Ricardo Montalban died last week (Jan 14, 2009) - he was 88. There's something about Ricardo, perhaps a true lion-heart? A Mexican-American hero who's testosterone could be smelled even through a TV set.
Besides Westerns and MGM musicals, Ricardo played some extremely synchy roles - beginning with his role as Chrysler pitchman. Ricardo immortalized the (then) new Chrysler Cordoba with his now infamous line about "soft Corinthian leather" where he sounds like he's pimping his prostitute's finest attributes.
Video: Ricardo sells us the virtues of Corinth.
Chrysler's corporate symbol is the five pointed star - symbolic of Venus and the Divine Feminine. Highly appropriate since automobiles are symbolic of Grails.
The ancient city-state of Corinth (6000BC) paid homage to the Goddess Aphrodite (AKA Venus) via a great temple on their acropolis, which would have employed more than a thousand temple PROSTITUTES. A real lady's man!
The Corinthians also participated in the Trojan War under the leadership of Agamemnon.
Corinth has a few creation myths, one being it was founded by Corinthos, a descendent of Helios, while other myths suggest that it was founded by the goddess Ephyra, a daughter of the titan Oceanus. Interestingly, Ricardo played José O'Rourke in the 1948 film NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER.
Cordoba (also Cordova) is a city in Andulasia, Spain originally founded by Roman Claudius Marcellus, and for a time one of the greatest cities in the world. Here is the Mezquita (mosque) of the city, featuring the solar rays with which we have all become so familiar via our own Sun King.
Ricardo was also the proprietor of Fantasy Island, in other words... a god. He wore a white silk suit and his midget servant Tatoo (Hervé Villechaize) dressed exactly the same - the 80's version of Verne Troyer - the Mini Me. My most favorite episode of Fantasy Island was when a straight man arrived to live out his fantasy of owning a harem of beautiful girls, and Mr. Roarke "accidentally" places him in the opposite fantasy, with him being part of an all male harem, who's only purpose was to please a beautiful but very demanding woman... perhaps Aphrodite?
And of course, Ricardo is also Khan Noonien Singh, the Star Trek Greek Hero/Superman, here in regal solar orange. Khan is introduced in Star Trek TOS episode "Space Seed", where he plays the "father" of a race of genetically advanced humans. Curiously, the eponymous Doctor Noonien Soong is the "father" of Data, a sentient android (who he makes in his image - exactly). Data is Noonian's "Mini me". Both NOONiens are creator gods - Helios.
Kahn knew a real lady when he saw one, and he instantly coveted the Enterprise, the Holy Grail of the Star Trek universe. Unfortunately for Kahn, this Helen is already taken by Captain Kirk, and he is a jealous god. The Trojan war plays out again, and like Agamemnon, Kirk regains the Enterprise through cunning.
Interesting that Kahn died just one month after the death of Majel Barrett (December 18, 2008), the widow of Gene Roddenberry who played the voice of the Enterprise through the entire Star Trek timeline, including Star Trek 11. Perhaps Agamemnon is seeking his Helen still.
BTW: The biggest cock I have ever seen in person was attached to a midget. God is GOOD to his mini-me's!
10 comments:
This was a hugely interesting post for me on a number of levels-Thanks first of all for the info I was unaware of-and to get the 'fun' stuff out of the way-one of the biggest ones I ever saw wasnt on a midget-but the dude had to have been 5'4 and very slightly built-I thought of that old saying 'how can you be standing up with all that blood going to that area instead of your head' I remember those commercials:-) your description of Montalban descrbing the Cordoba made me smile-I found your other information about the city and mythology fascinating also-I will definitely be coming back to this one!-best to you and Varen always-hugs too!
Nice with the Mini-Me.
Totally.
The Plane! The Plane! Ricardo Montalban passed away days? before the downing of the plane in the Hudson.
Could Mr. Roarke be the retired idealist architect from the Fountainhead? Roark?
Patrick McGoohan also passed away recently. From The Prisoner - an early conspiranoid show, an another show on an island. Both shows kind of take place in a version of Imaginationland.
Hmmmm . .. Thuth
Ricardo Montalban's passing is a real tragedy.
He was also deeply Catholic - I remember he did plenty of ads on Spanish TV with his big bold voice, selling kitschy Mexican-Catholic chachkas to benefit missionary work, pewter statues of the virgin mary, and so forth.
I'm astonished you missed a big part of history, however. Here you've got Ricardo's voice pimping a car in unmistakably sexual terms, and mentioning "soft Corinthian leather."
In Ancient Greece, Corinth was the center of prostitution, and there was actually a tourist trade in the city based around that industry. In Classical Greece, "Corinthian girl" was another name for a prostitute. The city's most noteworthy ruin on its Acropolis was a temple dedicated to Aphrodite. In fact, it was common in Corinth for many female slaves to be given as offerings to the Temple.
Corinth was the most "oriental" of the Greek City-States during the classical period, mostly because of its extensive role as a trading city. If Sparta was built around warfare, Corinth was built around making money and was easily the richest and most important Greek city-state in the early portion of the Classical period, prior to the rise of Athens, Thebes and Sparta. In fact, most early colonies were founded by Corinth.
Devin - Yea little guys with big ones are hot!
Thuth - Interesting tie-in to Roark. Will do a bit of research.
Esp Girl - thanks for commenting and elaborating on both Ricardo and Corinth. Actually I did mention the temple of Aphrodite and temple prostitution, which is why I found it funny how Ricardo sold his "Corinthian" leather, and of course the Fantasy Island episode of the man made into a "harem boy" is just perfect.
Cheers, Michael
Cheers, Michael
Oops, have to turn off the repeater. Just one cheer.
Michael
What! No Planet of the Apes mentions?
Gimme your geek card back!
Hi Chris, I actually can't do Planet of the Apes, because it starts a synch train to everywhere I get run over! But yes, he was in that too - running a circus?
Esp Grrl said:
"He was also deeply Catholic - I remember he did plenty of ads on Spanish TV with his big bold voice, selling kitschy Mexican-Catholic chachkas to benefit missionary work, pewter statues of the virgin mary, and so forth."
Isn't that perfect? Mary the Divine Miss M peaks through everywhere. It makes me wonder if maybe Ricardo and Majel didn't have a little sump'n sump'n going on.
Michael thanks - at school in the seventies one only had to to use the line "rich Corinthian Leather " to get instant laughs . . . and as a Planet of the Apes UberGeek I was a big fan of Armando who rescued little Caesar.
I always felt Fantasy Island was a riff on Shakespeare's final play The Tempest; with Montalban playing the magician Prospero and Tatoo as an amalgam of Ariel and Caliban. Those that think Bacon may have had a hand in writing Shakespeare often insist that at the very least the Tempest must have been Bacon's. The Play appeared in the First Folio in 1623, the same year that Bacon wrote "The New Atlantis"
From Wikipedia: "The novel depicts a mythical land, Bensalem, which is discovered by the crew of a European ship after they are lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere west of Peru. The European narrator recounts some of the island's customs and, most importantly, its state-sponsored scientific institution, Solomon's House.
The best and brightest of Bensalem's citizens attend a college called Solomon's House, in which scientific experiments are conducted in Baconian method in order to understand and conquer nature, and to apply the collected knowledge to the betterment of society."
This idea of a hidden retreat for the worlds finest named Atlantis was re-used by Ayn Rand in her novel Atlas Shrugged (for such an arch-rationalist, Rand's novels reek with mythic resonance- I'm gonna write about all of that someday . . .) So Thuth; I agree with you, always thought the name of Montalban's character was meant to echo the incorruptible Howard Roarke of the Fountainhead.
By this convoluted path Montalban synchs up with Trek in a second way. Rodenberry acknowledged the film Forbidden Planet as an inspiration for Starfleet. Of course Forbidden Planet was another homage to The Tempest; a story of another civilisation lost like Atlantis, this time devoured by the monsters within.
Which was the fate also of the best of the best as they tried to build their ideal society in the eugenics wars..... will Atlantis remain ever lost???
I am saddened by the loss Ricardo Montalban Thanks again Michael
Jesus David! Why don't you just sum up my entire blog in three paragraphs!? :-). I'm - dumbfounded. Have you been reading ahead?? *grin*
Cheers,
Michael
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