The Cha Cha (or Cha Cha Chá if you're feeling energetic) was the Cuban-inspired dance that caught the world's imagination in the mid 1950s. We were Cha Cha Crazy for it!
Taking its cue from the Mambo, the Cha Cha was a slightly more relaxed affair: slower and less syncopated.
It's name comes from the shuffling sound of the feet as they dance the last three steps: one-two-cha-cha-cha!
However the Cha Cha is anything but a simple dance: hot hop action and a lightness of step is needed to master it.
Enrique Jorrin was the father of the Cha Cha, and in 1953 he and the Orquesta America released the first recorded compositions. The sound swept Cuba, then Mexico and then the world.
Cha Cha fever led to a range of 1950s albums trying to cash in on the new scene. Some took it seriously...
...some not so seriously...
...and some confused it with the polka.
Either way the Cha Cha was the soundtrack of mid-modernity, and no party was complete without it!
Cha Cha is still popular in competition ballroom dancing, though the range of steps required is not something I'll ever master!
Sadly the Cha Cha was overshadowed in 1962 by the Twist, and soon it faded from popularity. It was what your parents did at weddings to show off, not what the young folks wanted to strut 'in da club.'
But latin dancing will never die, and wherever people gather to drink mojitos, wear slit skirts and listen to good music the Cha Cha will always be there.
Enrique Jorrin - pulp salutes you!
(Pulp tip: always wear stockings when dancing. It stops you overheating #truedat)
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One of the best #Christmas presents you could ever get was a View-Master! It sold over one billion reels across the world, but it's based on Victorian technology. How did one simple gadget get to be so popular?
Let's take a look at the toy that took over the planet...
Stereographs are cards with two nearly identical photographs mounted side by side. Viewed through a binocular device they give an illusion of depth. By 1858 the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company had published over 100,000 of them.
Sawyer's Photo Finishing Service began in 1919 in Portland, Oregon. By 1936 they had teamed up with William Gruber, who had been experimenting with stereoscope photography using the new Kodachrome colour film.
Today in pulp I look back at a few forgotten '80s sci-fi movies and ask: is it time to reappraise them?
Spoilers: not all of these are available on Betamax...
There were a huge number of mid and low budget sci-fi movies released throughout the '80s, many of which went straight to video. Today they lurk in the far corners of your streaming service.
Should you watch them? Well let me take you through a few you might be tempted by.
Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) was Roger Corman's retelling of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai in space. James Cameron did an impressive job on the SFX with a small budget and the film certainly has a distinctive look.
"A dream to some. A nightmare to others!" As it's Christmas let's look back at a film that I think helped redefine an old genre, captivated the imagination and launched many successful acting careers.
Let's look at John Boorman's Excalibur!
For a long time the film industry found the King Arthur story amusing. Camelot (1967) was a musical comedy; Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) was pure comedy.
But director John Boorman had been thinking seriously about the Arthurian legend since 1969, particularly Sir Thomas Malory's 1469 telling of the story 'Le Morte d’Arthur'. The mythic theme greatly appealed to him.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at some Michael Moorcock books, and having a think about the New Wave of science fiction that started in the 1960s...
In Britain the New Wave is often associated with New Worlds magazine, which Moorcock edited from 1964 to 1970. Financial troubles caused the magazine to close in 1970, but it made sporadic comebacks over the subsequent years.
However he started as editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1957, where he introduced Sojan the Swordsman - perhaps his first stab at creating an 'eternal champion' character
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the greatest albums of all time.
What are the chances...
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album.
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera.