Wild's Palace of Poison

I recently unearthed an unused matchbook for STL's infamous midcentury, horror-themed neon carhop, Wild's Palace of Poison (1947 - 1964.) That's right, a friendly drive-in restaurant that really only wanted to kill you with their wonderful sense of morbid humor, and not actually with their tasty food. Once located at 1500 Lemay Ferry, directly across the street from Mount Hope Cemetery where both my Aunt Becky and dear friend Tommy are laid to rest, Wild's was a gimmicky fast food joint where you could wash down a Murder Burger with an Arsenic Fizz, and then be officially declared null, void, and all shook up with your very own signed Death Certificate after closing the coffin lid on your fine dyin' 'n dining experience. I've included a variety of other related images below that I found 'round the 'ol www, but I also someday hope to do a more lengthy post about this once popular hot spot where my Mom and Uncle apparently spent a great deal of "hip" teen time cruising for kicks, Vampire Kisses, and Black Widow licks.

Crisp Beer-Like Comb-Outs 'N Bowl-Ups

It's been awhile since I've matched two unrelated things to create a cool, color-coordinated, power post duet! And pink and black seem to be the palette pair-up for today, as hair and bowling unite! And wait, are they not actually related any 'ol way, anyways? I think so. See, Stanley Fay's TEASE Setting Lotion contained a special midcentury formula swishin' around inside of a very cute, shapely clear bottle. It was also equally graced with one of the most amazingly attractive, simple label designs and color combos that I've ever seen. And what's a "crisp, beer-like comb-out", you ask? Haven't you ever heard of rinsing your hair with beer? The protein loaded malts and hops coat your hair and repair damage, while the vitamins and sugars help make your marvelous mop extra soft and shiny. Try it and see. Oh, go on, dump a PBR on your head-- NOW! And okay, what's bowling got to do with all this then too, you ponder? Well, for starters, a great pink and black card deck box holding 52 crisp shots of bowling hilarity! That's right, and inside said box we even found a side-splitting sampling of cute 'n shapely Vic Take cartoon girls who clearly know their way around some "crisp, beer-like comb-outs! So there. A cool, color-coordinated, power post duet as only AEET could conjure up. And who's gonna be the first to point out the guy's merkin mustache on the Ace of Spades card below? Who.

Hummbugged! / Flowers of Evil

In the early 70's, Marvel Comics teamed up with The Electric Company kid's television series and released Spidey Super Stories upon the world. It was published well into the early 80's, and just like the tv show, SSS was produced specifically for children, and typically included age apro good / bad moral messaging. The inclusion of various other Marvel characters throughout its popular print run also proved to be a good starting point for young'ins who were now dabbling into the inevitably addictive, allowance annihilatin' world of comic book collecting-- thanks Stan! So okay, we already saw one fun example over at THOIA last week (HERE!), now today as promised, we have a few more featuring two of the silliest villains to ever spring forth from the more madcap side of the 'ol Marvel U! BEHOLD-- the sickly sweet, lovelorn Wallflower, and the hilariously horrible Hum Dinger! The latter, aside from becoming a huge internet meme superstar thanks to one very funny, isolated panel forever taken out of context (see the last panel on page 3 below), The Hum Dinger also made the live action leap (and with better hair) onto the small screen in one rather memorable Electric Company episode. CLICK HERE for it! The Wallflower, unfortunately, didn't quite make the TV syndicated grade, and I suppose maybe she'll have her revenge for that someday as well! NOTE: If someone's up for writing it, we'll post it here! Humbugged is from SSS #24, while Flowers of Evil comes to us via SSS 28.

The Eat

We're still diggin' through the ever fabulous Esquire Handbook for Hosts hardcover from 1949 (see our previous post about the caricatured celebrity cover art HERE!) And speaking of the art, that's exactly what today's post is all about as well, because the unique, stylized hand of L. J. Allen returns for a perfectly proper look at the clever chapter headings and various other bits of quirky key art scattered throughout the first half of the book. Are you a man with the munchies, as well as one with cravings for drinky-dranks and throwing parties? Okay then, more on the latter in the coming month, but for now let's just focus on The Eat. And please note that the less than stellar quality of the images below were photographed and edited in a not so typical AEET fashion, -- but instead while I was laying in bed after spending 4 hours of my morning in root canal Hell. Yep, this was pretty much a test to see if I could even do it, (instead of waiting a few days until I was feeling better.) I eagerly await your reviews, complaints, and stupid suggestions.