PVT. Sacko and the Service Sideshow

The Yardbirds #1 was a madcap military themed one-shot created by Dan DeCarlo for Ziff-Davis comics. Published in the Summer of 1952, kooky humor runs amok on all 36 pages, and is highlighted by a very attractive, Archies-esque cover to boot! But to be honest, my favorite part of this entire issue would be the hilarious Vic Martin gag filler featured on four separate pages throughout. His unique, cartoony style make these jokes somehow even funnier than the DeCarlo stories. Beetle Bailey had been pulling this schtick for a few years already, but Vic's take is as screwball fresh as ever. (This post is dedicated to the men and women who have bravely served our country, as we honor and commemorate them on this day-- salute!)

Raven: Boudoir Doll #4

I added another vintage 1920's / 30's boudoir doll torso to the collection this month, one with a particularly fresh face, rosy cheeked smile, and highlighted by a lovely, flowery bronze head wrap over her raven black hair. She might be in the best condition of the four I now possess, and yes, at some point these antique dolls (well, 3 of them) will need bodies and clothing, and of course to be displayed properly, --though not as lamps or pin cushions, I promise! --most likely alongside their full-sized mannequin sisters haunting the various other regions of my house...

Katy Keene Gets S'Mad

Another silly highlight from the golden era of fashion girl comics could be found in Katy Keene Pin-Up Parade #5 from 1959, where we find Archie artist, Bill Woggon tackle the popularity of current cartoon illustrative satire by turning Katy and her pals S'Mad! It's always fun seeing another artist interpret the Mad-cap, distinctive styles of Wolverton, Martin, Severin, Wood, and even Elder, while also poking a bit of fun at themselves (and their famously frisky glamour puss) in the process!

Sally and the Gang: Hot Dawgs!

Just as hot dogs are full of random tasty filler, these Sally and the Gang one page shorts could be found as bonus filler in a variety of popular late 40's - early 50's Harvey Golden Age comics (ie: Terry and the Pirates, Black Cat, Lil Abner, Green Hornet, Mazie & Flat-Top, Kerry Drake etc.) And of course in typical teen fashion of said era, nothing ever seemed to go right for any of the characters involved in any of the crazy situations. So with that, here are three very funny misadventures about her and her boyfriend attempting to manage a beach hot dog stand, and if you're unfamiliar with Sally, these are a perfect introduction to their ongoing, slapsticky chaos. 

Ceramic Cancan Cutie

I'm not exactly sure what I've found here, some kind of midcentury ceramic Cancan dancer with porcelain lace dress, gold accent shoes, and a really nice set of legs. Doing a bit of internet sleuthing I managed to maybe narrow it down to a Dresden figurine from Germany (which typically seem to have a stamp on the bottom-- mine does not), or one of the many Japanese knock-offs which only leads me right back to the beginning of my search. She's also about 4 1/2 inches tall. Does anyone know anything about these? Please comment or message me if you do. Thank you!

G.I. Pin-Ups '55

Are you still doing the Hawaiian hula dance from our last post? If so, let's keep the South Seas mindset and check in with our gorgeous G.I. Janes out there doin' their duty to serve and protect our country and make things a much more beautiful place for all to live-- with arousin' art by Roppe.

From the August 1955 issue of T.N.T. #5 

Can't Shake You Out of My Mind!

I had no idea what I was in store for when I picked up this interesting little box at an antique mall recently. One side of the postcard sized cardboard packaging stated: "An animated souvenir", while the other side notes: "An animated greeting." Being a cartoon nut, the word "animated" will of course always get my attention! So I carefully opened the side tab, and gently slid out what appeared to be a blank, small flat tray within. Flipping it over I almost gasped, as this was clearly the best 1952 souvenir ever-- a tiny, carded, rubber hula girl that moves, (one very similar to the other kitsch dancers I've posted about here previously.) And while those had little wire hand cranks underneath each to turn, and thus creating the hip swaying motion, this one simply has a tiny little metal hoop knob that you thumb back and forth repeatedly. On top of the hypnotic animated bit, the backing card is detailed with some really fun midcentury style, cartoony island art as well! This was such a great find, and I hope the video below works for you...

Letter from Disneyland (1955)

I was once again digging around a box of paper goods / ephemera this afternoon at an antique mall and stumbled upon yet another neat item. At first it was just an intriguing envelope with lil Tinkerbell doin' her thang, but then this envelope produced a beautiful, single-sided letter folded up inside, --and what's this? No signature on the letter? Oh wait... closer inspection and this is something else pre-manufactured altogether, --and unused even! So here's the question: Is getting a letter from Disneyland better than a touristy postcard? ANSWER: YES! Especially when it's a picturesque pre-made one covered in fun artwork and it has all the words already thought up and written out so you don't have to. Seriously, all you have to do is sign your name to it, lick a stamp, toss it in the mailbox, and then get your butt back on some rides! Oh, also it's from 1955, --the very same year that Disneyland first opened to the general public! If you look closely at the bottom left hand corner under the castle you'll also see that it says "Bob Dickey Humorized Products", which suddenly adds another whole collectable kitsch factor to this wonderful Disneyana find.

The Doll Story

Speaking of mannequins (see our previous post), here's a sexy little 4-page article and photo lay-out from an early 60's issue of Monsieur, "the magazine for the man of the world", detailing Sweden's Vaxdockan, aka The Doll (1962), plus a few other adult foreign films in production from that era about mannequins that come to life. It's hard to tell what type of mannequins these are as the photographer seems to have clearly and deliberately shot them looking away from the camera. Anyway, I've never seen any of the films mentioned in the article either, but will definitely be adding them to my find / watch list ASAP.

Profile Collection by Decter

I typically shy away from sharing images from other web sources, but having recently stumbled upon an incredible Facebook group called Purfex Mannequins, I just had to change my rules a bit, --especially when seeing the catalog pages of the beautiful, vintage "Profile Collection" girls by Decter! By now, most people that follow this blog also know that I collect vintage mannequins, and I actually have a few Decters in my collection as well. In fact, I believe one of mine may be a combination of Style 477 and L708 shown below! But wow, I really love the way they dressed the mannequins for these brochure / catalog pages, and the lovely make-up and wigs-- it's all just simple, breathtaking purfexion to me. This is the way I remember mannequins looking when I was a kid, not like the faceless, blank, lifeless, all white / headless travesties haunting department stores these days. This was totally how you sold fashion at one time too: dynamic, unique human characters modeling the items in highly attractive, very eye pleasing ways. Many arguments can be made for why shopping malls across the US are slowing closing down and dying altogether. I would be quick to add the lack of gorgeous, and realistic mannequins to that argument list...