Kitschy Kitschy Coo

Vintage Marionette & Puppet Publications

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:02:40 CDT

I love puppets, so when I noticed my folks were selling some great vintage marionette books and publications I had to look them over.

Here are some of the cool images and info (from their listings) saved for puppet posterity:

Junior League Pupper Plays, with the Grimm Fairy Tale Story "One-Eye, Two-Eye, Three-Eye" in three acts. It was adapted by Dorothy Hamilton Brush, originally cost 40 cents. Hard to determine the date of publication but there is a copyright to Samuel French of 1929. It is 26 pages long.

"Marionettes-Masks and Shadows"

It was written by Winifred H. Mills & Louise M. Dunn, illustrated by Corydon Bell, shows a date of 1941. Wonderful graphics on the inside cover and the 2nd photo shows you one is color entitled "This is the Tree of the Marionettes. It shows they started in Japan, China, India, Persia, Egypt and Java (those are the roots) and traveled to other countries. It is 262 pages long, followed by a comprehensive index.

Our 3rd picture shows you several illustrations on one page and also some photos. The top shows three characters from the "Adventures of Alice", lower left is the bear and trainer from "Men of Iron", and lastly is a Marionette from "Petrouchka."

Click "More" to see more!

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Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:47:11 CDT

You've got Kitschy Kitschy Coo on you.

Which movie was this quote from?

Confess you did it!

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:14:11 CDT

Get the OJ Shirt that everyone is talking about at TMZShop.com

The 60's Are Little Fuzzy In My Mind

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:55:07 CDT

Spectacular images via Fabulon.

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Sat, 29 Sep 2007 11:44:55 CDT

Like any loyal Packer Backer, I own a good number of green and gold artifacts. (And like my parents before me, I not only hand down a love of the game to my children but a boat-load of stuff too.) What's really cool is how the staff at the Kansas Historical Society sees football...

The Widow Was Not Merry; Or, Poets Must Have Beards

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:14:58 CDT

Sometimes I find the not-so-perfect conditions of a collectible most charming. As in the doodle on this old piece of sheet music.

The previous owner of The Merry Widow Waltz felt that Jesse Crawford, "Poet of the Organ", needed a beard and mustache. Who am I to argue?

Merry Widow Waltz, with Ukelele Chords, Guitar Chords, and Special Hawaiian Guitar Chorus, lyrics by Carl Field, music by Franz Lehar, 1935, Calumet Music Co.

Click to see full scan.

We Can Kitschy and We Can Coo in the IGALOO

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:31:10 CDT

From the sheet music for Igloo, Oggle Woggle Goo, words by Irving Taylor (a songwriter who was a composer for The Dean Martin Show and also wrote for both the Bob Newhart and Jonathan Winters TV shows), music by Vic Mizzy (the guy who brought us the music for Green Acres and The Addams Family) come these cutesy lyrics:

It happened to a pair of Eskimos
Up among the Artic ice and snows
Where the wind of winter always blows
Let me tell you how the story goes.

Two little Eskimos nearly froze in an IGALOO
Said the boy to the girl in the IGALOO
We can bill and coo we can woo in the IGALOO
Come on don't be that way - But she wouldn't woo couldn't coo in the IGALOO
She was very cruel. It was cool in the IGALOO
Shut the window please or we'll freeze in the IGALOO
was all that she would say -

He cuddled close to her. A gleam was in his eye
He whispered Oggle woggle goggle goo
Be my little Eskimo pie

Something that he said turned her head in the IGALOO
for she changed her rude attitude in the IGALOO
But she kissed him once only once in the IGALOO
Because it melted away
Oggle Woggle Goo
No IGALOO
what to do
No IGALOO
Boo Hoo Hoo
No IGALOO
What're they gonna do without an IGALOO

Now they're in a spot haven't got any IGALOO
Isn't it a shame what became of the IGALOO
Tho they should be sad still they're glad 'bout the IGALOO
Cause her heart melted away Woggle goo
No IGALOO
what to do
No IGALOO
Boo Hoo Hoo
No IGALOO

You can learn a lot from vintage magazines.

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:36:36 CDT

For history buffs and arm-chair anthropolgists these magazines are a wealth of information.

For example, did you know that in 1954 parakeets were held in such esteem that they advertised healthy foods for them? Proof is in this ad for French's parrakeet seed, a "Vigor-Building Biscuit with vitamin B-12."

Female humans, however, did not fare as well; they got their pep from cigarettes.

Called America's "first cigarette" because the ad features Mrs. Charles Brooks Armour, one of America's "first ladies" -- which is not to be confused with a First Lady. In this case, "first ladies" are distinguished hostesses who prefer Camel's mildness and flavor. (Preferred to what, the ad does not say... I guess they prefer Camels to not being compensated.)

Anywho, Mrs. Charles Brooks Amour is billed as a "popular young matron of the eminent Chicago family" and while she alone stand before the camera, in the text she shares billing with her competition in distinguished hostessing:

Mrs. Francis Irenee Du Pont II
Mrs. Victor L. Drexel
Mrs. Francis P. Sears, Jr.
Mrs. Barclay H. Warburton III
Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish Morris IV (Illiterate squirrel asks, "How many of those?!")

While on the surface one thinks the birds had it better, but can you imagine what it was like to be a Mrs at the "first ladies" level? Perhaps cancer was kinder than a long healthy life.

Images from the October, 1954 issue of Better Living Magazine.

(Clicking the images takes you to larger scans.)

People On The Move

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:27:11 CDT

In the 70's it was discovered that Americans were a nomadic peoples, and so needed a home decorating guide which focused on the pragmatics of decorating with moving in mind. People on the Move wasn't about simplifying by getting rid of stuff, but rather focused on how you can take your crap with you here on earth.

It should have focused on how once you bought an avacoado green stove you'd be stuck with it for at least 20 years (and get rid of it just before it came back in vogue), or on how that red, white and blue room wouldn't exactly appear timeless (or tacky) in the next house...

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Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:18:07 CDT

In this week's Everyday Science and Mechanics update: patenting the unpatentable, and Niagara is falling! (originally)