"Gayrock" 1902

Check out this amazing "Gayrock" Guaranteed Clothing (Kohn Brothers) sampler guide from the Spring and Summer of 1902 Chicago, featuring swatches of fabric for Victorian era, fine wear, gentlemanly suits. That is, this is what the book is for the first half anyway, then you get to about the middle and it suddenly turns into someone's fascinatingly slap-dash scrapbook, full of antique clippings and other assorted illustrated ephemera and odds 'n ends. The colorful M-Born & Company calendar spread is quite beautiful, and that floaty ram's head at the finale below, coincidentally enough, reminds me that I need to pick up my cult robe from the tailors. I say, blade snags at the 'ol alter of sacrifice are so bothersome!

THE MONSTERS KAIJU: Sea Monster

Pop Mart's THE MONSTERS KAIJU blind boxed series collection from 2022 contains nearly a dozen neato tributes to classic Kaiju, and mostly feature Labubu in a majority of the giant monster roles: Gamera (aka Giant Turtle), Mecha Godzilla (aka Robot Gojimomo), and even as King Kong for the ultra rare and very expensive "super secret", etc! But my personal favorite as spotlighted here in today's post is Sea Monster! Fans of Ultra Man (1966) may recognize this monster mash-up as a combination of possibly Ragon and Guesra, ankle deep in the ocean and towering to great heights, --and large enough to hold a cute tugboat under arm even! As with all things Pop Mart / Labubu, this is a fantastically produced figure series with overall incredibly clever, high quality character sculpting and packaging. Please keep yourselves tuned in right here to see more of these in future AEET posts... and for more sea monster thrills, CLICK HERE!

Hoop-la

When our birthday-suited bathing beauty of the previous post is ready to rise from the marble slab and get prepped for a night on the town, one key ingredient to her fabulously feminine look is a Hoop-la. What's all the Hoop-la, ya ask? Well then, let the pictures below do the talking (and if anyone out there knows a good Hoop-la untangler, I'd very much appreciate their contact info-- thank you!) Fun packaging design though, with a very thoughtful placement of that letter "O." I actually stumbled upon this thing buried in a record rack amongst some old 33 1/3rd vinyl.

Bathing Beauty

I've added another lovely antique bisque sculpture to my collection, this time a bathing blonde beauty in the buff, lounging back on a rather heavy, marble base. Likely from 1940's Japan, though clearly modeled after the popular bathing beauties produced in Germany some decades earlier, her warm face and cute, shapely figure contrast nicely against that cold slab of gold vein and green. The lack of detail in her feet / toes and breasts / nipples seems to run consistent with whoever made these, via the few other examples that I've found online. Still, a very nice piece.

Wolfball Wizard

Well, I did it again. I found another one of these fun, old-timey, handheld vintage pinball games, and swapped out the snoozer sports theme background for something much more exciting (click HERE and HERE for more!) And in this case, we've been bitten by a ferocious fiend with the unforgettably, fearsome snarling face of Lon Chaney Jr. from the 1941 Universal horror film classic, The Wolf Man! I would really love to substitute the 5 pinballs inside with lycanthrope ending silver balls, naturally-- meanwhile, the iconic picture itself was ripped from the pages of my back-up copy of Denis Gifford's awesome, A Pictorial History of Horror Movies (yes, this copy was already falling apart, anyway!) And yes part two, the old saying still holds true: 

"Even a man who is pure in heart and plays pinball by night, may become a Wolfball Wizard when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright..."

Oh, XXXmas Tree!

Hard to believe xmas happened half a month ago already, but we can still revel in the memories as well as the marked down sale prices on vintage holiday items that went unsold last season. Case in point: this adorable ornament that I found the other day-- half price! Yes, I think I'll spare one antique mall vendor the task of dragging this back out of storage to try and sell again next year, because this lil guy will most certainly pop on my tree next year! I feel as if I'd be super hard pressed to even find another ornie this cute ever again, in fact. So what's everyone think? Is it not the best? Does it speak volumes to you on various, deeper levels? Is it making you feel just as festive and happy while coming into the New Year? Please unload your thoughts about it --NOW!

Donny & Marie Radio

There is no bigger fan of Donny & Marie on this planet than me. Nobody. And don't believe what you might read here in the comments later on, as some people will definitely try to convince you otherwise. Me. It's all me and Donny & Marie. Yes sir, I can't even think of anyone silly enough to even try to challenge me on this. Not a single person. No one. And as proof, here's a portable Donny & Marie solid state AM radio from 1977 in my hand to deliver FACTS! Can anyone else show me their Osmond dedication with a similar photo? Unlikely! So good luck Brian... errrr, I mean, anyone out there viewing this post, --in yo' face!!

Dura-Gloss Counter Display

From a risque Duro Decals post HERE , and now on to a lovely 1940's Dura-Gloss counter display --made entirely of wood, no less! That's right, "the better nail polish" deserves an even better counter display and this one comes practically unmatched by most I've seen over the years (and mostly I just love that gorgeous hand illustration in the header!) You'll have to use your imagination to see this beauty covered in the various choice color bottles of polish, but I'm sure it was equally magnificent. And be sure to Google Dura-Gloss to see an amazing array of their legendary print ads created by master graphic designers of the era.