More Groucho Cocktail Napkins: Part 2

It's time for part two of More Groucho Cocktail Napkins...

Confederama

The summer is winding down, and since this is still vacation season I thought maybe I'd post some old travel brochures this month just in case anyone reading would like a last minute travel idea.

Well, this technically isn't a brochure for Confederama - it's a card, and technically "Confederama" doesn't even exist anymore. Sorry about that.

Confederama was located near Lookout Mountain home of the popular tourist attractions Rock City and Ruby Falls. The front of the brochure card urged travelers to "See Condederama first" and how knowing the history of the mountain would make your trip more enjoyable. As a young boy my family visited both Rock City and Ruby Falls, but skipped Confederama. I wonder how much more enjoyment we missed out on?

If you would like to see the wonders of the Confederama electric map you're in luck because it's still around. The Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map & Museum is now the name of the new home for Confederama electric map.

More Groucho Cocktail Napkins: Part 1

So way back on June 16, 2008, a time when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth, I posted a sampling of "That's Me Groucho" cocktail napkins. These novelty napkins from 1954 feature a different cartoon on each napkin.

A dear, dear reader named Kelly on April 22, 2009 asked if I could post some more of these napkins, and I'm more than happy to share the remaining napkins I have.

I only have nine remaining napkins, and I thought I'd divide them up into three separate posts. So here we go with part one of More Groucho Cocktail Napkins...

The Mystery Photo

I found this photo the other day.

It was in an envelope from WLW.

The envelope was addressed to my mother, and although there is no date on the photo or envelope I believe it was mailed in the early 1950's.

There is a woman on the left side of the photo holding a microphone that reads "50 Club."

I believe I have identified the woman. She is Ruth Lyons, and she hosted a show called "50 Club" (which later became the "50/50 Club") on WLW. The show was named for number of people in the studio audience each day.

Why my mother had this photo mailed to her is a mystery. My mother never lived in Cincinnati, and therefore I believe didn't listen to the "50 Club" (unless the show was broadcast in Detroit too). The best reason I can think of why my mother had this photo mailed is she might have personally known someone on the stage.

Whatever the reason, the photo has good deal of retro charm. People back in the day dressed so well, and seem to have so much more personality than folks today.

Like this guy who I call "Mr. Pinky" (hopefully you'll get the movie reference). I think he must be a broadcaster too.

Then there's this very smart looking woman. She's so glamorous, and must be a local celebrity of some kind.


These boys are amusing too. Each one is such a distinct character, and could have stared in their own 50's sitcom. From left to right you got the socially inept Brainiac, the precocious and popular Rich Kid, the Comedy Relief , and inquisitive and mischievous Junior.

Well if anyone reading this would like add their own 2 cents, or know the people in this photograph please leave a comment.

3D Finale

OK people it's time to wrap up this month long trip in the third dimension with a final 3D glasses blow out.

These very patriotic looking 3D glasses are probably my oldest pair, and they're from a local TV broadcast of Gorilla at Large in the early 80's...


And just because I love to post YouTube videos here is the trailer for Gorilla at Large.



Here are the 3D glasses for the Super Bowl XXIII halftime show "Be Bop Bamboozled" featuring Elvis Presto. I do remember being pretty excited to watch this show, and yes, I do remember being pretty disappointed after it was all over.


Next are the 3D glasses for Yo Yogi which is probably the last Saturday morning cartoon to run on NBC. The show featured a young and "hipper" version of Yogi Bear, and 3D segments you could watch with glasses you got from specially marked packages of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

This is the very important card that was packaged with the Yo Yogi glasses:

Damn grown-ups have to take the fun out of everything.



I noticed I have a lot of ChromaDepth glasses.

Here are a pair for the VH1 show I Love the 80's 3D...


And here are a pair for the N64 game system...


Heck, they could even be found in some magazines...


But you must heed the warning (damn grown-ups):

Now surely you must own a pair of ChromaDepth glasses too. So please enjoy this following music video in the magical experience that is ChromaDepth 3D.



Special thanks to Todd over at Neato Coolville for keeping me motivated all this month.

3D TV

Now for something slightly different... 3D glasses for television.

The big network have occasionally used the 3D gimmick during the season finales in May. I know that's pretty obvious, but that's about all I can tell you.

Here's a pair for Fox-O-Rama, and according to the glasses not only were some FOX shows in 3D but also Aroma-Vision. Anyone reading this know anything about the FOX Aroma-Vision?

Also there's printing on the back of these glasses advertising Married... With Children and Revenge of the Nerds IV.

American Broadcasting Company, better known as ABC, has 3D glasses sponsored by Wendy's New Fresh Stuffed Pitas.


Lastly but not leastly, the National Broadcasting Company and Barq's brings you a very special 3D episode of 3rd Rock From The Sun

More 3D Glasses

Here's the 3D glasses for Spy Kids 3D: Game Over. It was odd to use the red & blue 3D style of glasses for a 2003 movie, but I guess the RealD 3D system wasn't ready yet. The upside was they didn't charge you $2 for the glasses.

Speaking of charging for a pair of 3D glasses, here's a free pair generic cardboard polarized 3D glasses from the 1980's. I wonder if they would work as well as the newfangled plastic glasses they ask $2 for?


And finally, I found another pair of Hondo 3D glasses, but this time with awesome American Indian graphics.

Comin' At Ya! 3D glasses

Continuing my series on 3D glasses here are the glasses for Comin' At Ya! which was a cheap spaghetti western from 1981 that kicked off a brief 3D movie fad...

Yeah I know, those glasses are not very impressive.

A pair of 3D glasses for a television broadcast of Hondo have much better graphics...


Now that's how you design a proper pair of 3D glasses for a western movie. Simulated wood grain, shotguns on the side, the star's image smack dab in the middle, and all in full-color.

Now here's something fun. If you happen to have a pair of red & blue 3D glasses (like the Hondo glasses above) you can watch the opening credits to Comin' At Ya! in 3D through the magic of YouTube. The effect is acually not too bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not great, but it's not too bad.

See in the Thrid Demention

In at the last minute, and continuing my current excruciatingly exhausting schedule of one post per month I present to you Friday the 13 Part III 3D glasses...



More and more movies today are being presented in that newfangled digital 3D, but I don't need to tell you that 3D movies are nothing new. Over the years and without really trying too hard, I've managed to amass a fairly large collection of 3D glasses. Hopefully, if I don't start slacking (I make no promises) , I'll post more of my collection throughout the summer - maybe even once a week!

The 3D glasses above were not the glasses used for the 1982 film. These are the glasses for the souvenir 3D poster. The graphics on theses glasses are gory fun, and show Jason doing his thing.

Twinkling Eyes

Personal virtual acquaintance and quite possibly the politest blogger around, Kirk, over at Secret Fun Blog spent the month of April posting a different cheapo practical joke novelty thingy each day. Kirk is a novelty collector with an encyclopedic knowledge of such things - in fact he wrote a book about it. Well Kirk's posts inspired me to take a look at what novelties I may have stashed away.

I still have a handful novelties I collected over my misspent youth, but only one miraculously still had the box it came in. So please enjoy the retro graphic goodness of the Twinkling Eyes...

Front

Top

Bottom

Side

Back

There's something extra strange about the pair of Twinkling Eyes I own. The lenticular eyes in my pair are in backwards. Check it out again...

And now compare it to the only other picture of Twinkling Eyes I can find on the Internet...

You see the eyes are backwards. I had noticed this years ago, but since I didn't have any other Twinkling Eyes to compare it too I thought the eyes were intentionally backwards for extra goofiness.

Like that super valuable stamp of the upside-down airplane, I wonder if my Twinkling Eyes glasses would sell for a bundle at auction.

If you owned this stamp you'd be rich.

Maybe I need to talk to Kirk about some sort of appraisal.

My Easter Promo: The Littlest Easter Egg

Do they even make television Easter specials anymore?

When I was a child there was always some sort of Rankin/Bass animated network special to look forward to watching. Shows like Here Comes Peter Cottontail which attempted to explain just who the heck this mysterious Easter Bunny was...



It was in the spirit of those holiday specials that I created this late 80's promo for the local community access channel.

Yes it's another blast from my past! Just like my Channel 12 Christmas promo, I share with you now another one of my first video creations - the Channel 12 Easter promo...



People seemed to like this promo a lot more than I expected. Even back in the day I thought it was terribly, terribly crude. I don't know, but maybe people always enjoy an underdog story no matter how crudely it's told.

Intoxica with Howie Pyro

Hey Howie, here's some personally made fan art just for you.

Do you know about LuxuriaMusic?

You should! I've had it listed over on the right ever since I started this blog as a "Cool Thing To Click," but if you don't it's basically a retro music internet radio station.

But more importantly it's the home of a really fun, weird and cool show called Intoxica hosted by Howie Pyro that's on every Tuesday at midnight Eastern (9pm Pacific). But you don't have to wait at all to listen to Intoxica, just click on a show over on the right and give it a listen right now damn it.

Intoxica is a combination of obscure early 60's rock, R&B, jazzy surf music, weird commercials for crazy old movies and stuff, and a lot more. If this moronic blog of mine had a soundtrack it would sound a lot like Intoxica.

If you like holiday music Howie does Halloween and Christmas shows with the strangest holiday music you've heard. It's stuff way, way beyond Monster Mash or Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

Intoxica is also available on iTunes for free download, so just search for Intoxica in the podcast section. All his shows are super great.

I hope I haven't over sold the Intoxica show. But seriously, you'll be a better person for listening to it, or at least a cooler person (well cooler in my book).

Now in the spirit of Intoxica I present something that's unique, cool and very stupid all at the same time - the Sixfinger! This one is dedicated to you Howie...

What's Your Guy-Q?

Just in time for Valentine's Day here's some valuable dating information for all my teenage girl readers.

(insert chirping crickets sound effect here)

Well let's be honest, I doubt any teenage girls have ever stumbled across this obscure silly blog. So for the rest of you (whoever you may be) I present "What's Your Guy-Q?" by celebrated author and all around groovy happening chick Ellen Peck.

I believe that is Ellen on the bicycle

This yellow pamphlet is some sort of promotion for Ellen's 1969 book How to Get a Teen-Age Boy and What to Do with Him When You Get Him.

Ellen Peck's now out of print book, but you can click the pic to purchase a used copy.

I like that sixties cartoon design on the book cover, but were females gigantic size in 1969, or were the guys just extra small?

Forward! click to embiggin

In the pamphlet's forward Ms. Peck states that she's against rigid rules, and is offering "techniques" for landing that elusive teenage boy.

Guide to Where and When a Pickup is OK

The entire pamphlet is basically easy to read tables like this guide to "Where and When a Pickup is OK." Note that a pickup is OK on an airplane (mile high club hello!) but it's NOT OK in the actual airport. I question why racetracks are listed since that seems like an odd and potentially unsavory place for teens to meet. Also zoos are totally out of the question for a pickup.

Beachcomber's Prop Guide for Better Boy Hunting

I've got to admit that the broken sunglasses ploy on the above table is ingenious.

Male of the Species - Genus High School - Where to Track Him and How

I guess I'm a mix of #7, #8 and #9, but I'd call myself a Daydreamer and not an Escapist.

Let's assume that Danny's your quarry...

Here's a table for tracking down "Danny," you know, that nice boy down the street. Let's cut to the chase: Danny's big sister and his best friends are the best ways to make contact. Forget about trying to go through his dog's vet if you want to meet him.

Danny Maze

Hey it's a maze. Your mileage may very, but it's not too hard to solve.

Conversation Topic for Use with Parents

Last but not least is the conversation topic thermometer. It's obvious that "your sexual activities" are the hottest topic of conversation. It's hilarious the "Swedish movies" are the second hottest (if you don't understand why this would be a hot topic of conversation in 1969 just click here.) It's a little confusing why "Your views on current events" is in the danger zone, "current events" are in the neutral zone, and "your parents' views on current events" are in the safe zone - seems like there could be a fine line between these.

Maybe it's just me, but when has the U.S. Postal System ever been a topic of conversation? Seriously? I guess if you work for the U.S. Postal System possibly, but even then...

Is Movie Up Down?

For my first post of New Year (finally) I'd like to tell you about a show I enjoy, but one you've probably never heard of.

Also I don't believe is on the air anymore either. Sorry about that.

Movie Up on the Reelz Channel was a fun weekly show that covered films debuting on cable and DVD for that week (and if you check out the clips below you'll find that some of these "films" are only films in the very loosest of terms) . Here's how the Reelz Channel site describes the show:

Don't want to leave your couch? We don't want you to either. Sit back and watch Movie Up. It's the only guide show that covers what's new and hot in home entertainment. From DVD's to video-on-demand to movie downloads – we'll show you the best of the big screen coming to a living room near you. Hosted by Tory Shulman.

Tory Shulman is one funny chick too. She's sorta like a female Joel McHale on The Soup.

Enjoy these fun Movie Up clips of some crazy obscure low-budget films while they last...

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers