controls, etc. that are available today they would of used them also. Thanks! Duane
Two words: Muy peligroso. They mean "very dangerous" in Spanish, which is what operating a freedom machine south of the border can be if you're not properly insured. Fortunately, Bajabound.com makes covering your culo in Mexico easy. For more information, click the link.
Yeah, this really did happen, Magnum 500 press shots round the corner from the Ace back in 1998. My Buick was the prop and I'm not sure why there is a pic of Mark in there. Pics by Luke Beziat.
Our very good friend, David built Diceland, it graced the fold out cover of Dice issue 49. Yes, he really did build the whole thing. Its now safely stored away in boxes awaiting shipping to Tri co so it can go on permanent display (we hope). So just to get us all excited David sent us a little teaser. Brilliant! He really is amazingly talented and we love him.
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