Toyland 1960 (Part One)

If everyday is Halloween over at The Horrors of it All, then there shouldn't be any problem with it being Xmas in June over here at the new blog (NOTE: you only have 7 months until December anyway!) And okay, every kid knows that the only thing more fun than xmas itself is the xmas toy catalog. Ahhh, the fuzzy wuzzy pipedream of getting every single thing on every page that you happened to put a scratch mark next to (mom, if you're reading this I want the Dr. Seuss Zoo Set on page 3, and the Yogi Bear Score-A-Matic Ball Toss on page 11!) So let's follow the delicious little gingerbread man across the first half of this terrifically designed catalog of grand 60's kid treasures, I'll have the last half of the catalog in our next post.

NEXT: Cowpoke Gear! Totally Off-Model Hanna-Barbera Stuffed Characters! Baby Toys! Dolls Dolls and More Dolls-- and other fun stuff to prepare young girls for a future life in the kitchen (plus sewing and ironing!)

Snooper and Blabber & Quick Draw McGraw

Grim ghosts, mad magicians, and a back stabbing genie--- sort of sounds like you've entered THOIA territory, eh? Well you know I couldn't create another blog without a comic book post or two here once in awhile, and two of my favorite Hanna-Barbera creations, Snooper & Blabber and Quick Draw McGraw (don't forget Baba Looey) are on the dial! Both went into TV syndication together in 1959 on the awesome Quick Draw McGraw Show; today's post is from the Whitman hardcover comic book collection published a few years later in 1962. For those of you with super short attention spans, these are fun little two-page black and white escapades (with an occasional splash of color over the title), tailor made just for you.

Get well...

Before we plunge into another large scale post, I want to take a minute and throw out some well wishes to everyone (myself included) who is, or has been either sick, injured, or potentially planning a date with their local mortician, because 2010 so far has been a disasterous year (they used to drop like flies in 3's-- now they're shuffling off this mortal coil by the dozen!) So please friends, take a moment to take extra special care, and don't forget to take your vitamins too.


(1960's American Greetings Corp HI BROWS "get well" card)

Merry Makings

I can't remember how old I was when I first found this tiny 6'' x 3'' Betty Crocker recipe pamphlet folded-up and mixed in with my mother's cookbooks. Needless to say, she possibly never even baked anything from this 24-page explosion of great 60's design because once in my hands she was doomed to never get it back. This kind of thing is just as appealing to me as any comicbook or trip to the carnival, and for some reason I'm an insatiable sucker for fantastically illustrated characters from this era interacting with photos of delicious real foods. And as you can see, the recipes themselves take a backseat as each page here is expertly layed out, bursting with warm stylized imagery, and gorgeously clever color and typography choices... though speaking of clever, how can you not want to eat something with names like Funny-Side-Up Pie, Crazy-Quilt Bread, Chucklet Cake, Whirly Giggles, Tickled Pinks, Slap Sticks, or Zany Babas?) I've posted the entire pamphet here and apologize for the scan quality as it is very old and brittle, and as mentioned lived a few years in a state of folded torture. If anyone is adventurous enough to make any of these tasty treats, please let us know about it in the comments.

Happy Entertaining!