HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY STAR TREK

Today marks the 50th anniversary of everyone's favorite TV space western! Actually, it was two days ago on September 6th that truly marked the 50th because Star Trek aired first on Canadian television. Above is an ad that ran in the Edmonton Journal newspaper on September 6, 1966, for CFRN Channel 3 TV and it aired that evening at 7:30 p.m. Viewers had a choice of Let's Sing Out, a rerun of Glynis or Star Trek. I suspect some of the first Trekkies in the world were born that night in Canada. 

In the United States, Star Trek was shown as part of NBC's sneak previews night on September 8, 1966, beginning with the episode, The Man Trap. The ad above is from the Sept. 3-9, 1966 issue of TV Guide. Understandably not realizing the cultural impact that Trek would have; TV Guide put Eva Gabor on their cover. Apparently, the folks at TV Magazine, a supplement for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had a good idea of the importance of the show and featured Captain Kirk on their cover.
     

(Images from eBay)

Newspaper TV listing for the first Star Trek

Watch some early promos for Star Trek!

1967 RCA Television Ad

Trekkie, Trekker or Trek-hater; I'm sure all of us can remember our own introduction to Star Trek. I wasn't around for the original broadcasts and discovered Trek thru reruns in the 70's. My dad, brother and I watched the show most Saturday nights on KRCG-13 out of Jefferson City, MO. I don't think I ever saw a complete episode as I could never stay awake. I did much better once it aired in the afternoon after school. 

1976 KRCG-13 Ad

Of course, you can't talk about Star Trek and not list your favorite episodes. Mine have always been Arena, Mirror Mirror, The City on the Edge of Forever, Catspaw and Spectre of the Gun. I think I'll be watching these later tonight to celebrate the big anniversary. 

Happy 50th, Star Trek! You still look bright and vibrant as ever!!

BRIDES OF DRACULA PAPER BAT PROMO FROM 1960

FLEA MARKET FINDS #89

Just in time for the Halloween countdown, I found a goodie at a neat little antique shop the other day.

Eek! It's a paper bat!

This paper bat is very cool as it's a promotional item for the 1960 film Brides of Dracula, the second Dracula movie from Hammer Films.

I've always been a Hammer horror fan and finding this bat was kind of a thrill. I wonder if it was distributed as a hand out during a screening of Brides. I can imagine some kid holding on to this bat in the dark theater scared silly as he/she watched Peter Cushing fight lady vampires. Neat that the kid saved it for 55 years so I could find it and share with you during the Halloween countdown. Thanks kid!

Here's the movie trailer to Brides of Dracula -

THE EXECUTIVE ABC BOOK

In honor of tonight's final episode of Mad Men, let's take a look at this novelty gag booklet from 1962. It's kind of amazing how this book sort of sums up the complete series of Mad Men.

1963 MOPAR PARTS ADS FEATURING SERVICE STATION ROBOTS

Check out these very cool Mopar ads from 1963. I guess this fab four are robot service station men made from Mopar parts. It would be fun if there was an animated commercial from back then, but I didn't find any evidence of one. I hope whoever designed these got a big fat raise! 

FOUND PHOTOS: 1966 ADULT HALLOWEEN PARTY

It has been a dry run for me in the way of finding found Halloween photos, but I did manage to buy a collection of slides this past spring. Within the collection are these five slides from an adult Halloween party from 1966. Not sure of the location, but since the photographer was from St. Louis, it's a good chance these 1960s Halloween hipsters got their freak on in ol' Saint Lou. 

Now let's have some made-up fun and jump in the Neato Coolville time machine and meet these Halloween party people!

Such a motley crew of Halloween hooligans ready to party the night away! Whoop! Whoop!

Here's Mr. & Mrs. Topstone, straight from the back pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. I hear they can cut a mean rug on the dance floor. Mr. & Mrs. Topstone are the ghost hosts of this swingin' party in Mr. Topstone's rec room. 

Ms. Macy Headless. a good gal, but she's a bit absent minded. That one is always losing her head, especially after a few Bloody Marys. 

Poor Miss Little Crybaby. Not sure who invited her to the party, because she's such a party pooper. The littlest of things will start the water works with this girl. I think someone spilled her Shirley Temple!  

The tall guy with the hat is Paul Beachcomber. He's not happy at the moment as he glares at Roger Ricardo, the guy with the slicked back hair and glasses. Paul has been at odds with Roger ever since '59 when Roger stole his girlfriend, Pearl the Flamenco dancer.  

Pearl the Flamenco dancer was the catch of a lifetime and Paul let her slip through his fingers like sand through an hourglass.

Let's meet some of the others at this Halloween party. 

That's Mr. Not-so-speedy Gonzales and his girlfriend Fernanda Plasticface. They will leave the party early because Mr. Gonzales will attempt to open beer bottles with his mouth and in turn break out all of his front teeth. At least he will leave his hat for Pearl the Flamenco dancer to do her famous forbidden hat dance of love. 

Here's Mr. and Mrs. To Wong Foo. At first, I thought Mr. Foo was that antique dealer guy who wanted to buy Mayberry's civil war cannon on The Andy Griffith Show. So uncanny, they could've been brothers! Mrs. Foo will entertain all the guests with her invention of the "Me Chinese, me play joke" joke.

We see in this next slide, that Mr. Topstone is tired of picture taking and just wants to dance. Grrr! 

Looks like Mr. Topstone is a collector of fine art with his neatly displayed wall of pin-ups. That Mr. Topstone is one classy guy.

 Grrrrrrrrrrr! Let us dance!

This group just showed up uninvited. I think they're real hobos looking for booze and party snacks. Someone throw a bottle cap in that one guy's hat.

Hey, wait minute! Who's that guy in the middle wearing Mr. Not-so-speedy Gonzales' hat and hanging out with his girlfriend Fernanda Plasticface?

Oh oh. Looks like we got some party drama going on as Fernanda Plasticface didn't leave with the toothless Mr. Gonzales after all. Instead she's hooked up with Sam Redshirt. He's the local butcher and supposedly real smooth with the ladies. Good thing this is the last slide because things might have been too scandalous for Neato Coolville.  

Oops. I almost forgot Miss Bigeyes Surprise! She sees everything, don't you know? All the party shenanigans will be all over town before the last of the spirits are poured. Egads!

I hope you enjoyed my silly slide captions. It's always fun to make something up about total strangers from a different era.

CODE 10 HAIR DRESSING "IT'S INVISIBLE, MAN!"

Yesterday, I showed you one of my favorite ads growing up, the Invisible Man for Scotch Magic Tape. In 2012, when I originally blogged about the Scotch Tape Invisible Man, I listed a few other famous invisible men from pop culture. One of those invisible men was from a 1960s commercial for Code 10 Hair Dressing. At the time, I wasn't able to link to a commercial online.

 Recently I noticed a commercial finally showed up on YouTube! So here's Code 10's Invisible Man.

This commercial is probably from 1963 and I like how it plays up the whole spy fad of that era. The invisible spy is reminiscent to 1942's Invisible Agent from Universal Pictures. 

Wow, that Code 10 must have been powerful stuff. This magazine ad from 1963 says it "inflames women and infuriates inferior men."  

FOUND PHOTOS: JFK TEMPORARY GRAVESITE

Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest days of the 20th century, the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. In my collection of found photos, I have two photo slides of JFK's temporary gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. The photos were taken in early 1964, a few months after the assassination. I have no clue who snapped these photos, but I'm sure they would say that viewing the grave was a poignant reminder of that fateful day, November, 22, 1963. 

I noticed that the LBJ Library uploaded some silent raw film footage of the temporary gravesite to their YouTube page. Click here to view the video.

In 1967, a permanent gravesite was finished and open for public viewing.     

2005 photo of the eternal flame.

1964 commemorative postage stamp.

SWEATSHIRT MONSTERS FROM LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

(Click on this image and use as a desktop wallpaper!)

Last year I picked up an old TV Digest from 1962 (see below) with a great Leave It to Beaver Halloween cover. I was hoping for something Halloweeny inside the mag, but it's strictly a television guide. There's not even a special Halloween episode of Beaver listed. Come to think of it, I don't think there ever was a specific Halloween episode for Leave It to Beaver. There were episodes that could have worked as a Halloween episode. Like "The Haunted House" episode from season two or the third season episode "The Magician." That one begins in Uncle Artie's Magic Shop with Beaver in a Topstone witch mask.

Instead of using one of those episodes, I chose to post about one of my favorite Beaver episodes as a go-along with the TV Digest cover. "Sweatshirt Monsters" from season six! In this episode, Beaver and his pals decide to buy some monster sweatshirts from Tildens Sporting Goods and wear the gruesome looking shirts to school. There's no need for me to spoil the episode, but needless to say, Beaver ends up in the principal's office.

The stars of this episode are the swell monster sweatshirts that were inspired by the (weirdo) hot rod monster shirts by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and other California airbrush artists from that same era.   

If I was in the 8th grade like Beaver and his pals, I would have also spent my allowance on one those shirts. Just look at that crazy artwork! It's hard to see in the store display, but there are seven shirts in the window. Versions of the shirts in front (with subtle differences) were worn by the boys in the episode. So we know there were two of each of the four shirts made. A set for the store display and a set for the actors. Hmm...I've often wondered if any of these prop shirts survived. Were they packed away in the costume department or were they given to the actors or crew afterwards? Also, I wonder who the artist was? Vincent Dee is listed as the costume supervisor, so I'm sure he had a hand in creating or at least choosing the artwork. 

It's hard to see any of the shirts straight on and without any obstructions in the episode, so I've attempted to piece together the images of the main four shirts.    

As for the three hidden shirts in the back, you need to use your imagination to fill in the blanks of what these might have looked like. 

There's no telling what the original colors were, so for fun, I took a stab at colorizing the monsters.

We finish with the TV Digest cover that kickstarted today's blog post!

Happy Halloween from the Beaver!