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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 MADMagazine 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...
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.
