Tuesday, April 14, 2020

1970's FILMSTRIP: SQUEEGEE LEARNS ABOUT DRUGS BY MARY LOU ANDERSON


Ah, the memories of filmstrips.  Any school kid from the 1960's to the early 1980's will remember sitting in a dark classroom watching a continuous slow scroll of images.  The images were paired with mono audio and those famous beep tones.  The beep signaled the teacher to advance the strip to the next image.  If you were a lucky kid or a teacher's pet you might've been chosen for this highly important and crucial job.  Today, I present an opportunity for you to go back in time and experience one of these classic filmstrips complete with beeps. This is Squeegee Learns About Drugs from 1971.


So do you feel all nostalgic now?  Did it take you back to those old school day memories?  This is definitely a product of its time and is quickly becoming a forgotten type of media.  Can you imagine children sitting still and watching all 13 minutes and 23 seconds of this?  

Now I want to mention a little bit about Mary Lou Anderson, the creator of this filmstrip.  She's a Kansas City personality that has been entertaining and teaching children through the use of her puppets for fifty years plus.  She created Squeegee and the other puppets for the filmstrip.  How'd you like Smartypants?  Even though he doesn't wear pants he's the cool one made from a toilet brush!  Mary performed as a puppeteer and as a main character for Channel 41 KMBA's two kid shows.  41 Treehouse Lane and Mother Nature were on the air from the 1970's until the early 1980's.  I didn't grow up in KC, so I wasn't familiar with Mary Lou Anderson but since finding this filmstrip, I've found some online info about her.

 Newpaper clipping from 1976

From 2011, is this fun photo of Mary with her puppets from Getty Images.


Mary showed up on a Kansas City local news channel in 2017.  For another video, follow this Facebook link for a great interview with her from the same year.

One last item connected to Mary is this great 1974 newspaper ad for Winchell's Donut House.  Mary as her character Mother Nature was a judge for the donut eating contest. Now that would have made a great filmstrip!

Oops, I almost forgot. Did you notice the stack of books that Squeegee is next to in the filmstrip?  If you're like me, you were probably straining your eyes trying to figure out the titles.  No worries because I figured it out. 


Beep!
     

Friday, April 03, 2020

THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN IN THE FLOATING PALACE PRINTABLE COLORING BOOK


In the year, 1994.  From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction.  Man's civilization is cast in ruin.  Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn.  A strange new world rises from the old.  A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery.  But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice.  With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword, against the forces of evil.  He is Thundarr the Barbarian!

Let the Thundarr gang distract you from our current world with this complete scan and printable coloring book from 1982.  Thundarr was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon as a kid and thru the years, I've put together a small collection of stuff.  So the other day, I dug out the coloring book and posted the cover to twitter.  After many requests to see inside, I went ahead and scanned all the pages to share it here, just like old times.  Ignite your Sunsword or crayons and go enjoy some coloring pages!  Oh...and if you decide to share any of your coloring creations, post 'em to twitter and tag 'em #thundarrcoloringbook.  Let's turn twitter into a giant fridge graced by the goodness of Thundarr! Lords of Light, it will be glorious!!

For best results click on the page and save the image to your computer and print from there.