Quasi-Interesting Paraphernalia Inc.

It's not the size of the cigarette, but the motion of the ocean

2012-02-08T00:48:00.000-05:00

Here's a rather suggestive magazine ad from 1976...

This hip and happening 70's guy doesn't want your judgement, but just so you know he's packing Winston Super King - it's got "extra length." Wink, wink...

By chance I also found his hip and happening female advertisement counterpart online. She likes the taste of a Winston Long...

I feel dirty now.

Love Stinks

2012-02-05T23:03:00.001-05:00

Here's a very 'sexy' magazine ad from 1973 for stinky cheese...

This Liederkranz cheese ad uses words like "sensuous" and "lusty" to describe its smell, but over on Dave's Cupboard his Liederkranz review and reader comments use words like "flatulent," "outhouse" and "rotten socks on a humid August day."

If you didn't already know by now, Liederkranz is the American version of Limburger cheese. Also interestedly, Liederkranz returned to the market in 2010 after a 25 year absence.

Well although the ad's copywriter tries hard, it's difficult to make any sort of cheese sexy. The makers of the erotic eighties film Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986) knew this, and excluded la fromage from the famous food scene...

... hmm, maybe it's just me, but this seems like a big mess that would need to be cleaned up after your done.

How do I love thee? Let me blog the ways...

2012-02-02T02:15:00.000-05:00

It's February, and that means Valentine's Day is coming up soon. In celebration of Valentine's Day I thought I'd get all sentimental and 'romantical' with the posts this month. Maybe even a little bit sexy, but not too sexy, so cool your jets there rocket boy.

When I mean sexy I mean something like this fun risqué retro birthday card...

Front

Inside

That naked redhead has a little bit of a Red Hot Riding Hood thing going on.

This card is from the now defunct and essentially forgotten Laurel Cards Inc. of Cleveland. I don't know the date of the card, but I'd guess it's somewhere between 1955-1965. Here's the back of the card in case these numbers should mean anything to anyone out there.

Death Riders

2012-01-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

If you found this post because you were searching for a rock band named Death Riders (there's at least two bands I found online using variations of the name), you're probably in for disappointment because this post is about the original Death Riders.

The Death Riders were a "motorcycle thrill show" who performed death-defying stunts at fairs around the country in the 1970's and early 1980's.

Here's the Death Riders poster I got when I saw them perform at a fair in my town. I think this is basically the only place you can see this poster on the entire Internets (at least in this quality).

If you looked closely you may have noticed that the poster was even signed by two Death Riders - George Sisson and Larry Mann.

When I was looking for more info on the Death Riders I was surprised to discover they were the subject of documentary appropriately titled Death Riders (1976)

As you can see in the frame-grab below both George and Larry conveniently got credited next to each other. Larry even narrates most of the film too.

Larry kinda reminds me of a 70's version of Max Hodges from TMZ. Well, maybe they basically only have their hairstyle in common. Although I doubt Max ever spends his Saturday nights alone, and within the first few minutes of Death Riders Larry says, "If the show goes smooth and looks good - you don't have to hunt for girls, they hunt for you." So I guess they both have "ladies man" thing in common too.

A highlight of sorts is gig at a nudist colony. Larry, known for his "people jumps," jumps over line of nudists. It's not a pretty sight.

Since I was in single digits when I saw the Death Riders perform there are only two stunts that I can remember. One was the tunnel of fire...

Yeah it's hot. I can remember feeling the heat from the flames, and we were sitting in an air conditioned glass enclosed grandstand. If I'm remembering correctly the Death Rider wiped out near the end of the tunnel. He wasn't severely hurt, but his leathers got kinda toasted.

The second was the human bomb. Since we were sitting by large glass windows they had us move back about 20 feet in case the shock wave from the blast shattered the glass. The stunt went down exactly as it does the documentary film.

Now you see the man in the box...

...and now you don't.

Oh hey look, they're selling the poster at the end of the show...

Heck, here's another shot of the poster. This it's time hung in a store window.

Spoiler Alert: The final highlight of the documentary is Larry breaking the World Record for his "people jump."

To read a more detailed review of Death Riders please click here, or thanks to Hulu, you can watch the entire documentary below...

If you'd like to know more about the Death Riders "motorcycle thrill show," the closest thing to an official Death Riders site is thedeathriders.org, but the place to find the most pictures and information is at The Thrill Champions.

Punchy's Peculiar Advertisements

2012-01-20T19:03:00.000-05:00

This is Punchy and the Black Crow (No.11) published by Charlton Comics in December 1985.

This is also Punchy's second to the last issue because Charlton Comics went out of business in 1985. As you might have guessed by the cover, Punchy and the Black Crow is one of those "funny animal" comics full of quaint innocent humor for young comic readers. Actually, this comic is filled with reprints from 1953-1954 to be exact so its humor is authentically quaint and innocent.

I don't know what other titles Charlton Comics were publishing in 1985, but I'd guess when they sold ad space that ad was printed across their entire line of comics. This is only explanation I have for the bizarre selection of ads in this children's comic. It also looks like times were exceptionally tough for Charlton because the credibilityof some of the advertisers is rather "questionable."

Above is the first ad on the inside cover, and it's from the Dan Lurie Barbell, Co. I think it's interesting to note that when you mailed in your coupon to the Dan Lurie Barbell, Co. you're getting a "Instant-Action" POSITRAIN Course (and some other stuff too) - not barbells. I'm happy to report that it looks like Dan is still around and has a web site right here.

Next is an ad for Marcy brand exercise equipment. The "EM-1" shown above has a 200 lbs. weight stack which is about 4x the body weight of the intended reader for this comic.

The ad on top is more bodybuilding stuff, this time get big with Mike Marvel and his "SCIENTIFIC ISOMETRICS" program named Dynaflex. On the bottom our first non-exercise related ad with U.S. Government Surplus Directory. Hey kids, get your very own real army Jeep for less then $30!

Here's five ads on a single page: Pen-Sized Spyscope, Authentic Badges, Live Bait Belt, Handcuffs, and Double-Lucky Hand-Carved Jade Elephant - all this can be yours from DeerCreek Products of Pompano Beach FL. I think DeerCreek Products might have gone out of business in 2004 because that is the latest dates of the complaint reports listed on the Ripoff Report.

"Gain up to 5, 10, 15 Pounds" proclaims this full page ad from Gain Products. There is no mention of exercise in this entire ad so unfortunately none of the weight you gain will be muscle. I don't think 15 pounds of fat around your gut isn't going to impress any ladies at the beach no matter what that B&W photo may imply.

Oh good, on the very next page is the Speed Shaper which promises to, "Turn Belly Fat into a Rock-Hard Lean Stomach." This is convenient now that I need to loose 15 pounds caused by the previous ad. Send your money to Improvement Products Corp which just happens to have the same address as Gain Products. So I guess there's intentional product synergy going on here and not accidental.

Wow I wish I could make others secretly do my bidding. Although I'm much too lazy to even read all that text in the above ad. If only there was an easier way to learn the secrets of "Automatic Mind Command." Google doesn't turn anything up for "Research Industries, LTD" so mind control was probably only a passing fad.

Here's the first "toy" ad, or is a game? It's the Helen of Toy Co. (love that name) and their Task Force and Tank Trap war games (or toy). Franky, I find the ad layout confusing, but it must have worked since these same ads ran for years. Want to know what you got if you sent in your money? Check out this page for a few photos of the Tank Trap game. Spoiler alert: it's not very impressive.

At the back are a bunch of small ads, and some PSA's. One ad is for the famous Charles Atlas and his "Dynamic Tension" program. I wonder if you publish a comic book if it's mandatory that you include a Charles Atlas ad. Charles must be doing something right because he's still in business.

Here's the inside back cover, and it's the Dan Lurie Barbell, Co. again. There's lots of exercise stuff, but still no actual barbells (although he does sell them - or did at least). That "Power Krusher" looks impressive, and looks like it could double as a swell TV antennae too.

Finally we've reached the back cover, and it's an ad for one of the all-time great comic book advertisers - Johnson Smith Company. There novelty items here that would certainly appeal to children, but then again there's a number of pocket knives which aren't very little kid friendly either.

So that's all the ads. No ads for 1980's kid stuff like He-Man action figures, Nerf products, Reese's pieces or Hostess snacks as one might expect. Just to see who was advertizing in comic books back then, I looked though some Marvel and DC comics from 1985. I found many brand name advertisers in those big name comics, but they certainly avoided the Charlton Comics Company.

Just for fun here's an ad for Bonkers candy that brought back memories (I think Mort Drucker might have done the illustration)...

Bonkers Candy Ad 1985

...and the unforgettable commercial too.

Obscure Newspaper Comic Strips from 1973

2012-01-11T02:52:00.000-05:00

Whoa it's 2012, and it's time for my first post of the year so I better make it an extra good one...

Umm, to be honest, this post is just OK, but I swear there will be some good ones this year sometime - I just don't know when.

So anyways I was looking through an old newspaper the other day, looking for something that might make for an interesting post. It wasn't a "major" newspaper, but the Redford Township edition of The Suburban News for the week of May 30, 1973...

Redford is a suburb of Detroit, and like many hometown papers the contents seems to focuses on things like school fairs and civic activities. But as I leafed through the want ads I was rewarded with a number of obscure and mysterious comics sprinkled here and there. Like this one called Half-Past Teen...

I have no idea who the creator is, and Google was no help at all. Heck, I'm doubting this comic has anything to do with teens.

Near the back of the want ad section was over half a page of comic strips. I like to think I know a little something about comics, but at fist glance I didn't recognize a single one.

Do you recognize anything?

This first one is a Mutt and Jeff by Al Smith. Mutt and Jeff is a name I recognize. The only problem is whoever laid out this page left off the title and artist name. This now concludes the only comic that I was even remotely familiar with.

This next strip is Grubby by Warren Sattler. Grubby is not a strip about a bear, but an old west prospector. I like the layout on this one.

Deems by Tom Oka looks like a strip that would have been a favorite of mine as a little kid, you know, before I could read. I think Deems is a character like Henry who never speaks. Also Google doesn't really turn anything up on who Tom Oka is.

Sonny South by Courtney Alderson. Can't find any info on Courtney Alderson or this strip, but someone has been auctioning off the original art.

This Grandpa's Boy by Brad Anderson. Brad Anderson is best know for Marmaduke, and that's what I know him for.

Those Were The Days by Art Beeman. Art has a nice classic old-timey style that fits this strip well.

Above was another unidentified comic, but I think it is Citizen George by George Wolfe.

Of all the comic strips on this page I think this drawing of the deep sea diver reading a newspaper might be the most fun thing.

Lastly, this is the most bewildering thing I found in the want ads. It looks like a classic Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic, but why is it named Nothin, But The Truth by Arnold? When searching for info on Deems I found this comic page from the July 6, 1956 issue of The Deming Headlight (Deming, New Mexico) the with another "Nothin, But The Truth by Russ Arnold." What's going on here? These are obviously "Ripley's" what's the deal with the name change?

Crazy Christmas Cavalcade: Holiday Spirit 2011

2011-12-23T02:23:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody it's the eve of Christmas Eve, and it's time for my last holiday animation of 2011.

Please gather the entire family around the computer (or smart phone or tablet) to enjoy the short animated musical Christmas adventure of Jingles the bell ringing elf, and the holiday spirit that possesses him...

If this animation seems familiar it's because it is. It's a "special edition" of animation I made back in 2007. Hey if George Lucas can do it so can I.

Anyway I think I've made some improvements. The little red elf was originally intended to be in the animation, but was cut due to time constraints. I have a better grasp of particle systems so I think the avalanche looks more dynamic. At the very least the picture quality is certainly much better. Yes the Internets have improved over the last 5 years. Here's how it looked back in 2007 for those of you who didn't click the link...

Merry Christmas everybody!

Crazy Christmas Cavalcade: Santa's Shaver Sleigh

2011-12-18T18:12:00.002-05:00

Time for another festive holiday animation. This time I take a child-like look at a classic Christmas commercial...

Norelco has been doing these Santa riding a razor spots for decades. Here's the earliest looking one I could find on the ol' YouTube...

... and here's the most recent with Santa now riding a newfangled flying razor!

Crazy Christmas Cavalcade: Christmas on Easter Island

2011-12-13T00:38:00.001-05:00

Here's another new animation for the holidays.

It's a new animation based on an old Christmas card I made years ago...

If you're an avid reader of this blog maybe you remember this card from a post way back on December 7, 2007.

Hmm, I think I like the way I originally drew that Santa hat better than what I've drawn in the new animation.

Crazy Christmas Cavalcade: Ice Skating Wonderland

2011-12-04T22:03:00.001-05:00

Seasons greetings all ye merry gentlemen, and gentleladies! I bring you tidings of great joy. I'm creating a series of short heartwarming Christmas specials that are destined to become holiday classics, or quick cheap jokes that are sure to be forgotten immediately after viewing.

Either way please enjoy my video creation that's the virtual embodiment of the yuletide spirit...

I don't know how many of these things I'll make. I have a few more ideas that I'd like to try to get to before the "fat man" slides down the chimney.

Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland Brochure

2011-12-01T00:33:00.001-05:00

Well it's that time of year again, so to get in a festive mood here's a 1990's brochure for Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, MI.

Established in 1945 I think Bronner's was probably the first store of its kind to sell Christmas decorations year around. One thing for sure is the place is huge, and you can buy any sort of Christmas decoration imaginable. For example, maybe you where searching for those upscale mechanical animated figures, like the kind you might find in your local malls' holiday display - well you can buy them at Bronner's.

Bronner's also wins my admiration for the most information packed into a single brochure. I now know how to write "welcome" in 57 different languages, the miles to Bronner's from 40 North American cities, what the Bronner family looks like, and a short history Frankenmuth.

Happy Wacky Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T02:19:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

To celebrate the day of the big feast here's my salute to the greatest food related comedy of all time...

Acknowledgments to Norman Saunders the master artist of the Wacky Packages.

You're a Lousy Cook Charlie Brown

2011-11-19T23:08:00.001-05:00

After the success of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) the next big Peanuts holiday special was A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973). Well two out of three isn't bad. Seriously, do they even still air this one?

Nevertheless it was popular enough for Scholastic to publish a cute little picture book in 1975...

The text in the book follows the television script almost verbatim. The art looks like it came directly from the TV special as well, but it has some slight differences. For example check out the side-by-side comparisons below...

... on the left side is the book and it shows Peppermint Patty's phone as white and Charlie Brown's phone as red, but in frames on the right taken from the TV special the color of the phones are reversed.

Oh wait folks, I've just received an email... It's from the Guinness World Record people, and because of that bit about the phone colors it seems I've won "Blog with the Most Pathetic Piece of Trivial Information." Wow, I didn't even know that was a category.

Anyways in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Charlie Brown has a predicament of course, and when he's advised that he prepare a special Thanksgiving meal for his friends he says...

You're damn right Chuck. You can't cook a Thanksgiving dinner, and you can't make a kid-friendly cookbook either...

Let's get real, the recipes in the Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book obviously weren't written by Charlie Brown, but they were written by someone completely out of touch with what most children want to eat. Just take take look at this "Linus Loves Liverwurst Sandwiches"...

Who even eats liverwurst much less a kid? Hey, I'm not just cherry picking a recipe for maximum child objectionability (well, maybe a little), the recipe before this one is "A School of Tuna Sandwiches" (OK it's possible a kid might eat a tuna fish sandwich, but it's that weird kid who carried his lunch in the brown-paper bag that had a giant grease stain on it), and immediately following are "Some Salmon Sandwiches" and "Lucy's Crabby Sandwiches." So her we have tuna, liverwurst, salmon and crab sandwiches - how many kids are going to go for this? If you don't understand what I'm getting at maybe watching this recent Domino's Pizza commercial will help...

As a kid, I practically lived on peanut butter sandwiches, and so one may think when I got to "Stick-To-The-Roof-Of-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Sandwiches" I'd finally find something I'd like to try, but no, not really...

There's nothing here that improves on a simple plain peanut butter sandwich, or a PB&J. The very fist recipe calls for finely chopped celery and catsup on a PB sandwich. I know of the famous "Ants on a Log" kids snack so I guess that's were the chopped up celery comes from, but catsup? Did Shaggy and Scooby come up with that? Another Shaggy and Scooby-like PB variation was the suggestion of pickle relish. Hmmm, peanut butter and pickle relish - these don't at all seem like two great tastes that taste great together...

Now who the hell walks down the street eating straight out of a jar of peanut butter...

Adventures Of Isabel

2011-11-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Back in September I was searching for something school related to post about, and so I flipped through an elementary school reading book published in 1965 by the Scott, Foresman and Company titled Ventures...

Ventures cover

... I didn't find much, but the illustrations for the poem Adventures Of Isabel by Ogden Nash really caught my attention. They were so fun looking, and the subject matter was sorta scary so I thought it would make for a good Halloween post. Well I never got around to posting this back in October, but since there's good deal of eating in this poem, and November is month for that big turkey feast, this poem is still fitting...

These great illustrations are by Rod Ruth. I hoped to find a wealth of information about Rod at the blog Today's Inspiration. Today's Inspiration celebrates classic illustrators of the 20th century with a comprehensive collection of their work, but there was nothing on Rod Ruth. In fact it looks like Rod Ruth has sorta fallen through the cracks of the vast Internets.

The best source for Rod Ruth illustrations is at a blogger acquaintance of mine - The Haunted Closet. Here you can find Ruth's expert illustrations of monsters and dinosaurs.

Well, with no biographical information available, wherever you are Mr. Ruth, I'd just like to say you're an exceptionally accomplished illustrator, and I admire your work very much.

If you'd like to hear Ogden Nash recite his poem accompanied by the illustrations of Rod Ruth, check out the little video I've made...

Commentary on The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion Animated

2011-11-03T02:27:00.001-04:00

Well Halloween is over, and for those interested here's a quick commentary on my animation of the classic The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion.

Back in 2009 when I made the Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated I used the record cover art by Collin Campbell for the open. At the time I thought it would be cool if the cover art would animate, but the prep work needed to do this was a monumental chore in its self.

So I basically forgot about it for 2 years, but this summer I thought I should finally do it for this Halloween. Early on I thought I would just animate the cover art, but I soon decided I would animate some (not all) of the "Story and Song" art.

Okay now I'll go through the animation one shot at a time...

The cover art was the biggest chore to animate (and a bigger chore to prep), and there over 30 moving characters and elements. Originally I thought I might try to make it 3D, but that was way too difficult. The audio mix was a challenge too. I first thought I might just use the music of the band members and opera singers, but I quickly learned hearing those opera singers for any extended period of time is pretty brutal. I decide to fade the singers out and primarily use the ballroom music which I had used back in 2009 on the concept art animations. At the end of the openwhen the titles appear I brought in a little bit of the title theme from The Haunting (1963).

It's been reported that this movie was influential during the creation of Disney's Haunted Mansion. I also used the spooky look of The Haunting's opening titles (which look very much like the effect used on the type in the above trailer), and ghostly transitions used during the first few minutes of the film where the history of Hill House is told. If you haven't seen the movie, or don't know what I'm talking about you can check it out here if you wish.

I like animating Haunted Mansion art that hasn't been done in real life. That's what appealed to me about animating unused concept art, and it's this philosophy that guided my choices when I animated the "Story and Song."

The first page

Like the above opening page has almost nothing to do with the Haunted Mansion attraction. Sure there's an executioner in the ride, but he is singing in the graveyard and not opening the front door for you. I thought I could use a 3D camera with a short depth of field to get this shot, but it was impossible to get the framing correct so I cheated the look in 2D. It's not perfect, and it's something I wish I had more time to finesse.

Madam Leota

I know Madam Leota is in the attraction, but I animated this art because Collin Campbell staged the seance scene so differently from how it looks in the attraction. I love how lively the room looks here. In recent years the Disney Imagineers have gotten Madam Leota to float in the air, which is a neat trick, but I'd be truly amazed if they could make all the furniture float like it does here.

A wide shot of The Bride

The bride art is not by Collin Campbell. It's by me. Did I fool you? I hoped it looked like Campbell's work, but the talent gap between me and Collin is pretty huge.

I based the look of the Bride after a couple early versions, but mostly this maquette...

I've borrowed this photo from the encyclopedic Haunted Mansion blog Long-Forgotten. HBG2, who owns the blog, is using a Photoshoped photo of the "corpse bride" I did so I don't think he'll mind too much. I know she doesn't look much like an actual bride, but she is a very early version of sorts. For hardcore Mansion fans there's also a couple of "Easter Eggs" in my Bride scene, like the bust on the sideboard and the hanging portrait.

CU of Bride art before animation

Above is a close-up of the original art. You can see the skull face which is something that I experimented with. I though it might look cool if you saw the skull flicker as her heart beat, but I dropped that idea. One idea I did keep was a faint flicker of the artery and veins that surround the heart, but I don't think it's very noticible in the final animation. Also starting with the Bride I tried to make my shots a little more POV (point of view).

Hatbox Ghost

Here we have the most infamous Mansion resident - the Hatbox Ghost. The history of this character is well known by Mansion fans, and so I had to include him. He's been long absent from the Mansion, but the hope is strong among the faithful he'll return one of these days.

Last Page

Lastly we have the escape thru the crypt ending and that crazy alien-like ghost with the yellow eyes. This is where the POV becomes the most obvious (with mixed results). I which I had more time to finesse this shot a little more. I think if I made the shot 3D the POV would work better, but prepping the art for 3D would have taken time which I didn't have.

Well that's it. Thank you for reading this, and thanks to those of you who have left comments. Thanks to Disney for not getting upset with these fan creations of mine. The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion is available on CD, so if you don't have a copy for yourself go get one now. I think this will be my last animated trip into the world of Disney, but rest assured I have ideas for other fun and stupid animation in the future.

Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion Animated

2011-10-31T00:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween folks! This animation basically ate up all my free time this month, so I hope it was worth it...

Please leave a comment, and tell me what you thought. I'll be back in a day or two with a post-mortem on this thing for those that care.

UPDATE: Here's that commentary I promised if you are interested.

Monster Mask Mash-Up

2011-10-30T21:20:00.001-04:00

I'm still alive, just preparing for tomorrows "festivities." In case you still need some ideas on what to wear for Halloween here's some monster mask ads from the 70's and 80's...

Famous Monsters 1976

Leave it to Famous Monsters to have a collection of "classic" monsters, and a nice selection of hands too. I was curious about the adjusted for inflation price on these masks, and so I checked out the CPI Inflation Calculator. The basic cost of these masks are $40, and figures out to $159.50 in 2011 dollars! Kids of the 70's, I guess you saved up your allowances for like 3 years if you bought of these.

With the release of Star Wars comes the Star Wars masks...

Starlog 1978

... and the Star Wars knock-off masks too. I'm a big fan of Spacetrooper and Death Invader.

Starlog 1978

If you bought those Star Wars masks back in 1978 for $39.95 I've got some good news and bad news...

Fangoria 1981

The good news is that in this 1981 ad, Darth Vader is $49.99, and Chewbacca is $64.99. Good move on purchasing early. Although what's with that price jump? Did the cost of fake hair go through the roof in 3 years? Sorry if you bought C-3PO back in 1978, you could have saved five bucks if you simply waited a few years.

Here's some interesting and original masks from Death Studios who are still in business...

Fangoria 1981

I think like the Astroroth the best. The Hell Spawn's "bony finger-like" mouth is a unique design.

Next is a Count Fangor mask. Count Fangor was a comic that ran in the pages of Fangoria for a short while. I don't think he ever caught on, but I guess he was popular enough for his own mask.

Fangoria 1980

Finally here's an ad for the famous (well sorta famous) Halloween III (1982) masks...

Fangoria 1983

These masks are supposedly fetching big prices from collectors today. I'm actually surprised that original "Silver Shamrock" versions even exist. Every rubber mask I had when I was a kid started to rot within about 5 years. If any mask collectors reading this who would like to leave a comment on how you preserve your old masks I'd be interested to hear about it.

This ad also gives me a reason to post this clip...

Hmm, maybe I should have made this post 7 days ago.

The Second Scariest Film Clip in the World

2011-10-21T23:50:00.000-04:00

Here's a follow up to the post I made last October. This is another one of those real life Bigfoot reenactments that left a big impression on me when I was a kid...

Here's a very accurate quote left by joeyvader on YouTube...

It says it took them a couple of hours to get back to sleep...I think it would have taken me more like a couple years to get back to sleep...

Exactly. Who could ever go back to sleep after an experience like that? I was a kid living in the suburbs, and I had a hard time sleeping after watching this. I don't know what I would have done if I was supposed to go camping a day or two after seeing this.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Goblin Shark

2011-10-12T00:50:00.001-04:00

"My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are."
- Newt Aliens (1986)

This thing has been kicking around the 'nets' for a while now, but in case you've missed it let me introduce you to the Goblin Shark. It's a real life creature that seems to have a little bit of Alien DNA...

Cheap Costume Ideas from 1976

2011-10-07T01:48:00.000-04:00

Here's some cheap (and I do mean cheap) Halloween costume (well more like makeup) ideas from Dynamite #20 from 1976. If you were a elementary school kid in the 70's or 80's I'm sure you remember this magazine.

If I was the kid who had to wear the macaroni and Honeycomb cereal glued to my face I'd be pissed (actually he doesn't look too happy). Maybe these ideas would work as a rainy day fun activity, but it would be very embarrassing to try one as a serious Halloween costume.

Also if you read the article they call for "surgical glue" to glue all the stuff onto the kids faces. First I don't know where you would buy surgical glue (the article says the drugstore, but really?), and secondly that sounds like a horrible idea. From what I know surgical glue is very similar to super glue, and super glue isn't an acceptable makeup adhesive. Spirit gum has been used for decades in theater and film to glue things like fake mustaches and beards on actors, and this seems like a much safer adhesive to use for your space alien makeup.

Ultimately let's face the cold hard truth people. These makeups are simply not very good. Now some might say, "Oh but it's fun for kids!" and "This was good for the 1970's." I say no. No it's not. I've seen much better makeups for kids in books from the 70's (maybe I'll do a post on them). Kids would much prefer to learn makeup techniques that look like they come from film or TV. Even if it's something extremely challenging for children to accomplish it would have been better to try something more advanced than this lame "face odyssey."

Alfred Hitchcock's Ghost Stories for Young People

2011-10-03T00:48:00.000-04:00

Here's the cool cover art for the Alfred Hitchcock's Ghost Stories for Young People vinyl LP...

OK I know, that's an easy one to find online, but how about the back...

That's not so easy to find. Now future internet generations (or as long as this blog exists) can see the B&W illustration of a child terrified by a huge ethereal letter from Alfred Hitchcock.

If you would like to listen to this recording you can thank YouTuber, VintageHorrorSounds, for uploading the entire album...

Also the album is available on CD or download at Amazon.

Trick or Treat or Tease

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

It's October, and that means it's time for a month long celebration of Halloween stuff.

If you know this blog, you know not to expect a new post every day or anything extreme like that. I'll certainly be more active this month than in the past, and I'm hoping to have a few posts each week.

The finale for the this month will be a new Halloween animation. I don't want to state explicitly what I'm doing, but if you remember those Disney Haunted Mansion concept art animations I did in 2009, I made a little comment in a post that might give you an idea of what I'm doing. You can hunt for that post if you like a challenge, or simply look at the picture above.

So when finished will this animation be a trick or a treat? Heck I don't even know yet, but for now you get a tease...

It's Educational!

2011-09-14T01:38:00.000-04:00

I wanted to do some sort of back to school themed posts for September. So I looked at a few elementary school text books from the 1940's thru 1970's, but couldn't find anything very interesting or original.

I did think this 1955 cover for a Random House "Allabout" book was kinda fun...

It's about famous scientific expeditions, and the mysterious illustrations make it look like it could be about dinosaurs, mummy's curses, and monstrous creatures of the deep.

Next is a 1970's brochure for the American Museum of Atomic Energy (now called the American Museum of Science and Energy. I blame the name change on Homer Simpson.) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Hmm, I wonder if this means Dick Tracy's 2-way wrist TV was nuclear powered.

Lastly I found this book...

I'll try to get around to reading it sometime. God knows the writing on this blog can use improvement.

Tombstone Junction

2011-08-31T23:28:00.000-04:00

I have one last western themed brochure to share, it's Tombstone Junction in Cumberland Falls, Kentucky. This park was notable for having a full-size operating steam train that ran on a 2½ mile track.

I was a little skeptical of the "See the World's Top Country & Western Stars Perform" claim (see the yellow circle above), but after checking out the Wikipedia entry it seems this was totally true.

When other small parks fold up they usually just quietly go bankrupt, but it sounds like Tombstone Junction went out in a blaze of glory. The place caught fire twice - once in 1989 which caused serious damage, and again sometime around 1991 which was the final coup de grâce for the park. Then according to the wiki entry even the wooden train cars were intentionally burnt to salvage the scrap metal in 1992. Although it's reported the burning cars rolled away uncontrolled and crashed in a flaming heap. I think I might have bought tickets to see that.

Ghost Town in the Sky

2011-08-30T22:16:00.005-04:00

Continuing with the western theme for this month here's a brochure from 1979 for Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. This park has been in bankruptcy for the last few years, and if you care about such matters you can read about the whole mess here.

If you want to see what Ghost Town in the Sky looked like in 2007 (which I think was the last year the park was open) here's a link to a pictorial "TPS Report."

Animated Concept Art from Western River Expedition: The Last Roundup

2011-08-28T15:30:00.009-04:00

Here we go folks with the last of the Western River Expedition concept art animations. I took last week off because I needed to attend to other things which took priority, but it also gave me extra time to think about how to present this final animation.

What we have this time is a collection of Marc Davis's art arranged in a sequence that's basically in order of how they could have been presented if they were in the actual attraction. Let me make it clear, they would not have appeared back-to-back like this. This is simply a progression of selected show scenes.

Since I always like to present Marc's unadulterated art, here's what I've animated...

The "singing" cactus would have appeared early on in the ride...

... and so would the singing cowboy and longhorns.

The drunken Indian and jail escape above would appear somewhere in the middle of the ride in the town of Dry Gulch.

And lastly the masked "banditos" are the final show scene before attraction drops you down a waterfall.

Now let's watch the animation...

The D23 Expo 2011 (a convention hosted by Disney for fans) was last week (August 19 to 21 ), and coincidentally featured a short presentation on Western River Expedition by long time Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter. Tony had just started working at Imagineering when the WRE was being designed, and he is the man responsible for the Big Thunder Mountain Railway. So who better than Tony to give a kind of virtual ride- thru...

Final Comments

Until I saw the Tony Baxter video a couple of days ago I was planing to use this for the primary music...

Do singing cactus sound like chipmunks? I thought it's possible. Although now I don't know if the cactus would have been animated. In the model which Tony showed there's an awful lot of cactus, and that makes me wonder if the cactus were planed to be static figures. There were cactus that looked like humans on Disneyland's Rainbow Caverns Mine Train (later called Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland), and they didn't move. Then again, WRE was supposed to have a animatronic cartoon talking owl named Hoot Gibson (which Tony didn't mention) who was going to be a sorta host/guide - so maybe moving singing cactus would be a part of the ride. Does anyone out there have a solid answer on this?

The big thing that sunk Western River Expedition was it's huge cost, but some un-PC elements didn't help things either. The dunk Indian "talking" to the wooden Indian is a funny gag, but I don't think it would ever had made the cut into the final ride. Although one could make the argument that most of the pirates in POTC are drunk, and certainly many of the cowboys in WRE are drunk too - so the Indian isn't being singled out. Also it looks like some of the art in the D23 had been changed to remove the sombreros from the "banditos" and thus making them simply "bandits" which avoids any more potential un-PC elements.

While Marc Davis is a master of staging, I don't know how the jail escape would work. It's a funny gag on paper or for an animated cartoon, but I don't know if it would "read" in the actual attraction. From the drawing it looks like dirt is flying into the air, and I don't think that would be possible to do. Never the less, I still animated it as I thought it was intended - although the burrowing looks like the way Bugs Bunny sometimes travels. If I was working on WRE I'd suggest the way to stage this gag is to have the mound of dirt already created, and just have the escaping criminal pop his head out of the ground at the end of the burrow. He'd quickly look around, and then go back down.

I got a little artsy/cheesy at the end to illustrate the intended waterfall finale of WRE. I hope you liked it, and I didn't embarrass myself too much.

Stagecoach Stop USA

2011-08-21T16:26:00.007-04:00

Hope this isn't too much of a disappointment for anyone, but I'm taking a little break from the Western River Expedition animation this week.

But in keeping with the western theme this month here's a brochure from the now defunct Stagecoach Stop USA in Irish Hills Michigan...

It's sad that this roadside attraction closed back in 2009. It was a fun place for a family to visit on a quick day trip. Along with the Prehistoric Forest this is another Irish Hills attraction that's a victim of the recent "economic downturn."

Animated Concept Art from Western River Expedition: Horse on the Roof

2011-08-14T16:49:00.006-04:00

Last time I animated a Western River Expedition saloon singer, and this time I'm animating a horse on the saloon porch roof.

There's two variants of the "Horse on the Roof" art I've seen. Here's one that looks like it's at night and has three saloon girls in the foreground.

Mary Blair's interpretation of Marc Davis's "Horse on the Roof"

This version is reportedly done by Mary Blair who was valued by Walt Disney himself for her expert color styling.

Then there's the "daylight" version by Marc Davis, and instead of the saloon girls there's a drunk cowboy and dog.

Marc Davis's "Horse on the Roof" 1968

This above picture is from Jason Surrell's The Disney Mountai ns, and that is a book I happen own. This means I was able to get good scan of the art for once, and this makes animation a lot easier.

Now let's look at the animation...

Closing Comments...

It's been reported that the lighting in load area for Western River Expedition would make it appear as is if the sun was just setting, and so therefore the ride would take place at "night." This makes the coloring of Mary Blair's art much more appropriate. Although if it's night, what are the kid, "Ma" and "Grandma" doing still walking around town? Shouldn't they be getting ready for bed? Aren't there cows to be milked at dawn or something? Am I overthinking this?

Animated Concept Art from Western River Expedition: Saloon Singer

2011-08-07T16:41:00.008-04:00

Western River Expedition at Walt Disney World was planned to be a kind of sequel to the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. The building designed to house WRE was named Thunder Mesa, and themed to look like rocky cliffs and bluffs. Along with WRE, Thunder Mesa was reportedly going to be home to three other attractions - a runaway mine train ride (that idea would eventually become Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), and hiking and pack mule trails winding up the side of cliffs.

Thunder Mesa Art

To ride the Western River Expedition park guests would enter inside Thunder Mesa thru a cave-like passage, and board small boats much like Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. Part of the journey would take them through a western town called Dry Gulch. It's here the guests would witness all types of rowdy cowboy activity. Like a lively scene from the front porch of a saloon...

"Saloon Singer" by Marc Davis

... so now here's this concept art animated to look like audio-animatronics with simulated show lighting...

Closing Comments...

Long time Disney composer Buddy Baker (he did the music for the Haunted Mansion) was supposedly going to write the music for WRE. To the best of my knowledge no WRE music was ever recorded. So for my animation the saloon singer is Tammy Grimes from a 1963 episode of the TV western The Virginian entitled "The Exiles." Here's Tammy's performance if you wish to check it out...

I learned it's really hard to animate a piano player. If I was in charge of programming an animatronic piano man I'd be asking (more like begging) that we use some sort of motion capture to do the job.

Lastly if you want to learn more about Western River Expedition please visit Widen Your World. This was the first place on the internet to seriously document the history of WRE.

The Western River Expedition is Coming

2011-07-30T15:32:00.014-04:00

Howdy to all you folks out there in blog-o-land!

*chirping crickets*

Is anyone still out there?

Well if you are reading this, and you enjoyed those Haunted Mansion concept art animations I did a few years ago I've got something else brewing. I'm animating Marc Davis's art from the never built Western River Expedition.

Marc Davis and a model of a Western River Expedition show scene.

For you people not up on Disney theme park history, Western River Expedition was a epic attraction designed by legendary Disney animator and Imagineer Marc Davis that was originally supposed to be built for the opening of Walt Disney World. Due to many factors the project got pushed back, and then back again, and was eventually abandoned.

That's only brief summery, and so if you want to learn more about the history of Western River Expedition check out this Wikipedia entry which also has a few great links to further WRE content from across the vast interweb.

So anyways to spark your interest for the new animations, here's a little tease of of what's coming in August...

Please leave a comment, and let me know how interested you are in this project. Encouragement can only help in getting these animations completed.

Howe Caverns Brochure

2011-06-21T00:51:00.001-04:00

I think this summer I'll go underground, and by underground I mean as in posting numerous cave brochures (are you out there reading this Todd?).

I've mentioned previously I've collected a lot of cave brochures, and although they don't make for very popular posts I thought I might as well use them up.

So anyway for those that are still reading let's look at Howe Caverns brochure...

If you watched the video above (thanks NetGeo) you saw what the Howe Caverns tour guides wear today (which is basically a nylon windbreaker). But did you notice what the uniform looked like in this retro brochure? Here I'll help you out...

It reminds me of a doorman at some fancy apartment. This was a classic look, and I'm sorry to see it's gone.

I love those "cave models." They make it look like they are the only people in the cave, and they are free to roam as they please (and possibly get married too).

Penn's Cave Brochure

2011-06-09T01:00:00.008-04:00

The brochure's front and back, or vice versa

The authors of the book Roadside America (they also have a swell website too) described Penn's Cave as one of this country's "lazy-man's cave tours" since you ride in a boat throughout the tour.

So if Penn's Cave is "America's only all water cavern" that you "See it by boat" who are those people seen in some of the brochure pictures standing by the cave formations? Are they part of an exclusive unadvertised VIP tour? Or maybe that chick and dude are professional cave formation models who you actually see on the tour.

Penn's Cave has a spooky legend too (see above). If I was the owner I'd add a few special effects enhancements to capitalize on this. It's called showmanship people.

I wasn't going to bother to post this map portion of the brochure, but then I thought what the heck. Here you go all you smartphone users, if you find yourself in the vicinity of Penn's Cave maybe you'll find this map helpful.

The Toy Newspaper

2011-04-26T23:09:00.007-04:00

Whoa, April is almost over and I haven't made a single post this month. Time still flies even when you're not really having fun.

Anyways, in my last post I posted a mock newspaper movie promotion, and now I'm back with another one I've managed to scrounge up.

Here's a mock newspaper promotion for the vaguely raciest 80's comedy The Toy (1982)...

... and as always here's a little something from YouTube.

Capricorn One Newspaper

2011-03-23T00:06:00.006-04:00

Did Capricorn One (1978) help create, or simply add fuel to the fire of those wacky moon landing hoax conspiracies? I don't know the answer to that. In fact I've never seen the movie, but I did find this promotional mock newspaper...

Click to read all about it

If you clicked the image to actually read that thing you noticed that every single article mentions the movie's cast and/or crew. I don't know why they thought they needed to "tip their hand" like that. They should have played it completely straight like it was actual news. I don't think anyone would have mistaken it for a real newspaper since this was on the back...

I think all those listed Metro Detroit movie theaters are all gone now. Well as always here's the trailer...

Police Academy Official Entrance Exam

2011-03-06T23:25:00.004-05:00

In my last post I had a quiz, and now I'm back with an exam.

It's the official entrance exam for the original comedy "classic" Police Academy (1984)...

It's not quite as funny as that Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) mock quiz I posted last time, but hey, where else on the internet are you gonna find this thing.

There's a rumor that a Police Academy 8 is in development, and is supposed to be released in 2012. So mark your calendars, or consider yourself warned.

Anyways, here's the trailer for the original just because...

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

2011-02-16T00:00:00.006-05:00

Here's another magazine pull-out poster promotion I found. This time it's for the Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). It's a mock quiz that's actually pretty funny and cleaver, and it makes me wonder if Steve Martin himself helped with the writing...

Read the story of Detecto-Vision

Finally here's the poster...

... and here's the trailer too!

Best Commercial Ever

2011-01-30T21:12:00.005-05:00

This 1960's commercial by the great Stan Freberg for Banquet Frozen Dinners in my opinion is the best commercial in the world...

I wish I knew the name of the actress who plays Cynthia the housewife. She is absolutely amazing. I can tell you that Stan Freberg is also one of the men doing the voice over on this spot (Stan usually does the V.O. work on his commercials).

FYI: For those who might be wondering, I've had my hands full lately, and probably won't be posting very much for a while. Hope to resume a weekly-ish schedule in a about a month or two.

Cypress Gardens

2011-01-05T00:52:00.005-05:00

Here's a card from the 1970's (I think) for the now defunct Cypress Gardens.

Legoland Florida is scheduled to open sometime in October 2011 on the old Cypress Gardens site. From looking at the tiny map on their Web site it appears the botanical gardens and the ski show are still there. I think it's possible most of what Cypress Gardens was will continue on.

One-One-One One

2011-01-01T22:27:00.005-05:00

Last year I posted the Best Fails of 2009. It was pretty hilarious, and little bit painful to watch. So if you can stand more painful human injury (some of it very painful, yikes!) here we go again with the Fail Compilation 2010...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

... And just for balance here's the Win Compilation 2010 (it's not as funny, but it's pain free).

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Now I've got to figure out what the hell I'm gonna post this year.

Video Toy Chest

2010-12-22T02:39:00.013-05:00

In 1990 the now defunct toy store chain Child World / Children's Palace presented a "Video Toy Chest " or "A Toy Catalog on Videotape." More accurately it was basically a bunch of toy commercials with short entertainment bits performed by a mostly child cast stitched in between each ad.

If you have fond childhood memories of this rarity, and wished you could see it again you're in luck. Just in time for Christmas I've uploaded it to YouTube, and embedded it below. The whole "show" runs about 37 minutes. I don't expect many people would want to sit through the entire program, so as a courtesy I thought I should list all the commercials in the "Toy Chest" so you can try and skip to your favorite toy (or skip it all together).

Here's are a list of the commercials you'll see in part 1: Children's Palace, Dance Magic Barbie, Disney Huglight Mickey, Disney Activity Gym, Hot Wheels Sto 'N Go, Lil Miss Magic Hair, Magic Nursery Baby, McGruff the Crime Dog PSA, Lanky Doodle, Motor Mouth, Bo Jackson Electronic Baseball/Football, Double Dragon II Electronic Game, Noteability, Game Talk Tiger's Baseball All Stars, Bubble Bears

Still with me? Here's the ads in part 2: Huffy Sonic 6, Fisher-Price Magic Vac, Fisher-Price Rocker Pony, Fisher-Price Post Office, Fisher-Price Pop-Up Playhouse, Fisher-Price Kitchen, Fisher-Price Super Wagon, Fisher-Price Fire Pumper, Tyco Typhoon Hovercraft, Quints, Bongo Congo, My Pretty Ballerina, Spy Tech, Bases Loaded II Second Season Nintendo Game, Playskool Flat Folks, Playskool Express, Mall Madness

We're almost done, here are the commercials in part 3: Captain Skyhawk Nintendo Game, Cabal Nintendo Game, Matchbox Carousel Collection, Matchbox Motorcity Sounds of Service Garage, Play-Doh Dinner, Acclaim Double Player Wireless Controllers, Double Dragon II Nintendo Game, Back to the Future II & III Nintendo Game, 90 Second Shoot Out, Teddy Ruxpin, Disney Little Boppers, Hush Little Baby, Girl Talk, Crayola Kits

So without any further delay, let's take a look back at the toys of 1990...

Alright I admit it, when it comes to cool commercial collections what we have here is quantity over quality.

Although maybe you're not into the whole retro commercial deal. I can dig it. So how about that Toy Television Network? The production while a bit cheesy and dated is pretty well done don't you think? The writing could be a lot sharper, and some of the stuff the cast has to do is a little cringe worthy today (and probability back in the day too).

Speaking of the cast let's take a look at where some of them are now...

Jerry Lobozzo in 1990 and today

Besides the poor woman trapped in that storybook costume, the only other adult actor is Jerry Lobozzo. Time as been very kind to Jerry. He still looks basically the same, and still has that hair! I wonder if Jerry ever wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with nightmares of playing Robo-T. (Robo-T? Was he supposed to be an an actual robot?) Anyway besides acting, Jerry is a very talented voice actor who has worked on many television cartoons. Jerry has an official site of his own right here.

J.D. Daniels in 1990, and in B&W today

J.D. Daniels played the part of the director who was conveniently named J.D. too. J.D. is remembered for his work in The Mighty Ducks in 1992, but you can see he already had that bossy tough guy act down pat here. I'm happy to report J.D. seems to be a well adjusted adult, who is still acting, and can take a handsome B&W headshot. Check out his FaceBook page for more on what he's been up to.

Joey Shea in 1990, and today

Thankfully at the start of "Video Toy Chest" J.D. turned to a fellow child actor and said, "Ready Joey?" This made it easy to I.D. Joey Shea. Over the years Joey has worked on a couple of soap operas, but checking the IMDb there hasn't been anything listed since 2007. Also Joey has a MySpace page that's currently looking sorta abandoned. I assume he's doing OK, and with looks like that life can't be treating Joey too badly. Actually it's interesting to note that Joey had a reoccurring role on the PBS kids show Ghostwriter because...

Sheldon Turnipseed in 1990, and on Ghostwriter in 1995

In 1995 Sheldon Turnipseed became a lead actor on Ghostwriter. Two people from this "Video Toy Chest" thing became actors on Ghostwriter - what are the chances? It looks like Sheldon left acting after working on Ghostwriter. Today he is supposedly a naval officer and has changed his name. I don't understand the name change. I think Sheldon Turnipseed was an awesome name.

A cute Lacey Chabert in 1990, and a extremely hot Lacey
on the cover of Maxim in 2007

Arguably the most famous person from the "Video Toy Chest" is Lacey Chabert. She might still be best know for her work on FOX's Party of Five, but she has kept herself very busy with an extensive list of credits on her IMDb page. Yes Lacey certainly has grown up. Good lord, has she ever grown up.

The Most Disorganized Toy Store in Movie History

2010-12-12T00:40:00.004-05:00

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) is notorious for the uproar it caused when released. Groups like the PTA were a appalled at the notion of a killer dressed as Santa Claus.

Actually the idea of a killer Santa Claus wasn't new. More than a decade earlier a segment of Tales From The Crypt (1972) features a psycho Santa terrorizing Joan Collins, and nobody freaked out. Well maybe someone did, but it wasn't the stink that Silent Night, Deadly Night created.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about killer Santas, I'm here to talk about the most messed up toy store ever filmed. A major section of Silent Night, Deadly Night takes place at a quaint little store named IRA'S TOYS...

That's one depressing looking toy store

The reported budget for Silent Night, Deadly Night is well under one million dollars. It's obvious the set decorator had little money to work with, and no doubt they were on a very tight time schedule too. So under these difficult circumstances how successful were they at creating a convincing toy store? Let's take a look around, and see what we find.

As first glance I think the above pic might look like the toy store's storage room with all those random brown cardboard boxes (and throughout the store too), but it's not. Just for the record this is the stock room...

Now back to the retail space...

At Ira's they conveniently pre-inflate the inflatable pool toys for you. Also it helps to fill all that shelf space.

Although it's Christmas time, at Ira's they still have the Halloween costumes on display. Actually I assume they keep them up year-around.

There's some famous characters here. I can see Batman, Spider-Man, a couple of Mickey Mouse masks...

... and G.I. Joe - who gets a prominent shot.

It's also Easter time at Ira's Toys, or at least I always associate these insane looking inflatable rabbits with Easter.

It's Poochi! You know, for girls.

They pre-assemble the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads at Ira's. That's unique customer service.

If you're looking for Jabba the Hutt you're in luck. Ira's is well stocked on this item, but you better hurry if you want that Patrol Dewback. Hey where are the Star Wars action figures?

If you look closely, you can see the figures tucked away on the right.

Want to purchase the game Twister? Try checking behind the Smurf puzzle. Also note the partially hidden Popeye the Movie board game.

This is an interesting shot for the curious way this store is organized. There's the Mouse Trap games on the top self, assorted preschool toys below, and a Habitrail set for your pet hamster on the upper left .

Please forgive the actor's awkward pose, but this is the bottom shelf of where the Star Wars toys are located. Here you'll find the Monroe Dollhouse Kit and the Motorific Torture Track which is a toy from the 1960's...

I thought I noticed something else in that last shot, it's the Krull board game on the lower left.

For such a small and disorganized store Ira's has its own Santa Claus "meet 'n greet" that's reasonably elaborate. This is something only malls and big city department stores usually have.

Well I could go on and on, but why beat a dead reindeer. I'll conclude this post with this wide shot of Ira's Toys. See if you can spot your favorite toy among the clutter, or feel free to make your own snarky comment.

Oh wait, it's a He-Man and Battle Cat kite! And a possible spoiler, sorry if you looked.

A Change of Seasons

2010-12-02T23:34:00.013-05:00

It's that time of year again, and that means it's time for the holiday classic A Change of Seasons (1980).

A CHANGE OF SEASONS: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Lang

Man, I love it when TNT plays this movie for 24 hours straight starting on Christmas Eve... OK, I'm teasing.

I don't think anyone even thinks about this film anymore. Not even the people who made it.

In 1980 this was a "big" holiday movie for 20th Century-Fox. I'm not kidding, take a look at this pull-out poster promotion which was published in national magazines...

Oh hey, it's a naked and wet Bo Derek. Now that she's caught our eye, let's turn the page and see what else we can find...

No more Bo, but we now have Anthony Hopkins and Shirley MacLaine in bed. This is all sorta like a comic book version of the trailer.

On the third page is more of the cast, and more of the "lover" talk. Wow that word is way overused here. Do people even use that word much anymore? I think it makes everything sound rather dated.

Just to be complete here's the last page which has a short bio on the principle actors...

Finally let's open this thing up and take a look at the poster...

It's a fun poster with an all naked cast, and a cartoon-ish leering bear rug and moose head wearing a Santa hat. This movie looks like a wacky sex comedy.

The poster art is by Robert Tanenbaum, and this is one of the last movie posters he worked on before moving on to other things.

Maybe Robert just gave up working on movie posters in disgust because his poster art wasn't officially used for this film. If you visited a movie theater 30 years ago this was the poster you saw for A Change of Seasons.

It's no longer the wacky comedy, but something more sexy and sophisticated. The marketing people took a shot from the infamous "hot tub scene," and replaced the leering bear and moose with a pic of a leering Shirley MacLaine.

It's not as fun as the illustrated poster, but at least it was better then this budget tri-color poster. I don't know exactly what's going on with composition here, but they sure want you to know Bo Derek is in this film - she's pictured on this poster three times...

Here's the provocative Swedish poster which uses a more risque "hot tub scene" picture, and a pair of illustrated disembodied human legs engaged in some kind of adult activity. According to the Google Translator the title reads "talk about left-rustling" whatever that means...

A Change of Seasons is available on DVD, and the cover art is very conservative and uninspired. The hot tub pic is colorized and placed in the background, and thee photos of stars placed prominently in the foreground. Also it now looks like a very autumn-like movie to me...

Lastly here's A Change of Seasons poster from Turkey? India? I have no idea...

That artist is no Robert Tanenbaum, and that image of Bo is not from this film either. It's from one of Bo's many sexy photo shoots...

Well this concludes my most steamy blog post ever, and just in time to kick of the jolly holiday season too.

Merry Christmas fellas.

Variations on a Thanksgiving Theme

2010-11-25T15:40:00.010-05:00

Norman Rockwell's iconic "Thanksgiving Painting" titled Freedom from Want appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943. This was Rockwell's third installment of his famous Four Freedoms series.

Now with that bit of history out of the way, what was the first Freedom from Want parody?

I have no idea, maybe you can tell me, but there sure are a lot of them. When I saw someone post one of these parodies earlier today I thought I might try my hand at compiling a list of as many of these parodies I could find.

Although I quickly learned compiling a list of Rockwell parodies is nothing new. Other bloggers have beaten me to the punch, here on November 27, 2008, and here on November 24, 2008. So now here in 2010, I'm not only a copy-cat, but also rather late. Well imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and hopefully I can at least bring a little something new to the party.

MAD Magazine is famous for their parodies so we might as well start with them...

It looks like The Simpsons invited Barny to their Thanksgiving dinner, and told Selma to stay home. I'd guess this picture comes from one of the Simpsons calenders.

A DC Comic superhero Thanksgiving was depicted on the #54 issue of JSA.

Marvel Comics gets in on the act too with the Fantastic Four's ~~Thanksgiving~~ Christmas dinner.

This might be a good time to show something from talented comic book artist Joe Phillips. When he's not working for DC Comics Joe likes to draw hot young men who enjoy hanging out with other hot young men. Joe gets extra bonus points for adding ham and wine to the dinner table. Also I'm a Frank Lloyd Wright fan so I can appreciate the dining room remodeling as well...

From Disney it's the happiest Thanksgiving dinner table on earth. Although who the heck invited Br'er Bear? Isn't he sorta a villain? Oh well it's the holidays, and he's not truly evil...

And since the Muppets are a part of the Disney Company here's their Turkey Day dinner, but that ain't no turkey. It looks way under done, and probably tastes like felt and foam rubber.

I didn't want to include any non-professional or home-made works in this list (there are a lot of people out there who've done their own family photo recreations), but these next two are very good.

This next one I assume was published somewhere, but who knows. This seems like a excellent illustration for a article about non-traditional family holidays. Also is that bacon on that turkey?

Now here's someone who has Photoshoped Freedom from Want to depict a redneck Thanksgiving. It's pretty genius work even if granny's cleavage looks a little wonky. Well I guess she's not a spring chicken any longer.

Lastly here's a picture I had in mind when I decided to do this post in the first place. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid, but I thought I remembered a punk rock Rockwell parody on the cover of the National Lampoon. Luckily I was able to find that cover, but it's not really a parody of Freedom from Want. Still it's a funny and extremely well done illustration.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Koogle Conundrum

2010-11-23T16:09:00.007-05:00

And so another small piece of the great Koogle puzzle falls into place with this post.

What the heck is Koogle you might ask?

Koogle was a flavored peanut butter manufactured in the 1970's by Kraft Foods. Let's take a look at the commercial...

In researching this post I couldn't find anyone on Internet who actually liked this stuff. It seems this was the type of product you begged your mother to buy, and then once you tried it you didn't want it ever again.

Koogle was featured in the fun book Krazy Kids' Food co-authored by personal Internet acquaintance Dan Goodsell.

Buy the Book!

On page 158 is a picture of a vacuum formed store display of the Kooglenut monster and page 159 is a jar of the chocolate flavored Koogle.

There's a lost commercial featuring the Kooglenut monster that would be sure swell to see. Hopefully a resourceful YouTuber will upload it one day.

Anyways here's my addition to the Koogle Internet Archives - a scan from the lid of a jar of Vanilla Koogle.

Check out those ingredients

Partially hardened vegetable oils must be 1970's speak for partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Sugar and dextrose is technically the same thing - so this is like Sugar². This stuff must have tasted sickeningly sweet.

Sandwich Bodybag

2010-11-18T18:37:00.008-05:00

Most of my posts are usually about some old ~~crap~~ stuff I've happened to stumble cross, but this post is different. This is about something currently in stores now.

Recently I wanted sandwich bags at a good value, and so what better choice than Value Choice Sandwich Bags. At $1.09 for a box of 150 bags that's less than a penny per bag. What a great deal!

At that price who cares about package designs, but as an added bonus I got this unique "sandwich man" cartoon printed on the box.

I'm sure "sandwich man" is perfectly happy wrapped in plastic. He's just relaxing and keeping fresh until it's time to be eaten. "Sandwich man" probably feels a lot like how another once popular cartoon mascot felt about being consumed by humans...

I never understood why Charlie the Tuna was so determined to be caught and taken to the cannery where he'd be gutted, butchered, cooked, chopped-up and packed into cans of Star-Kist Tuna. Maybe the ocean is a depressing place to live. I guess Sebastian the Crab was lying when he sang about how great it was to be "Under the Sea."

Anyway if you look at the bottom of the box you can learn about many other uses for these fine sandwich bags, and the company who manufactures these bags...

The Nash Finch Company are the makers of this and may other quality products sold at independent grocery stores across this country.

It looks like this package was designed in 2002. Who knows how long this package design will last, but for any future redesigns I hope they keep "sandwich man" alive. Or something like that.

Hardee's Ghostbusters II Poster

2010-11-13T17:59:00.009-05:00

Although this post is titled "Hardee's Ghostbusters II Poster," I'm technically not going to show the actual poster.

Say what? That's crazy talk.

Seriously, the poster is nothing special. It's simply the Ghosterbusters II logo. What might be more interesting, or quasi-interesting, is the other stuff printed on the poster.

In 1989 Hardee's was the "Official Ghostbusters Headquarters" as you can see from the "cover" of their collector poster below...

Probably the most memorable part of Hardee's Ghostbusters II promotion was the recall of the "Ghostblasters" electronic noisemaker due to the fact some children were swallowing the batteries. I have a couple of those noisemakers tucked away somewhere, and after all these years have somehow managed to keep from swallowing the delicious batteries myself.

Anyways, when you open the collector poster you a vague - make that a very, very vague description of Ghostbusters II with a list of the returning stars...

... the "back" has virtually nothing on it.

This poster was given away for free, and had three different food coupons at the bottom.

Only 39¢ for a cone? That's a deal! Today, these old coupons might be the most interesting thing about this poster.

UNCANNY COINCIDENCE UPDATE: Just as I published this post, "Quint" over at Ain't It Cool News conveniently posted a behind the scenes photo from Ghostbusters II. Click here to check it out. This happily makes this lame-ish post a little less lame.

Star Wars Funmeal

2010-11-06T23:23:00.006-04:00

Here are two Burger Chef Star Wars Funmeal packages from 1978 for your viewing pleasure. The Funmeals didn't come with a toy, but the packages are printed with punch-out vehicles that you could put together.

First is Luke's Landspeeder...

... and don't forget the parts on the bottom of the package.

Next is next the X-Wing Fighter...

... and the bottom.

Burger Chef's mascots were the Burger Chef and his young protege Jeff. On the vintage tray liner below Burger Chef explains to Jeff how the salad was invented...

Gee, who knew primitive cave people were dumber than rabbits. How did the human race ever survive?

To close this post here's a Burger Chef commercial featuring Burger Chef and Jeff and their new "Works" and salad bar.

Halloween Horror Double Feature

2010-10-31T15:48:00.003-04:00

For Halloween let's have a "Horror Double Feature" with a couple of movies by some hometown boys (well, my hometown) who made good.

Here's an article about Evil Dead (1983) by the Detroit Free Press from May 3, 1983...

Please click to enlarge if you wish to read (I probably didn't need to say that)

... now let's jump to April 10, 1987 for another Detroit Free Press article, but this time it's about Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987). As an added bonus the movie review is also included...

If you were some of those lucky collectors out there maybe you picked up one of these cute, but rare Evil Dead Haunted Cabin toys back in the day...

The Wasp Woman Animated Poster

2010-10-30T15:00:00.004-04:00

I wanted to animate this poster for The Wasp Woman (1959) for two reasons - first, if you check out the trailer below, the actual wasp woman in the movie looks nothing like how she appears on the poster...

... and secondly, this is practically the only time a man is the "victim" in posters like these. Enjoy...

A Scary Tale From Novi

2010-10-27T22:04:00.003-04:00

This short video from 2001 was the last "creative" production I made for local government access television...

I had super high hopes to make this into a special half-hour show, but it never got off the ground. Former Novi Police Chief Lee Begole had done a show years earlier called Scary Tales From Novi where he simply recounted various local ghost stories and mysterious tales. I thought it would be great to reenact some of those stories for a new show.

I tried to get other city production staff excited by the idea because this was too big to do on my own, but unfortunately nobody really shared my enthusiasm. Even getting this modest little short completed was a chore.

I don't know what it was, but nothing seemed to go smoothly. It's always hard to get actors together for free, and this time I also needed someone with an old car. I wanted to actually show police officers searching the weeds and finding the graves stones, but I couldn't find costumes that looked like 1950's police uniforms. When it came time to do the BW grave stone shots I couldn't property use my tripod due to a missing mounting plate. I remember feeling that this project was cursed.

In the end it turned out OK. Although I think my narration kinda sounds like Criswell from Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958). I don't remember if that was intentional or not.

Music Videos from Hell: Part 3

2010-10-26T21:57:00.006-04:00

Now it's time for my last scary music video post. These posts have been so exceptionally popular that Vh1 has contacted me, and I've agreed to turn them into a series of specials. Please look for Music Videos from Hell right after Lindsay Lohan's new reality show WTF Am I Doing to my Life? airing sometime in 2011.

Anyway let's look at a scary video now. In Between Days by The Cure is another one of those videos that's accidentally creepy. The song is very happy, but the trippy florescent makeup is spooky. I don't know what the stop-motion socks are all about.

Let's jump from 1985, to the present day and take a look at Kids by MGMT. This video is a depiction of a small child's nightmare. I'm sure the band has gotten some sharp criticism for apparently terrifying a toddler thru nearly the entire video. (FYI: the actual song starts about 1 minute in)

I'm pretty sure the kid is OK, and wasn't traumatized by the experience in the slightest. Although those monsters were nothing compared to the horrendous futuristic wardrobe the band wears. Silver clothing is so unflattering.

Well I've save the scariest video for last. So if your nerves can take it, brace yourself for the most frightening music video ever...

I don't blame you if you had to look away. The horror... the horror...

The Killer Shrews Animated Poster

2010-10-25T01:47:00.004-04:00

The Killer Shrews is a ultra super low budget horror film from 1959 that's surprisingly about giant mutated killer shrews. Let's look at the trailer...

The shrews are mostly played by dogs dressed in what looks like burlap and discarded hula skirts. There's also a puppet sometimes, but neither the puppet or dogs look much like shrews. So for my animation I've used actual shrew art...

The Troubled Town of Woodsboro

2010-10-23T20:49:00.010-04:00

Maybe you heard about this since it's gotten a lot of press over the years.

The town of Woodsboro was the unfortunate home of a series of horrible murders in 1996, 1997 and 2000.

I just happened to visit the tragic town this past summer. Although Woodsboro is in California - nearly 2000 miles from where I live, the trip felt as close as my own hometown or maybe the town next to mine. Weird.

Anyway, as you can see from these banners, Woodsboro has an active arts community...

... and if read the center banner, Woodsboro is "Hometown America" not "Stabbing Town America."

For some reason the Woodsboro Police Station was a popular tourist spot. Parents were taking pictures of their children in front of the station. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the murders because that's kinda ghoulish.

Well, with last murders happening 10 years ago I think it's safe to say the town of Woodsboro can put those ugly events behind them, and look towards a bright and psychopathic murder free future.

Sir K. Daver's Mortuary Theater

2010-10-20T22:45:00.004-04:00

Yes it's time for another Channel 12 holiday promo (you can check out my Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentine's promos if you'd like to see more)...

I remember thinking this was an epic production way back when. I made the candelabras, the gravestones, Lover's Lane sign and a cobweb machine (which I explained how to make here). Today you can buy a fog machine at the corner drugstore for about $19.99, but back then they were a bit more rare. I borrowed mine from the local fire department. Did it all turn out perfect? No, but I was pretty satisfied with the results.

Dennis Moylan played the faux horror movie host Sir K. Daver. Looking back, I'm thinking I should have given Dennis some sort of ghoulish makeup to wear to make him look cadaverous.

Bob Hamlin, (who played the Pilgrim in my Thanksgiving promo) played the Zombie. Bob Zimmerman and Sue Duminsky play the high school lovers. Bob and Sue had never met before the shoot, and I forced them to kiss on camera. I still feel kinda dirty about it to this day.

Original Pin the Fangs on the Vampire?

2010-10-20T01:03:00.004-04:00

Here's a scary poster from the June 1975 issue of Dynamite magazine...

This psychedelic image of Christopher Lee from the Horror of Dracula (1958) wasn't just something you were supposed to stare at with your black light on, nope it was part of a party game. It's a monster variation of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" called "Pin the Fangs on the Vampire."

A quick Google search has informed me that this game is still being played - particularly if you're planning a vampire themed party. Athough I think at today's parties the image of Dracula is being replaced with one of Edward Cullen.

The Beast With a Million Eyes Animated Poster

2010-10-16T18:21:00.007-04:00

The Beast With a Million Eyes is a movie from 1955 about an alien entity taking over the minds of earth creatures. Check out the movie clips below...

Supposedly, the alien was never going to be a shown on screen, but that changed after the movie was screened for exhibitors who demanded to see a monster. Heck, there's a monster on the movie's poster after all. So with very little money to work with the job went to the talented Paul Blaisdell. Blaisdell who designed an articulated puppet which looked nothing like the creature in the poster art.

The "Beast" from The Beast With a Million Eyes

Blaisdell went on to create some very iconic low-budget movie monsters like the She Creature and the Saucer Men. Anyways, people who went to see The Beast With a Million Eyes never saw the monster on the poster in action until now...

I took some shorts cuts with this animation. For example I don't have the time to animate each tentacle on the creature's face. Since the woman was wearing sexy lingerie suitable for the bedroom, I thought I'd start her off sleeping. She and the monster are in some sort of vague abstract environment (is that fog, sand or snow at the bottom?) so maybe she's still dreaming.

Revenge of the Creature in 3D

2010-10-15T22:08:00.003-04:00

Last year I ran a series of posts about 3D glasses. Most of the 3D glasses I have were from TV promotions, and here's a flier for one such promotion - Revenge of the Creature...

Farmer Jack was a once popular, but now defunct Metro Detroit based supermarket chain. I can't find a single Farmer Jack commercial on YouTube, but someone called Skiz316 has uploaded the entire Farmer Jack jingle...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 2

2010-10-13T00:58:00.006-04:00

It's time for another one of my very popular "scary" music video posts that have become the talk of the Internets...

Jeopardy by the Greg Kihn Band was released March of 1983 according to Wiki. The Wiki also says Michael Jackson's Thriller video was released December 2, 1983. If this is correct it's interesting to note that Greg Kihn came out with a zombie music video 10 months before Michael. Michael went on to became a music superstar, and this was Greg Kihn's only #1 hit. Maybe if the zombies in Jeopardy had the dance skills of the Thriller zombies things might have been different.

Also Jeopardy is a true music video - it was actually shot on video...

Now here's a video that's a little more current, Back Against The Wall by Cage The Elephant isn't trying to overtly scary like Jeopardy. It's just plain creepy, but it's also one of my favorite songs released this year...

Do those ugly garden gnomes look familiar to anyone? I think they resemble the scary little creatures from the 70's TV movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (TV 1973)

Monster Bulletin Board

2010-10-10T20:58:00.005-04:00

Hey look it's another one of those posters from the Scholastic book order things you got back in elementary school. I blogged about a Real Fake Wacky Packages Poster a couple of years ago, now just in time for Halloween I present a "funny" Monster Bulletin Board poster from 1978...

Hmm, those "Marian Sunglasses " were ahead of their time...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 1

2010-10-04T18:14:00.016-04:00

For some Halloween fun, I was thinking about taking a look at some scary music videos.

Sometimes they are intentionally "scary" like Michel Jackson's Thriller directed by John Landis, but other times I think the scariness was unintentional. I'll be showcasing both kinds of music videos this month.

The Aphex Twin video for Come to Daddy directed by Chris Cunningham is intentionally scary. Very aggressively scary, and according to the Wiki, "The music video was positioned number 35 in 100 Greatest Scary Moments, as voted by Channel 4 viewers in 2003."

Okay if you've never seen it, brace yourself for some seriously messed up stuff...

Man that's unpleasant to watch, but it's also genius. Chris Cunningham is a master at creating disturbing imagery. Check out his Rubber Johnny short for more of his expertly crafted grotesque weirdness.

Next is a video that I don't think was intended to be scary, but it is. Can your nerves withstand Bonnie Tyler and Total Eclipse of the Heart directed by Russell Mulcahy...

Wow there's everything but the kitchen sink this this video. It's so over the top you could write a dissertation on the underlying themes and symbolism.

Anyway as the video starts it's candles, slow-mo doves, and silk fabric blowing around. You may think it's just going to be some boring video filled with artsy romanticism, but then at the 45 second mark a school boy walks though the door with glowing green eyes. What the hell?

After the guy with the glowing green eyes there's so much other crap going on by the end of the video you practically forgot about him. Then wham! You get hit with the "Boys Choir of the Damned" who not only have the scary glowing eyes, but one boy even levitates.

I'm not sure the makers of this video were aware of how scary this stuff was. I think they were going for something more stylized than scary, but they unintentionally created a nightmare. Seriously what's scarier - the glowing eyed ghost pirates from John Carpenter's The Fog, a R rated horror film that was released around the same time as the music video...

John Carpenter's The Fog

... or the possessed boys choir from Total Eclipse of the Heart?

I don't know about you, but for sheer creepiness the ghost pirates ain't got nothing on that boys choir.

Makeover Leftover

2010-10-02T15:23:00.004-04:00

When I was redesigning my blog for the Halloween season I planned to have a animated gif as my profile picture.

You know what? You can't use a animated gif as your profile picture. Well you can use an animated gif, but it will not animate.

You see this is what I wanted. Oh, well at least I got to use it someway.

The Scariest Film Clip in the World

2010-10-01T00:51:00.008-04:00

Hey it's October, and time for a month long celebration of scary stuff until we reach the big day ol' day of Halloween.

In all honesty I don't know what the hell I'm going to post this month. I really have nothing planed so I assume we'll both be surprised together. Okay let's get going because the suspense is killing me.

I guess we'll kick off the month with what might very well be the scariest film clip in the world. I watched this film on TV at a young age, and this scene kept me awake at night for weeks...

Terrifying right? I lived in a very suburban neighborhood, with only a few small wooded areas here and there, but I was certain there was a very good possibility that Bigfoot could smash his hairy arm through my bedroom window one night. I was a kid who loved watching monster movies of all kinds, and never had a problem when it was Hollywood make-believe, but this damn thing was another story - it was supposedly real!

This film is one of Sun Classic's "great" documentaries The Mysterious Monsters (1976) and it's available on DVD. If I had children I'd buy this film, and show it around Halloween time for a good scare. I'm pretty sure today's modern internet kids with their iPads, Wii's and 8-Track tape players would still freak out at this stuff.

Boo!

Mammoth Cave Brochure

2010-09-22T00:50:00.006-04:00

I love caves, and have a large collection of cave brochures from across the country. I'd gladly use them in posts more often, but the previous times I've posted something cave related it's always one of my least popular pages.

Since there doesn't seem to be much interest in caves, I'm not going to bother posting every page from this Mammoth Cave National Park brochure...

That cover looks dated, like something from the 1950's, but it's not. Well I'm sure the brochure was originally designed in the late 50's, but this cover was still used into the 1980's.

Actually it's kinda cool I think, also they probably used this cover because of the classic thriller that was filmed at Mammoth Cave...

The movie Mammoth! (1956) was made by the same team that created Niagara (1953) three years earlier. It's a movie that's not very well known even by movie buffs. It's not too bad, and anything with Peter Lorre is always worth a look. Add it to your Netflix queue, and be sure to let me know how you liked it.

Strange Change Machine

2010-09-14T23:00:00.004-04:00

So that was a fun summer... let's see if I can get this blog back on track now.

In the late 60's the mighty Mattel toy company introduced the "Strange Change Machine" which was a fun little toy that was basically an electric hot plate with a plastic dome on top. You could heat up special little plastic cubes which unfolded into monsters and dinosaurs.

Check out the awesome commercial...

Man, I love that narrator and groovy science fictiony music. Indulge me while we watch the "extended dance mix" of the same commercial (but unfortunately worse video quality)...

Anyway, there are a lot of sites out on the vast interweb if you wish to know more about this toy, but what those sites don't have are big clear scans of Strange Change Machine instructions...

... and on the flip-side of the instructions, a full-color "landscape map" of The Lost World.

I shall return... hopefully

2010-08-20T19:03:00.002-04:00

For anyone who may be wondering what's going on, I haven't died (well, not yet). Life has been extra crazy for me lately (and not in a good kinda crazy), but I'll try to return to my semi-weekly posting schedule once things settle down.

Thanks.

What's the deal with the audio on the Studio Canal logo?

2010-07-16T21:23:00.005-04:00

Is the sound designer a mad genius, or was this odd sound mix a "happy accident" as Bob Ross might have said?

Happy 4th from 1976

2010-07-04T13:05:00.005-04:00

Here's the Sears summer catalog from our country's bicentennial year. How much patriotic red, white and blue type of stuff is in there? Not as much as you might think...

There's some red, white and blue polyester & cotton pants outfits.

The red, white and blue Chuck Taylor knockoff in the center of the page catches your eye, but it's those shoes on the bottom of the page that you need for the summer of '76...

It's 1776 Casual for Men and Big Boys.

If you quickly flipped by this page of "novelty print knit tops" you would have missed the biggest patriotic item in this catalog...

It's a George Washington tee shirt.

It's very possible this red, white and blue playground equipment was always manufactured in this color and has nothing to do with the bicentennial, but I'm gonna take what I can get. Also I'm wondering if those merry-go-rounds are still being sold. I never had one, but it seems like a product that could cause a great deal of injury.

More Rock City

2010-06-23T02:13:00.005-04:00

Here's a retro brochure for Rock City. Above is either the front/back, or the back/front.

This page of the brochure touts the Rock City Restaurant - "The Restaurant Built Around a Rock." I'm not sure if this restaurant is still operating. If anyone reading this knows if this restaurant is still in business please leave a comment.

Above is the exact same brochure, but with a different type face for "Rock City." Nothing that interesting, just being a completest.

Your Guide Through Rock City

2010-06-16T01:20:00.009-04:00

This is guide to Rock City from the 1970's, but the layout looks like it was designed in the 1950's. I assume they got a lot mileage out of this guide, and updated the individual pictures when necessary. For example the family in #5 "Goblins Underpass" is less modern looking than the happen'n 1970's ladies in #10 "See Seven States."

If you'd like to learn more about Rock City, Jill over at Jill's Quirky Landmarks has nice little writeup, and a wonderful a picture post of her 10 year wedding anniversary at Rock City. Wow Jill, I sure hope your husband appreciates a wife who's dream is trip to Rock City.

Anyway this guide was also a multitasker. After you were done using it you were urged to use it as a postcard to send to a friend.

Chicks & Gators

2010-06-02T01:52:00.009-04:00

There was a "Moment of Zen" on an episode of The Daily Show years ago that featured a smiling young couple at a zoo (which appeared to be somewhere in Asia) tossing live chicks into the mouths of hungry crocodiles. The next day the producer of The Daily Show gave an apology (a sorta funny apology) to all the horrified viewers that complained.

Well I don't have any video of chicks being fed to crocodiles (hope you're not too disappointed), but I do happen to have two brochures inspired by this event...

According to Google, there is no information on the Internets about the now defunct Chicken Little Museum in Sterling, MI. I don't know what happened, maybe the sky fell down on it, but it looked like "a fun place to stop."

And who could resist that clip-art of the crazy clown, or that cheeky eye-catching text, "A PEEP show of Chicks" on the front of the brochure?

The inside of this brochure is full of text describing the museum. The final paragraph says the admission was only $1.00 (50¢ for ages 3 to 12). Wow that's CHEAP, cheap, cheap (get it? I don't know why I'm not working on Madison Ave.).
On the back of the brochure are testimonials from people who visited the Chicken Little Museum. I like how the first testimonial states it was "kept very clean." That's good to know those baby chicks weren't being kept in squalor.

And now on to the gators at the Everglades Alligator Farm in Homestead, FL...

I find it interesting how the juxtaposition of the speeding air boat and the group of gators makes it look like the boat is going to clobber the gators.

Well I guess if you're going to visit an alligator farm you might as well visit one were you can take a fun air boat ride thru the Everglades too. Also I'm very happy to report the Everglades Alligator Farm is still in business.

Check out their video...

Newspaper Movie Guide 1980

2010-05-26T01:52:00.021-04:00

I found a newspaper from June 6, 1980, and one of the things I always think is fun to do when looking at an old paper is checking out what was playing at the movies back then.

You may have heard that it's the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, but were you also aware of another classic movie which opened 30 years ago...

Did you happen to notice "With Mel Gibson" near the bottom of the ad? That's probably the last time Mel was buried in the credits like this. Check out the trailer which uses the "With Mel Gibson" credit too...

Next there's this low-budget slasher movie that has a title that sounds like it could be an anti-abortion documentary to me...

And the Silent Scream trailer...

Now here's a film that has gone by a number of different titles. The original title is Snapshot, but was retitled when released on video as The Day Before Halloween, or The Night After Halloween. To further confuse things the name of this film in the 1980 newspaper ad is...

I love that ad copy, "Don't open the door... Don't answer the phone... Don't look in the attic... " - all of which just happens to be titles of other horror movies. One More Minute looks like a pretty intense slasher film, but according to YouTube film reviewer, SlasherIndex it's anything but...

Two years earlier in 1978 National Lampoon's Animal House was a huge hit, and a flood of imitators followed. Not to be out done, MAD Magazine presented their first (and only) motion picture with MAD Magazine Presents Up The Academy...

MAD Magazine artist Jack Rickard illustrated the poster, and that's practically the only thing MAD had to do with this film. Oh yeah, a live action Alfred E. Neuman makes a quick cameo too...

That "Alfred" mask is either funny or terrifying depending on your sensibilities. Anyways, the film was a flop, and fellow blogger, Frank, at Franklin Mint Blog does excellent job of documenting the whole mess. (You can also download the soundtrack at his blog too!)

Well, here's the TV commercial...

It's an interesting coincidence that another "Animal House-like" movie opened on June 6, 1980, with poster art by Jack Davis who just happens to be another MAD Magazine artist...

The full-color poster has slightly different art and a totally different tag line...

And finally a TV commercial for this forgotten comedy...

Weeki Wachee

2010-05-19T01:04:00.004-04:00

Let's take the plunge into another retro brochure collection. This time it's that classic mermaid attraction Florida's Weeki Wachee...

The two images above are from a card that I believe dates from the early 1970's.

The brochure below is from 1978...

I'm assuming the picture of the girl with torpedo-like underwater scooter was intended to be the front, and the "shark girl" was on the back of the brochure - but it could go either way. Maybe with the popularity of Jaws "shark girl" was placed in the racks facing up.

If you look closely at these brochures you''l see that Weeki Wachee was once owned by ABC Leisure Attractions - which was a subsidiarity of the American Broadcasting Company. Weeki Wachee is no longer owned by a private company, and is now a state park.

Supergrass made a music video for their song "Low C" which plays like a mini Weeki Wachee documentary. Check it out...

AutoWorld

2010-05-12T01:10:00.006-04:00

Well here's the brochure for the infamous Six Flags AutoWorld in Flint, MI. It's a little controversial, and was featured in documentaries made by a well-known portly provocateur (you're smart, I'm sure you know who I'm talking about).

There's been a lot of speculation on AutoWorld's failure. I think the basic reason it failed was because it was simply a bad idea. The automobile theme was too limiting to support an elaborate indoor "family entertainment center." Even in Michigan, where major car companies are headquartered, and tens of thousands of people make their living from the auto industry there weren't enough people interested in visiting AutoWorld to support the place.

Oh look the brochure folds out into a "fun map" to help you plan your visit...

It's funny how the back of the AutoWorld brochure urges to "Plan your visit soon!" Yeah, you better have since it lasted less than 2 years.

It's time to say goodbye to AutoWorld!

Mystery Fun House

2010-05-06T23:49:00.006-04:00

Here's a 1990's brochure for Mystery Fun House in Orlando, FL. It was the attraction notable for a large fiberglass wizard on the front of the building. Mystery Fun House operated from 1976 through 2001, and was located virtually across the street from the Universal Orlando Resort.

It's interesting to note, that in a little over a month, Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando will be the home to a certain very popular boy wizard. So now that wizard who use to hang out at Mystery Fun House can... Umm... Yeah, I got nothing. I thought I was going somewhere with this setup, but I got nothing. Please enjoy the rest of this brochure for this defunct attraction.

I just finished a box of Handi-Wrap from 1974!

2010-04-28T01:05:00.007-04:00

I usually don't talk about my personal life on this blog, but I just finished a box of Handi-Wrap from 1974.

In the picture above if you look closely at the small print on the lower left you can see I'm not kidding - "1974 The Dow Chemical Company Indianapolis Indiana."

How this box come into my possession is not remarkable, but it was given to me un-opened about seven years ago. I didn't realize it was that old until after I opened it and found that it had lost all its power to cling.

Anyways it looks like Handi-Wrap is no longer manufactured, and even if it was I doubt many boxes from 1974 are still around. So as a public service, I present a historical artifact for the enrichment of peoples of the Internet. Maybe someone studying package design from the 1970's, or a art director from That 70's Show (yeah, I know it's been canceled, but let's just go with it for now) who has to dress a grocery store set will find this post useful.

front

bottom

side

And just for good measure here's a Handi-Wrap commercial...

So what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village?

2010-04-21T01:01:00.012-04:00

Back in 1983 I was on a family vacation in Florida, and my parents were visiting some friends who lived in Clearwater, FL. One sunny afternoon our Clearwater friends took us to the Boatyard Shopping Village. Here's a postcard I just found while looking through some old junk.

Click to enlarge, or don't

Look, here's another Boatyard Shopping Village postcard I found online.

The Boatyard Shopping Village was a full of specialty shops and a few restaurants themed to look like an old timey fishing village. It sorta reminded me of Sweethaven from that live action Popeye movie. Well that is a less detailed Sweethaven, and one made out of rusting sheet metal.

Hey those Popeye sets are still standing! Imagine that!

Anywho, here's the back of the post card where you can read the official description for the Boatyard Shopping Village.

So now here's the mystery - what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village? As you can see from the Google satellite image below, it appears that all traces of the Boatyard Shopping Village have been thoroughly removed.

View Larger Map

Also except for the postcards I've found, I can't find any other evidence that this place ever existed. I thought the place was reasonably cool when I visited as a kid. Didn't anyone else? I thought for sure I'd find someone reminiscing about the Boatyard Shopping Village on some obscure message board.

This place is more mysterious than Brigadoon.

Prehistoric Forest

2010-04-14T18:58:00.006-04:00

Since my last post was super boring I thought my next post should be extra exciting, and what's more exciting than dinosaurs.

This is a low budget brochure for Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills, Michigan, and Prehistoric Forest was a dinosaur attraction filled with low budget fiberglass dinos.

Although it must be said that these were well done low budget fiberglass dinos, and at least when I visited everything was well maintained and freshly painted. Besides the dinos, there were other odd things to see at Prehistoric Forest like that "burning spring" thing pictured on the upper right above. I can remember asking my father how fire could be bubbling out of the water like that. Yeah kids can be so naive, but then again I was 23 when I asked this. Thank you folks, I'll be here all week!

Since the pictures in this brochure were all B&W I wanted to include some color photos my father took when this attraction was in its prime. Unfortunately I could only find one (I'll update this post if any other pix turn up).

This is the "Neanderthal Man" and if you noticed he looks like he had a makeover compared to the brochure picture.

You should have guessed by my use of past tense that Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills is now defunct. According to a report online it closed in 1999. Thanks to YouTuber mortuarygirl1 you can see how Prehistoric Forest looked in 2009.

Personal Money Management 1962

2010-04-07T01:45:00.004-04:00

Hey it's tax time, and no better time than now to learn a little "personal money management." Well actually you're not going to learn anything from this post, and you're not going to be very entertained either to be honest.

Personal Money Management is a 58 page booklet that was printed by The American Bankers Association in 1962. The booklet is pretty dry, but there are a few illustrations that are "quasi-interesting."

I guess this last one is the "funniest" illustration in the booklet. I wasn't alive in 1962 so what do I know, but that cash register looks comically over-sized to me.

Coral Castle and Wongo

2010-04-01T01:11:00.006-04:00

Here's a 1980's brochure for that mysterious monument called the Coral Castle...

Did you happen to notice that little box on the front of the brochure?

I don't know why they didn't list the classic fifties motion picture The Wild Women of Wongo (1958) also since the Coral Castle was featured prominently in the film. Surely "Wongo" would be a bigger draw than You Asked For It. Check out this super sexy clip...

After you've seen a small glimpse of the wonders of Wongo, you are now powerless to resist watching the whole damn movie which I have thoughtfully embedded below...

Call of the Wild

2010-03-19T01:02:00.004-04:00

Hey it's a new post! It's a new post for the Call of the Wild Museum in Gaylord, Michigan...

If you look closely at the bottom of the cover of this 1974 brochure you'll notice it's "'Pokey's' nap time." I'll let you in on a little secret if you haven't guessed - it's always "Pokey's" nap time because "Pokey" is stuffed.

The Call of the Wild is a museum of stuffed animal displays, and when you really think about it seeing stuffed animals in a museum display are just as good as seeing live animals at the zoo. Right? I mean whenever I go to the zoo a lot of the animals just sorta lay there and do nothing, so that they might as well be stuffed.

An entire side of the brochure is devoted to a map of the state of Michigan. You won't have an excuse if you should ever get lost in the Great Lake State if you have this brochure in you possession.

I'm happy to report that the Call of the Wild is still in business, and you can visit their site if you click here.

Monster Love

2010-02-18T22:49:00.010-05:00

Because Valentine's Day was less than a week ago, I thought I'd try some sort of romantically themed post. So how about something romantic, but with monsters, or what passes as romance with monsters. Monsters usually aren't the candlelit dinners and walks on the beach types.

Check out this fun page from National Lampoon Presents Peekers and Other True Facts (1982) called Carried Away by Bill Moseley which featured 10 photos of movie monsters carrying off woman.

Click image to MONSTER-SIZE it!

Movie monsters today don't seem to be carrying off the ladies like they use too. Maybe modern monsters have to go through some sort of sensitively training.

Anyway there are a ton of these "monster carrying woman" shots as you might have guessed, and after quickly leafing through my personal collection of horror movie books I've come up with a few more...

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920

As you can see this monster carrying off a woman goes way back to the silent era with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Man Made Monster 1941

I love old horror movie trailers, and to make this post more exciting (thanks all you busy YouTubers) I've included a few trailers. Now you can see the monster carrying a woman action if you watch the trailer for The Atomic Monster, aka Man Made Monster...

Robot Monster 1953

From Hell It Came 1953

Here's a trailer for From Hell It Came hosted by film director Joe Dante...

The Alligator People 1959

I know this picture above doesn't show a woman being carried away. It's only a struggle now, but I assume it's a moment before the alligator man carries the woman away. Maybe I should watch The Alligator People sometime to find out.

Beach Girls and the Monster 1965

The above picture seems to only be a publicity photo. Judging from the trailer below the monster in the Beach Girls and the Monster only attacks the girls...

It! (aka Curse of the Golem ) 1967

The Horror of Frankenstein 1970

Yeah "Frankie" is no longer carrying the woman, but I had to include this second shot from The Horror of Frankenstein for obvious reasons.

You're welcome fellas. (FUN FACT: That's David "Darth Vader" Prowse as the Creature.)

Now that you've seen those pictures, and if you watch the trailer below, maybe you'll be like me and wonder why they didn't feature this actress and her gravity defying breasts more prominently in the trailer (look fast at the 1:36 mark). It could only have helped ticket sales.

Dracula vs. Frankenstein 1971

This mush faced creature has to be the ugliest Frankenstein monster ever, and Dracula is kinda unconventional looking too if you view the trailer below...

Movie posters also prominently feature this iconic image...

Captive Wild Woman 1943

This movie is confusing. Is it a about a mad scientist who turns a girl into a ape, or is it about girl who has a psychic bond with animals? Whatever it's about, it doesn't look like any gorillas are carrying away women from what's in the trailer below...

Invasion of the Saucer Men 1957

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1965

"See the kidnapping of the Earth maidens for the love starved slaves of a sterile planet!" shouts the announcer in the trailer below. (FUN FACT: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is also known as Mars Attacks Puerto Rico. Which is a damn good title too if you ask me.)

Robots also got in on the carrying away women act too (the "Ro-Man" from Robot Monster doesn't really count as a robot because I think he's more monster than machine)

The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951

Gort does carry Patrica Neal in The Day The Earth Stood Still, but that isn't Patrica depicted on the poster. If you check out the trailer you'll see a quick shot of Gort carrying Patricia...

Forbidden Planet 1956

Robby the Robot never carries anyone in Forbidden Planet, but it still makes for a cool looking poster.

Demon Seed 1977

Just for the edification those budding movie buffs out there, with all these robots walking away with hot women in their arms, the first time a machine actually impregnates a woman is in the Demon Seed.

Giant insects (or arachnids if you're gonna get technical) get the ladies too (well, at least on the posters).

Tarantula! 1955

Missile to the Moon 1958

The giant moon spider in Missile to the Moon is twice the playa his earthbound cousin is.

The Wasp Woman 1959

Since turnabout is fair play here's one poster where the guy is getting carried away. But this scene only happens on the poster, and the poster artist takes great liberties on what the "wasp woman" actually looks like as you can see from the trailer below...

Valentine's Day in 2012

2010-02-13T13:35:00.004-05:00

Here we go again with a blast from my past.

It's another Channel 12 holiday promo (you can check out my Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter promos if you'd like to see more)...

Looking beyond the shaky video quality, I think it's still pretty entertaining. Maybe you noticed how the areas on the left and bottom edge of the set were visible, but back in the day because of the bezels that surrounded old television picture tubes that was never visible like it is now.

Stars Hall of Fame: Brochure #3

2010-01-30T01:38:00.007-05:00

Here's one last Stars Hall of Fame brochure...

Stars Hall of Fame: Brochure #2

2010-01-13T23:23:00.002-05:00

Hey folks, we're back at the Stars Hall of Fame in Orlando, FL with with another retro-brochure. "Where Dreams Come True" is the big theme of this brochure along with photographs depicting "wacky" tourists reacting (or lusting) over the attraction's wax figures.

YUL!!! Mr. Brynner is featured so prominently it makes me wonder if this was because of some sort of marketing research. "Gentleman, our exhaustive cross-generational surveys tell us that people are 73.6% more likely to visit your wax museum if the brochure prominently features Yul Brynner dressed as his famous role from the King And I."

Super gigantic fold-out with the Fonz right in the center.

This time they don't list the admission prices, but do mention the parking is free.