1977 NESTLE QUIK & SUNSHINE HYDROX SIGN

Flea Market Fridays #6

I didn’t think I was going to have anything interesting for today, but luckily I found this great advertising sign yesterday.

From 1977 is this cardboard sign that once got the attention of supermarket shoppers. It let them know that they could get a free half gallon of milk with just a purchase of two Hydrox cookie packages and one can of Quik.

Wow! Now that sounds like a good deal.

The best part about the sign is that it features not only the Quick Bunny, but also Drox, the Hydrox mascot.

Poor Drox disappeared back in 1991, thanks to Pillsbury when they sued Sunshine, saying that little Drox looked too much like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Hmm . . . I don’t know? I don’t see any arms or legs on Drox. He doesn’t wear a chef’s hat either. I don’t remember the commercials, so if he didn’t act or sound like the Doughboy, I think that lawsuit was kind of unreasonable. Anyway, Hydrox cookies were discontinued back in 1996.

The sign is a little beat up, but it was a cheap price and I’m always amazed when things like this survive when most of them were tossed into the garbage the day after the promotion.

1952 MR. FITZ-RITE CHEVROLET ROBOT AD CHARACTER

CLICK FOR A CLOSER LOOK

1947 RAY HARRYHAUSEN'S MOTHER GOOSE STORIES AD

Found this small advertisment for Ray Harryhausen's Mother Goose Stories in the December 1947 issue of Home Movies.

You can watch these Mother Goose animated shorts on the Ray Harryhausen The Early Years Collection

This is one of my favorite DVDs and its full of extras!

1983 SCHOOL READING WORKBOOK W/ COMIC BOOK COVER

This is for all the teachers who said comics were bad for kids to read!

Published in 1983 is this school reading book with a great photo of a kid hanging out in a baseball card - comic store. I like that it's Level C. "C is for Comic Book!"

The comic that the kid is reading is Superman #264. The cover is by Nick Cardy.


The cover scan was taken from the Grand Comics Database

1940'S SPIC AND SPAN BOX

Flea Market Fridays #5

I found this old box of Spic and Span just in time for spring cleaning! This Flea Market Find is really a fun find because last year I acquired a large collection of newspaper ads and comic strips. Lo and behold, in the collection were three Spic and Span ads!

Before we look at the Flea Market Find, lets check out one of the ads first and remember to click on the photos for a closer look!

This ad is dated December 16, 1945 and Procter & Gamble is introducing their new product Spic and Span. (Oh boy! Just in time for Christmas, too!)

You probably noticed the cute little cleaning girls aptly named Spic and Span that are hard at work using this new revolutionary product. Here's a close up view of the gals!

Now we move onto the box and since this is the new and improved formula and because now the cute little cleaning girl mascots have a slightly new look this box must have been on grocery store shelves sometime between 1946 and 1947.

Well, how do we know that? Not to fear Spic and Span fans because thanks to the next ad we find the answer.

The ad is dated October 5, 1947 and the cute little cleaning girls have now turned into cute little hard working elves. (Or maybe they're fairies since they have wings.) I guess the cute little cleaning girls didn’t do a good job and were fired. Since Kellogg’s Rice Krispies wasn’t hiring, these elves (or fairies) were hired and were also given the names Spic and Span.
Apparently these two elves (or fairies) were lazy slackers and P&G gave them the axe too and decided to go mascotless from then on, as this ad shows from May 2, 1948.
You never know what you’re going to learn about on Flea Market Fridays!

1971 JOLLY TIME MINIATURE GOLF OSAGE BEACH, MO

My Grandma snapped this photo of Jolly Time Mini-Golf back in 1971.

BANANA SPLITS WINDOW CLINGS

Here's Fleegle and Bingo from The Banana Splits in the form of rubber window clings. They have a small suction cup on the back.


I've never seen these before and my guess is that they're out of a cereal box probably from Canada.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

ROYAL INSTANT PUDDING W/ KING ROYAL

Flea Market Fridays #4

I found this 1970's Royal Instant Pudding Box the other day in a flea market that primarily carried old furniture. Inside an old cabinet there was a display of old spice tins and this lonely pudding box was sticking out like a sore thumb. I didn't have a price and I was worried that it was "display only", but luckily the store owner decided to sell it.

It's appropriate that the flavor is Pistachio with tomorrow being St. Patrick’s Day!

His majesty, King Royal

FRESHIE INSTANT DRINK MIX PACKET

Mmm... this looks yummy! I wonder if the drink was as refreshing as the graphics on this packet? I love the artwork on this one and the use of the metallic colors really sets it off!

The packet is dated 1966.

TAKE PHOTOS OF OLD PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

I’m not sure if many people have noticed, but old metal playground equipment is disappearing quickly and is being removed because of safety concerns due to government regulations. OSHA has been sending out safety violations to towns and schools around the country for the past few years. This has changed the landscape of most playgrounds and has turned them into “soft” playgrounds with plastic equipment replacing the old metal equipment.

A few years ago I decided to take some photos of my elementary school playground, but unfortunately I was too late as the playground had just been torn down a few days before. Luckily, the kindergarten playground was still there so I snapped a few photos of that one. It has since been torn down.

My Kindergarten Playground

The main reason for this post is to inspire others to venture out and take photos of any old metal playground equipment before they’re all gone. Some of these are real works of art! There’s a nice photo group on Flickr called Old Playground Furniture where you can see and add old playground equipment photos.

I’m amazed on how fast the 20th Century is fading away. Here we are in just the 7th year of this new century and many things that have been standing for 30, 50, 100 years are quickly being razed. Wonderful old buildings, signs, and landmarks are wiped out everyday for a Applebees or a Kohls store. Every town and city in America is starting to look the same. Ug!

Ok, I better stop or I could easily get on a soapbox here.

Here’s some photos I’ve taken of neato playground equipment I’ve found in the past few years. You can see more of the ones I've found at the Neato Coolville Municipal Playground.

THE FRITOS KID IS BACK!

Fritos is celebrating their 75th Anniversary and they've brought back the Frito Kid.

PHANTOM REGIMENT PINBACK BUTTON

Flea Market Fridays #3.

There’s a fun little mom & pop antique store I like visiting and they always have a fish bowl full of old pinback buttons to rummage through. Usually the bowl is full of the common Pep cereal pins and political pins, but this time I found a really neat one.


I’ve never seen this button before and I have no clue what the Phantom Regiment was. I’m guessing the button is from the 1930's and might be a premium relating to a radio show or movie. But, Rockford, Illinois is printed on it and that kind of throws me for a loop. That tells me that it’s not a national piece, but a local one. Could it be a that the Phantom Regiment was a local radio show with a scary theme or maybe a local theater promotion for a kid’s scary movie watching group? I have no clue? Any ideas?

I’ve looked through all of Hake’s books and researched the internet and I’ve come up with nothing!

HOSTESS FRUIT PIE THE MAGICIAN

I'm sure everyone remembers Hostess' Fruit Pie the Magician. He was the last Hostess character to survive in his original design before disappearing all together back in 2005. You can check out a nice website devoted to this magic pie man at Save Fruit Pie the Magician. Here's a bag that I saved from the 1990's!

OLD DRINKING STRAW BOXES W/ FUN KID GRAPHICS

1950'S

1960'S

1970'S

SPIDER-MAN IS AN OLD SCHOOL SKATEBOARDER

And you thought Spidey only crawled the walls!

CLICK FOR A CLOSER LOOK

ROBOT BAND AT THE ROBOT CLUB

This magazine article is out of the May 1954 issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Yes, that’s right the same issue with the Creature from the Black Lagoon on the cover that I posted back in October.

(CLICK FOR A CLOSER LOOK)


I would definitely visit a place called the Robot Club!

1950's BAB-O CLEANSER CAN W/ BUBBLES AD CHARACTER

Welcome to the second Flea Market Fridays post! Today’s find is a Bab-O Cleanser can from the mid to late 1950's with their ad character Bubbles on the front of the label.


The back has a special offer for a copper bottomed saucepan for only $1.00 and 2 of these special Bab-O labels.


Bubbles sure is a happy little fellow!

1970'S HERSHEY’S INSTANT TINS

Do you want to see a classic image that was on supermarket shelves from the late 60's into the late 80's? Sure you do! If you’re old enough, you probably remember the little boy on the front of the Hershey’s Instant holding a delicious glass of chocolate milk.

The tin is pretty common and you can find ‘em in most flea markets for just a few dollars. The other Hershey’s Instant tin that’s a little harder to find has a girl on the front instead of the boy.


I was glad to find this one since it has the Special Mug with Your Name offer and my wife has always owned the mug. Her parents sent away for it when she was just a baby.