Saluting General Kitsch Archive

0February 3, 2012
Kitten With… Ears!

Cute retro-styled cat keychains that double as protection. Because cats are pointy! Buy ‘em here; via.
2January 5, 2012
Fashion Forecasting With Tarot Cards (In 1953)

A fashion spread in Harper’s Bazaar, August 1953, featuring over-sized tarot cards. Photos by Louise Dahl-Wolfe.
0December 21, 2011
Whatjamacallit Wednesday: How Do You Get Kitten Hips? And Why Would You Want Them?

Kitten hips. No, not the furry kind — the “lithe young American” kind, as described in this vintage girdle ad published in Harper’s Bazaar, 1946. You feel and look as…
0October 16, 2011
Let’s Eat Pretzels! Getting Divorce Papers In The 1960s

Or at least that’s what I see in this photo. Via Lynnstudios.
1September 26, 2011
The Bachman Pretzel Bikini

Hey, edible underpants, you had competition… The Bachman Pretzel Bikini. Just $2.50 for a “classy” and “sassy” two-piece bikini of “velvety non-woven material.” I can’t imagine you could swim in…
0August 27, 2011
Sunkist-Orange… Hats?

I’ll admit, I liked this vintage dress more when I thought the Sunkist-orange orbs were oranges, not hats; but passersby would likely make the same mistake and gawking to confirm…
0August 25, 2011
Cheap Thrills Thurdsay: Free Cherry Earrings (Late Edition)

At Listia (if you don’t know what it is, check out my review), you can get these adorable handmade cherry earrings for free — yes, FREE, including shipping! (In the…
0May 18, 2011
What Are You, A Man Or A Monkee? Or, Worse Yet, Gay?

“There’s A Tremendous Difference Between A Pansy & A Chimpanzee” …But both use gasoline? Vintage ad for Ethyl Gasoline, found in a 1950 Life Magazine; via GeriADtric.
0February 13, 2011
Bewitching Valentine

This vintage Valentine kinda has the holidays all jumbled-together; but I love it. Via capwheel.
0February 5, 2011
Retro Zolar Fortune Telling Materials

An ad for Zolar fortune telling cards and Ouji Genii Board found in Rance Romance & Adventures, May 1971.
0January 21, 2011
Jester Wools, For Gayer Garments

Via the fabulous Chateau Thombeau, we find out just who robbed the rainbow to make us look gay — hey, why isn’t this guy in the Skittles ads? I bet…
2October 4, 2010
Pinups Perverting With Pink Plush

This is Jayne Mansfield, surrounded by her pink plushies; but lots of babes of yesteryear posed with stuffed animals and little girl gear (yes, I now are a “tumbl tard”)….
1August 9, 2010
Back When Women Were Women, And A Slab Of Meat Was $4.25

Though I have no idea what the women may have cost, I suspect both slabs of meat were mouth-watering and choice cut. Vintage menu and mailing souvenir from the Colony…
8March 17, 2010
Breaking Free Is A Drag (Or, Drag Queens Part 1)

Glowing Doll Danielle says she was “totally gob smacked” watching Freddie Mercury’s “sexy mustachioed housewife” in Queen’s I Want To Break Free. In her post, Danielle also wrote: I love…
0February 23, 2010
Aunt Lydia’s Baby Gender Prediction Method

I found the following gem in the 1977 J. Gruber’s Hagers-Town, Town and Country Almanack, along with the usually almanac-ery, household tips, and a few grand ads (that I’ll be…
0February 13, 2010
Because My Husband Is Mr. WalMart…

OK, maybe so he’s not-so-much Mr. WalMart… But he is Derek — The Derek — of Derek’s Big Website of Wal-Mart Purchase Receipts. (Yeah, I married Internet Royalty — Old…
0February 12, 2010
Taking Off Those Kid Gloves About The Collectors Convention

Hey, that conference I’m presenting at, the first annual Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention, has been written up in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Which reminded me that I had not mentioned the…
0February 6, 2010
Choke On Your Chocolate Cigars, Someone’s Having A Baby

From the days of yore, when tobacco was cool… Upgrade from candy cigarettes, or announce the birth of a new baby, with candy from this antique cigar chocolate mold.
0December 31, 2009
Hiss & Spray, From My Books, Please Stay Away

I love these vintage cast iron cat bookends — their snarling faces and their wide-to-the-side ears are a warning to those who would handle my books without purr-mission or without…
1November 18, 2009
Whatjamacallit Wednesday: Waste (Can) Not, Want (Can) Not?

In response to my Gadabout post (about a vintage composition dog), Laura (of Doodle Week) said, “I really like how you know all this stuff about old things and how…
0October 14, 2009
Whatjamacallit Wednesday: Myrtle The Turtle

My mother is the one who started it, this tradition of making up silly songs to sing to your kids. I’ve twisted it onto singing songs about my children, usually…