Yahrzeit: In Memory of Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren comes of age 

(1959)

 

May the great name McLaren be magnified throughout the punk world, 

which was created according to his will.

 

 

Today marks the 15th anniversary of Malcolm Mclaren's death [1].

 

I don't know if the Greeks had a word for such an anniversary [2], but the Jews certainly do: Yahrzeit [3]. 

 

And it is worth remembering, I think, that Malcolm - like many of the key figures involved in the punk rock revolution [4] - was himself Jewish and even posed for a photo on the day of his bar mitzvah, looking very dapper in a double-breasted dinner suit, dicky bow, and tallit, whilst somewhat nervously holding a prayer book [5].

 

Whether McLaren's Jewishness played a significant role in his life and career is something that can be debated another time; as can the question of whether or not antisemitism is to blame for a lot of the hostility still directed his way and the fact that his astonishing contribution to popular culture - not just to music, but to art and fashion - is either grossly underrated or deliberately downplayed. 

 

Here, in this short post, I simply wish to commemorate his genius and acknowledge the huge influence (for beter or for worse) he has had on my own life.  

 

Notes

 

[1] Conicidentally, we might also note that Vivienne Westwood would have been celebrating her 84th birthday today, had she not died in December 2022.   

 

[2] Whilst there isn't an actual term in Greek - ancient or modern - for death anniversary, the practice of commemorating a loved one is known as Μνημόσυνο (Mnemosyno); a term derived from the name of the goddess of memory and mother of the nine Muses, Μνημοσύνη (Mnemosyne).

 

[3] Yahrzeit is a modern borrowing from the Yiddish word יאָרצײַט. It is an annual occasion traditionally commemorated by reciting the Kaddish (a 13th century prayer composed in Aramaic) and by lighting a long-burning candle.  

 

[4] This is particularly true of the New York scene as shaped by (amongst others) Richard Hell, Joey Ramone, Sylvain Sylvain, Chris Stein, and the founder of CBGB Hilly Kristal (all Jewish). In the UK, punk in the 1970s as most of us know it, was essentially invented by McLaren and his friend (and fellow Jew) Bernie Rhodes.    

 

[5] McLaren was born to a Scottish father (Peter McLaren) and a Jewish mother (Emily Isaacs), but was effectively raised by his maternal grandmother, Rose Corré Isaacs, a diamond dealer's daughter, in Stoke Newington's Sephardic community.

 

 

This post is for all those who remember Malcolm with fondness and continue to fight his corner.  

 

Sheena: From Jungle Queen to Punk Rocker

Irish McCalla as Sheena (1955)

Just like Joey Ramone, I have a penchant for jungle girls in general with their animal skin bikinis, running barefoot through the forest or swinging through the trees. There's surely no disputing, however, that Sheena is queen of them all ...

Created by the American duo Jerry Iger and Will Eisner, Sheena strangely enough made her debut in a British magazine in January 1937, before starring in a US comic book the following year, inspiring a host of imitators during the period that followed, such as the raven-haired Princess Pantha, who made her debut in 1946.   

Like Tarzan, Sheena was an orphan who grew up in the jungle; albeit under the guardianship of a native witch doctor. Possessing an uncanny ability to communicate with wild animals, Sheena was also highly proficient in fighting with all manner of weapons. Her adventures often involved violent encounters with savage tribes, slave traders, and great white hunters. 

In the mid-1950s, a 26-episode TV series aired with the pin-up Irish McCalla portraying Sheena. Others, including Tanya Roberts and, more recently, Gena Lee Nolin, have also taken on the role of jungle queen, but none have surpassed the performance given by the girl from Nebraska. For even though, by her own admission, she couldn't really act, Miss McCalla had an Amazonian physique, a wild look in her eye, and she was prepared to do her own stunts.    

I don't know for sure, but I suspect it was Irish McCalla whom Joey Ramone was thinking of when he wrote the classic 1977 track Sheena is a Punk Rocker - a song which, according to the man himself, combined the primal sound of punk with surf music and a contemporary vision of the Queen of the Jungle, into (just over) two-and-a-half minutes of pop cultural genius.   

Play: The Ramones, Sheena is a Punk Rocker, released as a UK single in May 1977, (Sire Records): click here to view the official video. 

Watch: Ramones Cartoon No. 7: Sheena is a Punk Rocker, by Neil Williams Media (May 2017), stelosanimation: click here.  

And to watch the TV trailer for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1955-56): click here.