Here's something I picked up from somewhere - it's the American version (but printed in England) of the Dinky catalog for 1976. I never owned a Dinky toy, but I did admire some of their very well-made die cast toys.
Above are the first two pages of the Dinky catalog. I think it's interesting they're featuring the science fiction toys so prominently in 1976. This was a full year before Star Wars made its debut.
The next two pages are sci-fi vehicles from TV shows I had never heard of. I assume British kids where much more familiar with Gerry Anderson's work.
Heck, I only recently heard about Gerry's live-action series UFO...
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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
For my last Monster Monday I've departed further from the original drawing than ever before. I don't know if that's a good thing.
I made the drawing above some time in middle school, and I remember I was trying to draw something super scary. This time it was a sinister shrouded ghost with glowing red eyes. Hooded ghosts are a dime a dozen, and even back then I was attempting to make my ghost different. I intentionally stretched the proportions of the neck (maybe I was influenced by E.T.), and gave the ghost an X-ray look with a visible skeleton. I don't think I was very satisfied with what I drew since I didn't complete the drawing. Also the little doodle in the bottom left is sorta mocking the ghost.
For my 2009 update, I wanted to get as far away from the cliche shrouded ghost as possible. So I made the ghost an alien. I liked the stretched out neck of the original, and that works for an alien. The bony appearance works too, and I got to indulge my six pack abs fetish (after countless hours of doing ab exercises, I've only manged to get something like a 2.5 pack in real life unfortunately) by giving my alien an unearthly set of abs. I then thought what's the scariest thing that supposedly "real" aliens do to people... You know what I'm talking about, so I don't need to tell what the device he's holding is used for. The vague S&M leather gear getup I gave my alien works for this aspect as well.
I'm going to do something a little different this time. For my past Haunted Mansion animations I've tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original artist's intentions, but this time I'm going to do my own armchair Imagineering.
You'll notice the above concept art of a woman trapped in a mirror looks rather aged and old. When I discovered this sketch floating in the boundless realm of the Internets I assumed it was from the 1960's. To my surprise, it's from 1995 and is supposedly part of some proposed HM enhancements (thanks again to GRD999 for this info).
This woman/ghost trapped in the mirror gag was to be placed in the Corridor of Doors. For those who don't know, The Corridor of Doors is one of the scarier places in the Mansion. This is the section of the ride where you travel past a series of doors - each with a seemingly very noisy and angry spirit pounding on the other side.
This gag would work similarly to the mirror gag with the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Although I assume the figure of the woman would be a reasonably sophisticated Audio-Animatronic. My guess is she would look like she's pounding on the glass, move her head, eyes and blink. I also think she'd probably talk or scream. There is an up-light lighting her from below. I assume this would dim up and down to reveal the figure.
Although this gag was never installed in the Haunted Mansion, I think it's a good idea.
Now there's a unwritten rule in the Haunted Mansion that says you cannot see the ghosts until you pass Madame Leota, who through her incantations allow the spirits to materialize. I respect that. Therefore if I was in charge of doing a ghost in the mirror gag for the Haunted Mansion I would do it differently.
Having an actual figure behind the glass, while certainly effective, it's probably much too literal. I think you if you show a ghost in the mirror, it must remain blurry and undefined. Also with the advancements in flat panel HD displays, I would probably dress a monitor to look like a mirror. I also think you could have some sort of mirrored glass on the monitor too that would reflect when the ghost is not visible too (I don't know for sure if this practical. I haven't done any R&D on this so don't hold me to it).
So enough with the set-up, here's my animation...
Additional comments...
This effect isn't perfect, but it's very close to how I would do the effect if I was actually designing this for the Haunted Mansion. It's certainly a very good first draft of the proposed effect.
Just in case there's some rabid HM fan out there reading this who wants to debate why this effect is not appropriate, or some other sort of nonsense. Remember I am not an Imagineer, or work for Disney in anyway. This effect is NOT going in the Haunted Mansion. This is just for fun. This is my sandbox to play in, and so if you're upset you can take your Tonka trucks and go home.
It's unfortunate that this retro brochure for Castle Dracula in Niagara Falls, Ontario doesn't use any actual photographs of the attraction. If you Google "Castle Dracula Niagara Falls" use can see it's actually fairly impressive looking (at least from the outside).
Inside
Back
UPDATE: I've just discovered that the artwork for this brochure was lifted from a 1973 issue of the House of Mystery. Check out this post over at The Haunted Closet. Looks like you're busted Castle Dracula people.
The drawing above I made when I was in junior high. It was my attempt to make something extremely scary. I think I was inspired by the film Poltergeist, even though that movie isn't known for its monsters, there is that one scene near the end with the ghostly creature in the hallway.
Poltergeist 1982
My take on this creature this was to make it extra gross looking with rat-like hair and diseased looking skin. Drawing my new version of this monster was sorta a nightmare. I started with a much more dynamic pose, but that was a headache to draw so I changed it at the last minute to look more like the original drawing.
If you're a Haunted Mansion fan maybe you've always wondered where the kitchen is. I remember when I was a child thinking it might be cool to see a haunted kitchen scene. It wasn't until recently when I found the above art on the Internet that I learn there were actual ideas for a haunted kitchen scene.
The art is once again from the talented and very prolific Marc Davis, and the text at the bottom of his drawing reads:
Invisible ghost cooks meal. Footprints move around floor. Handle on teakettle raises up to position, teakettle pours into pot. Steam rises. Spoon stirs pot. Oven opens, lid on roaster raises. Steam comes from roaster. Voice of ghost happily hums and recites recipe.
Well enough of the setup here's the animation...
Additional comments...
One issue with a long show scene like this is it's very possible you could ride the attraction multiple times without seeing it all. Although that would sure encourage repeat rides...
EXT. DISNEYLAND -DAY
Three Haunted Mansion fans discuss their favorite ride.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN#1 The part where the kettle floats up and pours into the pot is pretty cool.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #2 Wait, the kettle floats? I've only seen the oven door open.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #3 What are you guys talking about. The water pump is only thing I've ever seen going on in that scene.
I guess if this scene was actually in the Mansion most of us would have to wait for a YouTube video from some guy who got stuck in front of the kitchen scene and was able to record the entire sequence to eventually see all of it.
A very special thanks to my friend Bob Biestek who did the great job on the 3D kettle for me, and who even made the lid jump up and down.
Also I'd like to thank GRD999 over on MiceChat for helping me identity the artist of the artwork.
It's time for some real life monsters with the this retro brochure for the Criminals Hall of Fame Wax Museum in Niagara Falls, Canada...
Front
Inside
Lots of scary folks inside here, and they even got Spider-Man on display with the rest of the human scum too. Somewhere J. Jonah Jameson is happy.
Back
From what the Internet tells me, unlike most of the old travel brochures I present here, the Criminals Hall of Fame Wax Museum is still in business. So why don't you stop in and visit the next time you're at Niagara Falls honeymooning, or going over the Falls in a barrel, or whatever.
Time again for another of my "then and now" monster drawings...
I made the drawing above sometime around the 8th grade. I remember I started drawing the redheaded guy with the intent of making some sort of goofy Alfred E. Neuman-like character. I didn't like what I drew, and left him half-finished. A short time later I drew the monster behind him to eat him up.
Looking back at this old drawing I like the subtle line of action on the monster has, and I also think he sorta looks like a Muppet.
It's funny, for my 2009 update I still don't like the redheaded guy. I think his design could be better, and his construction is a little wonky too. I'm glad there's another big monster behind him ready to eat him up.
Hey all you fans of the Disney Parks Haunted Mansion, I've got something fun to show you I think.
As part of my Halloween celebration, I got the idea to animate some of the unused concept art to see how that scene might look if it was actually installed in the Haunted Mansion.
For Marc Davis' s concept art of the "Tiger Hunter" I animated it two different ways: First, I animated the art only, and made to move like it was an animatronic scene. Secondly, I animated a crude simulated ride through as if you were in your "doombuggies" complete with sound and lighting effects. Check it out...
Some additional thoughts and comments...
I wish I had the time to fully animate the classic "Story and Song" cover art for my opening titles. It would have looked cool, but that would also be a lot of work to prep that art for animation. Maybe next year.
Marc Davis was a genius at staging a scene. Everything reads so clearly. I hope I managed to come close to what he was envisioning. All the tiger heads on the wall are drawn differently, and so I animated them each in different ways.
Audio for my simulated ride through was challenging. If anyone out there reading this has a good sound effect for a laughing tiger I would love to hear it because I couldn't find anything suitable. Although losing the laughing effect was probably for the best since the sound for that scene was getting pretty full. I basically only used the growling, hiccuping and the hunter's ranting (which I turned way, way down). I dumped the bone crunching, panting, and laughing (which wasn't good anyway) because I found it all to be just too much noise.
After you enjoy your day at Walt Disney World, head to Downtown Orlando to have the culottes scared off you at the Anthony Perkins endorsed Terror on Church Street.
Wait a minute, this just in... Terror on Church Street is no longer in operation. Sorry about that folks.
Well please enjoy the graphically cool Terror on Church Street brochure.
The company that produced Terror on Church Street is based in Spain, and still operates haunted attractions in various countries. Check out their site if you dare.
Here's something I picked up from somewhere - it's the American version (but printed in England) of the Dinky catalog for 1976. I never owned a Dinky toy, but I did admire some of their very well-made die cast toys.
Above are the first two pages of the Dinky catalog. I think it's interesting they're featuring the science fiction toys so prominently in 1976. This was a full year before Star Wars made its debut.
The next two pages are sci-fi vehicles from TV shows I had never heard of. I assume British kids where much more familiar with Gerry Anderson's work.
