Merry Christmas Part II

I just finished this Christmas Greeting for my business blog, but this design has such a nice retro feel that I am cross posting it here. So, again, I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Here is a Christmas themed Merrie Melodies cartoon features Sniffles the Mouse, as he valiantly attempt to stay up on Christmas Eve to meet Santy Clause. I'll grant you this cartoon is a little on the cutesy side, but it is Christmas after all, and the creativity (Haxwell Mouse coffee for instance) and the beautiful design and gorgeous background paintings make it worthwhile. And so, with that I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

R.I.P: Connie Hines

I'm afraid I'm the barer of sad news (especially at this time of year), in case you haven't heard, Connie Hines, who played Carol Post, Wilbur's long suffering wife on the Mister Ed television program has died from heart problems at the age of 78. She was a lovely and charming actress, and I always enjoyed (and still do) her work on Mister Ed. She essentially retired in the late 60's, but as Carol Post she was a part of a lighthearted and fun legacy, which even 40+ years later continues to provide us with a welcome respite from this crazy World we live in.  Thank you, Ms. Hines.

*You can read more about her career at this Wikipedia entry and she is also featured on the Internet Movie Database where you'll find a little more information and a nice photo gallery.

Happy Birthday to My SweetGirl!

Today is my sweet little girlfriend's birthday. She has somewhat of a tradition going where every year on her birthday, she likes to watch the movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. I mean the movie features Bing and Danny, not that she actually watches it with them. Anyway, in honor of that tradition, I present the original movie trailer for White Christmas, as well as a re-released version.

Enjoy!

*Mushiness to Sugar: Happy Birthday Sweet Girl. I love you.

Retro Christmas Designs

Howdy Kids!

I've been busy the past couple of weeks getting things geared up for the Christmas shopping season over at my Vintage 66 Graphics Shop on Zazzle. I came up with a couple of retro Christmas card designs, so I though I would do a little boasting.

Thanks for stopping by.

Retro Christmas Card: Atomic Blue

Retro Blue Christmas Card by Vintage66
Create note cards with zazzle.com

Retro Santa Christmas Card

Retro Christmas Card by Vintage66
Design a custom note card with zazzle.com

Retro Wreath Christmas Card

Retro Christmas Card by Vintage66
Make a personalized notecard on Zazzle

Happy Thanksgiving

Cartoon Friday: Sylvester & Tweety

Great Googally-Moogally! I nearly forgot about Cartoon Friday, well, actually I didn't really forget, I just can't believe it's here again already. It just seems that with the holidays coming up I've been scrambling an awful lot lately, and it was more a matter of me not realizing today is Friday already until it was almost too late.

This might be a bit early, and maybe its because I have been trying to get caught up on Christmas projects and whatnot,but here is and a classic Sylvester and Tweety cartoon with a Christmas theme called Gift Wrapped from 1952. Granny is also featured in this one—Hey! Have you ever noticed that Granny never seemed to have any grand kids around? This cartoon is the uncensored version, nothing racy to speak of, just some cartoon violence, or maybe it's just some of the gags aren't appropriate for the delicate sensibilities of today's children. Anyway, it is a great cartoon and I hope you like it.

One more thing I should mention, this one is kind of long even for an uncensored cartoon because there is also a commercial in the beginning for a doll, Beautiful Crissy, whose hair can "grow" and then go back to being shorter by turning a knob. She was kind of like a bigger Barbie doll, and I think one of my cousins had one when we were kids back in the early 70's.

Enjoy!

Cartoon Friday: Classic Bugs Bunny Cartoon

Welcome to Cartoon Friday! This week I'm offering another Warner Brothers picture, Bugs and Thugs. I remember seeing this one several times when I was growing up, and my favorite part is the button yer lip gag. However now that I think about it, I'm wondering if I'm actually thinking of a different cartoon with the same characters, because I remember it unfolding in a slightly different way. Or maybe I'm just remembering it differently, the older I get the more I realize I have done just that thing. Nevertheless, this is a great cartoon, and somehow they have managed to pack a lot of story into the same length cartoon. Have a great weekend.
-Enjoy

Cartoon Friday: Yippee, Yappie & Yahooey

Hello and welcome to another edition of Cartoon Friday. Before I introduce today's feature I just wanted to mention that I don't plan on this blog being nothing but cool old video clips. I fully intend to do more features about some of the cool stuff that is now gone, or even the cool stuff from yesteryear that has survived what our society refers to as progress. I'm having fun  it would seem that I have a number of irons in the fire at the moment, so I'll be making  do with the videos for now. I just wanted you all to know that there is a lot of super cool stuff on the way. And now onto our featured cartoon (and I promise not to use the word cool again in this post).

Today's cartoon features three musketeer dogs, Yippee, Yappie & Yahooey, and in all honesty I only have a vague recollection of these characters from my youth. In fact, I just happened to stumble upon this cartoon, but the reason I picked it, is that it has nearly every classic voice and sound effect from the Hannah-Barbera cartoon stables. Even the classic wah-wah-wah-waaaah horn sound that plays when a character is humiliated is in here. I'm not enough of a cartoon geek to know the voice actor's names, but I'm certain, for example, that the secretary's voice is the same as Wilma Flintstone's. Basically, I just though it was kind of interesting that even without popular characters, this cartoons has all the hallmarks of a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Have a great weekend.
Enjoy!

Cartoon Friday: Popeye's Halloween

Welcome to the Halloween edition of Cartoon Friday. I was originally going to post the Halloween special: It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, but as I was starting to embed the clips (it is split into three clips) I noticed an ominous copyright notice link from the cartoon syndicate—United Features as I recall. Seems to me that if they really had a problem with it being up, they could easily have had Youtube take it down. Anyway, I'm not sure what to make of it and the last thing I need is any kind of legal troubles, so I really don't feel comfortable embedding them on my blog. However, if you want to see it here is the link to the Youtube channel where I found them.

As a replacement feature I offer a Halloween Popeye cartoon from 1954. I consider this to be right in the middle of Popeye's Golden Age, and the thing I often notice is that the settings are so cool. In this case, it's Olive Oyl's house, mostly the inside but there are a few exteriors that show a pretty nifty little bungalow. It was contemporary at the time, of course, but now it is such a rich slice of vintage awesomeness. One thing in particular, I really like is the standing ash tray, which was a pretty common item back in the days when doctors would actually recommend smoking, but now you rarely see them. Oh, and see if you notice what's missing from this Popeye cartoon.

Have a safe and very Happy Halloween.

Enjoy!

Duck Dodgers in the 24½ th Century

Hello and welcome to another Cartoon Friday. This week's offering is one of the all time great classics from Merrie Melodies: Duck Dodgers in the 24½th  Century, I believe circa 1943. Truly one of Chuck Jones' finest cartoons, and I realize this probably sounds like laziness, but honestly there really isn't anything else to say about it, because it speaks so well for itself.

Enjoy!

Movie Trailer: Charade

Friday was date night, and we watched How to Steal A Million, with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, and now we seem to be in the midst of an Audry Hepburn phase, much to my delight. So, tonight after football will be Charade with Ms. Hepburn and Cary Grant, I can't recall, but I think this might have been his last film. I've never seen the actual movie, but I've always wanted to, and I do remember seeing this trailer at the Guild Theater in downtown Portland when I was a youngster. Probably as part of the bill for a Thin Man Festival or something of that nature. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

-Enjoy

Cartoon Friday: The Farm of Tomorrow

Happy Cartoon Friday to you and yours. Today's featured cartoon is a Tex Avery picture from MGM, called The Farm of Tomorrow. Keep an eye (or nose) out for the Smell-O-Meter.
-Enjoy!

The Excitement of the Mundane

This is an old educational film about the dangers of being a teenage girl in the 50's. As a film it has a tragic charm to it, but what I found intriguing was the backdrops.The grocery store, the cars & trucks, the quaint neighborhoods, and of course, the malt shop with its 23¢ hamburgers; truly unexpected treasures. Certainly at the time this film was made, all of this stuff would have been as mundane and boring as a day in our modern lives, but to us retrophiles these scenes are a fascinating glimpse at daily life in the past.

-Enjoy!

My First Youtube Clip Featuring Some Vintage Jazz.

Today's offering is  a little different, it is my own clip, basically my first attempt at a Youtube commercial for some Halloween products now available in my Vintage 66 Graphics shop on Zazzle. Anyway, I found a feature on Youtube that allows you to add songs that have already been cleared by the legal department, as far as copyright concerns go. So the song I'm using is called Salt Peanuts by Charlie Parker. Perhaps that seems like an odd choice for a Halloween commercial, but when I think of Halloween, I can't help but think of that animated holiday classic, It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. So, there's your tie in.

-Cheers!

Sorry I'm Such a Pinhead !

When I first set up this blog I thought I had it laid out pretty well and was all good to go. Well, it recently came to my realization that evidently I did not have the comments notifications set up the way I thought I had, meaning that I haven't been getting notified of comments. So, if you have left comments and I have (seemed) to ignore them, I sincerely apologize, it was not intentional, it was merely technology getting the best of an old pinhead.

Popeye: Taxi Turvy

Welcome to Cartoon Friday. Today's offering Taxi Turvy features our old pal Popeye the Sailor, and was made in 1954. In my opinion that was the best Popeye cartoon era, although I do consider the old black and white cartoons to be a very cool historic curiosities. Poor Olive Oyl is in the middle again as Popeye and Bluto battle over her, this time in some cool vintage taxi cabs, both with suicide doors no less! Of course, spincah comes to Popeye's rescue, a requirement in any one of his cartoons. As a side note, when I was a little kid I always had a pretend can of spinach for anything I might have to do that would require a little extra umph!, I really was an amusing child.

-Enjoy

Cars of Tomorrow the Uncensored Version

Welcome to Cartoon Friday! Today's featured cartoon is the uncensored version of the MGM classic Cars of Tomorrow, from the grand animation master, Tex Avery. This is an amusing, although by today's standards rather sexist, look at cars of the future from back in the day. I didn't see a date on it, but I would imagine it came from the early to mid 50's.

-Enjoy!

Cartoon Friday: Touche Turtle

Welcome to Cartoon Friday, this week we have another little something from Hannah-Barbera, Touche Turtle & Dum Dum. It has been a long time since I've seen any of these, and to be honest I had entirely forgotten about Dum-Dum. I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember when these first came out; it must have been the early 70's. As I recall, they were released at the same time as the Wally Gator and  Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har-Har cartoons.

Enjoy!

Cartoon Friday: The Pink Panther

Holy Smacks! I almost missed Cartoon Friday! Nevertheless, here is a classic Pink Panther cartoon called Pink Aye. Our good friend Pink stows away on the SS Luxitania, and of course zany hilarity follows.

Enjoy!

Cartoon Friday: Huckleberry Hound

By golly! Here it is Cartoon Friday again, and as I promised last week, we're jumping out of the Warner Brothers rut. That's right, kids, this week we're going with the Hannah-Barbera Productions character, Huckleberry Hound as he tangles with an uncooperative intergalactic space traveler and his UFO in a cartoon called Cop and Saucer.

-Enjoy!

Vintage Smokey the Bear

This being the midst of Wildfire Season, especially in California, it seems appropriate to post this vintage animated Smokey the Bear commercial. The year seems to be unknown, but it is in black and white, and from the days when they were still called forest fires. Remember: Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.

Cartoon Friday: Wackiki Wabbit

It seems like Summer Celebration Week just got started and here it is Cartoon Friday already. Man Alive! They sure do come around quickly. Anyway, to close out SCW, here is another Bugs Bunny cartoon called Wackiki Wabbit,  from 1943 according to the Youtube notes. I always thought it was more around the 60's or so. A great tropical themed cartoon, with some unusual background patterns.

Note: I know I've been doing a lot of Warner Brothers cartoons, and I'll try to shake things up a bit more next week.
-Enjoy.

Enjoy!

Summer Celebration Week: Vintage Travel Trailer Slideshow

Nothing says Summer like a big old fashioned roadtrip, especially with a vintage travel trailer in tow. So here is a slideshow featuring some really awesome travel trailer images. I don't think I've ever even been in one of these cool old beauties, but maybe someday. Anyway, lots of great pictures, and a nice little tune by the Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cash.
-Enjoy

Summer Celebration: Swimsuits 1952

It just feels good to be in the midst of Summer, although it really is waning. Can you believe that August is nearly over? So, before it's too late, I proclaim this week to be Summer Celebration Week here at ThrillsVille Deluxe, and to start things off, here is an old newsreel from 1952 featuring the latest in feminine swimwear. I'm particularly fond of the Wing-Ding (starts at about 22 seconds in). I kind of wish they had  a version for men.
-Enjoy

Cartoon Friday: Bugs Bunny Rides Again.

Well, by golly, here it is Cartoon Friday again! Can you believe it? Me either, nevertheless, here is a classic Merrie Melodies cartoon called Bugs Bunny Rides Again. It features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam their rollicking western adventures.
-Enjoy!

Fridays Are Now Cartoon Day!

There's a new tradition here at ThrillsVille Deluxe, henceforth, Fridays will be known as Cartoon Friday! That's right, you read it here first, every Friday we will feature a cool vintage animated cartoon. To start things off, here is a Daffy Duck cartoon entitled Duck Amuck. Poor Daffy is unmercifully tormented, frustrated and exasperated throughout the entire cartoon by his unseen animator. This is some of Chuck Jones' finest work.

Enjoy.

My First Concert: Kiss 1977

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of my first concert ever, KISS with Cheap Trick opening at the Portland Memorial Coliseum way back in 1977. I was eleven years old, and this was certainly one of the greatest events in my young life, and in fact remains one of my fondest memories, although truth be told most of that whole night is nothing but a blur of excitement and sensory overload.

This first clip is from the same year in Detroit, Michigan aka Detroit Rock City, which was the name of the song they opened the show with on this tour, and I believe for quite a few years after that.



This second clip is from the TV show, Midnight Special, which as I recall ran at about 11:30 on Saturday nights, at least in Portland. Anyway, this is from 1975, which was actually a few years before I had even heard of them, but generally the same era. The song is called She, which I believe came from their self-titled debut album (or maybe it was Dressed to Kill), but I always associate it with their first live album called Alive!, which was the first KISS album I ever owned.
Enjoy.

Mister Ed and the Missing Tiki Week

Last week I promised to make it Tiki Week, but we had a heat wave that just sapped the majority of my thinking abilities, so it will be put on hold, and I believe Thin Man Week was also put on hold. Maybe it isn't just the weather, I have been in a bit of a funk lately as well, it just seems the whole world is going to shit. The one thing I've noticed that makes me feel better is watching the old Mister Ed TV program. Actually, any old TV show will work, but lately I've been watching Mister Ed to counter act the effects of watching the news. Sadly this is the end of the week, so we'll jam pack a bunch O' Mister Ed into one post. That's a little Mister Ed humor in case you missed it, you know Wilbur Post, Mister Ed's owner.

A nice little tribute using the ME theme song, with lots of stills and some cool paper ephemera.


This is a commercial for the 1962 Studebaker Lark automobile, which sponsored the show.


And finally, Mister Ed plays a little baseball with the LA Dodgers.

Marilyn Monroe

It was 47 years ago today that Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. There are plenty of theories on whether or not it was accidental or intentional. I don't feel it is appropriate to go into that, certainly not today, so I'll just say that she was a lovely woman who died tragically young, and didn't seem to have a very happy life, at least not towards the end. So, here she is from an appearance on the Jack Benny Program in 1953, in happier times. Rest In Peace, Miss Monroe.

Tahitian Dancing at Disneyland

This was going to be Thin Man Week, but since I'm in a such Tiki mood lately, I'm going to save that for another time. So welcome to Tiki Week! To kick things off, here is a nifty clip from Disneyland back in the days of The Tahitian Terrace, which sadly seems to have closed in 1993. Keep your eyes peeled for the fellow in the audience gnawing on the rib, it looks like he is having the best time ever.

Enjoy!

Sylvester Cartoon

One of my favorite WB characters is Sylvester, who in most of his cartoons was the straight man but here he is at his madcap, zaniest taking a cue from Bugs and Daffy, and doing his best to keep poor Elmer Fudd fwom getting a decent night's west. This is "Back Alley Oproar" and for those of you who are of the eagle eyed persuasion, it even features a subtle Thin Man gag.

-Enjoy!

Foghorn Leghorn Cartoon

Just feel like doing something lighthearted, so its a good ol' Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, A Fractured Leghorn.

Ah say, ah say, ah say what's the idea you chasin' mah worm?

-Enjoy!

And That's The Way It Is

You've probably already heard that journalism legend, Walter Cronkite died last week at the age of 92. He earned his title of the Most Trusted Man in America, with his kindly manner and professional integrity, tempered with humanity and humility.

In honor of Mr. Cronkite's life and career here are a couple of clips. In the first he explains how he came up with his famous nightly sign off: and that's the way it is. The second clip features him reporting on the assassination of President Kennedy. This is a great example of both his humanity and his professionalism, in the way he nearly loses his composure for a moment, but regains it almost instantly. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

The Andy Griffith Show Opening

I just want to wrap up the Old TV Show Opening Credits Theme with one of my all time favorite programs, The Andy Griffith Show. This is a cool little clip, because it blends the original black & white version, and then the later when color version, as well as how the area looks today, or how it looked in April of 2009 when it was uploaded to Youtube. So, that's it for this week, have a great weekend.

Enjoy!

Perry Mason Opening

Continuing with the old TV show opening credits theme, here is a the opening for the Perry Mason television program starring Raymond Burr. Oh, and here is a little tidbit that not everyone knows, Barbara Hale, who played Mason's super efficient secretary, Della Street, was in real life the sister of Alan Hale Jr., who played the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. I know of at least one episode in which he guest starred, although I can't remember the name of the episode.
This show brings back some very fond, albeit vague, memories from my childhood. Every Friday afternoon my mom and I would take my grandma shopping in Mom's 1957 Cadillac, Ol' Betsey. The point is that when we got to Grandma's house, we had to wait until Perry Mason was over before we could go shopping. As another point of interest, Perry Mason has been playing continuously on channel 12 KPTV here in Portland for longer than I have been alive. It really is a local institution, and I think it is safe to say, that if TV shows were comfort foods, Perry Mason would be macaroni & cheese.

Enjoy!

Gilligan's Island Opening

Bewitched Intro

Movie Trailer: When the Boys Meet the Girls

Hey cats and kittens, check this out! It is the original trailer for the movie "When the Boys Meet the Girls" from 1965. I have to be honest with you, I'd never heard of it before, and basically just stumbled on it via an obituary for Harve Presnell, who you may remember as the father-in-law of William H. Macy's character in "Fargo". Anyway, this looks like the quintessential rolicking, madcap 60's musical movie. Starring alongside Mr. Presnell, is the delovely, Miss Connie Francis, singing a charming little ditty about mail call, which very well may be the name of the song. Oh, but that's not all, it also features Liberace, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Herman's Hermits, and the great Louie Armstrong. Take a look, kids, its way out!

Farrah Fawcett: R.I.P.

As you probably know by now, Farrah Fawcett died last week after a long battle with cancer. In the mid 70's, I was one of many adolescent boys with a huge crush on her, and of course I had "The Poster" tacked to my bedroom wall. I even kept it up after the plant in my bedroom window got over watered and dribbled down the entire length of the poster, giving her loveliness a slightly wrinkled, waterlogged look. This was back when she was known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, because she was, of course, married to The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors. As I'm sure you know, she got her start with Charlie's Angels, which aired on Wednesday nights at 9 as I recall. As a tribute, I offer this clip, which is the version of the opening credits for the pilot episode from 1976, it is a little longer than the version used for the regular season. Rest In Peace, Ms. Fawcett.

-Cheers!

Felix the Cat Cartoon: Topless Mermaid

I couldn't find a date, but

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Program

Well, it looks like no sooner did I get ThrillsVille Deluxe started, than I found that I have a big ol' monkey wrench in the works. Nothing tragic, it just seems that I have jumped the gun a bit, in other words I have too much going on at the moment, so I will be taking a brief break, while I rework my schedule so that I can fit everything in.

Be back soon.

Vintage Dr. Pepper Commercial

Why is it that pop always tasted so much better out of those glass bottles? Of course, the bad thing about glass bottles was that when they were dropped on any hard surface, such as concrete or asphalt, they would break. Nothing was more heartbreaking than making a long walk to the local market on a hot day, looking forward to those icy bubbles hitting the back of your throat with every step, and then dropping that icy bottle in the parking lot before you got to take so much as a sip. Oh, the humanity!

Well, as you may have guessed I've still got that hankerin' for pop that I mentioned yesterday, so I think will continue with the vintage soda theme, but this time featuring Dr. Pepper. I've heard, and I don't know if this is true or not, but Dr. P is prune flavored. Hey, I'm giving you something to think about.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers!

Nifty Pepsi Commercial

Las Vegas Strip 1957

Welcome to Las Vegas Sign Turns 50!

Okay, this one is a little late, but on May 14th there was a big celebration in Las Vegas because the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign turned 50 years old. This is no small feat in a town that tears down its historic icons more frequently than the average person changes their underwear. You can read a bit more about the history of the sign and so forth right here.
-Cheers!


Image Dr. Al. K. Lisch GFDL

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you're all having a great Memorial Day Weekend. Originally called Decoration Day, because people would decorate the graves of fallen soldiers, Memorial Day has become little more than an excuse for a three day weekend, or a reason for tire and mattress sales, and of course its the official marker of the start of Barbecue Season.

The Portland Memorial Coliseum, as the name suggests, was built as a memorial to our war dead. In case you're not from around these parts, or you've somehow missed it, the PMC has recently escaped the wrecking ball—at least, for now. Aside from being a memorial, there are many arguments, both architectural and cultural, to save this marvelous building, and I had planned on writing about some of them, as well as the greed/corruption factor in Portland politics which lead to it being threatened in the first place. Basically the reason boils down to Jim Morrison's theory: money beats soul every time—but I decided that would be an unnecessary digression, so I think I'll save all of this for a later post, and for now I'll just say that, I hope you'll remember the original spirit of the holiday, and take a few minutes to honor those who have sacrificed so much for our country.

-Cheers!

The Palms Motel

It seems that most of my past posts have featured old commercials, so just for the record I do plan to vary things a bit more, actually quite a bit more. For example, here is a scan (courtesy of Lowly Tootle over at Flickr) of a vintage post card featuring the Palms Motel on Interstate Avenue in Portland, Oregon. I haven't been in that area in quite some time, but as far as I know the motel is still there, as is that spectacular sign, although I don't think the monkey goes up and down the tree anymore, but I think it still lights up, and it is really something to see at night. So there you have it, a wonderful piece of Americana from the days when US highways were exciting and new, and held the promise of adventure.

Have a great weekend.

-Cheers!

Shasta Cherry Cola Commercial

When I was about 5 or 6, my best friend, *Botty Bermo and I would re-enact this very commercial using a pair of those big Tonka dump trucks—I don't know how I ended up with two of them. Anyway, Botty and I would sit on top of them and ride down an incline in my back yard and plow into a big old fir tree that my mom's clothes line was tied to. We'd laugh like idiots and untangle ourselves from the wreckage. Of course, this is back when it was more fun to be a kid, certainly not as safe, but a lot more fun.

As a point of interest, check out the detachable pull tabs on the cans. Somewhere along the line so many people accidentally swallowed these tabs that the industry finally had to come out with a safer version, first a kind of push in button, and a little later the version we now have. And if you got the really cheap brands of pop there were no tabs at all, you had to use one of those pointy can openers.

-Cheers!
*Names have been changed to protect the identities.

The End of the Road For Pontiac

You would have to live in an absolute vacuum not to have heard about the recent financial woes and bailouts of the auto makers. So, I'm sure you know that as part of its restructuring, GM is pulling the plug on the Pontiac brand. For old time's sake I found this swingin' commercial for the 1965 Pontiac GTO. This was back in the days when gas was about 32 cents a gallon, I think we pay twice that much just in taxes now!

-Cheers!

Flintstones Cigarette Commercial

Hey kids! How about we kick off this ol' blog of mine with a little something out of the ordinary, a little unbelievable, almost to the point of surreal. I found this old black & white commercial of The Flintstones hawking Winston cigarettes. Can you imagine the outrage and astronomical lawsuits if a tobacco company were to try and sponsor a cartoon television program in this day and age? Well, way back—before it was common knowledge that smoking will kill you, or at least before anyone would admit to it—no one seemed to think much about it. When I was a kid you could find candy cigarettes in the penny candy section of almost any grocery store. And just for the record, in my day only a very few items were actually sold for a mere penny, most were 2¢ or 3¢, but the really good stuff was a nickle. Anyway, I remember going with my mom in her 1957 Cadillac, Old Betsey, every Friday afternoon to take my grandmother shopping, and Grandma always smoked in the store, or pretty much anywhere else she wanted. As I recall, she smoked Pall Malls unfiltered coffin nails, truly a foul cigarette, and I've got news for you, Winstons aren't much better. Incidentally, a ban on commercials for cigarettes went into effect on my 5th birthday, January 2nd, 1971 for both television and radio . You can read more about it here if you're so inclined. And now, without further adieu, the Flintstones.

Retro on the Half Shell

Hello, and welcome to ThrillsVille Deluxe. As of this writing things are pretty sparse, but that will change soon, and while I still haven't hammered out all the details, as far as what will be posted when, this will be one cool blog when I get things up and running. Retro on the Half Shell?!— you may be saying to yourself. What does that mean, for Pete's sake? Well, plenty my friend, some of the coolest retro stuff mined from the almighty internet: old commercials, swell products that are long gone, pictures of neat stuff from back in the day. And it's all included in the price of admission, I might add. So, if you have stumbled across this blog, come back from time to time for all the swell offerings.

-Cheers.