Fire Water Flask

Vintage novelty booze flasks could be found in pretty much every kitsch loaded gift shop back in the day. This particular one that I came across (and before anyone gets mad at me, no I did not buy it) originally hails from the touristy Bagnell Dam strip area of Lake of the Ozarks MO, a place where I spent practically every summer as a kid in the 70's and early 80's. So here we have it, flimsy art slap-dashed on the front with a lame drinkers gag meter on the back... they clearly sold a million of these things with a wide variety of artistic interpretations of the stereotypical "drunk injun" caricature too. Google it and you'll see what I mean, --from Ft. Lauderdale beaches to tourist trap ghost towns of the wild west-- I even spotted one HERE online that appears to have actually been sold on a Cherokee Indian reservation in NC.

The Spider Widow vs. The Japanese Spies!

If you've made your way here from THOIA after witnessing Diane Grayton, aka The Spider Widow tackle a horrific headhunter in a high rise, well here she comes again --and this time teamed up with the ridiculous, Muppety looking Raven! From the November 1942 issue of Feature Comics #62, this is one of her earlier war set adventures, and illustrated by character creator, Frank Borth. Featuring lots of great fighting and badly dated jokery, --not to mention many eye-poppin' moments highlighted with some very attractive, long legged upskirtery --as SW spends quite a bit of time strung up and in barefooted bondage, before transforming into the Halloween-esque hag hero, The Spider Widow! She also appears to have the very special gift power of having her heels on / off from one panel to the next too (not complaining either way!) 

Look, if you came here to AEET first and missed the other SW horror-rama, them quickly head off over to THOIA by CLICKING HERE! after today's story-- see ya!

Yogee the Amazing Answer Board

Yogee-- the Amazing Answer Board that glows in the dark is one of the more interesting examples of Ouija board variety, this one being from 1944 and, as mentioned, contains an eerie glow in the dark bonus (see close-ups of the four board corner swami's for example.) It also features two little devils holding up the Yogee board name on the front, then, flip it over and follow the answer board directions, or for those of you too afraid to dilly dally with the dead, you can just play chess or checkers instead (snooze!) So did I buy this thing? Unfortunately no, condition vs. price just wouldn't align... but I took a buncha pix of it!

Six Whole Minutes of Golden... SILENCE!

Stumbled upon this hilarious novelty record yesterday, released by Vacuum (har) Records in 1959. It's a foagie-friendly gag most likely put into existence in righteous retaliation to that awful new Rock 'n Roll trend that all the kids were being so loud about around the time. Boy, they sure showed them!  Played at any speed (har 2), each side features 3 whole minutes of pure, unadulterated silence. And yes, they still bothered cutting grooves into the vinyl, you know, so that your turntable needle can actually have something to do while you're sitting there being a grinning 'ol fuddy duddy. Be sure to read the funny "long-play" releases that were also available, as listed on the back cover. (PS: Youtube link not required.)

Schuco Perfume Monkey

Have any of you ever seen a Schuco Perfume Monkey? Made in Germany around the late 1920's, these little guys came in a variety of sizes and mohair fur color, highlighted with the oddball surprise of a hidden perfume bottle tucked inside. Just remove the head to find the corked glass tube nestled halfway in its brain, and sliding all the way down into his body cavity (like his spine has been replaced with a bottle.) This is the second one I've found, and unfortunately it also contains no perfume, nor even the slightest scent of one. I do hope it was banana scented though! Anyway, the monkey itself is fully jointed like a child's toy, and couldn't be more "adorable" with felt paws, and a metal painted face. Those cold, dead eyes make him look like he possibly swallowed a bottle of poisonous perfume or something. For an even more interesting variant on the Schuco monkeys, CLICK HERE for the compact version, where the body splits right down the middle and the monkey graphically opens up to reveal a mirror hidden within his torso-- no fooling!

Space Monster

Okay, here's a vintage 50's or 60's kid's Halloween costume that I've never seen or even heard of before-- Collegeville's kooky Space Monster! In the box he might be sorta Creature from the Black Lagoony, but once you take him out of the box he's clearly more freaky frog than anything else (maybe even a little bit old school gremlin!) If you don't look at the image on the smock frock, he totally reminds me of something else that I can't quite put my finger on, (help, anyone?!) maybe a comic book alien, I think, possibly from some old DC science fiction story. Whatever he is, he's pretty cool, and the owl box with die-cut body window is something to really hoot about! Hoot!

Hillbilly Matchbooks

I honestly can't reckon how many of these hilarious vintage hillbilly themed matchbooks I have, but it's a lot! They're pretty much everywhere around here too, cuz every time I open up a drawer or start digging around in a box of stuff, I always find a couple. So here we go with a small, but eye-poppin' example of the ones that have surfaced recently, and it's a real nice 'n spicy showcase of various artists doing what they do best in their unique, individual styles: drawing perty lil country gals and their cantankerously bearded 'ol Ozark mountain men! I'll post more in the future whenever they make an appearance, cuz if there's one thing I'm reeeally bad about it's keeping my matchbooks organized and all together in one place...