Turkey Day Surprise

Here we go again with a moldy oldie from my past.

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




This was one of my favorite holiday promos, and I was rather proud on how it all turned out.

It has good production value for something made for under ten bucks. Thanks to my mom for making the wonderful Pilgrim costume with almost nothing to work with. Also thanks to my actor, Bob Hamlin, (wherever you are today) for being a great Pilgrim.

About the only thing I wish I had, and it bothered me at the time was a blunderbuss for the Pilgrim's rifle (or as I liked to call it the "Uncle Fester rifle").

Also it would have been nice to have a big fake anvil to use instead of the "ye ciment blok." Some people have pointed out to me that it's misspelled. Yes I know that, it's intentionally misspelled. This was supposed to be a time before Noah Webster, and standardized spelling.

Dutch Pantry

Here's a boring post for you all. A brochure for the now defunct Dutch Pantry restaurant chain.

I don't think I ever ate at one, but for some reason I happen to have the brochure so for the edification of future generations here you go...



Oh wait, I even have a restaurant directory too. It's "Where Food Makes Friends" don't cha know...


From what I've read online the Dutch Pantry was similar to a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The interior pictures on the cover of the brochure sure look a lot like the inside of a Cracker Barrel.

Maybe it's just me and my juvenile sense of humor, but didn't people make fun of the restaurant name? Would jokesters ask the waitress about the dutch oven in the Dutch Pantry? If there were Dutch Pantry restaurants near where I live I know I would probably call them the Dutch Panty among friends.

Since I didn't have any sort of firsthand experience with a Dutch Pantry I looked to see what the internet had to say, and found this entertaining conversation on a message board. Thank you "pacman" and "Michael H." for the lively exchange...


pacman
Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 3:10 PM ( #1 )

Does anyone out there a) remember this place b) know if any still exist. The chain originally began as a single restaurant in Selinsgrove, Pa. They eventually branched out and ( I guess ) franchised and got quite widespread. Last I heard they were part of some other holding corporation and were run out of offices in Chicago. There was one operating up to about a year or so ago in Danville, Pa next to I-80, but, the property was sold and the new owner changed the name, but, kept the decor and menu pretty much as it always was.

Any info appreciated,
Dan

Michael H.
RE: Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 3:16 PM ( #2 )

Oh, boy, I sure do remember the Dutch Pantry. It was a great place to go if you wanted to get something you didn't order, enjoyed not being able to get a second cup of coffee, hated being given a check so you could leave, and loved not finding anyone manning the cash register. Oh, and I almost forgot, if overflowing commodes and urinals were fun the various Dutch Pantry places I've been in, including the one in Danville, Pa., the one in Cambridge, Ohio, and the one near Mansfield, Ohio, were the places to visit.

pacman
RE: Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 3:26 PM ( #3 )

Good Grief,
How could one person have so many BAD experiances at the same place. More to the point, if you found this to be such an AWFUL place, why did you keep going there?

As far as commodes and urinals, I have seen plumbing back up in some very nice places. As far as the service you recieved, maybe, your actions/attitude to the servers showed the same sarcastic tone you used in this reply.

Michael H.
RE: Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 3:54 PM ( #4 )

I didn't keep going there. In Danville, the only other places that were open were a Best Western motel restaurant that was almost nice enough to be called vile and the always less than pleasing Day's Inn restaurant. In Cambridge, there was the Dutch Pantry and a Western Pancake House. The Mansfield stop was just a mistake. As to the service I received being related to my actions and/or attitude -- nope. Oh, and I was not being sarcastic. I was merely telling the truth. Apparently, you do not care for the truth. You asked for information. You asked whether anyone remembered the place. When yoou got what you asked for you didn't like it. Too bad!

pacman
RE: Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 4:15 PM ( #5 )

I guess we seem to have a misunderstanding. It is not that I object to hearing a bad opinion of a place. We can't all like the exact same things in life. However, I am rather amazed that you were in 3 Dutch Pantry's and they were all shi**y. I live in Northumberland, PA which is about 10 miles from the Danville location. Over the years I have eaten there several times and never had any of the experiances you mention. There was also one in Sunbury, PA and Selinsgrove, PA these were closest to me and I ate in them all. They were all fine, but, not by any means perfect (matter of fact, no place is perfect). There were also locations in Williamsport, Lock Haven and State College, PA that were close to me when I was growing up. Having eaten in them all, I found them to be generaly clean, friendly places to eat. I am sorry if you had poor experiances and wish you could have eaten there when they were still in their "hay-day".

Anyway, if you know of any that are still open, I am curious to know about them or any other info people have on the place.

Michael H.
RE: Anybody remember the Dutch Pantry - Thu, 12/9/04 4:19 PM ( #6 )

I don't know of any that are still open. And I just remembered that the Country Kitchen in Danville was crowded with a long line of folks waiting for seats, and that's why we ended up at the Dutch Pantry there. I always liked that Country Kitchen. I suppose one of the reasons I liked it was because they didn't spell it Kountry Kitchen.

And finally, here's a well done and amazingly encyclopedic page that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Dutch Pantry but were afraid to ask.

Kellogg's Factory Tour

In a time before corporate espionage, and excessive OSHA regulations (or so I'm told) there once was a popular factory tour of America's favorite breakfast cereal company...


Here's full color pamphlet to tell you all you wanted to know about the Kellogg's corporation, and the most important meal of the day...










I took the factory tour when I was a kid. I don't remember much about it, but we all had to wear paper hats since we were entering a factory were a food product was being manufactured.

Yes that is a hat.

Parts of the factory were so noisy the hostess would point to a poster explaining what was going on. After the tour was over we were each given a Kellogg's Cereal Variety Pak. For the kids, they also had a selection of "cereal toys" (you know, the cheap old fashioned plastic toy you'd find at the bottom of the cereal box) to fill your pockets with.

The factory tours ended in 1986. If anyone out there remembers taking the tour, and would like to add your 2 cents please leave a comment.

Kapok Tree Inn Brochure

I thought for the month of November I'd try to focus on food related posts - you know, it's sorta a Thanksgiving thing.

I visited the Kapok Tree Inn restaurant in Clearwater, FL when I was about six years old. My parents were visiting friends in Clearwater, and this is were they took us to eat dinner. I don't remember the food, and to be honest, I probably didn't eat much anyway. I was a notoriously finicky eater as a kid.

But the Kapok Tree was more than a fancy restaurant, there was also a fancy garden to explore which had fancy fountains - and this is what I do remember.



Sadly the Kapok Tree Inn is no longer in business. Although the buildings and gardens still exist and are rented out for special events.

If you'd like to see more of the Kapok Tree and learn about its history, there is a very well done fan site called Ben's Tribute To Clearwater's Fabled Kapok Tree Restaurant which I highly recommend.

Happy Halloween... I'm exhausted

Hey gang it's finally Halloween, and I'm exhausted.

Although I didn't participate in the whole official Halloween Countdown thing it sure felt like I did. Sadly I wanted to do one last Haunted Mansion animation for Halloween, but I just didn't have the time. It was going to be my most elaborate one too, but I'm putting it on the back burner for now. Don't worry, I'll have it completed one of these days.

Well I guess I should give you something for your Trick-or-Treat bag... Oh look, I've got a box of Universal Studios Monster Cookies from 1998 for you!

Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: Graveyard Ghosts and Witches

The reason I wanted to animate this unused concept art by Marc Davis was because it features witches, and you won't find witches anywhere in the Haunted Mansion.

Marc Davis drew a couple of early concept sketches with witches in them - before it was decided to strictly stick to the ghosts. Also the ghosts in this sketch look nothing like the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion either.

Although it's interesting that the Caretaker and his dog look virtually the same as they do in the final attraction.

OK here's the animation made to move as if it actually was a scene in the Haunted Mansion...



Additional comments...

There's not much more to say really. I originally wanted to use a little of the theme music to Disney's Wonderful World of Color for when the sketch turns from B&W to color, but it didn't work with the other audio.

Revenge of the Travel Brochures from the Darkside Part 4: Stars Hall of Fame

I've got a few different brochures from the Stars Hall of Fame in Orlando, Florida, and I promise to post them in their entirety one day soon. But just for Halloween I wanted to spotlight a specific feature of this now defunct wax museum.


This brochure is from 1982, and the Stars Hall of Fame had invested in a $1.2 million expansion. You can see for yourself some of the new offerings this expansion brought, but I think you'll agree the coolest is Vincent Price's Monster Manor.

I had hoped someone out there in Internet Land had posted some pictures of Monster Manor, but the only picture I could find was from a Florida newspaper...

The above artists rendering is from the May 6, 1982 edition of the Ledger, and yeah, Monster Manor did sorta look like that I guess. You see, dear reader, I personally experienced the "magical, mysterious, maze-like Monster Manor."

Unfortunately I was young, and don't remember much about it.

I was reading the brochure description, and I don't remember any of that stuff. I don't remember the Wolfman, talking or moving walls, or ghosts. There were creepy and eerie noises, if you consider a thunderstorm creepy and eerie. It looked like a spooky castle on inside with maybe a dozen horror movie scenes depicted in wax. I remember there was that scene from The Exorcist where Regan's head spins around. As for "Jeckyll becomes Hyde, as if by magic, right before your eyes!", well there might have been some Pepper's ghost illusion I guess. There was a scene (I want to say it was from The Fly ) where an actor (or more accurately a teenager making minimum wage) pretended to be a wax figure, and would suddenly jump at you. It's sad that my clearest memory is of some fat guy tourist near the exit who'd shout "boo" to people as they walked by him. What a jerk. Me and my mother went through the Monster Manor alone (my father had gone through ahead of us. My father was an impatient man, and would walk way ahead of the family all the time), and we didn't need any random weirdos getting in on the action.

If anyone reading this personally experienced Vincent Price's Monster Manor, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you remember.