Play With Billie Jean

Love Billie Jean King? (Well, you should!) How about a deck of playing cards with the famous tennis player and feminist icon on them? From the Sports Deck Div., Cubic Corp., original drawing by Allen Landsman.

Magic Lantern Glass Slide: I Want To Sing Along!

This old glass movie slide was probably used in an old movie theatre at intermission or before the show started — when people would sing along with songs together rather than just collectively ignore the ads.

This antique glass slide by Maurice Workstel of New York is from a series called Song-Hit Slides and the lyrics [...]

Shopping For Awesome Toys In Retro Sexploitation Flick

Over at French blog Au carrefour étrange, a review of Joseph W. Sarno’s Flesh and Lace (1965).

Since the site is in French, you may be confused — but it’s apparently exactly how it looks: A film that starts at a strip club and ends up at a toy store, with a woman seduced by a [...]

A Customer Loyalty History Lesson

TWA used to have absolutely delightful certificates to commemorate flights, like this one from 1953:

They used to give these fanciful certificates to passengers as souvenirs — and as a loyalty buy in.  But unlike attempts at ‘keeping’ customers interested with temporary gimmicks, TWA had them take an oath:
Now, Therefore, Know Ye, that this Celestial Dominion [...]

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 event here, pestering you to attend. So, here it is, “Will you please attend the convention?”
I think there’s still some free commemorative bookmarks available, so [...]

Let’s Play, “Sick Or Sweet?”

I have very mixed reactions to this vintage figurine…

At this point, can we really view a figurine depicting a little girl with her skirt blown-up exposing her panties ala Marilyn Monroe as completely innocent?
Discuss.

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.

You Could Have Hundreds Of These Cards & Still Not Be Playing With A Full Deck

I’m completely smitten with these 1916 M.J. Moriarty Playing Cards featuring the leading ladies and gents of the silent silver screen.

I found them when I found my buddy Cliff Aliperti (who deals in vintage movie collectibles, especially movie cards and other ephemera) in chat and asked him if he had a photo or scan of [...]

Clap(ton) On, Clap(ton) Off

When I saw Eric Clapton hawking the new Fender Limited Edition of T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G I had a thought — well, actually, I had two thoughts. The first one was, “Oh my gawd, when did Clapton get so old?” But that one just sent me on the how-old-am-I? spiral of denial, augmented by [...]

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 great care.

The seller, wheelboy antiques, says these bookends are by Snead Co., and are marked with the date of 1925 — and apparently, some people [...]

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