Mixies

Ed-u-Card's 1956 "Mixies" is a fun puzzle style card game where you piece together 3 cards to form a single circus figure or animal (or for something even sillier you can mix them up by putting a tiger head on a pop vendor, or a kangeroo pouch on a clown cop, etc...) Apparently, you can make "1001" combinations with the 12 different characters featured in this pack, and as an added bonus each card contains "flip movie backs" too. Of course the main reason I'm posting these is because I LOVE the brilliantly cute artwork, a perfect example of my favorite era of dynamic cartoon illustration for children's games.

For more superb card game illustration, check my "Crazy Eights" post too!

Magnavox Stereo ('75)

It's astounding to me how far along we've come these last few decades in our means of listening, recording, and storing audio material. In 2011, you can easily fit 6 gazillion songs in the palm of your hand and carry them with you everywhere you go. But as we see in these glorious Magnavox Stereo Console catalog photos from 1975, audio entertainment meant something else, and it most definitely was NOT portable! Tuner / amplifier, record changer, 8-track tape player, speaker systems, etc; these were all seperate units back in the day, but Magnavox had a visibly superior idea with their "acoustically designed cabinets" for blending your audio electronic system perfectly into a room, and becoming an altogether different component of your daily life, aka: as furniture that rocks!

(fyi: this is the one I still have in my house!)

And let's not forget about the traditional style, minus the fancy pants cabinets!

And what turntable would be complete without your handy dandy Hi Fi, Anti-Static Record Cloth!

Space Man vs. The Wicked Witch

Marcia Lynn Cox's "Creature Costumes" (Tempo Books, 1977) is 96-pages of "ghoulishly gory, cleverly creepy, weird, and way-out disguises that you can make by yourself with materials that can be found around the house or purchased inexpensively." There are 8 in all: One-Eyed Thing, Demon Spirit, Reptile Monster, Two-Headed Monster, Crocodile Creature, Moon Maiden, and the two featured in today's post: Space Man and The Wicked Witch. (Does anybody else get a Kamen Rider vibe from the cover creation?) If interested, I can post more of these as we get closer to Halloween.

Encyclopedias of the Supernatural

Pyramid Books "The Satanists" (edited by Peter Haining) is more than just a great collection of satanic fact and fictional short stories from the likes of Crowley, Lovecraft, Wheatly, Bloch, Derleth, etc., for sandwiched between pages 128 and 129 is a truly great fold-out advertisment from The Universe Book Club offering all the black magical demon worship you could possibly ever handle-- and for only ten cents too! So, how much would you pay for the strange secrets and evil dark powers of centuries past?

Vintage Valentines (Part Three)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! And here we go with part three featuring choice picks from my vintage Valentine card collection of the 50's and 60's, though some of these date back to 1930's even! The last two posts focused on the kind of traditional greeting cards that open up, today's post is more about the simple two sided cards you exchanged with sweethearts when you were a kid (or maybe even not as a kid!) Some of these have moving arms (like the knight slaying the dragon), or moving eyes (see the lovely rocket-ridin' "Queen of the Universe"), some fold open to reveal something else interesting (the BBQin' tigers, or the kid cop tipping his hat.) The best thing about Valentine's Day (aside from the candy) is of course the cute, and expertly illustrated holiday cards! Have a great day!

Vintage Valentines (Part Two)

Part Two in our look at Vintage Valentines kicks off with one of my collection favorites, I just love the line work as well as the brick wall and card texture, and of course those beady lil cloak 'n dagger eyes! The remainder of these traditional greeting cards then delve into the "cute couples" catagory (fyi: none of these cards were given to me, they were all found in antique malls and ebay.) And pay extra close attention to the "Let's Bury the Hatchet" sample below, as it comes with a slitted pocket on the card front for the tiny removeable metal hatchet! I love cards that come with props! More Valentines in Part Three coming in a few days!