Vintage Spex shop at Deadman's Towers

Hi there
It's exciting times for Dead Men's Spex. We  are setting up our very own purpose built vintage eye-wear boutique in our garden.

It is free standing, triple aspect with double glazed windows and electricity. Two windows face west and catch the afternoon sun; so it gets beautifully warm.  Deadman has just laid the carpet ; I had to check that he wasn't  having a sneaky snooze. Instead I found him shaking his booty.

Man of many talents including carpet laying and Dad dancing!

We''re almost ready ,we just need to move our stock in and then we can receive customers. We are planning an open day in the summer to show off our new showroom. Look out on our website and Facebook page for the date.

It's almost Hemsby rock'n roll weekend, yes, it's that time of year again...So Deadman has been prepping some great new frames  for the show. He'll be there from Friday 8th  until Sunday 10th May.

New ladies cats' eyes

He's looking forward to seeing everyone and having a good chin wag

TTFN MrsDeadman

Dead Men's Spex admire mermaids and kissing fish

Hi there
Wow, where has the time gone? Since I last wrote we have been to two shows; Sheringham and Hemsby. We had fantastic weather at Sheringham and Deadman even got sunburn!

A view at Holt Station 

We've also had some deliveries recently; the most exciting was a shipment from Best Image in America which included a wonderful selection of cocktail glasses. These are copies of original 1950's designs. They are fabulous darlings, but my favourite has to be the kissing fish!

Athena

Mermaids

Kissing Fish

TTFN Mrs Deadman

Hemsby 2013

Hi There

The rock'n roll show at Hemsby went off well, I helped out on the Dead Men's Spex  stall on Sunday and it was good to catch up with everyone. Mortimer, our mascot, made his show debut.

Mortimer at Hemsby

We also got some new stock thanks to Shona from  Heyday  who picked up some lovely ladies' white pearlised frames on a recent trip to France. They need to go through the workshop and once they have I think I may just have to have a new pair of sunglasses...

TTFN

Mrs Deadman

Dead Men's Spex at Hemsby

Hi there

Hooray! Spring has arrived and with it the start of the show season. Deadmen's Spex is off to Hemsby Rock N Roll weekend on Friday 10th May to Sunday 12th May. I've dusted Deadman down ready for his first show of 2013. This is our seventh year at Hemsby and we are looking forward to seeing our customers and friends. 
All the stock is ready, Deadman has been busy in his workshop preparing a whole selection of great new frames for both ladies and men to complement our usual stock. My favourite has to be a beautiful aluminium Tura frame. 

Some of our new men's frames

Tura fame; a glamorous addition to any vintage gal's wardrobe!

See you next weekend

Mr and Mrs Deadman 

The Travelling Accountant

2010 – A Vintage Year

I’m not one for New Year resolutions, but I do think that the turning of the year is a good time to reflect on the events of the previous twelve months and to think about plans for the year ahead. I made the effort to get out and about more in 2010 and here are my thoughts on some of the interesting vintage events that I made it to.

First trip out, I popped over to the east coast of Norfolk for Hemsby in April to help Deadman on the stall. Duties were light, mostly revolving around keeping Deadman in tea and holding interested customers in conversation until his return from the loo. Dressed in the usual 1940’s accountant style I must have looked like a dull 1950’s dad. However, everyone was welcoming and no one called me “pops”. Oh for James Nesbitt’s money and the opportunity to grow myself one of those fine quiffs. I enjoyed myself so much I went back for Hemsby 45 in October including the early morning car boot.

On Sunday Morning. Empty! Rockers up too late?

Hughenden Manor just outside the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire is the former residence of Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister during the late nineteenth century. I knew the Disraeli connection from my local schooling. The Victory at Hughenden 1940’s event in May told of the secret map making role performed on site during WW2 with RAF Bomber Command based close by. Not the biggest event of the year but some good re-enactor displays including the AFS, the Home Guard and a WW2 paratrooper drilling the kids. He scared the daylights out of them and I picked up some useful parenting tips.

Twinwoods over the August bank holiday weekend was the highlight of my vintage year; a great crossover show for fans of both the 1940s and 1950s on a genuinely interesting site. Two separate stages provided fine live music and dancing, including free lessons, from either era. I’m definitely heading back in 2011. Next time I will be suitably shod for a little rug cutting, just to prove that accountants can dance. Deadman’s stall had a fine position for the Arena Stage and provided some relief from the wind and rain.

to be continued..........

"Dead man through the looking Glass" a Norfolk pipe-dream

Some of you may have guessed that the plus four teaser could be no-one else but Bunny Hooper “The 1940’s Accountant”. On a weekend when the Deadman was abandoned on the stall by the rest of the clan (something about parties and lashings of ice-cream and jelly or so Deadman Junior assured me) the only backup was my Dad, Deadman senior or as he’s affectionately known “Deadman Walking”. Bunny was a welcome pair of extra hands.

Being our local event, Holt and Sheringham 1940’s Weekend is always a busy two days for us, marked as much by visits from old friends as the good business.

Bunny was in an unusually rumbustious mood probably brought on by his insistence on being called Lord Hooper Marquis of Repps and muttering on about losing the rest of the shooting party and the bloody beaters!

The only way to calm him was to entice him into the stall with a copy of Glimpse and the assurance that he could smoke a pipe full of Virginia shag (picture the caterpillar in Alice through the Looking Glass!). The legitimacy of this action in what should be classed as the work place was debatable but I think the conclusion ran something along the lines of “bugger the EU!!”

www.deadmensspex.com temporary dwelling

The cue for spam sandwiches and black market petrol

With autumn knocking at the door Deadman’s thoughts turn to indoor shows where the elements no longer dictate. We are at Hemsby 45 on the 8-10th October, again another local show for us, just a short dash at the North Sea from base camp. There’s nothing quite like the British seaside out of season. All the holiday makers, day trippers, chalet owners and “kiss me quickers” will have departed leaving the bleak desolation of the Norfolk coastline (and about 1000 drunken rockers). Bliss!!

TTFN

Deadman

Hemsby Weekender or "A day in the life of The 1940's Accountant"

Yes I know! I promised more, but seem to be stuck on a monthly cycle with the blog updates.

The past few weeks have been busy as we move into spring proper. I have just been to the Hemsby Rock ’n’ Roll weekender, which turned out to be very busy indeed. As it is a Norfolk show I spent much time travelling backwards and forwards to the workshop fitting sunglasses to vintage frames so that my band of merry customers could wear them on the first really sunny weekend of the year.

It wasn’t all work though, there was plenty of time to catch up with old friends such as Shona at http://www.heydayonline.co.uk/ and get an update on the progress of her new blog http://intheheyday.blogspot.com ( I must take credit, as where we pioneers lead others will follow :oD I’m whispering this as Shona has a wicked right hook! )

Shona auditioning for the role of Doc in Hemsby’s next Christmas panto!

I also met up with Chris, a fellow dispensing optician and got to hear about his latest venture into the world of rocking wedding cars. Take a look at his beautiful 1961 Ford Galaxie 352 cu V8 at http://www.v8events.co.uk/ and if the urge to wed comes upon you give him a call he can even get the reception swinging as DJ Galaxie.

Another highlight of the show was seeing the work of the very talented Su Owen with her wonderful 50’s inspired paper-cuts. Check out her work at www.sugar1970originals.com

I’m happy to report that Dead Men’s Spex have a new tea boy (at least at shows). It’s our very own Bunny Hooper The 1940’s Accountant. We broke him in gently at Hemsby as he is a weekender virgin and being an accountant unused to standing on his feet for long periods of time. His highlight of the weekend was being mistaken not once but twice as the bass playing member of one of the bands, that and a surreptitious bout of double entry book-keeping in the bar!

In a future blog I may call on Bunny to explain the finer details of the accountant’s art and how the 1940’s tax regime can save us all pounds, shillings, and pence in these troubled times

Please note that I’ve even been able to kit him out with a pair of genuine period tortoiseshell spectacles, despite his inordinately large brain filled head.

Also this past month has seen http://www.deadmensspex/ supply spectacles for the stage premier of Jonathon Harvey’s new play Canary at the Liverpool Playhouse. Liverpool born multiple award-winning writer Jonathan Harvey established his reputation with Beautiful Thing, his play-turned film for which he received an Olivier Award nomination and the John Whiting Award. As a screenwriter his credits include Gimme Gimme Gimme, Coronation Street and his recent cult series Beautiful People. With Canary Jonathan returns to the theatre where he wrote his first play.
Photos from the play can be seen at http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/Show/Canary/19/Media.aspx, look out for Mary Whitehouse wearing Dead Men’s Spex!

The next Hemsby weekend is October 7th-10th so if you are into the 1950s scene or just wish to see Bunny wielding his abacus come along and we’ll see you there!

TTFN

Deadman