The Circus Program

Cleaning out some old books and mags and stuff, I stumbled upon a handful of circus programs I've collected over the years, ranging from the 1970's and up to 2016. The first thing I noticed, comparatively speaking, when looking at them back to back was simply how much more fun the old ones are than the newer ones (which I actually tossed in the garbage.) I was going to even post examples, but then decided I didn't want to stink up my blog with bad design, crap photography, and even worse-- just piss poor, modern style anti-graphic design. Instead, I'll just focus on a couple things I love about 70's Ringling Brothers circus programs: bright, colorful, fully painted wraparound covers, cutely illustrated pages within containing games and puzzles for kids, wonderfully designed candy ads, and just how clever and adorable the puppets and blow-up souveniers were too! I was equally reminded how wonderfully weird and wild the circus could be as well --anyone remember Gargantua, or Poland's Monastyruk!

PRIVATE: Tray No. X **ADULTS ONLY!**

I almost missed this vintage box of slides at the antique mall the other day, even after walking by it a few times. One final round of perusing the locked cases and I suddenly noticed that one slide box among the "Vacation" and "Holiday" labels was strangely marked, "X Private" --plus, a person's name was scribbled, and even scratched out on the box. Everything added up to a mystery that I simply had to inquire upon further. So after asking the employee to unlock the case, I then opened the slide box, pulled out a few slides, and then held them up to the light, one by one. Yep, just as I was hoping / expecting-- bare naked ladies of the 60's and 70's. Some are posed with colorful backgrounds and props, and some are photographed in more of a portrait studio style with a single color backdrop, etc. Now this will probably wind up being a multiple part post, so for now, here are a few of the more interesting ones (3 different women: 4 pix of one, 2 of another, and a single shot of the third.) And to make things even more interesting, I photographed them through my dusty old vintage Guild Mini-Viewer (see original post about that HERE in the 2023 archive) while outside on my porch on a very bright day, thus causing my camera phone to produce some rather surreal, light-bending, pic results. Neato! I'll post more of these over the coming months, so stay tuned for that... and I do apologize for the watermarking, but as always, the re-blogger / tumblr image groupies out there (except for a small handful) just do not know how to link back to my blog, especially in the case of original nudie content. It's infuriating, but I totally applaud those that do!

Mooning.

Found another funny set of old Victorian postcards, this time sealed up all snuggly wuggly secure in an antique photo album. And while some of you may be pondering the term "mooning?" as in "baring your buttocks to a fellow human?", uhh, no. This time we're going with an antiquated word where romantic pining over a love interest --under the magical spell of the moon, that is-- could possibly even bring tears to the big 'ol lunar lunatic watchin' from above, (and / or maybe even producing a slight hurl in the throat region!) All 6 postcards appear to be illustrated by the same person, but upon closer inspection it seems we actually have a couple pf different signatures: JHR, (no relation to JMR), as well as Zim (probably no relation to the same name Invader as well!) So grab your ownest, darlingest, little angelic popsy-wopsy, and pleasey weasy enjoy this goofy liddle widdle gushy gallery of goo-goo mushy-wushy moonshines. *GAG! *CHOKE! 

Midsummer Daze

Spring 2025 is still just a few days away, so what better way to celebrate the final dying breath of winter than with a post called "Midsummer Daze." Excited, yes? I can hardly wait for this agonizing season to be over with, and as I was flippin' through a big stack of old Coronet issues the other day, like a bolt out of the blue, this cute key art story header really caught my eye. And why yes, in the exact same way our reclining beach beauty is catching the ogling eye of Mr. Gawksalot below too! The full length middle image is how it appears on the printed page, as photographed with my camera phone. The top and bottom images are just zoomed-in versions so you can really see all of the great "McKay" details. I do apologize though as I completely forgot to note the god dang Coronet date and issue number that this image actually appeared in, drat! But when I figure it out, I will most certainly update this post with that bit of information. So for now, just kick back, turn on some AM tunes, grab that bottle of lotion, and enjoy all of that gorgeous scenery!

Hot Pepper Tooth Picks

Pulling a foul tasting trick on your friends has been around a long, long time, and one hot example is this funny little vintage box of "Hot Pepper Tooth Picks" from a half century or more ago. Made by Fun Incorporated, (Chicago) this is a cutely designed, and very small cardboard box totally loaded with wooden toothpicks that are absolutely saturated with something extra spicy hot. I'm not sure its exactly "pepper" that I'm tasting, but it will make you screech "WOW! --and how! Also, your friends will actually HATE you for it! Fun! Love the box illustrations.

Among the Cinders

For those of you that enjoyed the Mother Goose illustrations in our previous post, here's another antique item containing cute artwork and excerpts from 3 very old, and somewhat forgotten nursery rhymes. I say "forgotten" because (I must admit), I'm not even remotely familiar with any of these, and all of which are nicely fired into a stoneware sectional, child's dinner plate from the 1930's. So who here has heard of Little Polly Flinders, See Saw Margery Daw, and / or The Old Woman Lived Under the Hill? Click each one for more info-- find out which one got whipped, and which one was actually a dirty slut (--??!!) Neither of which, turn out to be the old witch, fyi...

Mother Goose Shoes '54

Many of us remember Red Goose Shoes from our childhood, but how about Mother Goose Shoes? This wonderfully designed box (and cute pair of shoes too) seem rather hard to beat if you were a nursery rhyme lovin' kiddo back in 1954. Every inch of the shoe box itself-- the lid and all sides-- is covered in cute painted artwork from all of the hits: Little Miss Muffet, Jack & Jill, etc...