For Swingers Only

Another antique mall find of the week-- a full, unopened pack of 12 super swingin', drip proof coasters from American Greeting Corp., aka the House of Paper. And judging by the awesome artwork, (and overall swinger theme) I'd say 60's or 70's-- and yes, I'm totally gonna test that "drip proof" claim ASAP! Just as soon as I'm finished swingin'!

"...diamonds... chestnuts... popcorn... that girl!"

The Worsted Monster by Edward Gorey (a play!)

That's right-- why just sit around freezing with boredom all winter when instead while trapped indoors you could be theatrically productive and putting on your own tiny stage productions! And we can't think of a better way to kick off your homespun DIY season of live performances than with The Worsted Monster, written by Edward Gorey. Efficiency is key as the script is thankfully only 2 pages long, and meanwhile, your visual budget is next to nothing as you will also already have everything required: full color back-drops / sets / scenery, props, and yes, even the actors already in costume --just cut everything out with scissors and manipulate them around on a table or windowsill-- however / wherever you find fit (see more helpfully hilarious production notes located at the end of the script.)

And all of this comes courtesy of the June 1974 "Rainy Day Sunday Funbook Issue" of National Lampoon Magazine-- why, even the cover art is by Edward Gorey too!

Animals by Jack Davis

I thought it would be fun to do a post that focused on a specific subject of Jack Davis that I've always found, like all things Davis, to be executed with the utmost of perfection-- and that being his incredibly unique take on animals. But not just animals! Nope. Today anything non-human will do, including birds, fish, and even insects. And a rather good example of this can be found among the collection of hilarious jokes and screwball stories as told by another national institution, Harry Herschfield, and contained in his JOKE BOOK collection published in 1964 by Ballantine Books. NOTE: no Herschfield jokes are included here in this post though, sorry. Trust me, the Jack Davis key art illustrations are way more funny!

KING KONG SUPER MAG '76

Ending 2017 with some KING KONG related fun 'n games from the always great SUPER MAG mini kid's magazine, Vol. 1 #2 published in 1976, the same year the not so great big budget Dino DiLaurentis remake was unleashed upon the world.

Hope everyone had a great year, we'll be back in 2018 with lots more... see ya!

CARTOONIST: Irving "Roir" Roth

I don't know much about Irving Roth other than he had 3 brothers who were all popular cartoonists at the same exact time as well-- but boy oh boy do I ever love his stuff! It's loose and funny and looks like nobody else. This is another small sampling selection from the Merry-Go-Round Pictorial Review of the Year book published in 1947 (see my last post for more details.)

CARTOONISTS: Roy Nelson & Colin Allen

Found a super duper hardcover book collection recently called MERRY-GO-ROUND: Pictorial Review of the Year, with contents originating from Pictorial Review, as featured in 1940's Sunday Magazines syndicated all over the USA. A sort of "best of" of stories about life, love, and career, with hilariously fascinating male fabrications concerning all sort of "facts" on friends and family, as well as touchy subjects ranging from why women shouldn't wear slacks, to how much more intelligent men are than the opposite sex. Ummm, ok... did I mention this was published in 1947? Each chapter is illustrated by a variety of exceptionally competent cartoonists like D. B. Holcomb, John Buckley, Michael Berry, Irving Roir, etc... (I'll be featuring a few of these in our next post as well) and two of the best, in my humble opinion, and thankfully with the largest assortment of brilliant examples in said book, are Roy Nelson and Colin Allen. Incredibly fun stuff. See you in a few days for more!

































NOT THE END...