Bob Boze Bell's Big Bad Book of Bad Diary Entries: The Bob Boze Bell Stinking Badges Art Show

Sunday, September 29, 2024

The Bob Boze Bell Stinking Badges Art Show

September 29, 2024

Not much makes me happier than making my family laugh. And, by extension, that would include anyone who reads this blog. You are my extended family. So, let me try out a zany concept on you. But, first, a little background from a previous post back in February of 2022.

A Blast From The BBB Past

Thanks to my son, I have returned to "The Underdogs" by Mariano Azuela, which is a brutal, eloquent, disenchanted, first-hand-take on the Mexican Revolution. Azuela was a country doctor who became a medical officer and served under Carranza and Pancho Villa, and he began his novel while still in the service (1915). So the scenes and exchanges he writes about have an intimate, he-was-there authenticity. Here is just a taste. Officers and soldiers—one of them named Towhead Margarito— are in a cantina when the confessions begin:

"I killed a woman in Torreon 'cause she didn't want to sell me a plate of enchiladas. There was a big ol' argument about 'em. I didn't get to eat what I wanted, but at least I calmed down.
"'I killed a shopkeeper in Parral 'cause he slipped two bills from Huerta in with the change,' said another man with a small star, his blackened, calloused fingers glittering with jewels.

"I killed a guy in Chihuahua 'cause I always ran into 'im at the same table at the same time whenever I'd go in to eat lunch. . .He really annoyed me! What do ya want?"

"H'm! I killed. . ."

"The theme is inexhaustible."

—Mariano Azuela, "The Underdogs" which in Spanish, Los de Abajo means "those from below" and that gives it a double meaning.

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"Towhead Margarito"

And, speaking of killers with badges, did I mention that Dan Duffy sold my original "Badges?" scratchboard yesterday up at Patinas, in Cave Creek? Yes, here it is on the wall before it was whisked away by a very sharp-eyed buyer.

"Badges?" by BBB

Badges Correction

Actually, in the 1948 classic "The Treasure of the Sierria Madre", the Mexican bandit leader (Alfonso Bedoya) tries to convince Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) that he and his men are Federales. Dobbs asks, "If you're the police, where are your badges?" And the bandit replies, "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"

In the 1927 novel of the same name (on which the movie is based), the bandit says, "Badges, to god-damned hell with badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and chinga tu madre!

So, I thought it might be fun to put together an entire art show with Los Federales, Rurales, Banditos and Adelitas and call the entire kit and kaboodle, "The BBB Stinking Badges Art Show". This prompted Rooster Rob to produce this little gem.

I thought this one was ridiculous because it's a German accent! Althought that's kind of zany. So Rob sent me this one.

Which is more accurate, but is it funnier than the first one? Well, is it? Or, is it funny only in the context of being ridiculous if you know the first one? That's the question to you my Zane family.