"Like to hear it? Here it go..."

I found this wonderfully funny wind-up tin toy after venturing over into Illinois yesterday. He's in really good condition, and as you can see he's more than happy to strum up a lovely little ditty to make your mundane Monday just a little bit better.

After searching the web a bit for more info, we unfortunately didn't come up with much. What we did discover was that he's likely from the 1960's, and he was probably made in Japan. If you have more information on this guy, please let me know. FYI: There is another one currently on eBay but it's in pretty sad condition, wearing different clothes, welding a different guitar, no hat, missing an arm, and his pants apparently keep falling down, haha. Anyone interested CLICK HERE!

Little Orphan Annie Travel Game

I love board games, especially the kind with themes like monsters and old cartoon characters. I found this 1930's Little Orphan Annie Travel Game the other day for $4 ("Leapin' lizards!" says the guy who paid $95 on Hakes), and though it's a bit beat up, it was definitely worth that price for the art on the lid alone which depicts Annie as a cave girl, --and thus leading one to believe this "travel game" is probably about time travel. But no, reading the game play instructions inside, it's just about traveling by train from Chicago to the west coast, (I think.) Anyway, the game board is built right into the bottom of the box and though not nearly as great as the fantastic lid art, it also features a few cute Harold Gray illustrations of other popular LOA characters as well. Also, looking at photos that collectors have shared online of this game, I'm not sure if my player pieces are the originals. The super lovely game spinner definitely is though, and still works great.

Avon Bed of Nails Comb

Last month I revealed that my grandmother was a wig design specialist for Zayre department stores in the 70's (more on that here at a later date, I'm still digging up all the photos.) Well, one other thing she did, not surprisingly, was sell Avon product. Everyone knows all about the perfume and endless beauty enhancers that Avon produced, but for me, it was their line of fun, kitschy kids stuff that made having an Avon Grandma in the 70's a truly awesome thing indeed (example: see my Miss Lollypop Powder Mitt post HERE!) Okay now, the Avon Bed of Nails Comb, aka The Guru of Good Grooming, introduced in 1978, may cause some of you to gasp by todays standards of correct Indian representation, but when I was a kid, this comb and the funny little box it came in was one of my favorite things ever. That ouch face! Those band-aids!





I'd make that same face too while trying to comb out a difficult hair knot.

A Handy How-To-Book For Fathers

Figures I'd find this funny little spiral bound, vintage Hallmark Father's Day card / book a few weeks AFTER Father's Day, but here it is anyway, and aside from the pogo stick suggestion page, I think I've actually got most of these "how to's" already well covered. Super fun art, and I know it sounds cliche, but it's true-- they really don't make them like this anymore.

Slumber Party Massacre: The Suitcase

I saw this totally hilarious kid's "Slumber Party" overnight case at an antique mall the other day, and while I don't really need to spend that kind of money on a giant piece of retro luggage that I would likely never even use, I definitely felt the need to take a picture of it for all of you to see. Featuring two unaware young ladies already in their PJ's and being peeped on by what appears to be a pair of prepubescent panty plunderers from next door! Good lord, who really knows what their true intentions are-- or is it just innocent leering, panting puppy love?



Funny, but with just the simple addition of a lightening bolt outside the window, their true intentions suddenly become quite clear:



And with yet a third simple addition, we see that Mr. Karswell has probably watched too many horror movies in his life.... if, you now, that is even possible.



I suppose that I could've gone even further and added a 2 after massacre, and then on and on until the guy below showed up and eliminated everyone on the original suitcase:



But no, let's think of the children and the fun time they had just munching on chips, spinning some 45's, giggling about boys, and then later around midnight they wander into the bathroom and turn out the lights and while standing in front of the mirror and holding a flashlight underneath their trembling little dimpled chins, they summon Bloody Mary, and then... *re-insert lightening bolt

Figleaf

Like it says on the box, Figleag is the adult version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and is guaranteed to turn on any party. Made by Stancraft Productions in 1972, it's all rather simple and brilliant really-- the box contains two life-size, black and white "photographic nudes" of a man and woman, along with 2 reusable, sticky-backed, Adam and Eve style fig leaves, a ruler, and unfortunately my newly acquired $7 copy is missing the revealing instructions-- though I'm guessing you can just look at the always incredible Jack Davis box art to figure out how to play. Fortunately, mine appears to have never been played with. Ummm, the game, I mean...

Lenticular Flicker Kickers Matchbox

Popped into a typically ho-hum local resale shop here yesterday (where I usually never find anything good), and whoa Nelly what do I see? This true gem of a 60's matchbox complete with red flocking and a very cute lenticular flicker image of high kickin' showgirls on the lid. Check out the clip below to see it in action because it's really something. As an added bonus, the thing still contains an unbelievable number of original wooden matches inside. Seriously, there must be like 100 in there-- plus, they're incredibly teeny tiny too! I lit one just to make sure they're real.