Falling Into New Habits
Hi everyone, Penny M here
Happy fall! I hope you all had a wonderful summer and maybe even got a nice break during it as well! Over here it was a bit of an adjustment period, especially since I’ve never experienced a summer like that before. It was humid! It was sweltering! When possible Emma and I stayed indoors and avoided the sun, worked on the website, and some days I was even asked not to come in to work because of how hot it’d gotten. But on the other hand it was fun getting to stay indoors and watch movies every night. We've made it a habit to start watching some of the classics you always hear about in film class but never actually check out because the way they’re described is so stifling and boring. Then you watch the movie and it is so much more exciting than any description ever made it sound.
For example – and this is relevant to this update – Emma and I recently looked into the filmography of Marina Gossamer, the only named voice actor in Beetrice B.E’s history. Before becoming the voice behind our favorite queen bee she was an actress who sadly lost most of her filmography during the Snatch warehouse fire of 1965. You wouldn’t know it today because she isn’t mentioned in many books but at the time she was apparently very famous (as we will discuss in her history article.)
Only one of her films has survived into the modern day, that being “The House with a Beat” which was an absolute joy to watch with Emma. The way people talk about this film makes it sound so boring: “it’s a film about the banality of architecture, it’s such an important historical movie, it’s sublime.” Most sites describe it as “a film in which a woman hallucinates about her dead husband trying to kill her” which is very bizarre because if you watch the movie it is so much more than that. It makes you wonder if anyone writing these actually bothered to watch the movie, or if they were trying to give it a sense of heightened grandeur because they were embarrassed that it was a horror movie (probably.)
I feel like it would take an entire separate article to talk about this film, maybe in the future we can make a movie sideblog to this site that details the plots of mentioned films but all I can say is: you need to watch it. It’s so strange, so weird I’m kind of struggling to think how to describe it to you. The best I can say is that it’s a ghost story without a traditional ghost, whatever you think is going on with the house isn’t what’s actually happening.
But speaking of Beetrice, I have a very special update for you because recently we received a large donation of items related to the character and her owner's company's history! I also thought this was a good chance to actually go over the history of Bartlebee as a company and how they left their mark on America, for better, and mostly for worse. I’m mainly excited because we haven’t really discussed her since last winter. I’m sure she’ll appreciate her time in the spotlight. You know that we here at Pendog Creative Library don’t gloss over history, even when it gets bleak, so I hope you are prepared for some of the topics discussed in the history articles this update. These topics include: racism in the work industry and child abuse.
Another note before we get into the thick of it, I have received complaints in the past due to not mentioning where I am getting all of my information from—I will make an effort with this update to provide firsthand accounts. That being said, please keep in mind that many interviewees request not to have their full names listed on the website. I hope you will respect their privacy and I apologize for leaving such a vital aspect of history out of my articles! In the future I will do my best to get more personal accounts from on the ground sources. For this update I had the pleasure of talking to many ex-employees of Bartlebee Brands.
As for articles, this update contains the following:
History articles
Factory Number Nine
Aaron Fulch
The Bellowtons and Bartlebee Union Busting
Marina Gossamer
Creative archives
Abstract Mother, Jayne Prell
Hallowed Halls Theme
Hallowed Halls, Selection of Novels
Bartlebee Union Strike Materials
Beetrice Teaches About Unions PSA
Bartlebee Brands Wildflower Seed Mix
Bartlebee Brands, Flight of the Carpenter Bees Song
Barlebee Brands Honey Bug Program
Seamore and Strawbetty Concept Art
Bartlebee Advertising Posters
Early Beetrice Concept Art
Original Beetrice B.E Model Sheet, 1930s
Bartlebee Rules for Factory Workers
The Beetrice B.E Song
Bartlebee Brands Mixed Candies
Telectrica Factory Tour Brochure
See you all next time!
Penny M