Western Motor Inn

Another brochure from my recent find.  This one is for the Western Motor Inn.  The fact that it boasts "color television in all rooms" lead me to believe it dates from late '60's to early '70's, however, $25.80 per night (noted in pen) seems a little high for that time.  That would be $161.86 today.

Flying W Ranch Chuckwagon Suppers

This ticket to admit one to the Flying W Ranch Chuckwagon Supper was among the brochures I found recently.

What was on TV April 24th through 30th, 1971

After a fairly long hiatus, "What was on TV" returns with this April 1971 issue.  As opposed to my normal TV Guide postings, rather than scanning just choice pages, this is the entire issue.  Also, this is just before my prime TV viewing years began, so not a lot I can relate to, but enjoy nonetheless.

The Last Straw and Glad of It!

Ah, who am I kidding.  I can't resist vintage packaging, so I'm sure these aren't the last straws I'll end up bringing home.

First up is this Carnival King Size package of 100 straws from 1963.  Note to estate sale dealers: Don't write directly on the packaging.  Seriously, what is wrong with you?!

Tramp Lamp

"Tramp Art" (a term I suppose isn't quite as offensive as "Bum Bling") dates back to the late 1870's. It's decidedly low brow in the art world, but can be quite beautiful.  It refers to art or even everyday objects that were created by the common man (and woman) using salvaged pieces of wood including anything from popsicle sticks to cigar boxes, fruit crates and wooden spools.

I found this Tramp art lamp at an estate sale during my lunch hour today.

A View Askew

Slanted houses, Tilted houses, Gravity houses, Anti-gravity houses, Mystery Spots, they have many names. Up until a few years ago, I was only familiar with one in Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri called "Grandfather's Mansion".  My family went to Silver Dollar City yearly starting in 1974 and it was always one of my favorite attractions, especially since I was scared of the roller coaster there, "Fire in the Hole" (it's a really, really tame roller coaster.  Okay, I was a big chicken).

Among the brochures I found at a recent sale was this postcard from Silver Dollar City.

  Leanin' Lil's Broom at Slantin' Sam's Old Miners Shack (is that enough apostrophes or what???)

The Munch Bunch at Home

Somehow, I ended up with this coloring book.  Okay, it was tucked between a Masters of the Universe coloring book and a Funtime Busy Book, but that's beside the point.  This thing looked so bad, I almost threw it out. But then I started thumbing through it and found some of the most wth moments ever found in a coloring book.  Each page is a standalone vignette with no context of what happened before or what happens next.  Who would buy this for their kid?  And what kid would color it?  From 1984, I give you "The Munch Bunch At Home Coloring Book".  The "At Home" implies this was no standalone publication, it was a series. The madness...

Take the Last Skylift to Clarksville

More from my big ephemera find of this past weekend. 

Only You

This find comes from another cache of paper I found at an estate sale this weekend. I'm guessing it dates from 1956 given the first 2 digits of the card id on the lower edge.

Funny Fringe

I found this guy in a bag of junk at an estate sale today.

Vogue Picture Records

Most people wouldn't recognize the name Tom Saffady, but in 1946, he was the wunderkind of the recording industry and at the age of 30, great things were expected of him and his company, Sav-way Industries.  Not much is known about the company other than they produced the first vinyl-based picture records.  Published under the Vogue label, they were known for their high quality and superior sound.

I found these examples at an estate sale last weekend.  I've included rips of the songs below each side of the record.

The Missing Piece: Fascist Cows?

I found this nondescript box at a sale last weekend.

Bored Games

When Ryan, the Community Manager at invaluable.com, reached out to me with an invitation to write a piece on a childhood nostalgia topic of my choice, something now gone that I wish could magically reappear, I thought, "Ryan who? Invaluable what?" So, I did a little research.

Invaluable.com is an auction marketplace featuring the world’s finest auction houses offering thousands of beautiful items from around the world at incredible prices. Whether you’re looking to add to your collection, decorating your home, shopping for a gift or on the hunt for a hidden treasure, Invaluable makes it easy for you to find, bid and win. Okay, I'm not gonna lie, that came straight from their welcome page. But then I dug into their site a little deeper and found out they are to real world auctions what eBay is to virtual ones. Their site monitors actual live auction offerings from auction houses around the world such as Sotheby's, Profiles in History, Swann and thousands of others. Through their site, you can participate in the auctions in real-time or, if you prefer, Invaluable will cast an absentee bid that you establish with them.  And like eBay, you can set up email alerts for any treasure you seek.  Check out their collectibles for auction and see what you can find!

So once I established this wasn't some sort of spam email, I put some serious thought into what I missed about childhood and the two things that stood out in my memory were its simplicity and freedom. And nothing represented that better to me than Summer vacation.  But the funny thing about summer vacation was that while it always began with the exuberance of no school and endless possibilities of adventure, the excitement always seemed to fade by the third week of June.  "I'm bored" was often heard by my mother. "Go play a game" was a common answer from her, her eyes never leaving the latest episode of "Days of Our Lives". Sometimes, my sister and I would get into a week-long Monopoly battle until one or both of us finally wearied of it.  Other times, it might be Clue (if we could find all the cards and pieces), Battleship, checkers or Sorry. But all of those games required thought, strategy and time, something we weren't always willing to invest in on a sleepy Summer afternoon in the basement.  During those times, we would turn to the "junk food" of the gaming world - TV Show board games.

Before the days of video games and VCRs, the closest you could come to experiencing and reliving the worlds of your favorite cartoon characters or TV shows was through board games, and the 1960's and '70's were the indisputable golden age for these.  It seemed like every show had a board game version.  Here are a few I've collected over the years.  Clearly, Milton Bradley owned this market.  This first game holds a special place in my childhood memories.

Milton Bradley Scooby Doo Where are You! 1973