Flickr Friday: Republic and Gazette Playing Card
I came across some playing cards with a unique design at a Tempe, AZ Goodwill. The cards were lying around loose on a shelf, so I snuck a few in my pocket (shhh!). The cards depict an ornate Spanish tile design with an architectural rendering of a fountain using said tiles in front of a building with a “Republic and Gazette” sign. These cards were a promo item from The Arizona Republic newspaper, and they date from prior to the 1990s, when the companion afternoon paper The Phoenix Gazette was shuttered. Oddly, though I worked at the Republic for 11 years, I don’t recognize this building!
’70s-Something
Time for another ’70s toy commercial from Hasbro and the Duke archive. Like Leggy Fashion Dolls, I don’t believe that the Great Moves party game had a long shelf life. It looks like a Twister with something of a proto-Win, Lose Or Draw spin, only more logistically complex than either. For maximum 70s-ishness, the partygoers include Fred “Rerun” Berry and Roz “Pinky Tuscadero” Kelly!
The Who What Why Where When And How Day
Nostalgia time: The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World was a 1977 episode of The Wonderful World of Disney starring the jump suited, semi-forgotten ’70s edition of the Mickey Mouse Club — you know, the one with Blair from The Facts of Life in the cast. As a tyke, I was obsessed with the mouseketeers and afternoons would find me a) watching the show, or b) reenacting skits from the show with the kids who lived across the street. We also owned the record album (which contained a white-bread rendition of “Walking the Dog,” I recall) and wore it out.
This Disney World outing was a special memory for me, since the Florida park seemed like such a mystical, faraway place. Disneyland was semi-accessible, but Disney World might as well have been Paris or London. Watching the show now, it looks like one long (and cheesy) commercial. Three years ago, I finally got to go. Didn’t see River Country, however.
She’s Got Legs
A couple of months ago, I took all of the Hasbro Toys commercials in the Duke University AdViews Archive and burnt them onto two DVDs for the household to enjoy. As far as I can tell, all of the commercials are from the ’70s. Multiple ads for iconic toys like G.I. Joe, Weebles, Mr. Potato Head, the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine, Charlie’s Angels dolls and Hungry Hungry Hippos make up a big chunk of the set. There are also quite a few delightful obscurities, however, including the commercial below (which I also uploaded to YouTube). According to their Wikipedia page, Leggy Fashion Dolls were on the market for just one year, in 1972-73. Sue, Jill, Nan and Kate dress in different groovy styles, but what they all share in common are their freakishly long legs. Love it!
It’s a Mod, Mod World
Just a note to say that I’ve posted my little piece at Joyce Compton News & Notes about the Marian Marsh/Warren William Pre-Code flick Under 18 and Joyce’s brief appearance in it. Please check it out!
Today’s video comes via The Video Beat, an online retailer of offbeat ’50s and ’60s video. This is French Ye-Ye singer Sylvie Vartan in a Japanese commercial for a mod clothing purveyor called Renown. Dig that groovy Op Art:
Weblogs of Note 2
When it comes down to it, I don’t leave much time for reading weblogs anymore. Blame Facebook and Twitter (where I follow my fave bloggers anyhow), but a weblog has to be something truly special nowadays to catch my eye. The experience of running a weblog and finding topics to write about makes me appreciate even more when someone else does it well. Like, f’rinstance, these three:
- Dear Old Hollywood is the handiwork of Los Angeles resident and classic movie fan Robby Cress. This is a very nostalgic weblog to this reader, not just for the films and stars he writes about (obviously) but for our love of L.A. and the luster it holds even today. A former studio page, Cress covers a variety of Old Hollywood topics with enthusiasm and a friendly vibe (hallmarks of many a great blog). Most impressive are his posts examining various filming locations of flicks both legendary and obscure around the L.A. area. Astonishing legwork in action!
- The Obscurity Factor is a relatively new enterprise from Ben Sander, the New York-based performer better known as domestic doyenne Brini Maxwell. The weblog chronicles Ben’s celluloid discoveries, rated on an “Obscurity Factor” scale of 1 (easy to find but unsung amongst the general public) to 10 (a filmic hen’s tooth). Many of the films covered are studio-backed dramas and comedies of the ’60s-’80s lost in the shuffle of passing time, territory very similar to what I’m doing on my weekly Flick Clique posts. I’ve found a lot of stuff to watch on Netflix and such via Ben’s posts, and urge others to check it out as well.
- The Second Disc is a fantastic music reissues weblog curated by two diehard fans, Mike Duquette and Joe Marchese. For those of us whose consumption of Classic Pop albums also encompass finding as many b-sides, remixes and outtakes related to said album, this place is a goldmine (it’s also somewhat disillusioning, since in a roundabout way it reveals how routinely the major labels neglect their own back catalogs). My favorite parts are the Reissue Theory posts delving into what could be included on deluxe reissues of various beloved albums. Earlier this week, stuck in the waiting process of jury duty, I spent hours delving into those Reissue Theory archived posts — they’re delightful.
P.S. I wasn’t picked for jury duty.
Byrrh and Fluffo
Yesterday I came across AdViews, an archive of high quality digitized vintage TV commercials, on Boing Boing and seemingly have never left. They have a ton of ads dating from the ’50s up through the ’80s. Although one has to go through iTunes to view them, it’s easy enough to download a huge batch and burn ‘em onto a DVD. That’s exactly what I did with their 100 or so Grape Nuts ads (why I started with Grape Nuts, who knows).
The cereal commercials alone are fascinating. This one shills a Post product called Size 8, a cereal packaged in a uniquely mod swirl festooned cylinder. How very ’60s!
Exploring the Billboard Hot 100
Recently our internet service provider sent us a holiday gift of three free song downloads. At first I envisioned an iTunes-like array of music to pick from, but the actual choices were restricted to this list of the current Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart. Hmm. Current pop music isn’t something I usually gravitate towards, but I sensed a challenge here and decided to at least sample the clips of all 96 songs they had available. Man, this made me feel old. It really says something that Pink (or more precisely, P!nk), whose jumpy #2 hit “Raise Your Glass” is one of the chart’s better entries, is considered one of the veteran pop performers in the Hot 100… her first album came out a mere 10 years ago. Other observations:
- The top 40 is filled with the usual teen-oriented, overly produced swill, but there were a few notable goodies. Cee-Lo Green’s “Forget You” is a certified smash with the kind of classic, Motown-inspired melody that will likely stay durable in the next 10 or 20 years (personally I prefer the bluntness of the radio unfriendly version). I get a similar vibe off Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” although her other charting single “Firework” did nothing for me. Both of these share chart space with their corresponding Glee cover versions. The Glee stuff is fun and all, but it comes across as too shrill outside the TV context.
- Below the top 40, bucketloads of Country. This surprised me. I would expect to find crossover-friendly artists like Taylor Swift in there, but many of the tunes were hardcore, intense, soul-searchin’ twangy stuff from people who would have never escaped the CMT ghetto only five years ago. What happened?
- Speaking of which, what very few veteran performers reside in the Hot 100 are said Country stars — Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley (whose unborn baby narrative “Anything Like Me” might be the most cloying thing in the 100), Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire (!) and George Strait (!!!). The only non-Country veteran to land on the chart is the ghost of Michael Jackson, whose collaboration with rapper Akon “Hold My Hand” appears at #84.
- And hip-hop. Lots of hip-hip, but it leaves the impression that the genre has changed little over the past decade. And when did Eminem get so damn depressing?
- A few songs from people you’d expect. Ke$ha? Annoying and bratty sounding as ever. Kanye West? Meh. Rihanna? No longer sings like a robot, but not terribly interesting either.
- Out of the singles ranked outside the top 40, the only ones that halfway appealed to me were the Plain White T’s “Rhythm of Love” at #66 and “Strip Me” by Brit songstress Natasha Bedingfield, which barely made it in at #100. Like I said, lots of dreadful Country/Hip-Hop to slog through.
That said, let’s move on to the three tracks I finally settled upon:
Bruno Mars — Just the Way You Are (#7). This one’s a bit on the mawkish side (I predict many wedding plays), but it boasts a killer hook and Mars’ voice is sweetly pure against a blessedly simple production. The charismatic Mars, who also co-wrote “Forget You,” certainly has the goods to have a long-lasting career.
Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull — I Like It (#21). A cheeseball party anthem that made its debut on MTV’s Jersey Shore, what’s not to like? It might be considered a desperate move to grab a mass audience on Iglesias’ part, but this one feels similar to Pink’s “Raise Your Glass” in having an immediate, appealing hook that grabs you from first listen and never lets go.
Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina — Stereo Love (#35). Probably the most unusual song in the Hot 100, this sinuous dance track (from Romania!) topped charts all over Europe last year. The synth-based groove is as cold and robotic as anything a U.S. artist could come up with (actually, it’s very reminiscent of Robin S’s ’90s dancefloor hit “Show Me Love”), only the results are somehow more organic and sexy. I’m loving this one. It’s gotta be the accordion. I guess Weird Al Yankovic isn’t the only one who knows that any pop song can be improved with accordion.
The Right Kind of Mom Jeans
Made me laugh — the literal reinterpretation of the music video for Jeremy Jordan’s 1992 single “The Right Kind of Love.” Blonde Jordan was a Marky Markish teen idol of the era, with his one hit riding on the coattails of the Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack. The song itself is a pretty fly groove, but the captions on the video (very of-its-time) are hilarious!
Ghost A Go-Go
Busy this week, but here’s a new, different and tough mid sixties drive-in theater clip:
Muscle Bunnies
Not surprisingly, I was having a real hard time coming up with an idea for this week’s Two Bunnies & A Duck cartoon. Instead of going through the mind-melting tedium of coloring yet another comic, I decided to stick Harold and Barney (and their star-nosed pal Larry) into one of those cheesy vintage magazine ads that involve cartoon panels. Leafing through a 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics, I found the perfect ad!
Excellent timing, since we recently watched the documentary Bigger, Stronger Faster (about one guy’s conflicted relationship with steroids and muscle building). The cartoon sans bunnies:
Doggies Need Haircuts, Too
Something we fished out of the trash: an Oster electric dog clipper in its original box. It was missing a few parts, but I did manage to scan these swell illustrations from the instruction booklet. Who knew small animal grooming was so complex? I love the very ’60s character of the drawing on the bottom.
Book Review: Designing Disney
Reading John Hench’s Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show reminded me a bit of my trip to Las Vegas last December. Although we usually think of Imagineering in terms of Disney theme parks, the core ideas of the job apply to most anywhere people gather to relax and have fun. In that respect, Vegas must be the biggest example of Imagineering on Earth. While exploring the various casinos, I was very aware of how everything was designed in a way to create a world away from the world, preferably to get patrons plopped down at the slots. While some casinos treat this idea as an afterthought, the immersive themeing of places like New York New York or Paris, Las Vegas (where even the men’s bathrooms have a quaint “Paris in 1900″ aura) never failed to impress. It made me wish that everything in my life was Imagineered.
Which brings me to this book! Amongst Disney Imagineers, John Hench had the most durability (having served at Disney for an astonishing 65 years) and was the one whose ambition and scope most resembled Walt Disney’s own. He’s the one responsible for conceptualizing much of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland (original and 1967 remodel), the Enchanted Tiki Room and Main Street U.S.A. Beautiful achievements all, and all the more impressive when one realizes the work encompasses architecture, signage, interior design, costumes and even the floors below guests’ feet. The proof of this is displayed throughout the book in fabulous renderings that called to mind the work of Syd Mead. Check out the costume designs below — wonderful!
The renderings are really what makes this book special. Unfortunately the great imagery is offset with lousy, unprofessional looking fonts. Hench’s text itself (co-authored with Peggy Van Pelt) is rather rudimentary and textbook-like; I would picture the ideal audience for this book as young would-be Imagineers in their teens. Despite those disappointments, there are a lot of great anecdotes in here. I was especially fascinated with how Hench and his fellow Imagineers explored color possibilities for a hotel exterior in Disneyland Paris by factoring in the area’s climate and lack of sunlight at various times of the day. Tiny details like that are something that an ordinary theme park guest would never consider, but added together they complete the immersive experience. All in a day’s work for Mr. Hench.
