Bettie Page High!

    Recently the city of Nashville announced a historical marker for the world-famous Bettie Page. As great as this recognition is, it’s not enough.

    Bettie grew up in Nashville, and attended Hume-Fogg High School before leaving to start her career. I believe that a true tribute would be to rename her high school in her honor, to Bettie Page High.

    Who better than a symbol of female empowerment such as Bettie to inspire the students at her namesake high school? Certainly it’s more inspiring than the memory of Hume and Fogg, the two old white guys who started the original schools that merged. Heck, Japan itself would probably fund Bettie Page scholarships at the school in return for photo ops. Think how proud the students would be to say they were from Bettie Page High. And just imagine the cheerleaders!

    And what would this name change do for the tourism industry? Everyone would have to walk up the hill from Lower Broad to at least get a picture. Imagine the tour busses that would go by every half hour. Sales of Bettie licensed merch would boost the local businesses.

    This isn’t a time for half measures. Let’s go all the way, and make way for Bettie Page High!!

 

Carbon Free Sugar?

Last time I checked, the chemical formula was C₁₂H₂₂O11.

Liberace of the Harp Lloyd Lindroth

Lloyd Lindroth was not a character on SCTV, but he could have been. Lloyd moved to Nashville in the early 1980s, and performed on The Nashville Network and Hee Haw. For years he did a Vegas style show in the open air Cascades section of the Opryland Hotel. Here's a postcard that he passed out at one of his Christmas shows, click to enlarge, or for biggest picture, right click and open in a new window.

Listen to Lloyd's Somewhere My Love, from the album "Love Drops" by clicking here.

Lloyd passed away in 1994 at the age of 63, an interesting highlight in Nashville music history.

Mad Men Barbie Style Postcard

A relic from the Reagan years, this officially licensed Barbie postcard says it all.

Big Lots 30% Off Sale

I hope that in 10,000 years, future archeaologists will hit this rich vein of Big Lots collectibles. What will these artifacts say about our civilization?

Delta Burke Intimates - and Delta's been every size in the box!

Baby recliners - train your kids for a lifetime of watching TV.

Marvel Superhero Gummy Candy Finger Puppets - they battle, and you eat them.

Hey look! I got a text from Zac!

Now you're packin!

No comment.

And some pre-mixed cocktail slippers for the road!

Polio Shot Immunization Card from the 1950s

It's hard for anyone under 60 to remember the panic that polio caused before the 1960s. It was a crippling disease, often leaving victims hunched over for life. It was also contagious, adding to the fear factor.
Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine in the 1950s, and families lined up to get their shots. The government and other organizations flooded the mail with immunization cards like this one, with spaces for each family member.

 Later, the shots were given in school. The typical shot was a pressure activated needle with several smaller needles around it in a circular shape. The shot was usually given in the upper arm, and the circular pattern sometimes left a scar with a circle of dots and a larger dot inside.

Obviously even the ancient Spartans knew this, as evidenced by this still from "300". Click to enlarge.

Hans Conried and Fractured Flickers

One of the funniest and silliest shows of the 60s was Fractured Flickers, a Jay Ward production hosted by actor Hans Conried. The show took old silent films and added audio, turning them into all new and funny stories.
 Hans also interviewed stars in a special segment each week, like this Rod Serling video.



Fractured Flickers ran in syndication for 26 episodes during 1963. Several years ago the entire series came out on DVD, and I have my copy. You can order yours here.

In the late 80s I visited the Dudley Do-Right Emporium on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood to buy some souvenirs. Among them were these Fractured Flickers Stickers, click to enlarge.

Hans, a Baltimore native, is gone now, but his voice lives on in Dan Castellaneta's Robot Devil character in Futurama.

R.I.P. Hans Conried, Jay Ward, and The Dudley Do-Right Emporium.

More Hawaiian Shirt Wallpapers

One of the more popular posts on this blog has been the original Hawaiian shirt wallpapers, from the fabric that I bought. Here are some more wallpapers scanned from other shirts in my collection. Click each image to enlarge to 1280X1024.

No Facetime? Get the iBurka

Apple fans in the middle east won't get Facetime video service on their iPhones. As a capitalist, I know this just creates business opportunities. Behold my solution - the iBurka!

Bewitched Stove Figurine

Saw this this other day in my neighborhood. Does anyone know the history behind this cool figurine of Samantha and her stove? Click to enlarge pic.

Dating Tip #179

Don't wear these. Sometimes you don't want to be the fastest man alive.

Huntsville Space & Rocket Center 1982

Here's a photo journal of one of my first visits to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama in the early 80s. You can see it's the 80s by my Ocean Pacific shirt from L.A.
Click any pic to enlarge.

Front of the building. Sorry, no pictures of the IMAX Theatre.

A Russian space capsule.

Inside the lunar module.

Miss Baker, the astronaut monkey, lived in the Rocket Center for years.

Star Wars influence.

My brother Tom in the moon buggy.

X-15. Awesome.

The Rocket Yard in the back of the museum. It's a history of American missiles.

No caption needed...

Goodbye from the nozzle of the Saturn 5!

Making of the Greyhound Jingle 1963

Here's a promo disc from 1963 with the making of the Greyhound Bus jingle. This was given out to employees and vendors of Greyhound. Listen to part 1 here, and part 2 here.  And special bonus, the orchestra is led by the great Raymond Scott!

Stoney's Beer Funky Radio Commercial

Stoney's Beer is based in Pittsburgh. I found this commercial on an Evatone Soundsheet demo from the late 70s. Was this a joke commercial, or a really politically incorrect real spot?

Listen to or download the spot here.

If you know anything about this commercial, leave it in the comments.

Funny Oil Stop Signs

I think I'm spotting a trend here.

Well, it's just an oil change, right?

Denny's Marketing Genius

Congratulations to Denny's for the catagory extension of the decade.
Behold the Breakfast Appetizer!

I can't count the number of times I've wished for something to eat while breakfast was being cooked.
And what an appetizer...blueberries and white chocolate chips in pancake batter, deep fried, frosted with powdered sugar, and dipped in pancake syrup!

No joke, this is serious marketing genius.

Tug McGraw's "Lumpy" Childrens Book

Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw took some time to write this kids' book back in 1983. It's the story of Lumpy the baseball, and his quest to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Will he make it?

 There's an Evatone Sound Sheet floppy record inside with a special welcome from Tug.
Click here to listen!

Cool Art Deco NBC Radio Studios Hollywood

Found this postcard recently, it's the NBC radio studios at the corner of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. The building was new in 1938. The Art Deco painting is a perfect fit with the old style linen postcard. Click to view larger, and see more about the building at the Dear Old Hollywood blog here.

Here's another shot of the intersection, a photo this time.

PAMS Nashville My Hometown and more

I wondered if there was a Nashville version of the My Home Town song from PAMS. Turns out a friend of mine had the record! Click here to listen.

WKDA didn't sell the whole concept, but they did sell the B side of the record. Here's the story of Elm Hill Bill.


PAMS jingle company has a page with more examples. And here are a few more versions,

Portland Maine, Louisville Kentucky, and Austin Texas.

PAMS Winston-Salem My Hometown Record

Listen to or download "Winston-Salem My Hometown"

Here's a slice of retro for you. PAMS jingle company in Dallas made this generic song available to local radio stations around the country in the 60's. The station would find a local sponsor, write some lyrics, and presto!, a local hit.

There were over a hundred localized versions of this record, all recorded in Dallas. Radio Use Only blog has an amazingly complete story for you to read.

Bonus retroness: Thalhimer's Department Store was the local sponsor for this record through the local Top 40 station 1380 WTOB. Here's where you might have stumbled upon this record back then.