MONSTERS: A Pop-Up Book

I found this really neat, (but really short) Monsters pop-up book in a huge pile of junk at Goodwill the other day. This only goes to show-- if you keep digging through life's garbage, (or even someone else's) eventually, you might just strike gold! There are absolutely no artistic credits given anywhere on the book, though the back cover says there are 3 other titles in this colorful mini 80's series: Dragons, Dinosaurs, and Unicorns.

100 Days Until Halloween: Costumes

You read that right, Halloween is only 100 days away-- hurrah! And there's no time like the present to start thinking about important stuff too like your costume-- I mean, seriously, you know you don't wanna be that stupid loser who whips up something unoriginal at the last minute and thinks that wearing something like his current school team football uniform even remotely counts-- CUZ IT DOESN'T!!!! The Childcraft "Make and Do" (1960) book has some way more fun ideas for you instead, plus some neato illustrations and photos, and good lord I can hear you scared-o-clown wienies whining already with your pretend bandwagon jitters...











More Halloween coming up...

Cold Drinks for a Hot Day

We currently have an unbearable heat index of 111 degrees here in STL MO, so while I finish preparing a larger post I had planned for tomorrow, let's see if we can cool ourselves down a wee bit with some thirst quenching ice cold drink recipes from the same Childcraft "Make and Do" book (1964) that I shared images from a few posts ago. Illustration by John Bolt again too!

Now--CHILL OUT!

Viking Season(ing)

Prepare to set sail on the salty high seas(onings) of fun, with this cute pair of 60's wooden salt and pepper shakers from Japan, found recently for $1 at a neighborhood garage sale. I'm not sure if they're Vikings or members of Water Bufflo Lodge No. 26, but I had to have 'em-- and I had to use a little glue on the one on the right after his beard fell off the second I touched it! All better now... whew!

Give a Party!

You don't have to wait for your birthday or for a special occasion to have a party. You can have one any day of the year, and the Childcraft "How and Why Library" book, Make and Do (originally published in 1964) is here to show you how with fun examples (plus cute illustrations by John Bolt) of beach parties, space parties, pretty much any themed party that you can think of! And you're gonna need some entertaining games to play too, so as an added bonus there's 4 fun games at the end of the post to play as well (with even more incredibly cute illustrations by Jill Lillard.) More from this neat book in the next few posts as well, I'm thinking-- with extra special thanks to Mr. Cavin for the great non-birthday present!

Behaving Madly CONTEST!

***CONTEST WINNER: Wendy Loves Jesus - please email your mailing address to karswell@hotmail.com and I will get your prize copy of Behaving Madly sent out to you later this week. Thanks again to you, and everyone else who played... I'll have more contests later this year so keep coming back and participating-- THANK YOU!!!***

New from IDW / Yoe Books, Behaving Madly, a very funny, 200 page hardcover "best of" collection featuring material from competitive 50's mags that seriously wanted to be just like MAD! Magazines with titles like ZANY, PANIC, THIMK, CRAZY MAN CRAZY, FRANTIC!, FRENZY, etc... and featuring artists you've never heard of like Jack Davis, Bill Elder, John Severin, Al Jaffee, Jack Kirby, Basil Wolverton, Steve Ditko, and many many more! And now's your chance to win a FREE copy-- all you have to do is comment on this post to enter. I'll fish bowl everyone's names (please include your email address in the comment) and I'll draw one lucky winner on Sunday evening (July 9th.) You can comment / enter as many times as you want, also enter at my other blog HERE! And below is a brief example of the type of thing you'll find in this super kooky book!

The Gilded Cage, NYC (1951) Program

Last month I showed you highlights from a late 70's Sugar Babies musical program (HERE) that I recently found at an antique mall... well, here's a similar discovery that dates back just a little bit further to 1951: The Gilded Cage was apparently "New York City's newest and gayest theatre restaurant" at the time, and judging by the rather extravagant "Scandals of Paris" program line-up of singers and dancers-- and lovely nude program cover art-- I would have to agree! FYI: No relation unfortunately to the famous Gilded Cage go-go club from my own hip happenin' home town of 60's swingin' STL MO!