Christmas in July Edition (1954)

Ho! We almost exited the month without our annual Christmas in July celebration! And it's a good thing I spotted this fabulous xmas '54 mailer yesterday-- because unlike St. Nick, I was definitely coming to town unprepared! A fun package all 'round too, and if you were somehow part of the Abbott Laboratories family, you probably looked very much forward to getting this thing in the mail every December. And aside from being packed with fiction, poetry, articles and medical features-- it's also exploding with festively gorgeous, midcentury xmas artwork by some of the biggest names in commercial art of the time era! So yeah, as much as I love that superb, full-page Santa VI-DAYLIN advert by Stan and Jan Berenstain, as well as the brilliantly colorful cover abstracts by Thomas Vroman, it's those hilarious illustrations by Larry Klein for "A Short Guide to Good Skiing" that we'll actually be taking a much closer look at. And okay, it might already be 90 degrees here in the midwest at 8am in the morning, but we're still bundlin' up and heading for the slopes --Dead Man's Hill, to be exact! Merry Christmas (in July), everyone!

Li'l Abernathy!

Mr. Karswell likes nothing more than a nutty 'ol satirical, comic book spoof. We just did it over at THOIA (HERE!) when we married that freaky teen-age fly. Let's do it again here at AEET now, but instead'a monsters, lets take a whackity whack at another Mr. K fave-- L'il Abner! From the madcap March 1954 issue of Premier Magazines Nuts #1, with poor "Lazy May" shorely and sorely gettin' wrung through sum hysterical, hillbilly hi-jinx! Dawww! Artist remains in question...

The Go-Go's Swinger! '67

Who's ready for more groovy 60's go-go girl action? Topper Toys unleashed the amazingly timely, "The Go-Go's" series of dolls in 1967 (see the catalog ad at the very bottom of this post for the full line-up), complete with fun accessories, and each one in her own clear plastic display case. As you can see below, the Swinger's case has become a bit dingy over the years -- or is it just fogged up from all those exhaustin' dance moves like The Pony and The Jerk?! Whatever the case, let's get her out of the case where she can REALLY kick off those shoes and tear it up! Her rubbery body is prime for a variety of dance poses, and her hair, oddly enough, is too. I'm not really sure what it's coated with (could just be age / room pollution) but it's tacky to the touch and unfortunately falls out in hunks if you mess around with it too much. I love her cute little face though, and no matter how you pose her she always looks happy, and with her eyes closed is seemingly lost in her own thoughts and the beat of the music. If you wanna see her in action check out the original TV commercial (HERE!) along with all of the other great dolls from this series. And speaking of, I still have the Private Ida. I did have the Cool Cat as well, but she shimmied off to another lucky collector a little earlier this year! MORE GO-GO GIRLS HERE!!!

Go-Go Girl Drink Mixer '69

Okay now, who's thirsty? And who needs their drink shaken, not stirred? Well, put away that boring old handheld aluminum drink shaker, because here comes Poynter Products 1969 Go-Go Girl Drink Mixer to shake things up (and yeah, maybe even provide a few "stirs" to the best us, anyway!) Now I'm not sure if its ever been noted before, but to me she seems clearly designed after Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's classic cartoon coochie coo'er, Little Annie Fanny. See, Annie and her fanny (and everything else too!) appeared in over 100+ issues of Playboy Magazine from 1962 to 1988, so it only seems logical that some bit of related gag gift would bubble up and out from somewhere based upon her charms and good looks, --and it just so happened to happen during the gorgeous, groovy go-go gal era! Here's how it works: set your drink in the low hanging hoop, push the magic button, and watch this mmm-mmm-minx mix that slug with some grinding hip gyrations that'll seriously take your breath away! And yeah ok, I've had this thing for a lonnnnng time, and I promise you-- she used to work! At some point though, she got very wet, as did her original, ummm, box! So to be honest, I'm kind of afraid to even try crankin' her back up with some ever elusive C batteries (that I can't even find for sale around here anywhere anyway.) To make matters even lamer, I also can't find a glass or tumbler that will fit inside her hoop! You'll just have to CLICK HERE and gawk at someone else's nicely shot Youtube video to see her in shocking, drink-free, shake that money-maker action. 

And yessss, to answer the obvious question that everyone is totally thinking: she will absolutely mix a drink topless. What kind of novelty headshop merch do you take this for anyway?!