Lucy's a Real @#$%&!, Charlie Brown

Originally posted in 2014. I thought it was time to revisit some oldies but goodies.

For several years, I’ve followed Chris Sims and his Funkywatch blog which details the endless cycle of misery endured by the cast of Tom Batiuk’s “Funky Winkerbean” comic strip.  What began as a lighthearted strip featuring high school students in humorous and sometimes improbable fantasy situations devolved into a spectacle of death, misfortune and schadenfreude firmly grounded in hell on earth.  While many believe Batiuk invented this comic form, Charles Schulz mastered the art of morale-crushing criticism and shaming with Lucy Van Pelt.  Existing solely for the purpose of antagonism, Lucy’s constant berating and belittling left an indelible and incurable swath of emotional duress, angst and disempowerment.

Let’s take a look at the atmosphere of menace and hostility imposed by Lucy and its effects on the well-being of her family and “friends” through the pages of these coloring books from the 1970's I recently purchased. And I swear I didn't modify the captions on any of these.

Lucy begins her devious mission.  Who will she choose to pick on?

Die Cut Blow Out

Well, once again we find ourselves at the day before THE day.  Traditionally on this blog, today is the end of garage sale content with tomorrow reserved for photos of my home haunt.  Believe it or not, our outside still isn't decorated (as of writing this).  We had a new roof put on a little over a week ago (tornado damage last March) and I didn't want the decorations damaged by flying shingles.  Then it began raining (after a 3 month drought). And raining. And raining.  Today (10/30) is supposed to be cloudy but dry, so I'm going to go into overdrive and get the outside decorated.  Hopefully photos tomorrow will prove I was successful.

But for today, I thought I'd do a photo dump of all the diecuts I have heretofore not shown on this blog.  Some of these are from this past season, others I've found in prior years, but never posted (to my knowledge. Honestly, I didn't go through the blog and look).

Up first is a find from this year.  It's a giant version of the classic Beistle skeleton, measuring in at 54" tall.  I picked him up for $10 which I thought was a good deal.

Wax Scarecrows

 At the sale where I found one of my grails (heretofore known as the "grail sale"), I also picked up these 2 fellows.

First up is a classic Gurley candle dating from the 1970's.  Technically, it's a Suni candle, but W&F Mfg. owned both companies and used the same forms.

Ben Cooper Masks and Memories

I did pretty well with finding vintage Ben Cooper Halloween masks this past year.  I found this Frankenstein's Monster and the Skull below it at estate sale, untouched by everyone that had passed through the room prior.  They are made in Hong Kong and date from the 1970's.

Halloween Jigglers

 What's Halloween without some rubber bats and spiders? Boring, that's what!  These jigglers (technically, the bat doesn't jiggle, but he falls in the same class) were made in Hong Kong and date to the 1970's.  First up is this green bat which is one I hadn't seen before finding this one.  Image Googling him didn't provide any matches.

Halloween Revisited -- The Wonder Fears

Today's post, like yesterday's, dates back to 2015.  When I repost these, I can't believe how long it's been. It seems like I just wrote them.  Enjoy one of my favorite posts.

When I saw these cards in a shoebox at a sale a while ago, I was immediately taken back to a particular summer of my youth in the 1970's.  For more than one reason, you might refer to it as my "Wonder Year".

Halloween Greetings

Over the summer, I picked up a couple of scrap books from a garage sale.  They appeared to have belonged to a young girl through her teenage years and probably date from the late 1960's to the mid to late 1970's.  Within the pages, she saved greeting cards and other memorabilia you would expect.  She had a fairly good collection of Halloween cards, so I extracted those.  The cards were well glued down, so extraction was more successful on some than others.

Being of this era, most of the cards are of the "cutesy" kind.  A number of the cards were of the "insult" variety which was common with cards of this era as well.  Some I only scanned the front of, others that involved a punchline, I also scanned the interior.  Enjoy!

Halloween Revisited -- Dynamite Monster Bash

 

Enjoy a relaxing Sunday with Count Morbida and this re-post from 2016.

Dynamite was one of my staple orders from Scholastic Books when I was a kid.  And one of my favorite parts of the magazine was always Count Morbida.  This issue from 1975 dates a little prior to when I started reading it, but I was fortunate to come across it along with several other issues at an estate sale this summer.  It's issue number twelve and it devotes a large section to planning a Monster Bash.  Maybe you can use some of these for your Halloween party this year.

Pez One-Eyed Monster

When I found this footless Pez this past year, I thought maybe he was a gorilla and was missing an eye.  As it turns out, he's actually known as "The One-Eyed Monster".

Melted Plastic Popcorn Witches

 I picked up these melted plastic popcorn witches together at a sale a couple years ago.  Apparently, I never posted them.

Monster Maker Game

Today we look at "Monster Maker" by Whitman (Western Publishing) from 1977.  While this game isn't as cool as the Mighty Men & Monster Maker I found back in 2019, I can see how this could be fun for the pre-school to about 6 years old set; the game recommends ages 4 to 8, but I can see a 7 or 8 year old getting bored with it.

I found this particular game out of the box with just the lid cut out.  I'm not quite sure why that would have been done unless the box was damaged severely.

Halloween -- It's My Bag, But It's Lookin' Mighty Empty

Greetings, greetings fellow Halloweeners!

How can it be that time of year has rolled around once again?

This is my 13th (*gasp*) year with The Countdown.  Will it be unlucky? Well...

If this past year's finds were Halloween treats, I got a rock.

I'm not saying I didn't find some gems among the rocks, not a to mention a grail I've been on the hunt for for years, but they were few and far between.

As lamented in the past, it's getting harder and harder to find vintage Halloween at garage and estate sales. Most people are privy to the collector's market now and for those that aren't, Google reverse imaging has made it a no-brainer when identifying collectability and value.

But let's not let that spoil our bag of joy this year.

As is tradition, my first post will be some Trick or Treat bags I've found over the past year, starting with this 1970's bag by Austin Art, a subsidiary of Hazelle, Inc Kansas City, Missouri.

If an Invisible Weeble Falls Down, Would You Know?

Way back in 2017, I showcased one of my childhood grails, the Weebles Haunted House.  But, there is an even rarer Weeble grail I was only made of aware of in recent years.  It was a promotion with 3M Scotch "Magic Tape" in the 1970's.  You might remember the Magic tape spokesman, The Invisible Man, from the commercials.

At an estate sale this past summer, I was in a crowded basement, both with items and people.  While I was breezing by for a fast pass seeing if anything jumped out, my daughter was digging through a box of small craft items.  She suddenly pulled out a Weeble, but not just any Weeble, an Invisible Man Weeble.

Scratch Cat Fever

While today's die cut isn't as vintage as some I've posted here this season, it is, to me, definitive Halloween.  This classic Beistle Scratch Cat is the one I remember hanging on our classroom wall in Elementary School in the 1970's.  I love its vibrant green outline, its wild eyes, and its polished(?) nails.  Its hackles are raised, its tail in full bushy mode, its teeth ready to bite.

As soon as the teacher brought out this die cut and hung it up, it was "go time" in my mind.  Halloween was almost here and it was hard concentrating on anything in the classroom. Staring at this die cut occupied the time I should have been focusing on the lesson at hand on the chalk board.  I'm not sure if the teacher ever figured that out, but she left the die cut up throughout the season.

Brutus and Frank

 I came across this vintage Halloween costume minus the mask, but I loved the artwork on it.  It screamed '50's Monster Movie to me. The red eyes, the fangs, the blood(?).

Flavour Candy Witch Treat Bag

 Ten (!) Years ago, I posted this Flavour Candy Treat Bag.  Today I have another.

Creative Holidays

This Creative Holidays box of index cards from 1974 is chock full of ways to celebrate holidays throughout the year. These appear to be aimed at elementary schools rather than home use.

Peck Dracula and Skeleton Die Cuts

Sorry for dropping the ball today and not posting on time, but I'm here to make up for it.  You guessed it, more die cuts!  I believe both of these are made by Peck.  The skeleton and Jack O' Lantern is classic 1970's Peck design.

Peter Pan Witch Doctor 45

Time to look at (and listen to) another record. This one didn't appear on the back of a cereal box, but was published by Peter Pan.  It features a cover of the Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville of Chipmunks fame) song "Witch Doctor".  I believe it dates from the 1970s.

Misty Water (Oil?) Colored Memories

Today's post again has potential to raise the objection that it's not Halloween related.  And I acknowledge there's nothing directly Halloween-y here, but there are some nice Autumnal scenes and a couple of those feature pumpkins, so there's that.  I do expect, however, that some readers will have flashbacks to their own childhood home walls when they see this.  It seems to be a trigger object for many, including myself.