Vorr-Trexx The Defender

The 1980s were a golden time for cartoons: they came on at 6am, ran until you had to go to school, then as soon as you walked through the door after school, more cartoons until dinner.  At least it was that way on KVRR, the UHF station that aired Fox affiliate shows in the evening but the rest of the day was a cornucopia of syndicated content.

KVRR was so devoted to children’s programming they even enlist the help of this guy:  Vorr-Trexx the Defender:

Vorr-Trexx The Defender

For the life of me, I don’t remember the dude, who looks like he would have a fine career in pro wrestling if he hadn’t devoted his life to cartoons and other cartoon-like TV programming.   He was so awesome he did in-person appearances when necessary, as documented in these three spots I found on an ancient video tape:

I hope he was well-compensated for this role; the lives of children were at stake!  Or, at least it kept us out of our parents’ hair for a while, which is almost as important.

Ring-A-Ding-Ding, A Spy’s Phone

I’m a fan of FX’s The Americans. So I was thrilled when I spotted the mod round brown Sculptura phone aka “the doughnut telephone” in the Jennings’ master bedroom.

Keri Russell as elizabeth jennings on the americans mod telephone

Sculptura doughnut phone in bedroom Philip Jennings Matthew Rhys

I like to spot the vintage in TV shows; it’s just something I do. And spotting this retro phone made me hold onto it a bit longer… But now the Sculptura, made by Western Electric’s Design Line for Bell Telephone circa 1975, is up for sale.

retro sculptura mod round phone

The photos of Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings in the characters’ bedroom set on The Americans came from set decorator Kelley Burney. More info on the difficulties of finding items for the show’s set in this article at Slate.

Happiness Is Flying High & Not Jiggling

That’s Marge Redmond, the actress who played Sister Jacqueline in The Flying Nun, sporting a very kitschy robe while sitting at the makeup mirror. This photo was part of an article in Inside Movie Magazine, November 1968.

Marge Redmond Sister Jacqueline Flying Nun

Once upon a time, Redmond was flying high as the wife of Jack Weston; but they would divorce and Redmond would not remarry. (At least she has not yet.) The divorce must have come some time after this 1981 article about Redmond and Weston. In that People article, Redmond & Weston (which sounds like some old vaudeville act) discuss how much they disliked living in L.A. Redmond said, “All they were making were Westerns and gangster shows and the women were all 16 or 60. I’m glad I got out when the jiggle started. TV is for those girls with the big boobs.” Kind of funny Redmond would knock “jiggles” when she was at that time playing Sarah Tucker, the pudding in a cloud lady, for Cool Whip.

Disney: It’s A Living, Gretel

Going through stacks of records, I redisc-overed this gem from 1964: Walt Disney Presents The Story of Hansel and Gretel, with music from the opera by Humperdinck.

vintage disney hansel gretel lp

At first I thought it was this Engelbert Humperdinck, but it turns out it was by this one; thanks NPR. As disappointing as that was, there was another delightful discovery…

Along with Laura Olsher (narrator), Michael Donahue (Hansel) and Martha Wentwoth (Witch), the voice of Gretel was Ann Jilliann!

story of hansel and gretel disney record

That’s a variant spelling of Ann Jillian — the extra “n” was also how she was billed for her portrayal of Little Bo Peep in Disney’s Babes In Toyland. Ann, of course, is to be adored for many things — among them It’s A Living.

The 16 year-old me adored that show; the adult me wants to watch it again. I can’t be the only one… Why isn’t that show available on DVD or Netflix or something?

Its_A_Living

Log Cabin Quilt Playhouse or Kennel Cover

Found in the October 1980 issue of Decorating & Craft Ideas magazine, this log cabin quilt design is a “wonderfully playful project”.

Make four large blocks, add a fabric roof, and slip the whole thing over a card table for a cozy fabric “homestead” that your children — and assorted household pets — will adore.

Perhaps it says more about me than my pets, but fabric and cardboard sound more like a meal to the dogs and the cats than a “homestead”. However, I do think this could be a cool way to camouflage dog crates and kennels inside the house.

Complete pattern and instructions are in the magazine itself. (Another post from that magazine here.)

etsydecoratingcraftideasmag006

Retro A-Maze-Ing Halloween Cat Quilt

Perfect for the crazy cat lady in your life, this quilt is based on the simple designs found in coloring books. (We’ve long advocated using those illustrations for patterns.) From the October 1980 issue of Decorating & Craft Ideas magazine, the supposedly simple instructions are:

Look closely at our cat collection and you will find it really a..maze..ing (a network of fabric pathways that winde around this favorite motif.) This marvelous maze could begin with the selection of large, but simple, cat shapes, from children’s coloring books. Transfer them to fabrics, (reverse them for variety), and enlarge each one 1/4 inch. Working from the center out, and from the background to the foreground, arrange, then applique each shape onto the quilt top. (You might even become lost among all the possibilities.) Be sure to distribute sizes and colors evenly. Add pathways to fill in; embroider the details.

halloween cat maze quilt