THE RETURN OF MY 4TH GRADE VALENTINE'S DAY BOX

A few years have passed since we last looked inside my old 4th grade Valentine's Day box.  Here's 14 more cards from the 70s & 80s from my old classmates!

From Heather

From Matty

From Kelly

Not Signed

From My 5th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Kahrs

From Raynetta

From Eric M.

From Jeff P.

Not Signed

From Heather 

Not Signed

From Roger

From Loretta

This last one is a special one!  It was given to me by my Grandmother, the one who helped me make the Valentine's Day Box.  I can't remember, but I bet she snuck it inside my box before I went to school.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  

TOM SPINA DESIGNS VISITS THE STAR WARS CANTINA

Photo by Ross Harris

Old Ben mentioned something about a wretched hive of scum and villainy.  Hmm...I don't see any evidence of that in the photo above.  I only see happy shiny people hanging out and having a good time with some famous barflies in the Mos Eisley Cantina.  What's so wretched about that?  Nothing if you're part of the Tom Spina Designs crew.  This group of super talented folks are the ones to thank for bringing back to life ten characters from the famous cantina scene from the original Star Wars.  Their amazing work has been seen by millions in Volkswagen's The Dog Strikes Back commercial during this year's Super Bowl.  If you're one of the few who haven't seen it, click here to watch.

Tom Spina Designs is a creative force when it comes to costume & mask design, prop restoration, sculpture, themed furniture and tons of other innovative work.  Need a King Kong entertainment center?  They can make it!  How 'bout an Avengers desk?  Piece of cake!  Got an old Land of the Lost Sleestak costume laying around in need of restoration?  No problem! 

Check out the fun behind the scenes video of the cantina creature creations at Tom Spina Designs -- complete with cantina theme music!

Now that you've seen the video, go visit and "like" the official Tom Spina Designs Facebook page.  I'm really enjoying it and I'm sure you will too.  It's such a treat when a company like this pulls back the curtain and shares their creative process.   

For more cantina coolness, click here to visit their official website for more behind the scenes and close-up photos of the cantina creatures.

Thanks to Tom Spina for allowing me to borrow a few pics for this post and thanks to Tom Spina Designs for helping recreate a childhood favorite.  It sure was fun revisiting the Mos Eisley Cantina!   

SPACE ORB EYE IN THE SKY

FLEA MARKET FRIDAYS #61

Let's travel back to the 1960's and jump on a kaleidoscope rocketship for a tour of our solar system.  Along the way we'll meet some strange and mysterious space creatures.  

I've found some oddball toys in my day, but this Space Orb kaleidoscope might be the oddest one yet.  Get a load of that eyeball logo!  Really this thing is a mystery as to who manufactured it.  It doesn't have any markings whatsoever.  The only thing I know is that it's a window into other worlds!  According to the Space Orb, we have some scary looking creatures lurking around on other planets.

Below is a short and simple video I made to give you an idea what it looks like when you look inside the Space Orb.  Go ahead have a peek!

Here's some photos of alien lifeforms from the other planets in our solar system.

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune 

Pluto

Here's one last creature that I spotted in the Space Orb.  He kind of gives me the heebie jeebies!

ROADSIDE CLAM COMES TO NEATO COOLVILLE

I hope everyone likes clams because all of you are invited to an oversized clambake here in Neato Coolville!  That's right, earlier today I had quite the adventure and risked life and limb to capture two monster clams.  They put up a mean fight, but lucky for me they gave up after only a few rounds.        

OK, enough playing Commander McBragg!  Here's the true clam story and how I became a clam owner.

  

Shown here in four halves are two clams that have been part of two important Missouri tourist attractions at the Lake of the Ozarks.  First, they started off in show biz when they were one of the many props used by the Aquamaids at the Aquarama.  Aquarama was a 1960's underwater mermaid show.  (Click here to read my Aquarama post from 2009 and then be sure to visit Vintage Roadside for all things Aquarama including interviews and rare photos here.)  

Shown above is an Aquamaid posing with one of the clams!  (Image comes from a 1960's Missouri tourist magazine.)

After the Aquarama closed in the early 1970's the clams retired from the limelight and got into the restaurant business.  They became the googly eyed greeters of the popular restaurant known as the Happy Fisherman.

  

I took the above photo back in 2004 and this is how I remember the clams.  There were five of 'em lined up on the side of the road in front of the Happy Fisherman, which was the same building as the Aquarama.  For almost 40 years the clams sat there watching the traffic go by until the Happy Fisherman permanently closed in December of last year.  

When I heard the news I instantly wondered what would happen to the clams.  Luckily, the Happy Fisherman's owner and longtime Lake resident Mike Craig made sure the clams found homes.  I'm very grateful that he did!  Also it's worth noting that Vintage Roadside will end up with a clam!  Thanks to VR, a clam will continue to be connected to Aquarama! 

 Here I am posing with our new house pet...

...and here I am entering an enchanted world under the sea.  Hey, where's all the mermaids?

COLLECTINGCANDY.COM

Today is a great day for a sweet tooth thanks to the launch of CollectingCandy.com, a new site devoted to candy history.  My pal Jason Liebig has hit the ball out of the park with his first post on Big League Chew and you'll get a big nostalgia kick seeing all the vintage packaging through the years.  I know I sure did!  Be sure to share the link with all your candy loving friends because Jason is a master archivist and I know we'll be seeing a lot of neato cool stuff in the future.

Jason Liebig

EDGAR BERGEN & CHARLIE McCARTHY GLASS

FLEA MARKET FRIDAYS #60

I spotted this 1940 Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy glass at an antique store hidden behind an army of swanky swigs.  It was exciting to rescue this treasure from the radio days and take it home.  It was even more exciting the booth seller had a 50% off sign in their booth!

MIRROR KIBITZER, THE "I AIN'T GOT NO BODY" NOVELTY TOY

Excuse my little pal, the Bug-Eye Mirror Kibitzer.  Really he doesn't mean to look so ugly, but his face is just stuck that way.  I guess he was making a face one day when someone slapped him on the back.  Oh wait, that can't be, because he ain't got no body!  It's true, he is just a head with two arms and two legs and this is what makes him such a quality novelty.      

He was created by the Sutone Corporation and only cost sixty-nine cents.  Bug-Eye is a child of the sixties as his box is dated 1960. 

The long winded description on the box reads like this - 

"Lovable, Laughable, Fantastic Creatures from out of this world!  You are now the proud owner of a genuine Sutone Mirror "Kibitzer", a faithful servant and loving companion, ever eager to serve you in any way you wish.  Be kind to him.  He gets tired hanging on so move him to a new position from time to time.  In return, he'll spend countless hours entertaining you and your friends with his "thousand-and-one" ridiculous positions."  

His pals are Moon-Man and Voodoo-Man.  (Moon-Man looks like a distant cousin to Kilroy.)

He also has a girlfriend that's kind of a wild woman and who is void of any modesty.  We'll talk about her later, but first I need to show you this Kibitzer's talent.  He's a master hanger-on. Really, he simply likes to hang on stuff.  The box illustrates this fun-tastic activity below.       

Now let's take a look at Bug-Eye doing what he does best!  

Here he is hanging on a lampshade.

 Here he is smashed between some dresser drawers.

Here he is playing an outdated hand-held video game.

Here he is feeling sick after eating a whole box of chocolate cereal.  

For the last image, here he is in an old photo from his past.

This was back when he was really into murder mystery paperbacks!  As you can see he really loved that book.

Bug-Eye might be another ugly face, but he sure can hang around with the best of 'em!

Oops, I almost forgot to mention Bug-Eye's girlfriend, better known as the Buzoom Girl.  Yep, she likes to hang around too, but in a far different way than Bug-Eye.

In the photo above, she is pictured on a header display card that once adorned a box filled with Buzoom Girls.  Since this is a family friendly blog, I photoshopped her a Kibitzer bikini to wear.  The real display card shows her in the au naturel where her kibitzys look very similar to Bug-Eye's red eyes!  There must have been a small warehouse find on these cards and usually you can find one on ebay.

Actually ol' Bug-Eye is the only real Kibitzer I've run across.  I tried to do a little internet snooping and there's just not much info out there on this novelty.  I would like to see photos of all the other Kibitzers out there.  Boy that would just be downright fun-tastic!

1976 SLOPPY JOE PACKET

I'm tempted to open this and fix me a Sloppy Joe sandwich.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!  I'm sure after 36 years the seasoning mix that's sealed inside is still OK.  Right?

I'll be fine as long as I follow along with the Manwich lady from this 1972 ad.

Now if I survive, I guess I'll celebrate by doing the Sloppy Joe dance!  

OK everyone, get up and get your slop on and let's do the Sloppy Joe dance.

For some more vintage Sloppy Joe fun, visit these links here, here and here!