The Car with a Brain

A few years after the Think-A-Tron toy computer of '67, Hasbro released the Amaze-A-Matics custom computer cars. Available in a various assortment of models, ie: Astrovettes, Chargers, VW's, dune buggies, etc., the Amaze-A-Matics also came with 4 pylons, and an instruction booklet / catalog. The one I found the other day is the Buick Century Cruiser style, and actually most like the real life concept car counterpart in all of it's strikingly futuristic, COMPUTERIZED glory. (CLICK HERE!) The coolest and most unique thing about these customizable toy race cars though (and for the late 60's even), was that the cars came with pre-programmed "computer" cardboard cards that slid into the tail end of the car to make them run a pre-determined course, some based on actual famous tracks like Le Mans and Daytona. It also came with blank cards so you could scissor cut / plot the racing action however you wanted. Watch the classic commercial HERE for a better idea of how these worked, and then afterwards, watch another car with a brain via classic cartoon animation by CLICKING HERE!

Black Forest Girl

I found a slightly sad condition "Black Forest" carved wooden picture frame yesterday. And even though some of the flowers and leaf tips are broken in a few places, the oval-shaped, Victorian design still manages to form a magical framework for the lovely, hand-tinted, flower-haired young lady in my original nouveau era postcard (which I reluctantly cropped to fit into the frame.)

The Human Skin Factory

You've seen today's post title, and nope, you haven't made a mistake and accidentally landed on The Horrors of it All page. You are most definitely at AEET and about'a read a truly bizarre Boody Rogers BABE story called "The Human Skin Factory." And yes, it's exactly what you think it's about, but in a funny sort of way! In what can only be described as one of the weirdest variations on the popular Li'L Abner / Snuffy Smith hillbilly comic, Boody really pulled out all the stops with some of these Babe tales, --see she's a cute, and oddly athletic Daisy Mae type cuntry gal, only surrounded by a satirical array of goofball freaks 'n geeks (ie merman, centaurs, murderous mountain men etc.) Today we'll see how she fairs against a bonkers Joe Ghoul 'n Scraper scheme. From the April - May 1950 issue of Babe, Darling of the Hills #11, --and be sure to let us know if this one made YOUR goose flesh crawl too!

Recordio-Gram

Back in the olden days (mid 20th century to be exact) and long before email / texting, if you needed to send someone a special message you could simply plop a quarter into a Wilcox-Gay Coin Recordio machine and actually record / cut them a hardboard disc record with your voice etched right there inside the grooves. Played on any type of phonograph, this was seriously cutting edge stuff at the time-- you'd just say what you had to say into the phone, and the machine would spit out the record to you. For another 5¢ you could even purchase a handy envelope to put the recording in from the same machine. I love how the record is a picture disc showing a girl making her own recording right into the Recordio-Gram. Anyway, I'd heard of this 50's technology before, but it's really fun to actually find one too!

CLICK HERE to listen to one-- it's freakin' hilarious...

E-Z OFF Make-up Sticks

Here's a fun Halloween left-over highlighted with some groovy backing card illustrations. And made by Topstone too, famous, --as some of you already know-- as the maker's of awesome and affordable masks and other cool costumery from the good 'ol days. I found this thing though at a flea market literally the day before Halloween this year so it had no time to bear any influence upon my 2024 costume. It's just two greasy sticks, one black, one white, which you're supposed to apply to your face in some manner thus producing some sort of affect like a fake beard, snowball cheeks, or raccoon eyes, or whatever. Apparently, it's hilarious. And this, my friends, brings us back to the floaty head illustrations, --just WTH can you do with these E-Z Off sticks to get that weird bald guy affect at the bottom?!

Lorie Bubble Bath

Found this great vintage boxed bubble bath gift set the other day, and what a score it was because you all know how much I love some strategically placed bubbles on a 60's product mascot-- POP! POP! POP! Also, as you can see, lovely lil Lorie and her cheeky mole is quite cute in any color / scent combination, (individual packets still smell pretty damn good too!), and yes before you even ask, bringing an umbrella into the bathtub makes perfect sense. Lorie Floral Bouquet Bubble Bath is not only a refreshing flesh cleanser and tongue twister, it was made in Los Angeles and Toronto, but most importantly also right here in good 'ol STL as well. "Profusion of Bubbles" is probably the name of a Guided by Voices song I've yet to hear...

Randotti Ssssskull

If you were a spooky kid like me and ever went to Disneyland back in the day (early to mid 70's D-World for me), chances are you came home with a variation of the uniquely cool, and very scary, glow-in-the-dark Randotti Skull. Creators Randy and Dotti Smith combined their first names and throughout the 1950's through to the 80's, unleashed one of the most original, park exclusive Disney souvenirs of all time. Made of a hard, surprisingly heavy plaster type material, and sold in park gift shops near the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides, the actual hardest part of a Randotti Skull was being able to decide which one to get from the variety of creepy different styles and sizes available: w/slithery snake, w/scurrying spider on top, incense burner, w/blank eyeballs, w/pirate eyepatch, wall plaque, etc. I found this one the other day but it was way over $100 so I passed on it, but it sure did scare up some macabre memories for me and I couldn't resist taking pix of it from every angle. My favorite part of a Randotti Skull will always be that shiver-inducing narrow mouth and what's left of those terrible, gnarly teeth. The snake winding his way in and out of the eye socket is a nice touch, but tbh, I prefer just the plain old regular skull version. Find out more about Randotti Skulls by checking out Coop's killer collection HERE!