I guess a more accurate title would be my first Kenner light saber. I'm sure
before I got this one I was using cardboard tubes and flashlights and making
the sounds while swinging it.
But this is what we got in 1978, kids...
Your eyes don't deceive you, the package does say inflatable sword!
Not exactly the dream of every kid hoping for a magical space sword. It's
basically a flashlight with am inflatable plastic attached to it. A yellow
tube! Not that 8 year old me really cared, I mean the figure of Luke had a
yellow light saber, right?
Secrets of the Jedi revealed! The source of a light saber's power? 2 D
batteries.
Also, they work best in dimly lit areas. This is because (as I remember) the
tube wasn't even as transparent as your standard balloon when shining a light
through it.
They also include a patch kit in case your light saber takes a really bad hit
while you're out battling Sith Lords and saving the galaxy.
It was the 70s and we were glad to have anything that said Star Wars on it.
I can't believe I've been doing this countdown for so many years and have never mentioned Bogie Books before! These books were published for Dennison Paper Company in Framingham, Massachusetts in the early 1900s.
As you might imagine, Dennison Paper Company made...paper goods. Things like party supplies and decorations. These Bogie Books included ideas for party planning and costumes while doing double duty as a Dennison's catalog.
The books were published between 1912-1926, with the exception being 1918 due to a flu pandemic which put a damper on Halloween social activities. The books were a whole nickel when they started and were up to a dime by the time they stopped. That's about $1.25 - $1.36 in today's money.
The books are the things vintage Halloween enthusiasts dream of. Getting your hands on one of the original printings won't come cheaply, luckily there are many places offering reprints at a more reasonable price.
I am so thrilled to finally get this on the blog! I got it in mid-October but couldn't manage to post it then between all the interviews.
I scored it on Ebay for less than $20 and considering how old it is, it's in really great shape. I've always been interested in the history and evolution of Halloween traditions and what better way to get a window into the past than a book?
Yes, that copyright date says 1912, this book is just over 100 years old! But what is it all about, you ask? It's broken up into three sections. The first five pages have suggestions for holding a Halloween party, including sample invitations and decorations to make.
The next 30 pages contain the games. Granted, not all of them involve igniting alcohol as part of the fun (above), but just about every game somehow relates to discovering who your true love will be or some method of foretelling the future.
The next eight pages contain riddles. According to the book, these are to keep the little ones amused while the older kids/adults play the true love/fortune telling games. They're meant to be told as riddles for people to guess the answer to, as opposed to jokes where you would say it and tell the punchline right after.
The final five pages are forfeits. If someone refuses to take part in a game or are penalized during a game, there are a variety of things you can make them do. I think this is the early 1900's version of "I'll take the physical challenge."
There is a whole thing that is acted out, where the victim must surrender a personal belonging as collateral. One person is selected to be Justice and hands out their sentence. Some of these are riddles in themselves as the person struggles to figure out how to perform the task. And still others are there just to make the person look foolish as their penalty.
I'm hoping to find the motivation over the next year to scan all 60 pages so that I can share it with you next Halloween in its entirety.
Visit Creepmas.com for a complete list of participating blogs!
I'm just going to presume anyone reading this knows who Matt/Dinosaur Dracula is and not fanboy all over him. I decided to pull the trigger on his October Fun Pack because Halloween!
In case you're an unfortunate soul that didn't snag one, here's what you missed.
I apologize in advance for the busy background. I thought this table cloth would add some good holiday vibes to the photos but I think sometimes, it takes away from the focus.
I haven't even unpacked the box yet and I already feel like I got my money's worth upon taking in that gorgeous Nightmare on Elm Street sticker book. I definitely had one of those as a kid. OK, kid may be stretching it a bit as I was in my late teens when it came out.
Let's dive right in!
Matt includes a list of what's in the box as well as an October checklist of eerie things to do to get you in the holiday spirit. The Budweiser sticker is pretty neat, incorporating the sideways hourglass logo into the bat design. Glow sticks are a staple of Halloween and this one even says Halloween on it! What I really like about it are the package graphics. The glowy eyed ghoul emerging from its coffin with red-tipped claws is awesome.
Tucked in the upper right of the box is a pumpkin shaped goodie bag with a ghostly doodle attached. In the bag were some candy skeleton parts which did not last long. Hopefully they were from a more recent date than everything else! There's a vintage Stripe sticker card from Gremlins. On top of that is a teeny tiny Pepsi can necklace, which I remember getting a few of as vending machine prizes. And last is a pocket book about "Real" Monsters. None of those fictional creatures in here! I loved books like this as a kid. I was big into spy stuff so anything like this that was of a smaller size was instantly interesting. Add in monsters, and it's home run, out of the park cool.
Next is a McDonald's promotional ad for Halloween gift certificates featuring Roger Rabbit (now on VHS!). As with a lot of things in here, I am amazed that he not only has these relics but that he has enough of them to pack one for everyone that got this Fun Pack!
Here's mini-poster celebrating the Dino Drac 2014 Halloween Countdown, a Mordle creature, and an official Dino Drac specimen. I'm actually pretty stoked about the specimen. I have an affinity for capsule toys and vintage vending things. Let's take a closer look.
The Monster Pop-A-Bead is hard to photograph because it's so small but you can see some of the detail here. I would have loved to have a few handfuls of these as a kid to make into horrific bracelets or necklaces.
Pop some Hypnocil, kids! We're going to Dreamland...
In addition to the Nightmare sticker book and a pack of stickers (where does he get this stuff?!?), he also included a pair of 3D glasses from Freddy's Dead. I still have my original pair and used them the last time I watched the DVD. The sticker book covers the first three movies. I guess maybe there was too much gore for each movie to have its own book.
Here's the full cover art in all its disturbing glory. As I held this childhood (again, go with me on the child part) relic in my hands and flipped through it, I started thinking about just how messed up the 80s were with marketing R rated properties to a young audience: Aliens, Predator, Robocop, Nightmare. Most of them had action figure lines. Some had trading cards or sticker books. All things generally targeted at kids! Weird.
Kristen hanging out with her friends
And that concludes your tour through the Dino Drac October 2014 Fun Pack. He still offers monthly Fun Packs as a monthly subscription service if you want to get in on the goodness.
Before you head off to your next house, swing by Halloween Mixes.
They're posting a themed mix album every day of the month!
And of course, check out all the other folks participating in the Countdown to Halloween!
While visiting my parents over the weekend, my step-dad spent awhile showing us a lot of really cool old stuff he acquired recently. Among the stuff were lots of postcards (some used, some not) and photographs from the early 1900s.
People looked a lot creepier back then, it's a wonder any of us are here now.
He also had a letter written by a soldier to his family from WWII along with some other things tied to that person. There will be another post on that next week, it's great stuff!
I figured for Monday I'd toss something a little lighter into the blogosphere. It's not WWII old, but early 70s. Here's a postcard from somewhere along rt. 80 in Iowa.
Click for a better view
This just brings a lot of joy to me. I think it goes hand in hand with my love of 50s car culture. There's just something about the Great American Road Trip and everything that would come with it, pre-80s. And maybe it's a little about the kitsch of it all too.
Added bonus! Here's the back...
Doesn't sound like they were having a particularly exciting time, does it? The real reason I even bothered to scan the back though was for the 1972 Munich Summer Games stamp on it, which also helps capture the time this came out of.
I'm also curious if Audrey is a person or the name of their vehicle/camper?
It's almost time kids! Local weather is saying things should be dry for tomorrow night and that is the best gift the Great Pumpkin could ever bestow on me!
Didn't have much time to get creative so here's a few more plastic discs that need the dust blown off them. As with previous posts, these are ripped right from a giant black disc so if you want quality, go buy it!
First up is former Las Vegas DJ Don Hinson and his Rigormorticians. This one was released in 1964 to jump on the "Monster Mash" train. It has one of my all-time favorite Halloween songs, "Riboflavin Flavored, Non Carbonated, Poly-Unsaturated Blood." Try that 5 times fast! This song was much later covered by punk band 45 Grave.
Next we go back a little further to 1959 when Bob McFadden released Songs Our Mummy Taught Us. McFadden was a voice-over artist. Among many other characters, he also voiced Cresty and the Cavity Creeps.
And the inevitable final vinyl of the day (month?)...This is one of the weirder things in my digital Halloween collection. Released in 1969 in Germany, Dracula's Music Cabinet is a soundtrack for a movie that never was. It's psychedelic! It's funky! It's got weird studio effects and strange vocals! If this description didn't entice you, check out the cover!
And as a bonus for All Hallow's Eve eve, here's 45 Grave's cover of Don Hinson's "Riboflavin..."
Be sure to visit the other bloggers that have their porch lights on by clicking below.
The assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is brief and to the point this week
This is Halloween! This is Halloween! What are your Halloween traditions?
Halloween around the Dex household usually starts ramping up at the end of September. Even though Halloween may be on the shelves since August (which I dislike) it's right around my birthday when I start getting in the October mood. Getting a Halloween themed cake, and sometimes gifts, doesn't hurt.
The first weekend of October is when the decorating starts. Outside, we have a variety of Peanuts/Snoopy flags and signs in the yard. And one very large black cat, who is always a hit in the neighborhood, especially with the kids.
Then it's on to the inside. A few years ago I found these great vintage-style masks at WalGreen's for a buck each. Unlike the vintage ones, these are made of foam instead of rigid plastic. I haven't seen them carry these since I found them which is a shame. I was hoping they'd do different designs every year. These get hung on the doorway from the living room to the kitchen. I taped strips of black fabric behind the eye holes to make them a little creepier.
One of my other favorite decorations is this Jim Shore vampire statue.
He stands about a foot tall and has some nice scenic detail inside his cape.
I had a lot of fun experimenting when taking photos of him.
And then there's this little guy, who is about 6" tall.
One of the things I look forward to the most in October is the Feast of Flesh. It's a really crazy night of live music, horror burlesque, zombie costume contest and a classic horror movie. Words just can't do it justice!
And of course, I love going to Salem in October when tourist mode is set to max. On the weekends there is a street bazaar and as it gets closer to Halloween, more people are walking around in costume, day or night. There's plenty to do all month long! Here's a few pics from my travels so far, you can see more on Flickr along with my pics from 2011.
I plan on visiting tonight so I'll probably have even more pics in the next few days!
The person on the left is preaching the Good Word while the witch is mocking him.
Gotta love Salem!
Of course throughout the month, I'm also shopping for cool new Halloween stuff and watching as many horror movies as I can.
And then it's Halloween! We will usually stay at home until about 6:30 for Trick or Treaters. My stepdad dresses as Freddy and terrorizes the neighborhood during this time. Then we head into Salem and walk around for a few hours. A good portion of the downtown area is closed to vehicle traffic because there are so many people in town. My stepdad usually stays on Liberty St, which is a high foot traffic area and people take pics with him all night. I prefer to walk around and spook people. My biggest problem with my costume is that I can't take photos of other people in costume. There are a lot of great ones!
So that about sums up my October. What are other Leaguers up to? That Figures recommends some good movies Talk Star Wars to Me has a funny step by step for DIY costuming Branded in the 80s has some great stuff going on
Be sure to visit the other bloggers that have their porch lights on by clicking below.
What better way to celebrate the 200th post than with some blogger goodwill?
For those playing along at home, AEIOU will also be a year old in 16 days!
A few weeks ago fellow pop culture blogger jboypacman posted some pics of his minifigure army on his site, Revenge from the Cosmic Ark. I commented that I'd have to track down one of the Character Builder astronauts to go with my Doctor Who minifigs (also made by the same company).
Jboy kindly offered to send me one of his spares and initially asked for nothing in return. A few days later he asked if I'd pick up and ship a couple of the sodas I'd been blogging about, which I was more than happy to do!
Here's the astronaut with my Doctor Who figs...and a few friends. While it's not part of the Doctor Who line, it fits in just fine as the Unknown Astronaut that assassinates the Doctor.
What I've failed to mention thus far is the size of the box he arrived in. It was much too big for such a small figure. Little did I know before opening, Jboy sent some extra goodies my way! There's nothing like opening a box you don't know the contents of!
An Avengers skateboard, MegaBlocks Spider-Man, a couple of Deck Dudes, a Character Builder knight, a stack of Weird-Ohs trading cards, a Hot Wheels Ecto-1 and a couple of Heroics figures. (not pictured) LEGO Statue of Liberty
But that was not all!
At the bottom of the box, shrouded in bubble wrap something larger lurked.
What I found was this beauty...
Bad photographer! Forgot to put something in for scale. It's about 9" long.
If you're having the same reaction I did, you're saying "Whoooaa, cool! But what is it?" It is the UFO Master BlasterStation (1979) by Bambino. I'd never heard of this toy but there is something about an LED display and that particular white plastic that just zaps you back to the 70s' regardless.
According to the manual it was the world's smallest color graphic display and the first electronic computer game with a microprocessor! It's a pretty fun retro gaming experience. You have 80 seconds to shoot down as many UFOs as possible, with 99 being the top score.
The UFOs descend down one of three "lanes" toward your missile base. You get more points the higher up the UFO is when you blast it. Of course, you can only have one missile at a time but you can guide it between the lanes to your target. There's 3 difficulty levels but I haven't tried the hardest one yet. Here's a gameplay video from YouTube.
Pretty exciting, huh? I love old school electronic games.
A huge thanks to Jboy for sending all this extra cool stuff my way!
Skipping out on the standard Friday post to bring you some photos from a favorite spot of mine in Salem: the Salem Willows "amusement park." That's what they call it on the signs leading you there, but once you get there it's just Salem Willows Park. I think if this was my first time (far from it!) going here I would be seriously disappointed at the use of the phrase "amusement park" to describe this small area. It's bigger than it looks below though. Off to the right is a large grassy area right on the water perfect for picnics and other outdoorsy family activity, there are even a few tables.
I didn't grab individual photos of the food stands because they're not visually noteworthy. However, there is a decent variety of junk food: burgers, a pizza place, ice cream, a Chinese place that's popular with the locals for its chop suey sandwiches and a stand that sells popcorn and a multitude of flavored taffy. I think it's required if you have any kind of park near the water on the East Coast, you must sell taffy somewhere.
Aside from needing to get out of the house, the inspiration for this photo shoot was a recent post over at Lair of the Dork Horde about finding a retro game haven. The arcade here isn't bad considering how hard it is to find 80s' video games around here. They have more games that I didn't take pictures of including a few more recent shooting and racing games and about 8 pinball machines. There was one that I forget the name of but it had a ton of classics built into it and you can select which game you want to play. In addition to the "big kids" arcade, there is a place next to it with ticket redemption games.
There is also a run down, "blink and you'll walk right by it" mini-golf course and the "kiddie" area with rides and a very cool carousel which was built in 1866. I don't know what it is about these car carousels but I can't get enough photos of it!
Watch out for that shifty mouse in the back corner
Originally released by TSR in 1975, Dungeon may be the original hack-n-loot dungeon crawling board game. If you're familiar with TSR in the 70s, it will come as no surprise that game design legend Gary Gygax was on the development team. If you're not, Gygax is one of the co-creators of the original Dungeons & Dragons RPG. Dungeon enjoyed an unusual amount of longevity for a non-mainstream board game, releasing no less than 4 revised editions between 1980 and 1992. New editions often incorporated new rules as well.
Dungeon board, cards and parts
The premise of Dungeon is pretty simple. Each player selects their hero's class (the original line-up: Hero, Elf, Superhero, Wizard) and proceeds into the depths of the color coded six level dungeon, avoiding traps, navigating secret doors and slaying monsters for treasure. Each class of hero has a preset amount of treasure they need to win the game, expressed in gold piece value. The biggest rewards are at the lower levels but that's also where the tougher monsters hang out!
Monsters and Treasure from the 5th and 6th Levels
The card artwork really takes me back to playing the game
I played this game a lot and it's no doubt responsible for getting me into D&D while I was only in junior high. I'm so old, my first D&D set was the red box Basic set, where elf and dwarf were classes! There were no races as we know them now. It came with module B2 - Keep on the Borderlands.
Here's a few comic book ads from 1982. Clicking them takes you to Flickr. You can then click on Actions > View All Sizes to actually read them.
