Curse Us and Crush Us, My Precious

I picked up this album at a sale over the past summer (maybe it was last summer) for a $1 along with a handful of other records.  I remember watching this special when it originally aired in 1977.  From Rankin-Bass, the makers of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, I give you The Hobbit:

Two of Every Kind

I bought these plastic animals at an estate sale about a month ago for $1.  I'm fairly certain they're from the old Noah's Ark restaurant and bar that used to stand in St. Charles, Missouri.  I say this because my parents and grandparents frequented there and would often bring one of these home.  The bonus was the little box they came in from Stix, Baer and Fuller, a defunct St. Louis department store.

With their long necks, the giraffes are clearly drink stirrers, but I can't imagine the others were actually placed in a drink as that would certainly pose a choking hazzard.  Perhaps some bar afficienado out there can help me identify how they were used.

I'm not sure the mermaids were from Noah's Ark.  I'm pretty sure Noah missed those along with the Unicorns when he chose his cargo.

There's an article over on Neatocoolville detailing Noah's Ark's demolition some years back.

Garage Saling for the Rich and Famous

The title of this post was almost "Corbin Bernsen is an eBay deadbeat!"

I bought a vintage snowdome (or snowglobe as some may know them) at an estate sale about a month ago. It was of the Empire State Building and appeared to date from the 30's or 40's. The water inside it was half gone and the snow had yellowed and decomposed to the point that made it actually quite unappealing. But I have a friend who collects snowdomes, and although he gravitates towards the kitschier plastic models (I think), I decided to pick it up with the thought that he might be interested in it. But then Christmas hit and the idea of selling off some things to finance it overcame me, so along with various other items I'd accumlulated over the past year, I put it out on eBay.  Sorry, Frank, to quote Daffy Duck, I'm a greedy slob!

The auction ended with a sole bid of $9.99 (so much for paying off those Christmas bills!). I invoiced the buyer and awaited payment. And waited. As the days passed, I thought I had a deadbeat on my hands, so I took a closer look at the buyer's history in order to get an idea of his payment habits. It was then I noticed his eBay id was corbinbernsen54. I recognized the name and to be honest, I was thinking of Barry Corbin, Maurice of Northern Exposure fame. So I googled the name and found that Corbin Bernsen appeared on LA Law and in the movie Major League. So I figured I was dealing with a fan of his. But then reading through his feedback I saw quotes like "A 'Major Leaque' bidder" and "I loved your appearance with George Wendt on Seinfeld." Then I noticed the bidder's mailing address was Studio City, California.

I did a little more internet mining and came across Corbin Bernsen's website where he is currently promoting an upcoming addition of his Museum of Snowdomes. His Wikipedia entry further confirmed his love of snowdomes, boasting a collection of 7,000 (I guess mine makes it 7,001!) which he claims to be the world's largest. If that weren't enough proof of his identity, I discovered the bidder's email address was directed to teamcherokeeproductions.com, Mr. Bernsen's production company.

Now it could very well be that one of his toadies flunkies assistants did the actual bidding, but knowing that the snowdome will end up in a high profile collection is kind of cool. Maybe one day I'll get to see it again, on his website.  Here's an interview with Corbin about the origins of his collection.

On New Year's Eve, he finally came through with payment and the snowdome is off to its new home.
***Update***

Earlier when I was looking at his online museum of snowdomes, the site wouldn't load any pictures.  It finally did, and what do I see, but the same snowdome I sold him.  It's at position C2, if we were playing Battleship.  That one appears to have been refilled though.  Wonder why he wanted another.  I guess when you have the world's largest collection of anything, it's all about volume and maintaining your title!

Happy 2012!

Speaking of tooting my horn, I made a couple additions to my noisemaker collection this year. First up are two horns made by the U.S. Metal Toy Mfg. company.

They're made by the U.S. Metal Toy Mfg. Co., but I could find nothing on their history.  I suspect they date from the late '40's or the 50's.  They have metal noise makers inside, so they should last for New Year's Eves to come.

This rattle noisemaker is made by the same company.  I loved the graphics on it:

Happy 2012 and here's to a new year of garage saling!

Happy 1967!

I found this calendar at an estate sale this past fall.  It was given away by the Gravois Drug Company located at 4912 Gravois, St. Louis 16, Mo.  Phone, FLanders 2-1234.  Do businesses still hand out free calendars?:

I liked the Santa Claus image on it and the fact that it was 1967 (my birth year and first Christmas).  In fact, here's a picture of me from that December of '67.  I'll let you guess which one is me:

It begins with December of 1966 and coincidentally, the days aligned with December 2011 and will continue to align in 2012 at least until February 29th, as 2012 is a leap year.
The calendar contains information like sunrise and sunset times and even attempts to predict the weather for the entire year.  Important historical events such as "Rotary Organized, 1905" are noted along with suggestions for gentle relief of irregularity (Nujol heavy mineral oil, if you were wondering).

The building is no longer there.  It appears to have been torn down and replaced by a bank.  It was located just across the street from Bevo Mill.

View Larger Map

On the topic of the calendar, two professors at Johns Hopkins University are proposing a new calendar system based on a 364-day year, allowing for the days to fall on the same day of week each year.  For example, Christmas would always be on a Sunday.  The advantage, they say, is the elimination of recreating calendars and schedules each year. I think that would be boring and it would elminate December 31st as New Year's Eve, replacing December with a 30-day month.  Tooting my horn on December 30th would just seem silly.

A 1950 Hit!

I found this record among some other 78's at an estate sale last Friday.  Initially, I thought it was a musical hit from 1950, but it's actually a promotional record for the 1950 Ekco Pressure cooker.

It's a fictional award ceremony supposedly hosted at the Waldorf-Astoria Starlight roof

where excitement is running high as our host, Ben Grauer, interrupts a musical program to announce the winner of the National Home Safety contest, the newer and safer Ekco Pressure cooker, better known as the Ekconomic Lo-pressure cooker/sterilizer.

You can listen to the audio here.

Popular Science also featured this pressure cooker in their September 1950 issue as one of their "Aids to Modern Living" where they explain the main safety feature is its use of 3 3/4 lbs of pressure instead of the usual 5 to 10 and the special locking device that prevents premature opening of the lid until pressure is below 1/2 lb.  I'll bet somebody still managed to scald themselves with it.

Christmas Made in Japan

I went to an estate sale in South St. Louis City during my lunch hour on Friday and found these in a box of ornaments marked 50 cents.  They're all marked Japan and probably date from the '60's.  There were a few I wasn't particularly fond of, but I felt I couldn't leave them behind.  It would have been like banishing them to the Island of Misfit Toys.

The bases for these are made from a styrofoam bell halve