Return to Satan's Flaming Inferno!

It's been a summer inferno here in the midwest for a few weeks now, and if you remember our last visit to Satan's Flaming Inferno (aka Kansas City) back in 2011 HERE, well, here we go again, as I recently found yet another amazing matchbook from this hotter than Hell show lounge of yesteryear, --and this time it's HUGE too, 12 inches long to be exact! Entertainment and dancing, bands, combos, shows, and all of your drinks served by some gorgeous Devil's helpers in the Salvador Dali Room! Sounds like heaven TBH. And if the size of this matchbook isn't impressive enough, check out all of the sexy illustrations featured on both sides! They're so well done, in fact, I think we should take a close-up look at each one!

1920's Terre de Retz Powder Box

I wasn't fully aware what I had actually found here at first, I only knew she looked very cute and interesting in her commedia dell'arte mask and costume. She seemed to be made of a paper mâché composite type material, and egads the paint was so brittle, and badly flaking off everywhere that my finger tips touched. But for $2.00 I went ahead and bought her, and later while sitting in my car and trying not to handle her too much, I noticed the words, "Made in France" plus the name, "Terre de Retz" carved into the backside of the dress. Another signature (also located on her dress and visible in the right side angle photo of her below) appears to be from the person who originally painted her. Googling these words revealed this to be one in a massive, variety series of rare, deco era powder boxes from 1920's France. Boy, what a find! CLICK HERE to get a brief history and more info about these beautiful powder boxes over at Cleopatra's Boudoir!

The Snake Charmer!

If you were charmed by our last post about beautification, you may also be charmed by todays adorable wind-up wild man. Made in Japan in the 60's by ALPS, this funny lil fellow in the bright yellow coat and tight fitting turban is seen holding a snake charmer's flute, (aka a punji) in one hand, and giving us the thumbs up with his other. I suppose he's assuring us that a snake will appear once he starts fluting it up, although *SURPRISE!* one never does! Yes, we wind him up and watch him do his weird little shuffle dance in circles, all the while wondering "Where's the damn snake?!" It's implied that the slithery serpent is tucked away under the turban, hence why it's bobbin' up and down on his head is such a funny manner, but dang it, --I paid for a snake show! 

Charm

Time once again to get beautiful with yet another antiquated, midcentury method of vibration application, umm, for your "health." Yes folks, this is what a "5 minute facial" USED to mean back in the day. Still, nice gold packaging on this, as well as some cute booklet illustrations in case you didn't know how to apply cream to your face and neck, PLUS! Infra-Red technology! Shocking. I actually plugged this thing in and wowzers, it still worked! I am now freakin' lovelier than ever!

WHAM-O Water Wiggle

If you survived the shark attack of our last post (HERE!), and are still lookin' for some wet 'n wild fun on a hot afternoon in July like today, look no further than the imaginative minds at WHAM-O to think up a wonderfully weird (and unfortunately / sadly deadly) summertime, sea serpent toy classic-- the Water Wiggle! Powered by your garden hose, when the water was turned on The Wiggler erupted into action-- flying around and hosin' you, and everything, down! Check out the hilariously adorable 60's commercial to see it go-- HERE! And if you've never seen the original Water Wiggle display box, --which is actually the point of this post -- it's completely covered in super 60's cartoon kid graphics that I photographed from every side! Take a look:

The JAWS Cup!

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the concession stand during a scary summer blockbuster movie, comes this original, theatrical, plastic promo JAWS cup from 1975 that I recently spotted at an antique mall. Featuring the iconic poster art on one side (nudity free modified too, no less!), plus a simple plug for the film and book on the other side. It just isn't summer unless some naked, wet damsel in distress is getting munched by an insatiable predator, ya know!

YETI: The Abominable Snowman

If the summer heat has got ya down, then head for the Himalayas to cool off with everyones favorite mountainy monster, --the Yeti! Or more specifically, head to the air conditioned aisles of a midwestern antique mall and track down your own mangy Marx toy from 1963, also known as, "Yeti, the Abominable Snowman!" He grunts and walks! He raises his arms and shrieks! He's priced at $1,500 for some kookball reason-- good lord! *gasp! Well, he is pretty cool after all, but not cool enough to convince my wallet to buy him. That didn't stop me from taking a bunch of close-up pix of this crazy cryptid in all of his gruntin' glory, from the tip of his furry white head, down to his weirdly mis-colored set of paws. The remote control looks like an old slim boy Busch beer can, and TBH, the best part of this entire monstrosity is the various artwork found on all sides of the lid that looks like it could have easily doubled for carnival freakshow banners!