Flower Children Turned Cannibal

Submitted by Michael Ely February 25th, 2011
Certifikitsch Winner

This is me with two friends on the front page of our local newspaper (Inglewood, CA) in the summer of 1968. We are eating rose petals in order to help promote our high school play. The play was about a group of students trying to raise money in order to save their school from financial ruin by selling candied rose petals. So this is a picture of students eating rose petals to promote a play about students eating rose petals! The idea to eat the flowers and phone our local paper to promote the play came from me, and my drama teacher was so impressed with our going the extra mile that we all three received an A+ on our report cards. btw, the rose petals tasted horrible!

7 Responses to “Flower Children Turned Cannibal”

  1. Allee Willis

    So fantastic! First of all, you all look so fabulously 1968. The headband and flip in the middle are perfect and your Beach Boy hair would have made me swoon back in the day.

    Did anyone actually swallow a petal? And how did the play do? Any photos from that?

  2. Michael Ely

    Being dedicated drama students, we wanted to truly experience eating the petals, and so we ate (and swallowed them) in a variety of ways, fresh and boiled, with sugar, with salt and wrapped in lunchmeat. Then we sort of freaked out and phoned a doctor and he told thus that eating them was harmless and they were a good source of vitamin C. As far as the play, don’t have any photos, but it sold out and was successful (I played the part of a news reporter).

  3. MyFunCloset

    This is a flashback photo for me. Not only was 1968 the year of the headband, but the “fall”. A gal with shorter hair, which was me, would wear a real shoulder length hair piece. The “fall” was attached with bobbie pins and the headband kept it separated from the bangs. I had a perfect “flip” until I went to a crowded, sweaty party and my “flip” fell and never returned to perfect again.