Straw Hat (Supplemental #2)

I had a request for more straw hat hotties, so here's a few I found around the www fer yer hay chewin', pole fishin', bare footin' pleasure. First up, a lovely young Linda Evans lookin' mighty perty in her patchwork bikini top 'n sassy frassy pants combo. What's in her basket, ya ponder? Wouldn't you like to know! Followed by St. Louis MO's very own homegrown superstar of the silver screen, Virginia Mayo, in her country cute cut-off's, and seen here makin' her way down to the pond to land herself a perch or two, and maybe even some lucky young feller t'boot! Hope everyone enjoyed the first month of 2022 posts, lots'a feb on the way-- see ya'll in Funuary! And yes, all images are now clickable / enlargeable again— Hell, even THOIA is back in horrific action after a sacrilegiously silent year of being disabled! 2022 is beginning to look a lot like xmas!

Pal and Friends Bubble Gum Comics

Leaf brand PAL Bubble Gum was from the 50's / 60's, and like the more popularly well-known Bazooka Bubble Gum, this was a single piece of 1¢ penny chewing gum bundled up snug as a bug in a wax wrapper with comics and fortunes and other random premium type offers and mail-aways. Likely available at dime stores, and most definitely in vending machines (hence the card below), PAL is the cute, beanie hat wearin' boy mascot and star of the comics, but he also had a feisty little female accomplice named PAT who made some adorably funny comic appearances as well. I found 3 different PAT joke wrappers recently, and of course while researching them, the one and only other one that I even see online was posted years ago by Dan Goodsell, (it's unfortunately one that I also have, but I still included it below anyway.) If you know anything else at all about this gum, please leave a comment-- thank you!

Spaceman vs. Skeletons

We're down to the final Friday Fright's sci-fi / horror tale of the month, a weekly theme that we will most definitely revisit more of here in 2022. I hope everyone enjoyed the selections! And this week we're altering the rocket settings away from the fantastically weird EC universe that we've been patrolling, and locking in our coordinates towards my other favorite destination / publisher, Atlas! Now if you've followed THOIA over the years, you know pretty darn well that when you needed a scary skeleton for a story, there was no better person to deliver one than good 'ol Joltin' Joe Maneely! So how do you top that? With a whole petrifyin' planet of 'em, that's how! This is seriously six rip-roarin' pages of shivery, superb, science freakin' fiction --and fans of Plan 9 from Outer Space and even Army of Darkness might detect a cool concept swipe or two as well! From the January 1954 issue of Speed Carter, Spaceman #3. And now stand by for adventure! 3... 2... 1...

Fantasti-Cat Bubble Bath

Following up on the tail of our alligator post from a few days ago, here's another wonderful 60's Avon animal creation-- the Fantastic-Cat! A purrrfectly cute plastic bottle available in a variety of colors (black, white, pink, blue, purple, etc) containing liquid bubble bath-- and hey, when you're all out it simply doubles as a toy, or a top shelf kitsch collectable for a middle age gent like myself! There are quite a few for sale online if you're interested, but prepare to pay big bucks if you want a bottle that somehow still contains the original bubble bath liquid. For another delightfully decapitatable black cat bottle in my collection, CLICK HERE!

666

While I am of course very familiar with the number of The Beast as mentioned in the magical Book of Revelation (see also many a heavy metal song and horror movie), I was not at all privy to the wondrous medicinal magic provided by the same name, Florida based Monticello Drug Company brand, --that is, until I stumbled upon this beautiful old 666 paper advertising fan from the 1930's a few weeks ago. Sounds odd now, but for more than a century, 666 liquids, salves, tablets, nose drops, cough syrups etc., were made for those seeking special need of remedy and relief, and minus actual dark divine intervention. Apparently they're still in business today too, though as a much smaller run company with a lesser number of product variety. Learn more on the very interesting story about how this unique name even came to be, just CLICK HERE! 

Gators vs. Crocs!

Okay, so I watched both of those kookball, late 80's Killer Crocodile films from Italy over the weekend, and yeah, they're pretty bad but still totally entertaining in a wildly weird, low grade, guilty pleasure sort of way. And, as only my broken brain could somehow do, this reminded me of some alligator related vintage Avon stuff I stumbled upon last week, one being a cute floating rubber soap dish called "Gaylord Gator" (he even comes with his own wonderfully wrapped bar of Gaylord Gator soap!) --as well as a superbly designed green bar of soap-on-a rope called Al E. Gator. These were part of an endless array of fun items made back in the day by Avon for children, and both come packaged in colorfully lush, fully painted art covered boxes. So whether you're in the tub and scrubb'a dubbin' with an adorable 70's Avon reptile, or laughing hysterically over some really awful acting and buckets of radioactive monster crocodile splatter Euro film gore, it's safe to say that gators 'n crocs are still a blast from one end of the entertainment grade scale to the other! And if you're interested in seeing the Killer Crocodile films for yourself, both are streaming for FREE, with Part 1 on youtube HERE, and Part 2 on the Tubi app.

Popeye Pants Pockets & More!

Who thought the Girls of Montgomery Ward '71 posts were over? Who? Who?? Okay, one more at least, and we'll save some other highlights for later this year around swimsuit season, sound good? But for now let's take a look at this incredible section of cartoon themed girl's clothes. And let me also state that there isn't a single cartoon themed anything in the boy's clothing section of this catalog, so yes, this is a rather unique collection. But why unique, you ask? I guess mainly because I don't recall a single girl that would've been caught dead watching Popeye when I was a kid in the 70's. Josie and the Pussycats, yes. Crusty old seafarers endlessly fighting over a squeaky noodle in a dress? No. These days of course it's much different because everyone loves Popeye, --and I seriously doubt (past, present, or future) that I would ever even consider talking to a girl that doesn't insist upon making cartoons a major part of her balanced daily life-- including Popeye! So here we are, and there she be with Popeye on her back pants pockets. In high school and in 1971 you were probably already glancing in that general direction of her body anyway as she waltzed on by, but suddenly, somehow, the view gets even better because-- Blow me down! --there's Popeye doubly punching a can of spinach into the air too! Now if you keep turning the catalog pages you find that Cool Cat also became a fun fashion statement, available not only on a shirt (that looks more like a nightie) but it also came with a matching bikini, unfortunately NOT pictured in the catalog. Even the Road Runner *meep! meep! gets his own tee shirt, --complete with ribbed neck for her errr... comfort. So what happened with the boys clothes in this catalog, you ponder? Stripes. And sports. That's what happened. Zzzzzz. 

He Who Waits!

We're kind of in cute girl mode here at AEET, ain't we? So okay, let's see how this titillating theme applies to today's Friday Frights post with a creepy little classic from the September - October 1952 issue of EC's Weird Fantasy #15, plus awesome art by Jack Kamen! Those of you with a green thumb and / or an eye for gorgeous gams, are sure to find "Petite" to be the perfect plant specimen! We have one more Friday left this month as well, and I do hope that everyone's enjoying the slight shift to sci-fi horror over the last few weeks, stay tombed for more...

The Girls of Montgomery Ward '71 (PART TWO)

Continuing now with the the second part of The Girls of Montgomery Ward, from the Summer 1971 catalog (Mr. Karswell will do anything to warm up this frigid winter month!) And I'm betting most of you are thinking "Summer Issue!" = bikinis and itty bitty summer wear, and you'd be half right-- but, like plastering my blog walls with lingerie pages (coming soon), that sort of thing almost seems a little too easy, so instead we're looking at the lovely ladies who make up the super selling points in some of the less traversed pages of a seasonal department store catalog. SEE! Luscious lawnmowering! Gorgeous leaf grinding! Sinsational shed organizing! Yessss, here we go-- you never thought yard work could be so wonderously yummy, did ya? And also included: two bonus (larger) images from PART ONE for those who inquired about 'em...