Hop for the Holidays!

Also: Crawl for your christmas pudding! And swing for your stocking stuffers! (Key art scanned from my Americana 1973 Merchandise Catalog) Happy Holidays, everyone!

Catholic Miss of America '54

A very exhausting clean-up in Karswell Kastle recently unearthed some interesting finds, things I had forgotten about, other things I had misplaced rather haphazard and foolishly. And I seriously have no idea when, where, or why I acquired a 1954 copy of Catholic Miss of America, as most things associated with any form of organized religion makes me instantly want to crank some Venom or Slayer-- but!!! --a quick flip-thru of the browning, crumbling pages and immediately I could see why (or how) this issue made its way into my devilish grip. Yes, cute girl illustrations seem to find their way into my possession no matter where they materialize from, and as your savior of forgotten key art (and now Catholic kitsch), I am more than happy to help these blessed things find new, everlasting, and yes, even redeeming life through the blood of blogger resurrection. Amen.

Petite Gourmet

There sure are a lot of fun recipes in this 40-page Petite Gourmet booklet from the 50's/60's: Alabama Biscuits, Crazy Cake, Quick Corn Piggies, Gashouse Eggs, and Fattigmand's Bakelse (aka Poor Man's Cake) just to name a few-- inquiring chefs feel free to drop me a line-- but what I really like here are the cute though sorta rough little drawings of our petite gourmette herself slaving away in the kitchen (cover signature says Idelson.) She looks so incredibly sweet, whether whipping up a sea food salad, or eating a late night sandwich while watching the pubic hair channel! Back cover of the booklet mentions a "Jovial Joe" as the fab designer / printer-- anyone know if he's the illustrator too?

Dream Girl

Kicking off the new and final month of 2016 with a mysterious little love story, highlighted by beautiful Bob Brown interior and cover artwork. Originally featured in the December 1957 issue of House of Mystery #69 (though this is the later 70's Witching Hour reprint version), --and seriously, with all of the recent negativity and sadness in the world, I dedicate todays post to everyone with a dream girl, dream guy, or just a gorgeous dream about anything that makes your life happy and worthwhile...

The Tunnel of Lost Toys

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Tunnel of Lost Toys is a cute little story published by Bobs-Merrill Company in 1980, where human girl Marcella drags her two stuffed pals out for an exciting afternoon at the amusement park! Of particular note is the wonderfully illustrated, mid book sequence that takes place inside a spooky "dark" boat ride (you'll have to find a copy to read exactly what happens, cuz I hate to give away the fun), but here's the entire part that features the monsters and pirates! Enjoy! (Illustrations by Vernon McKissack)

Are You in the Know?

Are your velvet duds date-worthy? Does your noggin have news appeal? Are you a coquette videot lassie with a bugeteen buxom chassis? Well, don't just sit there like some damsel in distress-- whip out this handy dandy, helpful booklet from the Kimberly-Clark (Kotex) Corporation (1956), and put an end to those clammy hands and king size tootsies once and for all! That's right, you don't have to look like a BBQ'd lobster cuz it's all here... well, to be honest, it's half here in the last half of this booklet, because some prior jilted Jane scribbled all over the first half making some of it unbloggable. So we're unfortunately skipping the etiquette and dating chapters, and diving right into the grooming and fashion, plus a little bit of this 'n' that instead. I'm pretty sure you'll be fine with it. And god, you know what would REALLY make America great again? If people started talking in the voice this booklet was written in, it's so incredibly funny, as lines like "You break away from the babushkas... wow your cellmates with a whammy chapeau!", will most certainly leave all you Tiny Tess's higher than your squire, and bonin' up on your etc etc etcs... yep, it's confidence in capsules, chums!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Last of the vintage Halloween cards from my personal collection, this one produced by Gibson in the 60's is a very fun and very colorful tri-fold full of super painted spookiness! Happy Halloween!

Super Koko Kongs Cereal

I created a couple of these faux Monster Cereal boxes last halloween (CLICK HERE!), and promised to do a few more but never really got around to it, so this year I'm back on it and here's the first one-- since clearly KING KONG deserves to have one named after him too-- it's SUPER KOKO KONGS CEREAL! The only breakfast cereal in history that actually requires you to floss after eating!

Halloween Trek

There are still a few people out there who seem somehow completely unaware that the Michael Myers mask from the undying Halloween films is actually a William Shatner "Captain Kirk" mask from the original Star Trek tv series. So for them, I thought I'd put together 3 examples to showcase how similar the... ummm, mask actually... errr, is with the... hmmmm, actor. Hard to tell a diff! FYI: The very bottom image was done by my incredibly talented co-hort who actually encouraged this outrageous photoshoppery in the first place! ;)