Little Van Goes

I wrote about my new-to-me Little Van Goes.

Hopalong Cassidy Remained Still

Well, at least the boy in the Hopalong Cassidy costume remained still long enough to be photographed.

Mouseketeer's Talent Round-Up Record

Retro Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club record Mouseketeer's Talent Round-Up, #653, copyright, 1975; the 45 has the following songs: We're The Mouseketeers, A Rollin' Stone, Talent Round-up, and Hi To You.


The record itself has a big straight split, so I can't play it -- but I can't toss it either. Maybe there's a collector out there who really really needs this cover. Maybe I can discover a way to mend & play the 45. Maybe, maybe, maybe...

This is why I blog; to excuse the crap I hold onto under the guise of helping another collector find what they need.



Thanks to reruns playing after school during my teen babysitting years, every time I spy this on my shelf (and that happens more often than you might think), I hear the Mickey Mouse Club Today Is Tuesday song:

Today is Tuesday, you know what that means.
We're gonna have a special guest
So get out the broom and sweep the place clean.
And dust off the mat so the welcome can be seen.
Roll out the carpet, strike up the band,
And give out with a Hip, Hooray!
Wiggle your ears like good Mouseketeers.
We're gonna present a guest today
'Cause Tuesday is Guest Star Day!

This has nothing to do with the songs on this record, I suspect; but if I must have an earworm, you will too.

That would also be why I blog.

Memo To Becky: Pray Or Get Off The Pot

When Becky got into the photobooth, she wasn't sure if it was a pretty potty or an unusual confessional. So she did both.

Halloween Nineteen-Ought-Seven: Tricks Bigger Than Treats

Straight out of the pages of The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, November 2nd, 1907, the story of "Two Brothers Filled With Peas." (Click to enlarge the old news article, or scroll below it to read copied text.)

Farmer Beaton's Sons Treated To A Warm Reception By Irate Farmer On Hallowe'en Night -- A Double Barreled Shot Gun Did The Businss

Two Small boys, the sons of a farmer named Beaton, who lives just outside the west part of Fargo, were shot at by an irate farmer on Hallowe'en and as a result they came to Fargo yesterday and had about a handful of peas picked out of them by a physician.

The Boys had greatly annoyed a neighboring farmer last Hallowe'en, and this year he waited for them with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with peas. The boys approached his place and he let fly with both barrels, and his marksmanship was excellent.

In future Hallowe'ens these particular boys will probably remain a long ways from that particular farmer.

Ahhh, Halloween in 1907, when kids could be shot just for being annoying, good times...

Note that people don't shoot people, "double barreled shot guns do the business."

Vintage Yankton Cowboy

A vintage souvenir ceramic tile with a cowboy decal from Yankton, South Dakota; tile measures 6 by 4.5 inches.

The Little Kitten That Came Back

From the June 28, 1910 edition of The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, a regular bit called Daddy's Bedtime Story, an uncredited column featuring quaint stories for little ones; this story is titled "The Little Kitten That Came Back."

Winter Would Come Too Quickly

Marta had barely recovered from that Easter bonnet, and now this.


Via Flickr.

Last Dance With Mary Jane

Die-cut candy advertising piece from the early 1900's.

Girls Have Always Read Comic Books

Photograph by Ruth Orkin, New York, 1947.

Creepy Kid Vent Dummies!

Who knew that two Photoshopped shadows would cause my skin to crawl:

As if ventriloquist dummies weren't creepy enough as it is, these are regular children photoshopped to appear to be dolls with articulated mouths. Sure, she looks like a nice, non-homicidal doll now, but just wait until she's been played with by an average child for a couple years:

NOW if lightning or magic gives this doll a life of its own, you better run for the freakin' hills, because it will have no mercy on beings of flesh and bone.

April 1st, 1913 Orphanage Update

According to this old booklet for the Children's Home Society of Minnesota, (organized September 11, 1889), the number of children cared for up to April 1st, 1913 was 3,400.




Apparently, as a result of this publication, one of the children's heads was adopted -- at least the photo was. (Which may have affected the Center of Gravity in the Human Body Study done at the home.)

Dauntless Dale Isn't Sheep-ish

From Quick magazine, October 31, 1949: "Karen Hutchinson, 2, of Ontario, Cal., simultaneously enjoys a free ride and shows off the prize-winning form of 'Dauntless Dale,' a 1 1/2-year-old Hampshire ram which took Junior Division honors at last year's Los Angeles County Fair. Rams, especially prize winners, don't usual pose so willingly."

The Story Of Skippy

See The Story of Skippy and other vintage Big Little Books in this gallery.

A Real Collector's Swap Event

Our family interviewed to be cast for ABC Family's Wife Swap.

But after a few long talks, we decided that we weren't a good fit for the show. Not only do we have a crazy family dynamic but the requirement to forgo being on any other television show for 18 months would then limit our pursuit of more educational projects, such as my work with domestic violence, special needs, and history/culture issues.

(Plus, while we don't mind laughing at or being laughed at especially regarding our collecting habits, we* aren't exactly loud exhibitionists.)

However, if you belong to a family of collectors and welcome the chance to participate in this social experiment called reality television (for financial honorarium too!), check out the casting call and then contact Matthew McLaughlin at matthew.mclaughlin@castingrdf.com ASAP. Don't forget to tell him that Deanna from Collectors' Quest sent you!

* When I say "we aren't exactly loud exhibitionists", I mean some of us are :cough-Me: and some of us aren't :cough-Him:

Mess Around With One Of The "Mediums"

From that Scholastic Crosswords for Teen Agers book, one of the "medium" puzzles called This Or That:



Click for a larger scan; I'll post the answers in a few days.

Ferdinand Frog & Friends

The decorated endpages of The Tale Of Ferdinand Frog, Sleepy-Time Tales, by Arthur Scott Bailey, illustrations by Diane Petersen; Grosset & Dunlap, copy; 1918. As you can see, some child has colored in the characters a bit.

Using Peer Pressure To Hook Teens On Crossword Puzzles

The back cover of Scholastic's Crosswords for Teen Agers not only uses the "C'mon, join the crowd!" to push the crack of word games that is "crossword puzzles", but employs sexual dance euphemisms to lure the teens in:

Dozens of delightful puzzles

Tailored to your taste...and your tempo

Pick up speed as your do along:

Enjoy yourself with the "easies"

or...

Mess around with the "mediums"

or...

Tangle with the "toughies"

Crosswords for Teen Agers, by Murray Rockowitz, copyright 1958 (TAB Books, published by Scholastic), 6th printing, May 1963.

Why Christmas Tights Are Important For Little Girls

This looks so much like my sister -- OK, and not just as a child (she wears pants now Christmas Eve for a reason!) I wish it was a photo of her, because then we'd have had an Andy Gibb microphone!

Via Flickr

Clothespin Desk Organizer

The kids will be home for the holidays -- why not keep 'em busy? First with the laundry, then making this clothespin letter holder.



Also in that first issue of Good Housekeeping Needlecraft magazine (Fall-Winter, 1968-1969).

"The Potato Babies, And How They Grew"

A story of grandma entertaining the kids with people and animals made from potatoes...





From The Maple Leaf Book Of Stories.

Used Hankies In Your Hair

Kitschy Kitschy Coo presents... The Hanky Bonnet: The ultimate in icky fashion recycling.



I don't care how much it's laundered, turning your bridal hankie into a christening bonnet for your baby is just asking for a bad case of cradle crap cap.

Inside McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Spring 1978 issue.

Like Birthday Hats For Jesus

Homemade Santa hats, circa 1960s.



Via Flickr.

Trouble Keeping Your Hose Up?

Start pulling at the neck.


1921 ad for Wilson Garters, found in The Modern Priscilla magazine.

The Game Of Stickerchief

Found in The Book of Knowledge, Vol XL, The Game Of Stickerchief:

A splendid game that can be played by any number of children is "Stickerchief." It is quite as exciting as hockey or lawn-tennis, and it has the advantage of not requiring expensive balls, racquets, or sticks.

Stickerchief is played with a handkerchief and some short pieces of bamboo, of the sort used by gardeners to hold up tall flowers. A dozen of these bamboos can be bought at any florist's for one shilling.

One shilling? What am I, made of money?

Who compares hockey to lawn-tennis? Well, I might; I find neither "exciting."

Once, I Could've Learned To Care For Him

But that was ten years ago.


More from Calling All Girls, December, 1945.

For The Love Of Grover

Because I love Grover, I almost bought this old plaster mirror with Sesame Street characters; if Roosevelt Franklin had been on it, I would have. (I may love Grover, but I seriously crush on Roosevelt Franklin. Nothing inappropriate, of course.)

Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Linda Blair

An article in the February 13, 1979 National Enquirer by Donald McLachlan warns, "Cocaine Sniffing by Celebrities Blamed For Soaring Use of Drugs by Youngsters."

"The kids see photographs of them wearing coke spoons as decorations around their necks. They read of stars like Louise Lasser and Linda Blair getting into trouble over coke... Kieth Richard of The Rolling Stones being arrested in Canada... comedian George Kirby going to jail for dealing it."

And where would the kids of 1979 see such photos and read such stories? Oh yeah, the National Enquirer.

Then again, who believes anything in the National Enquirer?

But if McLachlan and the National Enquirer really believed that peer pressure or the cool-kid factor were so strong, why didn't they stop publishing the stories -- or advise that parents keep the rag away from their kids.

Maybe the National Enquirer should use the tagline: Promoting the coke spoon & harming your kids since (at least) the 70's.

A Ming Stole

No, that's not a typo. No, it's not made from Ming The Merciless -- although he would have looked smashing in it. It's a child's faux mink stole.

Storky-Lork, Storky-Stork

I'm smitten with storks, especially the vintage variety, so you'll forgive me for sharing a nursery rhyme from Holland which seems to be uninspired, poorly translated, or both.

The Stork
Ooievaar

Storky-lork,
Storky-stork,
Steal a twig,
Stork loves babies small and big.

But, oh, isn't the illustration lovely!



In Tales Told in Holland, edited by Olive Beaupre Miller, illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham, part of the My Travelship series, published by The Book House for Children, Chicago, copyright 1926.

Nothing Warms Them Up Like Baked Goods

Girls Cupcake Scarf Pattern from Jaybird Designs.

Our Kids Asked To Be Left Alone, Please

A reminder-slash-warning at one of the local thrift stores to watch your children, or they "will be given an espresso and a free puppy".

A Reason To Get Pregnant

No, Brooke Shields, it's not the VW Routon which has me in the mood for a baby; it's BambinaMia who makes the most kitsch-tastic baby duds for dolls and dudes! (Also available at Etsy!)