Jon Scherff
The Birth of Cool
1913:
Pictured here is a 1913 photograph of six “cool” bikers on their Excelsior/Henderson “auto cycles” (motorcycles). These bikes were high quality contemporaries of “Harley” and “Indian” and were the first bikes to break the 100mph barrier. The third bike in the lineup shows an original 1913 Oregon license plate. Although the men here were no doubt biker buddies or track competitors, they were a far cry from the outlaw biker “gangs” that would begin forming after WWII.
Cultural Phenomenon:
When leather jacketed Marlon Brando roared into town on his Triumph T6 while wearing menacing dark aviator glasses in the 1953 cult classic “The Wild One”, hair stood up on the necks of every rebellious youth that had eyeballs in his head. The visual impact of that movie was so strong that Brando’s image would instantly achieve iconic status. No one had ever seen that kind of brazen and disrespectful behavior from a young man in a movie before. And, although not a great movie, it generated images and attitudes about bikers that are with us to this day. Interestingly, the movie was banned in the UK for about sixteen years.
The Birth of Cool
1913:
Pictured here is a 1913 photograph of six “cool” bikers on their Excelsior/Henderson “auto cycles” (motorcycles). These bikes were high quality contemporaries of “Harley” and “Indian” and were the first bikes to break the 100mph barrier. The third bike in the lineup shows an original 1913 Oregon license plate. Although the men here were no doubt biker buddies or track competitors, they were a far cry from the outlaw biker “gangs” that would begin forming after WWII.
Cultural Phenomenon:
When leather jacketed Marlon Brando roared into town on his Triumph T6 while wearing menacing dark aviator glasses in the 1953 cult classic “The Wild One”, hair stood up on the necks of every rebellious youth that had eyeballs in his head. The visual impact of that movie was so strong that Brando’s image would instantly achieve iconic status. No one had ever seen that kind of brazen and disrespectful behavior from a young man in a movie before. And, although not a great movie, it generated images and attitudes about bikers that are with us to this day. Interestingly, the movie was banned in the UK for about sixteen years.