Right Palm Up, Left Palm Down

Anybody can use the Muffler Man Tracking Chart on Roadside America, but it’s particularly satisfying to spot a statue with its hands in the familiar right palm up, left palm down pose where nobody else has looked. Hats off to Michael Faulk of Buckley, Washington, for his incredible discovery. Michael writes…

“I am currently working on restoring my grandfather’s old 35 mm films. They span from the 30’s to probably the 60’s, and my mom has helped place time by relative ages of the people in the film. Among these clips, I ran across a scene where he was heading west from the Southern states and westward near Missouri (at least what I can tell by the signs that went whizzing by – “Routes 135 & 41– 3  miles/Independence 90 miles” - I would venture to say that it was somewhere in Kentucky). I noticed a VERY brief shot of a large cowboy near a Phillips’ 66 station. I had to take the film frame by frame, but eventually I could discern that this was definitely one of your guys. He distinctly has right palm up and left palm down. It looks more like a “sasquatch” photo than anything else, but it certainly was authentic.”

Part of the fascination that fiberglass statues hold for me is that they all emerge from the same mold and over time each develops a story all its own. In the case of fiberglass used for advertising in the 1960s, this transformation takes decades, and evolves in a random, almost chaotic fashion. In recent years, fiberglass figures have been used for another purpose: to launch outdoors art exhibitions in cities around the world. Here, the natural evolution of the figures has been accelerated by a conscious effort to have each figure uniquely decorated by artists. After a few months on display, the figures are auctioned off and the proceeds go to a worthy cause. So, I was pretty excited to wake up in Copenhagen on June 1st to find that 102 elephants had been deployed across the city. The money raised by the Elephant Parade will be put toward the preservation of the Asian elephant, an excellent cause indeed.

An anonymous fan reported this sighting of a Cowboy in Prescott, as photographed in Arizona Highways.

One of the benefits of undertaking a wacky quest is the opportunity to meet unique characters. One such personality is Jim Heimann, author of California Crazy and Beyond and current Executive Director at Taschen America. In October 2009 Jim invited me to the Taschen office in Los Angeles, located in the historical Crossroads of the World building.

Jim seemed genuinely interested in getting the full story of the so-called Muffler Men. He had been photographing them for 40 years and even gave me permission to reprint a couple of photos from his extensive archives. He also let mentioned that he had edited an upcoming book featuring the photographs of John Margolies called Roadside America. Our conversation took place in Benedikt Taschen’s spacious office, because, as Jim pointed out, “Benedikt rarely bothers to come in.” I couldn’t help but notice the oversized photos and other works of art. The subject matter was women in poses that ranged from mildly suggestive to nearly pornographic.

Our meeting was interrupted by Benedikt Taschen himself, who for once had bothered to come down from his home, a 1960s space-age residence above Mulholland Drive called the Chemosphere House. He took time to shake my hand and even asked a few questions. After hearing a little about the Muffler Men, Mr. Taschen told me that he doesn’t believe in the distinction between low-brow and high-brow art. All I could do was agree, because clearly this is a man who publishes exactly what he wants to publish, and with great financial success.

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Taschen recently opened a retail store in downtown Copenhagen’s fashionable pedestrian avenue Stroget (say “Stroughl” and stick out your tongue a little). After intending to pick up Roadside America for months, I finally got a chance to do so on a snowy, windblown day. Looking around the shelves, I spotted the books that I associated with the name Taschen:  classics like 1000 Chairs and Scandinavian Design. Then came the art books, the architecture books, the enormous GOAT (a tribute to Muhammad Ali), and… Erotica Universalis? Suddenly, I had wandered into a corner of the one-room store where a lecherous old man was openly paging through The Big Penis Book. Luckily, I spotted Roadside America close by and made a hasty getaway.

For those keeping score at home, a Pirate (Ocean City, MD) appears on page 68, an Indian (Carrington, ND) on page 117, and two elusive Uniroyal Gals grace page 112 (bikini-clad but both arms amputated) and page 183 (fully dressed).

Deanie Burris let me know about the opening of the Hot Rod Cafe, a diner that is “a tribute to racing fans of all types.” The website includes a page dedicated to the  history of their Paul Bunyan statue. Among the most interesting memories is a copy of a 1964 International Fiberglass price list, which clearly shows that the company offered mostly fiberglass animals and that the Lumberjack (Paul Bunyan) and Santa Claus (without right palm up, left palm down) were the only human figures sold at the time. Thank you Deanie!

Anyone who writes a book does so at the risk of having no audience. A book signing makes an author acutely aware of this possibility. On September 11^th, while most of downtown Flagstaff was celebrating its 6^th annual Route 66 Days, I stepped into the local Hastings bookstore not knowing what to expect. In front of me was a table with a few copies of my book and a very comfortable leather armchair. The few customers around seemed to be preoccupied with Twilight. I announced to the only employee in sight that I had arrived. His puzzled look betrayed his complete lack of awareness that a book signing was about to take place. I recalled the scene in This is Spinal Tap when not a soul shows up at the “Smell the Glove” album signing. The utterly bored members of Spinal Tap sit in front of life-sized cardboard cutouts of themselves, and Artie Fufkin of Polymer Records, embarrassed and irate, pleads for the band to, “Kick my ass. Enjoy. Come on. I’m not asking, I’m telling with this. Kick my ass.”

Fortunately, people who had heard about the book signing started trickling in after ten very long minutes. For the next three hours I met a number of locals who shared their stories of Flagstaff and Northern Arizona University in the ’60s and ’70s. Many people who wandered in turned out to know each other, proving to me that Flagstaff is still a small town. The book signing was a success, but next time I will make sure to bring a life-size cardboard cutout of Louie the Lumberjack.

Cafe Globen in Copenhagen is run by an association of travel enthusiasts. I was invited to share some of my American road trip adventures at one of their weekly Thursday evening presentations. I was unsure about the level of interest for such a topic in Denmark, but to my surprise, about 20 Danes (plus one American – Andrew) turned up. Cafe Globen, with its mismatched chairs and year-round Christmas lights strung up in a corner, is funky but also cozy (“hyggelig,” as the locals would say). Not only did I get to share my stories, but the lively audience happily recounted their American adventures.

Andy Voss’s second sighting is very interesting for a couple of reasons. This statue has been repainted to celebrate the recent New Orleans Saints championship (does this mean it wore a paper bag over its head in 1980?).  Second, the crown seems to be  identical to the one worn by King Midas. I wonder how many Midas Muffler Men were made?

“Got this one last weekend. In fact, he was the main objective of our mission to find and photograph roadside attractions. He’s in great shape. I don’t know how new the paint job is, but probably not to old. He has the shine, and we did just win the Super Bowl.”

Andy Voss has recently taken to hunting down Muffler Men. His first sighting has the Alfred E. Neuman head, the type Roadside America has lovingly dubbed the “Happy Half-wits.” And he’s actually holding a muffler!

“My first. I vaguely remember one of these when I was growing up in Memphis. However, it wasn’t until June or July that I wanted to start finding them and “bagging” them. We went on a trip to Galveston, TX, and the roadsideamerica.com app said that Beaumont had one. We found it. It started to rain, but I didn’t care. I parked on the side of a busy street across from it and got the shot. He looks to be in good shape.”