She Turned the World on with Her Smile

I was only 3 when this show premiered, but I remember watching it in the early '70's and recognizing there was something different about the character Mary played.  She had a job.  My mother was a housewife and never had a job, so this was a new concept to me. Also, since she wasn't married, as a child, I thought she was maybe 20 years old and just starting out, much like my older sister whom for the same reason I equated her character to. She was 33 when the show premiered.  Single at 33 and a working woman. Odd that that was so foreign in 1970. She's also probably a large reason it no longer is.

RIP MTM.

New Moon

The 1953 MGM movie "The Long, Long Trailer" starring Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball has always been one of my favorites. It's the story of  newlyweds Nicky and Tacy Collini who strike out cross country pulling "forty feet of train" in the form of a New Moon Travel Trailer pulled by their 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible through busy city streets and up steep, winding mountain roads. The characters aren't a far stretch from their Ricky and Lucy roles, so it might well have been an "I Love Lucy" movie.  It's filled with plenty of Lucy zaniness and Ricky frustration.  At the time, the movie was the highest grossing MGM comedy to date and had a great economic impact on the Redman Homes, manufacturer of the New Moon, resulting in an increase in production from one or two trailers a day to hundreds.

This weekend, I was at a sale and found another stash of 35mm slides (I can't help it, I'm addicted).  A handful of the slides featured an older couple sitting in front of their own New Moon.

All Set for the Weekend?

Cake and booze. Party on.

Oh, Yes, They Called Him The Streak

What Time Is It?

Your first thought might be, "About 6:16", but you'd be wrong. The correct answer is "Time for new wallpaper."

What exactly are those indiscriminate blobs? Fruits? Vegetables? Something the cat hacked up? And matching curtains to boot! Anyway, extra points for anyone that can identify the brand name on that box of potato chips.

***UPDATE***

We have a winner! Illpropaganda identified the potato chip box as the A&P housebrand "Jane Parker". You can see what the box looked like in this ad.

Got a Light?

Is it me, or does that cigarette seem unusually large? Either that, or her head is unusually small.

***UPDATE***
Okay, focus has moved from the cigarette size to the wall sculpture. I zoomed in and cropped it, but I still can't tell what it's supposed to be.  I'm seeing a clown wearing a yellow derby waving a folding fan . That can't be right. Any ideas?

You're right, this magazine IS great!

Looks like the joke is on the Party Pooper.  She has the magazine now AND a new man.

Adds to my suspicion that these slides were staged.

Fashion Fail

I refuse to believe any of this was ever in style.

Party Pooper

Another slide from the cache I found last summer.

"Didn't you notice when you started talking, eventually I started reading Life magazine?!"

Stopforbud

Despite being outside of a bar, it probably doesn't mean what it sounds like.

Being from St. Louis, I'm sure that was the connection the photographer intended.

Øresund is the strait that separates Denmark and Sweden. I couldnt' find anything on the Alligator Bar.

Between a Rock and a Hard Right

I've been going through the 35mm slides I've accumulated over the years and will be posting some of the ones I find interesting.

Hart's Buffeteria 1970

This 35mm slide was among a group of vacation slides from Estes Park, Colorado. It may be the only internet evidence of  Hart's Buffeteria (Parking in the Rear) and Cottage Inn.

The slide dates from around 1970 and looks down the road in dowtown Estes Park. The only other readable business is Log [something] Waffle Kitchen.

I'm trying to visualize what a mashup of a buffet (where you serve yourself) and cafeteria (where you are served from behind a counter) would look like. Maybe it was an early version of "all-you-can-eat" with service.  I'm also wondering how the photographer got this picture from above. It doesn't look like there are any buildings that tall in the area.  Possibly, he climbed up one of the hills that surrounds the town.

Friends Come to the Door (and Maybe a Stranger or Two)

I'm not sure of the purpose of this 1960 pamphlet published by United Church Press. It seems to encourage children as young as 3 to open the door to whoever knocks.

What Every Woman Should Know About Electricity

For you poor humans lacking that all-enlightening Y chromosone, whom we of the male gender like to refer to as "dames", the fine folks at Monroe County Electric Cooperative have put together this flyer to school you on electricity, that funny magic that makes your hand tingle when you stick a fork in an outlet, as well as it's many applications to enhance your household productivity.  The flyer was originally published in 1957 but was amazingly still in print for this 1967 edition. Let's read.