I started collecting umbrellas about 12 years ago. Hubby and I took a trip out east, to Maine. While there, we visited the L.L. Bean store and I bought one with the little ducky for a handle. Actually bought two of them, one for a souvenir for our oldest granddaughter. These are actually put to good use. A while later, I found several at a sale and they had bakelite handles. I decided to put them into a stand by the door.

The next one I found had a clear plastic handle, and the rest is history.

A few years back my hubby came home with a very unusual find. It was a cane with some type of bone and he still had the tag from the estate sale. It was “shark’s vertebrae.” He asked what I thought it might be worth. And my rather sassy response was “what do you think, we can just go to an antiques book, look inside and find a price for a cane made of shark’s vertebrae?” He chuckled and got out a few books and ‘voila’, there it was, exactly as stated! It was valued at about $120, which was about $100 more than he paid for it. We re-tagged it and put it in our case at the antique mall. It sold in just 5 days. After that, I did more searching for them and while I have never found another one quite like that, have been able to locate a few unique ones.

My latest was this carved wooden cane, featuring the head of a dog and with glass eyes. More than I usually spend, but it was so charming that I had to buy it.

I really like the handle on this umbrella, nicely carved with the talons of a bird, holding a ball. If you look closely at the carving, you’ll see a number ‘7.’ Not sure what that signifies, perhaps just good luck to the user.

And as my luck would have it, another estate sale netted me this lovely antique cane, quite fancy with gold plated detailing. You know it is an old one because it reads “A.R. 1894.”

Another one, with gold and mother of pearl, reads “A Merry Christmas.”

This one with the ‘bone’ is nicely shaped too.

My grandkids call this the ’snake’ and it sure does look like that with its curvy style and silver detailing.

I could have told Maddie that canes were originally a symbol of status and that walking sticks or canes have been part of the human lifestyle since we stood upright. Or that these began being popular in the late 19th century as an important piece of fashion. But that might have overwhelmed her. For now, she just likes looking them over and carefully handling them. And that’s alright with me.

Serious collectors know where to look; antique stores and auctions, even the internet. They display them proudly as do I and are always on the look-out for other treasures.

I’ve got a soft spot for books, and printed material in general. I can tell a letterpress product versus a lithograph (note: the flyers in the hem box are, surprisingly, lithographic), and I’ve got boxes of letterpress blocks in my basement. The only thing is, I had yet to own a printing press. Full-sized presses are rather spendy, so, for now, I’ll have to stick with my toy printing press.

If it weren’t for toy printing presses, The Simpsons’ Springfield would never know that Todd Flanders smells, although later in the same episode the toy printing press is used to send an important message. For being a relatively functional manufacturing piece, it’s akin to a masculine Easy-Bake Oven; a symbol of future drudgery and industrial servitude, but in childhood it’s “Playing Daddy At Work”. Thousands of budding news editors released special editions of local news — so enormously local as to encompass the livingroom, kitchen, and the part of the back yard where the little sister and her friends are playing. There’s no doubt that the drive to own a tiny printing press springs from the same place that blogging does; however, writers had toy typewriters — the kid with a printing press is another entity altogether. I may be reading into it a bit, but as a freelance writer and blogger who typesets books from time to time, I think the subject may strike me a bit deep.

My new printing press was made by Superior Marking Company (SMECo), of Chicago, sometime in the 1950s. Superior was known for manufacturing rubber stamps and other commercial marking equipment, but they also produced a number of toy rummer stamp kits, with the printing presses at the higher end of the toy line. SMECo produced several sizes of presses, but all worked on pretty much the same mechanical process. The large barrel in the center has rows of metal clips, into which custom rubber ‘cuts’ are inserted. the barrel is about seven inches around, setting the maximum length of the printed page. My press, unfortunately, has lost all but the top three inches of text and clips, which limits what can be printed, unless I track down replacements. A slip of paper about three inches wide is inserted into the front of the press, and the crank is turned. This process is actually simple and ingenious; as the barrel rolls, it turns an ‘inker’ roller to place a layer of ink on the raised letters, and when it reaches the lowest point it engages a rotating platen underneath that forces the paper against the raised letters, producing text. Once the letters are set, a little press like this could operate constantly until it ran out of ink or wore down the raised rubber surfaces. While mine (see also, also) has very simple text, other examples online show a wide variety of possible fonts, headers, and layout possible with a little press like these.

Superior wasn’t the only manufacturer of little printing presses. The designs varied from simple rotary presses like mine to miniaturized moving platen presses that operated like their full-sized commercial counterparts. Superior, it seems, was the most prolific of the toy printing press companies, although others have tried their hand at it over time, from Fisher Price in the 60s to Crayola in the 21st century. While this wasn’t a common toy, tin printers like mine show up quite often on eBay and other online stores at reasonable prices.

While Hasbro’s Hulk movie figures were met with derision due to their substandard quality and ad nauseum repetition the Hulk himself (all with different action features), Hasbro also took the opportunity to ride the Hulk hype and produce an entirely different, comic-based line of Hulk figures - which are selling with wild success, even at the unusually high $15 price tag.

This line of eight Hulk-related figures has been a holy grail for me since I first saw them back at Toy Fair. While I have a causal collection of Hulk toys (because really, the guy’s gone through about a million changes and ‘costumes’, and he’s iconic), I was more interested in the enormous figure that you can build if you collect all eight - Fin Fang Foom. While the name might be ridiculous, the character is a shining example of the wacky energy that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby pumped into their comics in the 1960s. As a semi-rabid Kirby devotee, this was a thing that I needed to have around. Plus, he’s a giant space dragon - a combination of three of the greatest words in the English language. You know, aside from ‘naked sandwich robot’.

Other great Jack Kirby names : Arnim Zola, Flippa Dippa, Agnar the Fierce, Baron Zemo, Bombu, Devil Dinosaur, Galactus, Annihilus, MODOK, and Giant Man. Interestingly, nearly every ‘build-a-figure’ that’s been made in the Marvel lines is a Jack Kirby / Stan Lee creation, from X-Men’s Sentinels to The Blob, excluding Onslaught, Apocalypse, and The Brood Queen. Kirby’s just that epic. You need to buy eight figures just to build one of his.

Whenever a new line of figures comes out, I hit the message boards and browse for sightings. Toys generally start out in California, and over the next three weeks, slowly make the crawl to New York. The original plan for this Hulk line was to release the first four figures in July, and release the second quartet in August. There would be a two-month long interim in which you’d only have half of a space dragon built. It was a strange plan for Hasbro to make, especially when collectors feel very unsettled about half-completed things, but it was Foom. My love affair with space dragons could endure.

I hit Toys ‘R’ Us one morning and found the first five figures, and immediately loaded them into my arms and ran to the checkout counter. I was so excited (and possibly sweaty) that I didn’t even bother checking deeper into the pegs, since the back of the package now revealed a change in Hasbro’s plans. These first five would ship now, and the remaining three would ship in August. Because these were being touted as ‘limited edition’, reports were also coming in that if your local Toys ‘R’ Us (my only real buying option, due to my remote location) was going to get any at all, they were pretty much limited to one case - and that these were all shipping at once. My Foom was legless, and even after returning to the store about 4 times each week, my search turned up nothing. When the pegs were finally taken down and replaced with Batman stuff, I resorted to eBay. Again, for the unrequited love of a space dragon.

But for a while, I was on the hunt again. The toy collector climate in my area isn’t all that heated, since I’m friends with one other serious collector, and the only other collector that I know of is the ‘greasy hat’ guy that I’ve caustically written of before. I’m not the kind of guy who’ll wait outside of the store, breathing heavily on the windows until I’m let in. My dedication isn’t worth the cost of my soul or dignity, or a healthy breakfast. I’m of the mindset that if I’m meant to find something, it will present itself to me, and that stress-less (and somewhat Zen) attitude towards collecting has served me well enough. But somehow - I was really serious about Foom. I was hunting hard, just short of wearing a snazzy camo getup and carrying a compound bow through the toy aisles. I had something to look for - but it was never about ‘having’. Somehow, it was more about Jack Kirby, and having something of his around to inspire me creatively. When it comes to creativity, I’m relentless, remorseless, and have no budget.

Today, I finished my Fin Fang Foom, legs and all, and he’s a towering monument to the heart of comic culture - and by far the best ‘build-a-figure’ made since Hasbro’s taken over the ‘Marvel’ lines from ToyBiz. Sure, Foom has no formal relation to The Incredible Hulk, as he’s more of an Iron Man villain than anything else, but I’ll take him where I can get him. While the classic Marvel Legends line seems to be either fading out or spinning into less ‘Legendary’ characters since Hasbro rook over, the Hulk line keeps true to both recent and classic comics.

Stay tuned for a detailed review of the eight Hulk figures!

We had a double-birthday in the family last week. Our son-in-law Garth celebrates his special day with his one year old son, Nicholas! They had a huge party in their yard and the weather cooperated. My daughter and her husband are blessed with a large group of friends and being near the same age, they have quite a ‘gaggle’ of kids.

They arrived at 3:00 and as they filtered in we counted 20 children, 6 of them under the age of one, the others between one and three years old! I took my daughter aside and teased her about the ‘child per age’ rule, meaning if the birthday kid was four, you’d have four guests. That worked fine when she and her sister were growing up. It was manageable and not too overwhelming. But in spite of the large group of kiddies, things went very smoothly. There were no formal games, but they have a large, inflated pool and some enjoyed that. Others played in the sandbox or a water table and they have an impressive swing set, so everyone had something to do. They also have a large dog so some kids just threw the slobbery ball or frisbee. A few kept busy running away every time the dog came near. It worked out just fine.

We did not stay to witness the gift-giving, but from the size of the packages, all neatly wrapped, we are sure they were awesome. Back when we were kids, we’d usually get a ball and jack set, perhaps a bag of marbles, (wish I’d have saved all of those), a coloring book and crayons, perhaps a book of cut-out dolls, or similar dime-store treasures.

On the way home, I commented to hubby how very different things were ‘back in the day.’ Besides the difference in prices of the gifts, the games were customary; we’d play the same games at each party. There was a round of pin the tail on the donkey, or red rover, tiddly winks or perhaps a board game.

One of my favorites was drop the clothespin in the milk bottle! A rather simple game requiring minimal dexterity, but we’d all laugh when missing a simple shot. Back then, you’d get milk delivered in gallon jugs, glass ones, right to your door. One time my mom opened the cap and was shocked to find a bunch of mushrooms inside. She promptly called Doc, our milkman, who made a ‘house call’ to see what her concern was. He peered inside and saw the ‘bobbing brown blobs’ that did indeed look like toadstool tops. But upon further examination, he chuckled, pulled one out, and you guessed it, these were wooden clothespins. What a hoot! Someone had left a few in the bottom and the bottle cleaning system could not get them out because they ‘clogged’ at the top. We laughed about that every time a birthday came around.

I have another ‘vintage’ birthday memory. My mom went to the door to find a young lad named Gary calling out for Vicki, my younger sister. (That’s another thing, we did not use phones or door bells, you would just yelled out “Oh, For….and the person’s name”) Gary came by quite often but this time he was very neatly dressed, hair slicked back, a nice shirt and long pants, even though it was summer. He held a package with a bow on it and asked if he was late for Vicki’s birthday party.

My mom was surprised since this was June and her birthday was in November. She called Vicki down and once she turned the corner, a big smile lit up her face. She grabbed Gary’s arm and invited him inside. She asked him “did you get it, did you get it?” I was downstairs by this time and mom and I were really curious. What was going on? And how was it I did not know what was happening?

In any case, it turns out that Vicki had been to a friend’s party a few weeks back and Gary had bought a copper horse figure as a gift. Vicki had been enthralled with it and asked if he would get her one for her birthday. He said “sure” and asked when it was. She said “next week Saturday.” And you get the rest. Now Vicki was only 6 at the time so it is somewhat understandable, but of course, mom made Gary take it back, explaining it was a little early for gift-giving and to keep it until November. Vicki was a bit sad and she was also punished for lying, being sent to her room and not allowed to go out and play for the entire day.

Looking at our vast paper supply downstairs, I pulled out a few old greeting cards and found they were as ’simple as the times.’ Sweet graphics and charming messages. No super-heroes or scary monsters on the front or stars such as Hannah Montana singing a song when they opened up. The cards also came in boxes of 20 – called “Occasional Cards” and with messages of get well, best wishes for a happy wedding, anniversary or just friendship. Instead of the $3.95 price tag on today’s single cards, the boxful would be $1.00!

Many of the cards had a cut-out or a surprise inside like a “captain’s hat” the birthday boy could punch out and wear.

Many people collect older greeting cards today. The favorites are from holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, and of course, the always-treasured Valentines. Some collect for the theme, maybe wanting Scottie dogs, or horses. Others collect foil backings and some just like whatever oldie they can find. They can be found at antiques stores and auctions and are often not very expensive. Nostalgia is evidently not too costly, and it sure helps to bring back memories of special times and events in our lives.

All the kids ask what it is, and pressed for a quick get-away, I say, “A puzzle for momma.”

I’m not lying; it really is a puzzle for me.

But I do know what these 8 pieces are, what they make, even though I’ve never had one; it’s a fancy hem making gauge.

However, explaining hemming to children whose close are purchased off-the-rack and mended at night (not by elves, but by bleary-eyed parents who only dare use the needle at night when the house is calm & quiet) will take some time. And time could be my enemy here, where the seller, having more time to eye-ball the box, might just start to really notice the old pieces of paper in the box & decide that the price tag doesn’t include the papers (or some other potential problem).

So the lengthy explanation for my purchase will have to wait — wait for me to work my puzzle.

First, like any puzzle, I must take all the pieces out of the box. Then I must look over all parts of the box, cover & sides, inside & out, for a better idea of what I’m piecing together here. This box has no pictures, and, in fact, doesn’t even seem to be the original container for the pieces.

Second, separate the pieces — in this case, the papers from the metal pieces.

As none of the papers belongs to the metal pieces, I set the papers off to the side and begin to toy with the 8 pieces. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person, but even I can figure out square pegs don’t go in round holes, and so I can easily match triangle male parts to triangle female parts.

I do the same with the half-rounds. The large golden screw easily threads into the heavy metal base, holding firmly any of the aluminum triangle-based “poles” to the base. The curved pieces are for standard hemming at 2.5, 4, and 6 inches.

I have built a Chapin hem gauge.

With one piece left over. I don’t know what this straight ‘t-bar’ is for. Do you?

One part of the puzzle is done; but there is more to do.

Next, I research the device. The only name or markings are on the chromed iron base: Chapin (PAT APLD). I found nothing on the company. Though there was a tool-making Chapin company, which made some gages, I’ve seen nothing to indicate this sort of measuring device and so can’t confirm it’s the same company. (Perhaps these folks would know more.)

:sigh: Another unfinished puzzle. Ah, well, it’s something for another rainy day, right?

As I said, this hem making tool has little to do with the papers found in the box. There are 30 promotional fliers for The Butterfield Hem Finder.

This hem gauge is so grand, it’s called a “machine”. A lady, in this shown version, stands on the platform, and her skirts are draped over the ring, which is then raised to the desired length, allowing for the fitter to very easily mark a chalk circle all the way around the skirt, right on the fabric. (My Chapin only does an arch or part, meaning the fitter or seamstress would need to measure all the way around by hand, checking and rechecking for accuracy.)

But again, I found no information on Butterfield Mfg. Co, Fostoria, Ohio.

Poo.

However, from the illustration of the woman on the Butterfield ephemera, I am able to guess the time period. The skirting, hem length and silhouette of the woman is very Gibson Girl, making this hem finder machine part of La Belle Époque, or circa 1890’s to 1910’s. The similarity of hem length and design, leads me to believe the same of the Chapin hem gauge.

While this makes the Chapin a turn-of-the-century antique, it also is very practical. Should I ever have the time to put to use all my sewing materials — vintage & collectible, or not — I could make a lovely Gibson Girl dress with a proper hem with ease.

Don’t laugh. I just might yet.

Having a better idea of time frame makes it easier to search for possible patent information. While I had absolutely no luck with Chapin (even with its patent applied for notation), I was able to find the patent information for the Hem Finder — including when it was assigned to a Jesse D. Butterfield.

You’d think this would help me find out more about Butterfield Manufacturing Company; but no.

But I still have more puzzle pieces from this box found at an estate sale:Two pieces of paper from The Hollenden, Cleveland.

The Hollenden opened in 1885, and with the images of horse-drawn carriages, not cars, they appear to be from the hotel’s early days — which fits the same time period as the hem measuring devices.

But maybe the grand hotel didn’t update its stationery very often?

The sheets boast of The Hollenden’s 800 rooms, as well as mentioning James H. Thompson, Manager, and Adam W. Kuechle, Treasurer (making me think this is official hotel letterhead, not stationery for the guests). I research their names and confirm they both worked at the hotel in the 1910’s.

I’m not sure what sort of value these sheets of old paper would have for collectors of items from the Hollenden as they have creases, soiling, and been written on with a fountain pen. Researchers and ephemera collectors, such as myself, will find the sold script interesting. It could be Kuechle’s handwriting, jotting down some quick calculations. I do my best to read all the names and numbers… I can’t quite make out all the names/words on them, but then on the second sheet, on the back, I spot the (by now) familiar names… Chapin and Butterfield!

Of course, that also could be an “O”, making it Chopin — but with Butterfield? The odds seem too high for that to be a coincidence. And while items found in the same box at an estate sale do not necessarily come from the same time period, place, or person, these seem to be from the same time period. And they have many things in common…

Could these items be from a salesman? That would explain 30 copies of the same promotional flier. And the quick sales notes with figures (to be typed up back at the office).

I may never know.

But that’s part of the fun I have with my “puzzle boxes”.

Pickings were mostly slim for sales; we drove around a bit looking for signs and ended up at a rather sparse sale. It didn’t have a lot of clothes or kid’s toys, which is usually a good sign, so we stopped. There wasn’t too much, but the guy did have a bunch of old video games for sale. I passed on the Super Nintendo cartridges and dug through his bin of old Atari cartridges. Oh, not all the cartridges were in the bin — he had pulled out the ‘rare’ cartridges, stuff he had looked up and was worth something, and priced those separately. The bin was the bottom of the barrel: stuff that’s not worth much, and not even the gamer wants to keep it. Wifey found a Q*Bert cartridge that she wanted just for the label, but it was rather water-damaged so she passed. Two of the cartridges that I picked up had their labels completely fall off upon being touched. The guy was asking a dollar a cartridge.

I did find two worth buying though:

M*A*S*H — In 1983, Fox Video Games, Inc was one of the early 3rd-party video game programmers. Atari did their best to prevent other companies from producing cartridges for their ubiquitous 2600 console, but in 1983 they relented and, in exchange for royalties, licensed programmers the ability to write new games. The gaming division of 20th Century Fox (making them also one of the first media-offshoot game developers) adapted various Fox properties, such as Flash Gordon, Alien, and — of all things — Porky’s, along with an Atari version of their hit TV show M*A*S*H. The TV series ended in early 1983, which meant the game was released post-finale, but the game relies little on the series itself aside from setting. The videogame, according to atariguide.com, has two parts — the first uses the same sort of gameplay as many generic Atari titles: piloting a helicopter, you pick up injured soldiers or parachuting doctors(!) while avoiding being shot down. Between levels, however, sounds interesting: as a surgeon, you use the joystick to ‘remove’ shrapnel from soldiers, a’la Operation. The “soldier,” understandably looks displeased with the foreign materials inside his body, but the huge passageways through his body make removal relatively easy. The game itself isn’t particularly common, but low demand results in cheap prices. I found a few on eBay for a couple dollars, little more than I paid.

E.T.: The Extraterrestrial — If you know anything about this game, you’d buy every single one you see, too. This is actually the third copy of E.T. I’ve owned: the first copy had its original box and instructions, so it went pretty quickly on eBay for a pretty penny; I’ve still got another cartridge in the basement. Despite already having one, there was no way I was going to leave one in the dollar bin at a water-damaged rummage sale. In 1981, Atari was the king of home videogames, and they had no intention of giving up that spot; arguably, their hubris would catch up with them. They spent a bunch of money advertising two big-name games for 1982: Pac-Man and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. They had millions of each title produced, expecting enormous consumer response. Pac-Man has a reputation of being a very poor version, but today it has a nostalgia quality to it, given the frequency I hear the Atari Pac-Man sound effects used on TV. E.T., however, was an enormous flop. Like I said, the first copy I owned had its instructions included, so in interest of testing the equipment, I popped the cartridge in my 2600 and tried to play it. Oh, my lord, it was unbelievably bad. There was really no indication of where you were going, or even what your character was doing, aside from falling into holes, and there wasn’t really any way to tell whether you were in a hole or not. Gamers all over passed on buying E.T., resulting in millions of unsold cartridges in Atari’s warehouses. Atari couldn’t get rid of them at any price, so every cartridge Atari still held was loaded into a truck and driven to Alamagordo, New Mexico. When the remaindered games arrived at the Alamogordo landfill, they were crushed, buried, and a slab of concrete was poured over them to prevent anything from being stolen or salvaged. Seeing that I’ve owned three in the past decade, the scale of the returns isn’t as excessive as one might expect; there could still be hundreds of thousands of these available, even if 5 million still went unsold. Ebay has nearly a hundred of them listed for sale right now, but even if it’s not as rare as the legend might indicate, I think it’s worth a buck to carry some of Atari’s hubris around in my back pocket once in a while. Maybe I’ll even get to play it again someday.

Oh, didn’t I mention that? I sold my Atari a couple years ago — once upon a time, they were a dime a dozen at rummage sales, so I always turned around and sold them once I had my fun. After a point, they ran out, probably because I was buying them all and shipping them off to California eBayers. I guess, if the intent of going rummaging with a budget was to stop us from bringing home useless stuff, the plan failed miserably. Oh, well; I never thought I’d run across a bin of dollar 2600 games, so I may find another 2600 any day now.

A battered, blue copy of ‘The Marvel Way’ has been knocking around my house since the late 70s, and I appropriated it for my own devices in the 1980s - replete with clean, dynamic John Buscema artwork and Stan Lee knowledge. From it, I taught myself an amazing array of basics and visual storytelling techniques. Such a valuable resource it is that it’s still published today in its original form, and I regard it as an essential tool in the arsenal of any comic artist - so intensely that it’s just about ridiculous.

Still, comics are a language more than they are a simple artform, and just like language, they’re ever-changing. ‘The Marvel Way’ has moved to the hallowed position of ‘Old Testament’, while a crop of new ‘how to’ manuals have sprung up to address this changing world of comics - not all of them good. The DIY comic movement, the indie & manga genres, online comics, changing materials, and the digitization of the process have given us a whole new lexicon to communicate with, based on these Marvel fundamentals. I’ve collected ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel’, Scott McCloud’s ‘Making Comics’, and more graphic novels than I can count as I try to dig deeper and deeper into the culture and language of Comics. I’ve avoided the manuals that were obvious half-assery.

Most recently, I acquired ‘Drawing Words and Writing Pictures’ from First Second Books (who make all kinds of wonderful), and by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, always seeking a few pearls of wisdom that the other books might have omitted, and the only thing I’m disappointed about is that this was published AFTER I finished teaching a high school level comics course. I’m still questioning whether or not I totally sucked as a teacher, and I’m even exploring this introspection, coincidentally, in an extensive comic. I think that this book would have helped significantly. Also, having students that were a little less preoccupied with The Hills.

‘Drawing Words’ is structured like a 15-week course, each chapter adding onto previous lessons with new layers of knowledge and technique, and even providing sample assignments to hone these new ideas, making it completely ideal for a semester’s worth of drawing classes, while still working for the solo aspiring comic artist. It provides plenty of examples from throughout the history of comics, with a large visual focus on the indie comics scene. I’d like to see superhero comics and ‘indie’ comics play nice together, because there’s almost no acknowledgment between the two about how influential and important they are to one another. I’ll just assume that this was due to copyright issues and not a conscious omission. Regardless, it’s the first manual in the collection of manuals where the authors come from a dominantly ‘indie’ perspective, and it’s well-informed about all manners of comics anyhow. As a side note, Jessica Abel was one of the people gracious enough to sign my Bizarro Comics book sometime last year.

The content in any of these books is pretty standard stuff, but it’s the presentation that brings it to life. Talk of clarity in storytelling and images, penciling, panel layouts and their uses, lettering, inking, basic anatomy, characters - it’s all there, while still basic and intelligent enough to keep the reader following. The book even speaks of a forthcoming second volume to delve into these principles even deeper, and given the depth of this one, I can’t wait to see what’s next. I have a feeling that volume two is where all of the real secrets live, even if I can’t figure out what’s missing yet.

The book itself is a big, floppy paperback - almost unwieldy, but very handsome and conveniently tabbed on the side, to easily find your current lesson. So far, it’s gotten me to move outside of my familiar ballpoint pen world and into exploring different india inks, brushes and pen nibs - which is a good thing. Somewhere inside, in some intangible place, it offered encouragement to try a few new things, which is really a gift - and at $30 (and even less on Amazon), it’s a completely affordable alternative textbook. I’m a little in love with it.

Every artist in the medium - or at least the really good ones - will add completely new phrases and words to the language of comics, will do something to resonate in a new way, or will communicate something important to just one new person. It’s not an easy job, but the more, the merrier. Come on in and learn the language - it’s one thing to understand it, but another thing to speak it.

This weekend we decided to forego any buying experience for a chance to take a leisurely drive along the shores of Lake Michigan to one of the many tourist and vacation spots in Wisconsin, Door County. Our idea was to re-experience trips we had taken with our children and other family members many years ago, just taking in the natural beauty of the area, having a quiet slow-paced lunch in one of the quaint little villages, search for an old lighthouse to photograph and head home having spent little cash except for a paycheck on gas.

We only went about 30 miles north when we spotted this unusual sale sign. Now who can pass on a sale with advertising so boldly written directly on a car, with the magnitude of passion this seller displayed?

We had to stop, the sign was too compelling, but, alas, our only find was this corn cob shaped serving bowl with lid. With a price tag lower than the current price of two ears in our local grocery, how could anyone pass it up.

Once again bitten by the flea bug, our trip turned to searching for more ingenious signs with now a set purpose to spot the next sale. Heck, we spotted signs no bigger than 1×1 foot with writing so small wifey had to exit the car just to read an address or see the arrow. One lead us to a farm yard sale where tractors were selling like hot cakes and the smallest item was a two hundred pound cast iron wood burning stove. (We have a set rule: If Wifey can’t lift it, she can’t have it.) (You should have seen her carry me over the threshold on our wedding night.)

But bum and bummer, our hunt produced only minimal results, as we continued to find yard sales. This restaurant ware is interesting, and I could have - should have taken a pass.

Never one to pass up door hardware, these two escutcheon are heavy brass, but newer than we normally offer for sale.

A sleeper might be this Johnson Outboard model, run by batteries; we have had success with similar items.

After lunch at a nice lakeside bar and grill where we sat outdoors on their patio and enjoyed the lake breezes and a nice meal, our conclusion was we were not going to make it all the way up the peninsula, and we might as well spend the time at some antique stores.

Luck was against us this day, oh Wifey found some trinket jewelry, (she always does) and her collection grows, but we passed through three or four antique shops without opening my wallet.

One last stop, it was nearing closing time, at a shop so large we assumed it was a collection of dealers. Turns out, everything was owned by one person and was so crowded and cluttered, I had my finger on my cell send button in case I tripped over something (not on the speed dial 911, but on my lawyer’s phone number.)

 With all that this store had in stock, and as hard as we search for a bargain, I found nothing so compelling enough to buy. Wifey found this interesting leather medical bag with a gold leaf inscription “Blanche Suchan, Green Bay”, very old and showing years of use, we’ll have to research this lady to see if she held the title of doctor.

 Now I only like to point out our successes, the bargains we find, and places we have found where your leisure time can be rewarding in finding items for your collections, but there are days like this my friend, there are days like this.

You punch out the little hole, get a slip of paper, and follow the instructions to perform your stunt — if you don’t, you’re Coo Coo! After one round of taking &/or refusing to perform the stunts, all the Coo Coos must stand in the center of the circle and perform one stunt — that the others have selected from those already done — together. Oh, the horror!

Series number 1, the company was convinced of it’s popularity; you could get paid $1 for suggesting a stunt. That was enough money to buy two of these games back in the day!

I don’t find many of these punch-out Peg-Way games; and when I do they are $10 or more, which is past my budget. (I did not pay the $10 penciled on the back of the box.) But I still look for them.

Which isn’t so smart because the Coo Coo game taunts me…

Curiosity hasn’t killed this cat, but it has forced me to punch out one of the slips… I had to. Don’t write hate letters stating how I’ve destroyed a collectible; you sit there and stare down a 100 little circles of vintage stunts and see how you fare.

The paper is too old and brittle to scan well, so I wrote it down and gently, but firmly, stuffed it back in. My stunt was to, “Imitate a modest maid powdering her nose in public.”

The funniest thing about that, my family would say, is for me to be a “modest maid”. Even the kids think I’m either too “come hither” or too “hammy” to qualify as a modest anything. But imagine a room full of couples (or mixed genders) in the 20’s watching a man do this. And I bet any lady that drew this stunt was also accused of being “too come hither”. Thus, pink embarrassed cheeks & flushed laughing faces filled the room.

This is part of the entertainment of collecting these old stunts, retro games, & vintage activities — rediscovering the context of the culture of the past. What was funny then? Why? Is it still funny now? Or is it just corny?

If it’s in any way amusing, I’ll play it still. (And likely force family & friends to do so too. Such activity beats passive TV or movie viewing for group entertainment.) If it’s not, I’ll ponder the differences between now & then. (That’s not always a solo activity either; I’ll force at least hubby to converse with me about it.)

This is why I am fascinated by vintage and retro stunt & activity books, and hostess & party planning guides. Even the ones which were pure advertising. Which sort of leads into the old etiquette books… Which leads into more vintage cookbooks. And so, you see, I am ever widening my collection definition; and slimming the space on the bookshelves.

But getting me to stop would be more than a stunt; it would be hard work. And I’d surely go coo-coo.

Warner Brothers has finally released the first season of Freakazoid on DVD, ten years after the show’s premature cancellation. This DVD set includes 14 episodes on 2 DVDs, while the inevitable Season Two set will likely include the remaining 10 episodes. I’m counting on that, WB! Do you hear me? Freak me.

Freakazoid represents a very unique time in Saturday morning cartoons, inasmuch as it was pretty much the last time they were consistently good and unpolluted. We were still in the halcyon days before Pokemon aired in the US, and Freakazoid was like nothing that had come before it. It was completely dadaist (and often surrealist) in its approach to comedy, pulling influences from decades of popular culture, throwing in a great deal of vocal improvisation and non-sequitur, some ridiculously exaggerated classic slapstick, and finishing it off with a bizarre variety show structure - in no particular order. Not too many kids shows were referencing Jack Valenti, F-Troop, Ed Wood, Jerry Lewis, and Tom Lehrer at the time (or ever, because honestly, these are ‘old people things’, like ointments and brunch specials), but Freakazoid did it, and with Steven Spielberg’s approval - something that the writers are still trying to figure out.

And it was hilarious. I was 14 at the time, and it redefined my whole perception of comedy, even if I didn’t understand many of the references. All I knew was that a 5-minute scene of two hands sloppily making out was comedy gold. I didn’t appreciate the Harlan Ellison cameo until five years later, and it’s taken even longer for many more jokes to fully marinate. I don’t know if this is the mark of madness or genius, but it works well for me. It’s the kind of show that I want to own on DVD so that I can share it with people who haven’t witnessed it, just to see how they react, or if they hit me.

Admittedly, the best parts of the show happen when Paul Rugg, the voice of Freakazoid as well as a writer for the show, is allowed to just go wild - off the script, improvising bizarreness - while the animators try to make sense of it later. Most of the first episode is Rugg’s raw audition tape, and it’s so full of energy that it can barely be matched by subsequent episodes - especially when Freakazoid is scripted. It’s the dada, say-whatever approach to Freakazoid that makes him endearing and amusing to watch.

Of course, there are other heroes (and villains) who make appearances, and most of them are completely ineffectual in their roles - which makes for even more humor, even when the show leans towards the ‘corny’ aspects of the WB cartoon repertoire at the time.

The DVD provides commentary on the first two episodes, as well as episode twelve (which is one of the very scripted episodes). I don’t know exactly why the episodes detailing Freakazoid’s origin weren’t worth commenting on, but the revelations provided in the existing episodes are enjoyable enough to make me want behind-the-scenes stuff on every episode. There’s enough running under each one to keep it entertaining, no doubt.

The other DVD bonus is a small documentary about how Freakazoid began as an action cartoon and slowly metamorphosed into a wacky comedy, with interviews with Paul Rugg, producers, writers, and the revolutionary designer Bruce Timm, creator the animated Justice League universe that I love to much. While nothing is too revelatory, and I’d have loved to see many, many more of Timm’s original character designs, it’s a pleasant watch.

There are a few instances when it’s clear that WB hasn’t tried to clean up the dusty prints of the show, as segments might appear blurry or with lines running across the sides, and in two instances, entire half-episodes are repeated as filler within other episodes - which is how they originally aired, but is it really necessary to have the same 30 minutes of video repeated twice on the same DVD when it could have meant more space for a Bruce Timm design gallery or something? I’d have been happy to settle for a 15-minute episode, understanding that that’s just how things work when an episode isn’t done on time. It’s a strange choice to include this duplication, but it doesn’t make the existing stuff any less awesome.

For me, Freakazoid isn’t a ‘want’ so much as a ‘need’, and it remains 98% hilariously absurd. The DVD is scheduled to be released on July 29th, and I think it marks a very important point in televised animation.

To do a comparison, I went to to our home library and found “The Wonderful World of Ladies’ Fashions – 1850-1920.” While the majority of the book covered women’s attire, there are some pages that address the styles for children.

We have 5 grandchildren of varying ages so we do have an idea of what kids’ fashions are these days. Baggy pants with designs from musical groups or rappers. Lots of t-shirts with rock bands, skull and crossbones, some with sassy sayings. Some are cute and make you smile or even chuckle. Others cause you to stare, drop your mouth open and wonder what the parents were thinking, letting them out of the house that way!

Our almost-teen-ager loves to wear deep colors, (NEVER PINK), but dark tops with spooky faced creatures, and fitted, black pants. She also chooses leather bracelets, black choker necklaces and bandannas with pirates and the like. That’s just fine with her parents and us. It is just her style.

After looking at these outfits, I wondered what our 12 year old granddaughter would think of the fashions of years gone by. I also was curious how her brother, who is 8, would like to show up in one of these outfits when playing sports or biking.

Can you picture our young ‘tomboy’ wearing this when going to the skateboard park? She would be laughed out of the park. And we need not mention the strong possibility of her falling off the jumps from the weight of the hat!  

Young girls almost always had huge bows in their hair – would she be willing to drop her bandanna with the skeletons for a big pink tied-up ribbon? I doubt it.  And how about our young lad who loves his cargo shorts and shirts with super-heroes? Would he feel special wearing this outfit? Knickers and bows on his shoes would be especially cool on the basketball court, right?

Those long skirts would also pose a problem for the active kids of today. Can’t ride a bike, or climb a hill or even run. But even if she got past the idea of never wearing long pants, dressing in soft pastel outfits with bows, ribbons and lace, she could never agree to this outfit. Lots of fur, from the hats to the collars and, of course, a large muff! Made of fox, ermine, beaver, and raccoon, she would surely protest, knowing how she loves animals. But you view the pictures. Notice that all the girls were wearing them, and with a smile.

While I applaud the fashions of yesteryear in many instances, it does not make a lot of sense for the active children of today. Can you even imagine all of the horrific keyboard injuries from texting and going on MySpace wearing those delicate white gloves? And what about those wool swimsuits that came almost to the knees? Those could prove dangerous in the Y-pools for sure! (And didn’t they smell like wet mittens too?)

So while I think we sometimes go overboard with our ‘funky fashions’, a look back has not convinced me that things were better in the ‘good old days.’ But you collectors of vintage children’s fashions still love to find them, display them and perhaps dress your dolls or teddy bears in them. While you might have some success at thrift stores, your best bet would be to shop the antique malls where we frequently find booths that specialize in vintage clothing.

Television sets were BIG.

(I think I made one of those wooden birds on a stick in wood shop class… Now I have to look for that.)

Big ol’ console sets continue in the bottom part of the GE ad.

Not only were the sets big, but the screens were getting bigger too: “Owens-Illinois put more picture into your television picture tube.”

Cars, however, were getting smaller, as this 1959 feature “The Big Three Join The Revolution” shows us.

Above, Robert S. McNamara, Ford vice president, shows off his new “baby,” the Ford Falcon; small side photo shows “another proud parent,” Edward N. Cole, General Motors vice president, with the rear-end aluminum engine of Chevrolet’s Corvair. Below, the Corvair compared with a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Below, the Falcon at a picnic.

A quote from the article gives us some haunting insight:

Detroit has not now and never had any intention of producing a so-called austerity car in which style, comfort and performance are too greatly sacrificed for low first cost and high gas mileage. What the auto makers have produced are cars which are nimble, cost a little less, use less gas, but are still six-passenger automobiles. In doing so, however, the producers have made a tacit admission — that their conventional smallest, lowest-priced three are no longer small enough and low-priced enough for an increasing number of customers who want something somewhat less splendid.

Above: “Sneak view of the Valiant, Chrysler’s economy candidate. A little more exotic than the other two, the Valiant will be introduced soon.” Which is odd they’d show such a blurry sneak-peek when they also include another photo of the Valiant (below), saying, “This picture, published prematurely by a newsmagazine, nearly destroyed Chrysler’s plans for secrecy prior to October introduction of the car.”

Mom’s life also got easier as GE offered mom a first: The General Electric Filter-Flo Washer with Automatic Bleach Dispenser.

Hey, it not only stored (& dispensed) a months’ supply of bleach, it was in that cool pink.

And, last (for today), but certainly not least… Little Friskies introduces boxed cat food.  Such a new idea, it took an entire page of explanation including approval from a crazy old cat lady and proof that cats would eat it.

6. Yak Face (Power of the Force, 1985)

Once all three original Star Wars movies were over, and all three accompanying lines of toys had been completed, Kenner continued the Star Wars series of action figures with 1985’s ‘Power of the Force’ line. This included 36 additional figures (22 of which we re-releases), and it addressed many auxiliary characters, as well as main characters in different outfits. Little did they know that every character who appeared in the background of a scene for a millisecond would eventually be getting a complex backstory and an action figure from Hasbro. Each POTF figure included a collectible coin, in addition to the usual accessories. While line was canceled due to declining sales, a 37th figure had already begun production.

This figure was ‘Yak Face’, who is also known in proper Star Wars canon as Saelt-Marae - who appeared for three seconds in Return of the Jedi. As companies are still wont to do when there’s a production oversight or a change in distribution plans, Kenner sent all of their Yak Face figures to Canada and Europe. In the days before the information superhighway, this was a big deal, as these were rendered nearly inaccessible (and were simply unheard of) by the average American kid. We were Yakless, or Faceless, or something.

As a result, a loose Yak Face will get you about $150 if you still have the staff that came with him (which only came with the Canadian edition), and a sealed Yak Face recently sold for $2250 at auction, which is the most respect that a guy named ‘Yak Face’ will ever get.

I have a personal connection to Yak Face, as I accidentally stood next to a life-sized statue of him during New York Comic Con, while a friend very vocally described our physical similarities. Within earshot of a very attractive girl. Dear Yak Face, I feel your pain.

7. Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper (Power of the Force, 1985)

Another entry from the 1985 ‘POTF’ line, Luke as a Stormtrooper proved a little hard to find because of the fading interest that retailers had in the Star Wars line, without movies to back it up. When Luke was actually found, there was a special interest in him as he was the only figure in the POTF line that came from ‘A New Hope’, and not one of the sequels.

As a side note, this POTF line also included a mail-away Anakin, which came packed in a plastic baggie from Kenner, which is worth about $100 bucks.

8. Vlix

Vlix wasn’t officially from the main Star Wars line, but instead a character from the short-lived Droids cartoon. He’s worth including as he’s regarded as the rarest of all released Star Wars-related figures.

When the Droids line of toys was canceled, Kenner had already sculpted and molded Vlix, planning to include him in the next assortment. Instead of letting the expensive tooling go completely to waste, the molds were sold to a Brazilian company called Glasslite, who proceeded to make the figure - and distribute it only in Brazil. Those guys have all the luck - they have nuts, sexily waxed women, and all of our Vlix figures.

Even a loose Vlix will net you around $4000, and a carded Vlix will probably put you through college a few times. I can only wonder if some Brazilian grandmother is cleaning out her attic and putting Vlix out at a tag sale at this very moment…

9. Anakin-to-Darth Vader Hasbro Press Kit

… which I’m counting as one figure.

Numbers nine and ten in the countdown are the only two on the list that were made after 1990. In fact, the Anakin-to-Darth Vader was released very recently in 2005 - but ONLY to Hasbro’s media guests in their Toy Fair showrooms. I’m still kinda cheesed off that they didn’t give me one. I love me some Vader, and I’d even make an exception to having a young Anakin into my collection, but that Vader could have been the difference between living at home for a few years and paying off my college loans immediately.

The rare press kit included a figure of Anakin Skywalker on a circular base, which rotated into a figure a Darth Vader. The figure was packed along with various press materials, all in a handsome box. While the initial secondary market price of the kit was in the many-thousands, it’s now dipped below $400. And I still don’t have one.

So close to financial solvency, guys. Woulda made braving the sweat-storm of fanboy armpits almost worth it.

10. Freeze-frame Weequay (Power of the Force, 1990s)

The final figure in this list is the thoroughly unlovable Weequay, a skiff guard for Jabba the Hutt, and all-around gross-lookin’ guy. Weequays are a dime a dozen are are pretty worthless when they’re loose. so the big difference with THIS Weequay only comes into play in the packaging, making for another moment of Star Wars collecting completism insanity.

See, this ugly guy from the ‘Power of the Force 2’ line from the mid-90s included a ‘freeze frame’, which was a gimmicky projectable slide that was included with a handful of the figures. Think ‘family vacation photos’, except your family is really ugly and fights in space a lot. Only a handful of these ‘Freeze Frame’ Weequays were released before they were repackaged without the slide, on a much more common green  card with a shiny picture of his ugly mug. A sealed Weequay, on a US card (none of that tri-lingual foreign junk here), with the slide, will run about $400, and an opened ‘Quay is just about the saddest thing I ever did see.

There are a few more uncommon Star Wars figures out there, but none so rare and treasured as these guys - which are likely to pop up in any given attic or tag sale by folks who just want to clean out their attic and don’t give two damns about eBay or us nerds. Keep on hunting!

Because the universe of Star Wars toys is so ridiculously vast, I have to limit myself to those things concerning the Original Trilogy, as well as the occasional awesome alien, robot or Jedi. That’s it. You won’t find any Clone Troopers in my collection - no Jar Jars or Wattos, and no Anakins unless they’re bald, old or wearing big, black helmets. I follow a bastardized version of the old poison ivy credo - ‘Not original three, let it be.’ It’s saved me from both poverty and unsightly rashes.

While I don’t own anything especially rare, there’s a short list of action figures that most collectors know about and will keep their eyes open for at a tag sale. Keep in mind that we’re talking about the figures that are roughly 3.75” tall here - the scale that the Star Wars line was introduced in.

Before I count down the list (in no particular order), it’s important to note that I’m only including action figures that were produced and released to the public. The legendary ‘Rocket Firing Boba Fett’ which allegedly choked a 3-year old child with its projectile was never actually produced, though a handful of unpainted prototypes exist (which have gone for $16,000 of more). These were never sold in stores - and the unfortunately airway-obscuring projectile was actually fired from a Battlestar Galactica toy made by Mattel.

1. Blue Snaggletooth (1978)

‘Blue Snaggletooth’ was released in 1978 by Kenner as part of the very first Star Wars figure set, both as a Sears mail-away figure and with the Cantina Adventure Set. When Kenner created this figure, all the modelers had to go on was a black and white photo of the creature’s upper body from ‘A New Hope’, and as a result, the figure differed significantly from the actual character - which was red, barefoot, and a whole lot shorter. Upon realizing this, all figures of Snaggletooth (also known by his Christian name, Takeel) after 1978 were remodeled to appear more film-accurate. While not overwhelmingly rare, this figure fetches prices up to $100 when loose, and over $400 while still sealed.

Recently, Medicom’s fifth line of Star Wars Kubricks even paid tribute to this collecting phenomenon by including a secret, super-rare Blue Snaggletooth figure, which itself fetches prices over $100.

2. Vinyl-Caped Jawa (1978)

Usually regarded as the second-rarest produced figure, the Vinyl-Caped Jawa was the result of a running change in Kenner’s production. The Jawas were released as part of the original 12 Star Wars figures in 1978, though because they were relatively small (even compared to the 4-inch standard of the line), Kenner wanted to give the consumer more bang for their $1.99. In order to make the figure appear more complete and a comparable value when displayed with the rest of the line, they replaced the cheap-looking plastic cape with a sewn fabric cape, which adorned all future Jawas after that initial batch.

That would be that, but toy once profiteers saw that this original Jawa was increasing in value on the collectors’ market, the forgeries began. With little more than an average cloth-robed Jawa figure and a piece of cheap, brown vinyl, people started cobbling together their own ‘VC’ Jawas and passing them off as original. Fortunately, today we have the proper dissemination of information regarding this, and there are extremely detailed webpages detailing the minutae of each version of the Jawa, from how the tiny eyes were painted to mp3s of the sound that your fingernail makes when running across the vinyl. Yeah, Star Wars collectors are wacky. It’s probably the only non-geological item that’s analyzed with a scratch test.

A loose, authenticated Jawa can net you about $1000, while a sealed and authenticated Jawa will get you about $2000. Authentication is important for these figures especially, due to the high rate of forgery. Even unauthenticated figures get get a few hundred bucks. I swear that I played with one of these as a kid.

Of course, we can presuppose that the fake Jawa sellers are only operating in the spirit of the Jawas themselves, who tried pawning off broken droids to the Lars family on Tattooine. If the Jawas had access to the internet, and were real, and could read, they’d surely be giggling and shouting ‘UTINNI!’ at the whole debacle.

3-5. Telescoping Lightsaber Luke / Obi-Wan / Darth Vader (1978)

Right after Star Wars was released in 1977, kids were abuzz for action figures. Because Kenner wasn’t prepared for the popularity of the movie and the Christmas toy interest that it would produce, they instead sold boxed certificates which would entitle the bearer to a complete set of the first four Star Wars figures ever - an ‘Early Bird’ set that included Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and Luke. The box that the certificate was delivered in also functioned as a display base, but the glee of Christmas morning often caused this box to be torn wildly open, so very few exist intact today - and almost none of the mailed in certificates. All those happy, tearing hands finding coupons inside of otherwise potentially valuable boxes - a Christmas morning that sends shivers through the Star Wars collecting world. Forget about the joylessness of a coupon - that box was worth something!

This earliest figure of Luke had a unique feature that wouldn’t be repeated in later Lukes : his lightsaber would extend from his arm, and a tiny little plastic blade would then extend again from within that saber. This ‘double telescoping’ feature would be repeated in the first editions of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. These tiny inner-blades proved to be very fragile and not really convincing as action features, so they were quickly phased out.

Of the three, Luke is the most common, and I distinctly recall playing with just such a Luke as a child, amid the piles of Micronauts and Star Wars guys that my uncle had collected. I also remember stepping on an X-Wing, my uncle freaking out, and chewing on the end of Luke’s rare telescoping lightsaber - well before I knew the potential investment in treating your Star Wars guys kindly, of course. It’s the kind of moment you relive in your head with great regret. A loose telescoping Luke will get you around $600, if it’s in great condition, and only about 15 sealed examples are known to exist.

‘DT’ Vaders and Obi-Wans very rarely even surface, and when they do, a sealed one will earn you about $7000 or more.

Stay tuned for the rest of the countdown!

Ford T-birds from the 1950s have long been our favorites and when we came across this powder-blue baby, we had to stop. We read over the description and were amazed to learn that this was still owned by the car’s original buyer! We were fortunate enough to have Bob nearby and he was eager to share information on this fine old car. He was the original owner, used it to drive back and forth to work, took it on vacations, and used it as his ‘driving car’ for a lot of years. He had it stored in his garage from 1971 – 1995, 24 years. He then made the decision to rebuild it and started his lengthy process.

He showed us original paperwork on the car, an invoice with the original price of $3,295 from McGuire Ford in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It showed it was used as a demo for about a year, then he bought it. He put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money into it, probably close to $48,000. It was ‘appraised’ in 2005 at $60,000. It was a labor of love, not done for profit. The process of rebuilding took 3 years and 10 months, so even at a minimal wage rate, you can see that it would not be an ‘easy way’ to make money! Bob told us that he used Casco of Ohio for many of the parts. What he liked about them was the fact that they have a technician available who was a great help in the process.

Bob was proud of a letter he got from the President of Ford Motor Co. It seems his wife, Jeannie, had sent a letter to Ford, telling him of his accomplishment in restoring this T-bird and being the original owner. To his delight, Bill Ford’s secretary called him a short while after the letter was sent. They spent 40 minutes on the phone, and she took down a lot of information on Bob and the car itself. She promised that a letter from Mr. Ford was forthcoming and he received it just prior to the magical 50 year mark, October 19, 2007. He was so glad that Jeannie, who had been a teacher, had taken the time to put a nice letter together and very pleasantly surprised at the response.

He also shared with us the fact that when the car was ‘officially done’ in June of 1999, he and a man who had helped him with the restoration stood back, were all set to fire her up. But nothing happened. They tried again, checked the battery, gas lines, etc. No luck. Then they decided to disconnect the hose on the fuel line. And there they found the problem! A bug! It had somehow lodged into the hose, made a nest and fouled up the flow of gas. Once removed, they stood back, held their breaths and it started right up. An emotional time, we’d bet!

Bob belongs to the T-Bird Club, has been a member since 1994 and is currently the Vice President of the Club. He tells us he gets a lot of help from the group. It was a pleasure talking with him and we appreciated his sharing his experiences and his enthusiasm.

How could any vintage car show be complete without an Edsel being represented?

We also liked this 1957 Mercury with the ‘greased lightening’ motif.

Check out “Corvette Row” quite a gathering!

The Excaliber from SS Motors of Wisconsin was a Brooks Steven design.

We spoke with two people at the Registration Desk and learned that per Mr. Holz, there is no charge to enter the show. He also gives the first 400 car drivers to enter free food. The numbers were not totally in but they were expecting between 750-800 cars.

We were also fortunate enough to meet the graphic artist behind this year’s T-shirt which commemorates the 26^th year of this show, Joe Jozwowski. Joe is a web-designer and told us that he had been creating the show’s T-shirt designs for 10 years. This one was special. It has a 1958 Chevy in front of a drive-in that was once a favorite in Hales Corners, called Petroff’s. The car hop is ready to put the tray of food on the window. Unfortunately, the drive-in is long-gone, but this commemorative shirt lets it live on for all who have dined there.

This 1948 Indy Race car was a special treat at the show, # 91 was driven by Lee Wallard.

As you pass by a local Classic Car Show, take a few minutes to converse with the owners, and watch their eyes light up as they reveal their total love and devotion for the collectible car they own.

On Sunday, we went through all the 8mm film I had — but, of course, not all the movies I own. The Wollensak isn’t a dual-format projector. Original 8MM film has one sprocket-size, but in later years Super8, with its larger frame-size and wider-spaced sprocket holes, was more prominent. An 8mm projector like my Wollensak won’t do Super8, and it was awfully late that night, so my small Blackhawk library had to sit idle until the next Movie Night. Blackhawk Films was a distribution company with thirty years of supplying old films to people in need of entertainment.

Blackhawk Films was originally the ‘bargain basement’ business of Kent Eastin, a film developer and distributor who had set up shop in Davenport, IA in the 1940s. With direct mail expert Martin Phelan, Eastin Pictures slowly saw its business supplanted by television and other newer technologies, and opened up its distribution wing as a mail-order source to consumers. Blackhawk Films licensed numerous classic films, from old shorts to newsreels, and performed archive-quality restoration and reproduction to produce the best quality copies for their customers. In the time before videotape and cable TV, the opportunities to see these films was mostly limited to weak-performing timeslots on local television stations or cheap movie theatre matinees. I remember, when I was quite young, my parents and their friends checked out a projector and a stack of 16mm movies from the library — there wasn’t such thing as a video rental place nor HBO. Blackhawk Films had a catalog full of old films in a variety of film sizes and formats, both silent and with sound, and their high-quality duplicates of fifty-year-old films provided all sorts of entertainment for families across the country.

Eventually, those other technologies that we rely on degraded Blackhawk’s market. Cheap, more-resilient VHS videotapes took hold quickly, and the expansion of cable television provided plenty of other opportunities for people to see these old movies and otherwise occupy family-time viewing. Although Blackhawk Films closed up shop in the very early 80s, their library eventually passed on to former Blackhawk Vice-President David Shepard. Shepard now operates Film Preservation Associates, which still restores old film, but also licenses those high-quality masters restored by Blackhawk to DVD producers.

While I’ve owned more in the past (and sold them off on eBay), of the thousands of movies in the Blackhawk Films library I only own four today: Our Gang/Little Rascals short Uncle Tom’s Uncle, Buster Keaton in Cops, Charlie Chaplin in The Immi