COOLVILLE GOES HALLOWEENVILLE FOR 31 DAYS

Trick or Treat.
Smell my feet.
Give me something good to eat!

Yippieee! It’s time go put on your flame retardant Casper mask, gut a pumpkin & carve it like Elvis, and dress your dog up like Darth Vader because tomorrow is Halloween!

Oh, I know your calendar doesn’t show Halloween on October 1st, but the calendar here in Neato Coolville say’s that it’s Halloween every day in October!

So be sure to join in on the spooky festivities and check back here everyday for all things Halloween, where you’ll find monsters, spooks, and anything that goes bump in the night!

COZY DOG DRIVE-IN ON RT. 66

Have you ever been munching down on a corn dog at a state fair while thinking to yourself, “I wonder where these battered delicacies came from and who invented them anyway?”

They were invented by two geniuses, Ed Waldmire Jr. and Don Strand way back in 1946 and were called Crusty Curs. Thankfully the name was changed to Cozy Dogs and a drive-in was opened in Springfield, Illinois. The amazing thing, is that the Cozy Dog Drive-In is still in business on old Rt. 66 and you can still get one of those original Cozy Dog corn dogs!

They moved into a new building back in 1996 where the same charm still exists. Inside you’ll find lots of vintage old Cozy Dog advertising from old signs to boxes to framed photos. Also they have five or six photo albums that you can flip through that’s chocked full of old snapshots, menus and various other memorabilia.



I can say from experience that they serve the best corn dogs that I’ve ever tasted! So if you ever find your self in Springfield, Illinois make a point to swing by and enjoy a couple of Cozy Dogs and don’t forget the fries because they’re yummy too!

Here is the link to their website. Cozy Dog Drive-In

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY'S TOPIC "PHOBIA"

VINTAGE LONG JOHN SILVER'S RESTAURANT MASCOT SIGN

Argghh ye maties, we didn’t find the pirate’s treasure but we found the pirate!

We set out on the morning of September 19th for a little trip on Rt. 66 and our first stop was in Rolla, Missouri at the Mule Trading Post. This not-to-be-missed historical roadside shop had a mix of typical Rt. 66 memorabilia, Missouri souvenirs, and flea market stuff.

As I was digging through an old medicine cabinet filled with spice tins and old jars I happened to look down to see a cartoon pirate looking up at me with his one good eye! Since he looked awful familiar, I pulled him out from behind an old desk and brushed off the dust and cobwebs that he’d been collecting. Sure enough he was Long John Silver and not just some generic Long John, but the advertising mascot for Long John Silver's Seafood restaurants back in 1969 when the restaurant started.

The kooky thing about finding this old LJS sign was that September 19th was Talk Like a Pirate Day!

So for the rest of the day we talked like pirates as we traveled on the mother road with a pirate in the trunk!

TOONFEST AT MARCELINE MISSOURI

We’re kind of ashamed to say that we’ve been to Disneyland many times, but have never visited Walt Disney’s boyhood home in Marceline, Missouri. The sad thing is that Marceline is less than 200 miles from where we live. Finally, this past weekend we made the trip and visited the town where Disney became a dreamer. The added bonus for us was that Marceline was throwing their annual Toonfest festival. It was so much fun that we’ll try to attend every year!


Toonfest is a celebration of the life of Walt Disney with a parade down Main Street USA, cartoonist seminars, meet & greets with popular cartoonists and animators, contests, crafts and many Disney related events.

Pete Docter(Director of Monsters Inc.), Dan Piraro (Bizarro), Lynn Johnston (For Better Or For Worse), Chris Browne (Hagar the Horrible), and Mike Peters(Mother Goose & Grim) entertained the packed 1930's Uptown theatre! It was a wonderful opportunity to see and visit with this group who are some of the best cartoonist working today!








We really enjoyed visiting the Walt Disney Hometown Museum that is housed in the old Marceline Santa Fe Depot. Some priceless Disney artifacts are displayed here, including his school desk and a Disneyland Midget Autopia Car from the attraction that Disney himself donated to the town. Also, they have some wonderful photos of Disney during his 1956 visit along with some informative information!

Marceline is definitely a place that shouldn’t be missed and we really need to visit the town again on a normal day and take the proper tour!

SUPERMAN FLY PAPER

Ok, this has to be one of the weirdest and most oddball items with Superman’s name on it. Over the years I’ve seen Supes show up on milk caps, underwear, candy wrappers and hair brushes. Now I present Flypaper. Flypaper? Yes, flypaper! “Hey boys in girls get your free roll of Superman fly paper free in this special box of Corn Flakes!”


Actually this old roll is probably from the 1930's and more than likely older than Superman. Hey who knows maybe Siegel and Schuster working on their comic ideas on a hot July, dodging buzzing houseflies looked up from their worktable to see this roll of flypaper and came up with the name Superman!

Food for thought, just keep the flies out of it!

STAYING STRONG

CHOCKS VITAMINS W/ CHARLIE CHOCKS

1970 Chocks Comic Book Ad

THE MYSTERIOUS HAND OF RIPLEY

This is an old Ripley’s Believe it or Not charm that was probably a give-away at his first Odditorium at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair or from one of his traveling Odditorium’s during the 1930's. It’s very small, just over an inch long and the metal has a nice green antiqued copper finish.

I’m not sure if it was based after one of his amazing items from his collection or just a weird little thing to “hand” out to the kids as they entered the Odditorium.

I’ve always been a big Ripley fan and I think every collector looks up to him as the ultimate collector treasure seeker and plus he was a cartoonist too!

MAYOR McCHEESE MERRY-GO-ROUND

Here's a vintage found photo of a little boy having fun on a Mayor McCheese Merry-Go-Round. I'm not sure where this McDonalds was/is, but it looks like you can see the ocean.




Also here's a fun trippy McDonaldland commercial from the early 70's, so enjoy!

OTTO THE TALKING CAR

Back on August 18th I visited the Missouri State Fair to see someone I hadn’t seen for many years. Our family would go once every couple of years when I was a kid in the 1970's and 80's and it was always a fun time riding crazy rides, trying to win cheap stuffed animals and eating corn dogs. We held our noses along with our breath at the petting zoo and I even remember being bummed out and worried that I had just ruined my Chuck Taylors when I stepped in a big cow patty. (Yuck!) The single thing that impressed me the most was a talking car, Otto the Talking Car.

My only reason to visit the state fair this year was to find and visit my old pal Otto. Back when I was a 7 or 8 years old I really thought he was something else and I was amazed he hadn’t changed a bit. He was exactly how I remembered him to be. He was still talking to children and entertaining them with his corny jokes and he still has that bad sneezing problem when you scratch his nose.

Otto is a replica of a 1931 Model A Ford which was the same model that the Missouri Highway Patrol used back in the day. Otto was introduced at the state fair in 1969 and he’s been blinking, sneezing, honking and talking to folks ever since. You always get an answer from Otto when you ask him a question, even though it might be one you don’t expect!

I don’t have any photos, but the Missouri Highway Patrol had another talking car at the state fair in 1956 that was used for four years until his hat started to deteriorate.

Otto has been teaching important lessons to kids and adults for almost 40 years and probably many lives have been saved from these lessons. A big thanks goes out to the Missouri Highway Patrol and Otto!

BURGER KING'S ROYAL MOTORCYCLE

In the 1970's the good King rode around on the Royal Motorcycle. Here's a photo of the premium and the classic commercial.

Burger King is an easy rider!