Here I Come to Save the Day!

I found these frame tray puzzles at a garage sale a couple weekends ago for a quarter a piece.  They date from 1969.

When Toys Were Dangerous

When I was little, just because something could kill you was no excuse not to play with it.  I used to sneak into my brother's closet and get his bow and arrow.  I would spend hours shooting the arrow straight up in the air and watching it come down.  Most people are familiar with the Longfellow poem The Arrow and The Song, or at least it's opening stanza, "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to Earth I knew not where..."  Fortunately for me, it wasn't my head...or anyone else's.  Only slightly less dangerous was when I would do the same thing with Jarts.  Jarts, a contraction of Javelin Darts, was the brand name of lawn darts, a game similar to horsehoes involving metal-shafted projectiles you would launch at round target rings.  Brightly-colored plastic fins guided the darts to their mark.  Lawn Darts were offered by various companies in the 1960's through the 1980's.

I found a couple different sets in the past month at garage sales.  The graphics on this box bring back memories.

What was on TV June 24th through 30th, 1979

I know what you're saying, "Two posts in one day?!  Has Tom gone mad?"  No, I just have the day off and I'm trying to make up for the past 2 months.

Today's afternoon installment brings a slight change for "What was on TV".  Typically, I profile a TV Guide.  This time, I present the June 24-30, 1979 Television magazine from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Gracing the cover is Barney Miller himself, Hal Linden.

Unsung

While out estate saling last Friday, I stopped at a sale in Mehlville.  While I was browsing, I heard people talking about the owner of the home being a local coach.  His name was Coach Raymond Cliffe and after doing a little research found he was well known and fondly remembered in the high school level sports scene, having taught over 40 years from 1948 through 1992.  In fact, he was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.  He was also a locally exhibited artist, helping design the scenery for the first holiday lights show at Tilles Park in Ladue.  The Post-Dispatch wrote a nice article on him when he passed.

But with all due respect, this blog is not about Coach Clifffe.  It's about his wife.

While rummaging through a box of photos and various ephemera, I came across what appeared to be publicity photos for a Miss Shirley White.

Blowing Smoke

I found this toy muzzleloader pistol at a sale a while back.  I bought one just like it from K-Mart when I was about 9 years old.  This was at the height of Bicentennial-mania when everything olde tymey was in style.  My dad had taken up black powder hunting and so I had a fascination with the toy version.  I was surprised to find this in it's original cardboard packaging.

Rockin' the Mid Century

It's been a month since my last post.  Sometimes life is like that.  Sales have been very slow and what sales there have been just didn't work out with my schedule.  But that changed this past Friday.  I was actually off work and my wife and I made a morning of hitting some sales.  The first sale we hit was on Meramec in South City.  We arrived about an hour after opening and I was surprised to see there were very few people there.  Of course, I hit the basement first.  Remember, the good stuff is always in the basement.  I noticed a couple of outdoor rockers in the corner, but after giving a cursory glance, I went on to other things.   It was my wife who brought my attention back to them.  They were clearly mid century, but I was thinking we already had enough porch furniture plus they were marked at $16 each.  She really liked them so I relented and we came home with them.

On the way home, we stopped by TFA on Chippewa and I saw a nearly identical pair set out front.  I asked about them and they were priced at $112.50 each.

Once home, I commenced to cleaning them up.  That's when I noticed the label:

I of course recognized Heywood Wakefield as one of the largest manufacturers of Mid Century Modern furniture during the 1950's and 60's, but I was unfamiliar with the Lloyd branding. 

Marshall Lloyd invented the Lloyd Loom in 1917.  The loom created wicker sheets using kraft paper-wrapped wire which was then used to create furniture.  The furniture was very popular and was used in restaurants, cruise ships and even Zeppelins.  Lloyd Manufacturing was bought out by Hewyood Wakefield in 1921 who used that technology to create their line of wicker furniture.

The chairs are actually very comfortable, contoured just right.  I plan on spending quite a few summer evenings relaxing in them.

What was on TV March 18th through 24th, 1978

It's time once again for my irregular feature, What was on TV.  This week, it's March 18th through the 24th of 1978 with a  Lyndsey Wagner cover.