Sunday, March 23, 2008

An Easter Tune (as in Looney)

A classic Bugs Bunny short "Easter Yeggs", to put Easter Sunday to bed.

Thanks Easter Bunny! Bawk! Bawk!

It's that magical day. You know, the one where a guy died and a couple of days later rose from the grave. They wrote a little book about it. Maybe you heard of it, it was called "Dawn of the Dead: The Official Novelization of the Feature Film"



Kidding aside, Happy Easter!

To celebrate. here's a post on my all time favorite Easter tradition, the Easter Basket.

I have always had a fascination with Easter basket; most of which stems from the big prefab ones that stores sell each year. You know deep down that they're are just filled with cheap toys and trinkets that will be broken by Sunday evening, but I'll be damned if they don't look like the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

My parents never went in for those kind baskets. They would put together their own for us. But the results have left a lasting memory.

They always involved these components:

1) A reasonably priced toy (or 2-3 lower priced toys)

2) Jelly Beans in plastic eggs

3) Cadbury Creme Eggs

4) Chocolate Bunny

5) Two Popcorn Bunnies

(They were like a tall, bunny shaped popcorn figure with a candy eye,
tasted like a popcorn ball. Haven't seen these in a couple
of years and can not find any photos or references to them online)


Of the many Easters past, the three most memorable were
1) Getting the Baroness, Airborne and Scrap Iron;
2) Dinobot Snarl; and
3) the M.A.S.K. Hurricane with Hondo McLean.
Receiving each of those toys blew my mind at the time. I remember the GI Joes were really the first time my parents had got us "TOY" toys and not wind-up chicks or rubber bendy rabbits for Easter. And those 3 Joes set the trend for years to come. It was like a capsulized version of Christmas.

Vintage Toys R Us ads: Part 1














Thursday, March 6, 2008

Revenge of the Ads PREVIEW

I've worked up the next round of old ads that will be accompanying various posts on some dead retailers like TG&Y, VENTURE and GIBSON'S; vintage toy ads, and other pointless nostalgia.
I've also wrangled up some mid-80s local Oklahoma City TV listings, so expect a follow up to the UHF memories post.
And, now... a sneak peak at some sexy old ads.

Kiddie City, 1972


Star Wars at Target, 1978


TG&Y, Christmas 1981 (I think)

Coleco Vision at Sound Warehouse, late 70s


ECKERD Drugs Christmas ad, mid 80s