The Smiley Smile Message Board

What's some of the more interesting décor you've heard of Brian having in his house? Besides the sandbox, the tent, and the display of dolls he had behind his piano for a short time during the SMiLE period (there's a picture of the dolls somewhere, it's kind of disturbing looking, although maybe that's just because I find dolls creepy in general), I've heard of the following: a beautiful barber's chair he used in his house as a regular chair (it was installed into the floor like they do at barber's shops) during the Sunflower period, gothic paneling complete with secret doors built in the paneling à la a Scooby Dooian mansion in the early 70s, a wooden telephone booth in the 80s that he apparently locked himself in once when he was emotionally distressed, and the hand painted stained glass window on the cover of Wild Honey. Other SMiLE era oddities that are also coming to my mind now: a coin operated traffic light that he used as the sole source of light in his Native American tent, and those weird window shades used in the original SMiLE promo art (the picture where Brian is doubled and one of the pictures is reversed so that it looks like the window shades are running into each other, as if you were looking at Brian through a kaleidoscope). I'm sure there must be a lot more examples. I've always strangely admired Brian's taste in home decorating. It's offbeat and quirky in a cool way.

There's the jukebox that only played Be My Baby.

Those are Madame Alexander dolls.  My sister collected them.  I'm guessing that Marilyn Wilson did, as well.  Not really all that bizarre or disturbing, just a bit odd that their display case was situated next to Brian's piano.  Of course, it was Marilyn's house, too, and the Wilsons probably didn't plan their decor with photographers in mind.

How 'bout the monkey that threw merda.

I've read that Brian bought the entire display of dolls himself from a department store.

In the early 90s, he had a telephone booth in his house. He went inside it to compose himself. It's in a People interview about him and Carnie working on the Trios CD.

I think it's kinda neat that he had an entire display case of dolls. Can you imagine what that would be worth now?

On the wall of one of his 80's Landy-pads, Brian had a framed picture of the Beach Boys, one of those Surfer Girl era photos of the guys holding a surf board. I'm not sure what the "definitive" Beach Boys-related picture would be to hang on the wall, but, for some reason, that choice surprised me. Actually, that Landy allowed it surprised me. There must've been a reason behind it.

Not exactly furnishings, but what about the treehouse he put in front of the front door ?

Was that the treehouse that people had to crawl through to get into the house? My personal favourite is the ventless tent, sheer craziness.

The very same.

Or the talked about vegetable drive thru LOL

Which is where they went to eat sandwiches! Easily the funniest moment on the DVD.

In the parts of Brian's house I've seen (from that George Martin doc, for example), the house looks pretty bland, like a hotel lobby. But his music room (which is in the BWPS doc) has some life to it. Purple curtains. I wonder if he chose the decor.

there's the gold records he had for his #1 hits...wait a minute, that's not weird, but didn't he give those to Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye?

What era was this?

Smile - need you ask ?  ;D

My wife collects dolls and she has some of these too, not painfully expensive for good used ones.

Madame Alexander dolls that are fully articulated are pretty cool in fact. Yardley Cosmetics used them in their ads as they can be posed about anyway you like. Brian was smart to get these and apparently had good taste in toys!

That's what I figured. I couldn't remember when I read about it, like which bio/book it was in.

The kitchen blew me away in the Belagio house.  An indoor bar-b-que grill for his steaks, (natch!), and commercial type refrigerators. 
I actually have some b&w video, (similar to Billy's tour film), that Brian himself shot walking in to the kitchen.  Just need to transfer it - eventually...

Wow! Would love to see that!

You mean Brian is The Doctor?

(http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/files/2012/12/tardis2.jpg)

So would I!  Although I survived all those years waiting to see the videos Billy had, and most of that performance video was shot by me.  However, the cost of transferring this stuff is so prohibitive; that's why it was great to be able to transfer the outtakes of "The River Song" video for the BBC Dennis documentary.

As I recall, (having not seen the footage in close to 40 years), it's quite funny, but ends rather abruptly.  Dennis gave the video camera we had to Brian to fool with, and he began using it filming his walk to the kitchen.  When he enters, his housekeeper is grilling a steak, stabs it with a fork, & points it towards Brian, uttering something like, "Por que, you want meat?"  At this point the camera hits the floor, as Brian obviously became more interested in eating than shooting!  Don't recall if we were ever able to fix it after that

I've seen a picture or two of the refrigerator(s) in a book or magazine or article somewhere, circa '68 to '70. In one picture, Brian's bent over looking inside it. Looks like a large stainless steel commercial one that you'd find in a restaurant, definitely not your normal everyday house refrigerator, especially during that era.

The June 1998 issue of "Mojo: The Music Magazine" has one such photo.

His old fart recliner seen in the Beautiful Dreamer doco at about 23 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaqvxlmvE_Y

What a piece of crap! That and the whole beige thing he has going on. :lol

I thought Brian had see-through deli-style fridge in either his kitchen or even his bedroom.  As for the indoor barbecue, those must have been a "thing" at one time. I had an uncle who built a brick one into a walled-in patio addition. I'm sure the carbon monoxide levels would make them prohibited now, not to mention the outdoor air pollution from the chimney.

I remember in the American Family tv-film, the refrigerator was see through...with a chained padlock (placed by Marilyn)

Pretty sure one of those is in the Caroline, Now ! booklet.

Sure is, although the Mojo version is in colour ;D

Looking for pie.

Anyone wanna post a picture of it? ;)

OK, just looked inside the booklet that comes with the Caroline Now CD. There are a lot of rare pictures in there, circa 1970, including one of Brian at the control board. On the last page is a picture of him looking into the refrigerator. The fridge looks like a normal everyday not-so-large one. So either I was dreaming or there's another picture of Brian in front of a larger fridge somewhere. Maybe Metal Flake can come up with it.

Those pics are by David Dalton, who also took the famous Zuma beach shots in 1967: they're from 1970, the Sunflower sessions. I did a long piece about said album in a 2010 issue of ESQ and he kindly allowed us to use some of his shots

Are you sure, Mr. ego? It's universally agreed that Brian's fave confection is cake. There's even this picture of the Wilson brothers sitting nearby the birthday cake (not pie, mind you). Hope this helps.

 

Humm...Cake, pie, nanna pudding...it all makes you fat and promotes cavities. But didnt Brian frequent "Dolores' Drive-Inn" for burgers and Pie? I heard that somewhere...

Michael Vosse in Beautiful Dreamer.