Garbage Pail Kids: Where Are They Now?

As a child of the eighties, when I was twelve I walked down the three blocks to the corner grocery store and paid a quarter for a pack of Garbage Pail Kids as often as I had the money — but, time passes, that corner grocery is now a parking ramp and my Garbage Pail Kids card collection is long gone: but where are those Kids today?   Bruton Stroube Studios took their cameras to the streets and found out.

Photographer W. Brandon Voges (Bruton Stroube Studios) Concept Jake Houvenangle Retouching Jordan Guance (Bruton Stroube Studios) Producers Tony Biaggne, Matt Siemer and Sherry Tennil (Bruton Stroube Studios) Assistants Steve Eschner (Bruton Stroube Studios) Mandi Kohlmeier (Bruton Stroube Studios) Stacy Collier Hair/Makeup Julie Dietrich (Talent Plus) Priscilla Case (Talent Plus) Props/Wardrobe Cathy Rauch (Bruton Stroube Studios) Food/Barf Styling Cathy Chipley (Bruton Stroube Studios) Set Builder/Rigging Bill Stults (Bruton Stroube Studios)
Via.

 

The Smooth Sound of Ceiling Tiles

Yesterday we went to our first rummage sales of the season, then hit the thrift shops to spend the last of what cash we still had in our pockets. At the Moorhead Thrift Shop I ran across a few choice albums, including this one:

sound-off-softly-album-cover

Looks like we’ve encountered a glitch in the Matrix:  this  young lady is holding the album…that she’s on the cover of, holding the album cover that she’s on.   It goes on FOREVER!

sound-off-softly-forever-loop

There’s apparently a tradition of albums with themselves on the cover, although I don’t believe the recursion has anything to do with the music on the record.

This album also caught my eye because of the weird framing in the image: the woman’s head is really low for a ‘portrait’ — there’s an awful lot of ceiling in the picture.   That’s intentional: the album is a promo for Gold Bond Ceiling Tile,  as a way of selling acoustic tiles to audiophiles that live in echoy homes.   I couldn’t find anything else about this product in particular, presumably because National Gypsum, the maker of Gold Bond tiles, was more interested in selling albums — heck, their advertisements focus more on this album than their product .

Wunnerful, Wunnerful, Easter

In case you were wondering why there was such a liberal use of the #LawrenceWelk on Tweety Machine tonight, hubby & I were Live Tweeting tonight’s PBS showing of the 1979 Easter episode of The Lawrence Welk Show. (Live Tweeting is like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) riff, only with even cheaper production value.) No, we didn’t blowup Twitter; but we did have an awful lot of fun. And so I thought, why not outline it all here for you, dear Kitschy Kitschy Coo readers. Typos and all; interspersed with some factoid linkage — you know, in case you wonder what the hell we nerds of kitsch are talking about.

— Oh, and before we get to that, we plan on Live Tweeting next week’s PBS episode of The Lawrence Welk Show. So if you’re at all interested, or just bored, join us on the Tweety at 7 PM Central.

https://twitter.com/DerekDahlsad/status/584869966874333184

(And then some Twitter bot account favorited the tweet because BOT.)

(That movie is here — yes, on DVD!)

(Hubby & I on FB.)

(Hubby is trying to reference the author of Mary Poppins, P. L. Travers.

(A bot trying to sell flowers favorited that because BOT.)

(My fav chime-in of the night!)

Pink Poodles – And Other Mid-Century Kitsch Dog – Alert!

pink poodles and mid-century kitschy dogs

Contrary to contemporary thought, these kitschy puppy prints were not sold as nursery items. Adverting for this very set reads, “To bring new decorating dash to the walls of your home, or to spice up a children’s room or den, place these lovable puppies with their all-loo-human expressions where everyone can see and admire them. …Portraiture of animals is the latest rage.”

Yup, you read that right; this was actually grown-up decor. (And don’t worry about pink being to feminine for dad’s den; tough cowboys wore pink too.)

Sold by Colonial Studios as “4 Lovable Wide-eyed Puppies in Full Color for Your Home”, this is one set of Mid-Century Modern dog prints! While not as sad as the big-eye art of Margaret Keane, these pups certainly are of the same exaggerated-cute style.

colonial studios dog art by coby

These vintage dog prints were the work of an artist simply known as Coby. According to the scant literature, Coby was a man referred to in the sales literature as “one of America’s most perceptive painters of animals” who “seems to known exactly the right touch to make these irresistible paintings spring to lite. Painted with love, each of the characters will capture a special place in your heart.”

While all the emphasis is on the pieces being painted, you’ll quickly note the mod 3-D effect of added touches of ribbon, felt, and other fabrics was likely added from photos. Combined with the pastel critters it creates the instantly recognizable look of a kitschy style which ran rampant throughout the the late 1960s and early 1970s.

PS The large pink rubber poodle squeaky toy (from Sun Rubber, 1963) can be found here.

Modern Woman Mondays: It’s OK To Eat The Pink Elephants

OK, normally I save the food recipes for Things Your Grandmother Knew — but this? This is not food. …Technically edible; but not food. Plus, it involves pink elephants. And pink elephants are pretty darn kitschy. A recipe from a 1956 Wilton candy & food molds booklet:

“Pink Elephants”

These are fun to make and serve as a garnish on an Hors d’Ouevre Tray! Use the little elephants as socles or holders for toothpick appetizers (such as olives, cubes of cheese, miniature meat balls, etc.). Should the guest be inquisitive, he can just eat the elephants!”

Number one, I am surprised that last sentence doesn’t read, “Should The Guest be inquisitive” — because I hear that said with a sigh and an eyeball roll, like there’s always that one guest, aka The Guest.

And number two — and that may be a pun? — once The Guest gets that pink elephant socle on his tongue, he is not going to be happy. The ingredients are dry cream of wheat; salt; cold water (I am guessing the temperature is important); onion juice Worcestershire or Tobasco sauce, pepper or mustard; and food coloring. Ugh.

Well, at least I learned the word “socles.” Hey, I may be a lowbrow, low-class, kitsch lover; but even without knowing the name of those things I know better than to eat one of ’em.

Full “recipe” details below, which include options for “Tawny Tigers” and “Bears”. (Poor bears, they get no cute colorful name.  …Though it does just beg for a crappy name anyway due to the emphasis on brown coloring for this pasty concoction.) Click for a bigger scan if you need it.

vintage wilton molds appetizer trays