‘Jet Dreams’ A Charming View Of Fifties-Era Art

The drawback with university presses is that they insist on putting out books that are good for us. You know, histories and cultural studies and scientific reports.

Only occasionally are these books fun to read.

But with “Jet Dreams: Art of the Fifties in the Northwest” (various authors, 120 pages, $19.95 paperback), which should be available in July, the University of Washington Press has found a perfect melding of historical fact and hysterical fun.

Well, calling this book “hysterical” may be a bit of a stretch. The day job of editor Barbara Johns is chief curator of the Tacoma Art Museum, and curators are not typically known as stand-up comics - especially when it comes to the visual arts.

And there are few, if any, guffaws to be found in, say, historian Carlos Schwantes’ scholarly piece on Oregon and Washington of the ‘50s, in Laura Burns Carroll’s look at ‘50s architecture or in Matthew Kangas’ treatise on Northwest crafts.

But overall, you won’t find many better attempts at blending the history of a time, the heavy (Joseph McCarthy) with the light (Elvis Presley), in a more readable format. And there are images here that are likely to arouse big smiles if not outright laughter.

One of the book’s highlights is its 1945-60 timeline. Historical notations litter the book in black balloons, beginning with the death of FDR and ending with the news that marriage rates had just begun a 30-year decline. In between, we have the city of Bellevue’s incorporation (1953), invention of the felt-tip pen (1955) and the release of such movies as “And God Created Woman” and “Paths of Glory” (1957).

But it’s the images from that era that prove most nostalgic. You’ll find a 1957 magazine ad for the Boeing 707 - “the only American jet liner flying today.” Barbie and her boyfriend Ken are viewed at their introduction in 1959. A vintage photo of Seatac Airport shows one building, a half dozen propeller airplanes and ant-sized people on the facility’s opening day in 1949.

There’s even a 1957 shot of Spokane artist Harold Balazs, who looks both bohemian and nerdy in his sweatshirt, paint-splattered slacks and black-rimmed glasses.

“Jet Dreams” is based on an exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum that was put together to honor Northwest artists who worked during the 1950s. But it’s more than simply a celebration of painters, sculptors and architects.

It’s a loving look at regional history that shouldn’t put you to sleep. For that, if nothing else, it honors all of us.

On the shelves

Rodney Frey, a professor of anthropology and director of Panhandle programs for Lewis-Clark State College, has compiled a collection of Native American poetry and stories in “Stories That Make the World: Oral Literature of the Indian Peoples of the Inland Northwest” (University of Oklahoma Press, 264 pages, $24.95).

Frey compiled material as told by Lawrence Aripa (Coeur d’Alene), Tom Yellowtail (Crow) and other various elders from such tribes as the Klikitat, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Sanpoil and Wasco.

“‘Stories That Make the World’ is … an attempt at addressing the question of authenticity and fostering an appreciation of the stories of Indian peoples in a manner the original storytellers intended,” writes Frey in the book’s introduction.

Frey and Aripa will talk about storytelling and tell a few traditional stories at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

If you’re a fan of American political activism, you might want to check out “Iron in Her Soul: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the American Left” (Washington State University Press, 396 pages, $40, $28 paperback) by Helen C. Camp.

Camp, an adjunct professor of history at Pace University in New York, has written what WSU Press hails as the first full-length biography of Flynn, who worked for the Industrial Workers of the World, helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and was the first woman to chair the American Communist Party.

The reader board

Michael Gurian will read from his new chapbook of poetry, “Emptying” (Rednblack Press), at 7 tonight at the Anaconda Espresso and Poetry, 510 S. Freya. Admission is $5, $3 for students.

James W. Hall, author of “Gone Wild,” will read from the mystery novel at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

Poet Michael Heffernan, director of the creative writing program at the University of Arkansas, will read from his poetry collection “Love’s Answer” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

John Gardner, author of the revived James Bond thriller series, will read from his new book, “Confessor,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore.