Pick of the Week: Animation Cel from “The Simpsons”

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

This past weekend, I set up at the Punk Rock Flea Market in Philadelphia to unload some of my vintage toy collection. Of course, part of the fun of being a dealer is being able to look around and buy from other dealers throughout the day, and I came home with a big pile of fun stuff.

My pick of the week did not come from that flea market.

The flea market was a two-day show, and though I had the option of setting up both days, I decided against it, mostly because I’m really exhausted after just one day. Even though I was trying to take it easy the day after the show, I decided to hit a thrift store when I went out for lunch, and boy, am I glad that I did.

Bart prepares for a visit from his icon with Krusty (non-toxic) Kologne!

This is an animation cel featuring Bart Simpson. Specifically, it’s a cel from the classic Season 3 episode, “Like Father, Like Clown,” where Krusty the Clown is reunited with his estranged father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski. In this very specific moment, Bart is using Krusty (non-toxic) Kologne in preparation of the dinner Krusty the Clown owed him for proving his innocence in an earlier episode.

The cel is hand-painted, but the background is laser-printed. However, the cel does have an official 20th Century Fox stamp, so while the background isn’t original, it was laser printed specifically to match this cel. Despite the fact that The Simpsons still looks the same today in 2013, traditional cel animation was replaced by digital ink and paint animation beginning with Season 14, which began in the fall of 2002. In other words, this form of animation has not been used in over a decade on The Simpsons, so you can’t buy this sort of thing for any episodes newer than 2002.

I’ve written about The Simpsons before, so it should come as no shock that I was ecstatic to find this in a local thrift store. Now, it wasn’t as though they were giving it away, but it was priced at a mere $25 and labeled “as is” because some of the white paint along the border of the frame was missing. I can replace the frame. I couldn’t replace this cel, but thankfully, it’s fine, and examples from seasons this early appear to be quite valuable and desirable if completed listings on eBay are to be believed.

This just goes to show that even when you go to a place where you know you’ll find amazing things, you really do have to keep your eyes constantly open and be prepared that something amazing could show up literally anywhere and when you’re least expecting it!

Posted in 1990's, Ben, Comic Characters, Humor, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Good Day at the Flea Market

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

Ah the flea market! Is there a better place to be early in the morning?

All the treasures of popular culture seem to find their way there sooner or later. Armed with a few bucks in your wallet, a little knowledge in your head, and a pinch of luck, you just might come home with something that you never even knew you wanted and yet now you can’t live without. Such is the lure and the magic of the flea market. What may look like tables full of junk to the uninitiated is actually treasure waiting to be discovered for those of us lucky enough to be a part of this world.

My most recent outing to my favorite flea market yielded a happy assortment of goodies at very reasonable prices. No, I didn’t come away with a copy of the Declaration of Independence or anything else that will make me a millionaire – but there’s the always next time.

Let me share with you my most recent finds.

First is this little Toby jug. Most collectors of comic memorabilia don’t know who this guy is today, but a hundred years ago “Foxy Grandpa” was one of the most popular comic characters out there. There was even a Broadway play about him in the early 1900’s. The cost of this little item was $5.00.

Second is this wacky heat mask designed so that you can wear it and watch TV at the same time. Complete with the box, instructions and in working order, this crazy piece of 1950’s nostalgia also set me back $5.00.

Just about everybody’s favorite find for the day was this strange little man trying to break his way out of a bottle. Marked on the bottom “Marvin Glass Creations” and dated 1965, we found out that he was part of the “Bottled Emotions” series. Go and try to find another one. He set me back $15.00.

This ceramic vase is part of the “Blue Ridge Mountain Boys” series by Paul Webb. It’s profusely marked and dated 1946. With no cracks or chips, this was $20.00.

Finally, there’s my carded “Flash Gordon” play set from the 1950’s. Space and the fifties is always a good combination – $25.00.

All I can say is that if I have to explain it, you wouldn’t understand.

Happy hunting!

Posted in 1910's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, Americana, Comic Characters, Humor, Jim, Toys, Weird | 3 Comments

In Living Color Homey D. Clown Plush Doll

Posted on May 12, 2013 by

Homey don’t play dat…but apparently, you can play with Homey!

In the early 1990s, the sketch comedy show In Living Color was enormously popular. It was the first truly well-received sketch show alternative to “Saturday Night Live” in a long time, running for a total of five seasons on the Fox network, which at the time was a relatively new network trying to find its footing as it tried to compete directly with the “big three” networks. It also ended up launching several very successful careers, including Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, and Jennifer Lopez, as well as those of the Wayans siblings.

Of course, like any sketch comedy show, the cast members were responsible for several very memorable characters, such as Carrey’s Fire Marshall Bill and Damon Wayans’s and David Allen Grier’s “Men on Film.” While Saturday Night Live had characters such as the Blues Brothers, the Coneheads, Toonces the cat who could drive a car, and Ed Grimley (although Martin Short created him for SCTV, the character rose to fame when Short brought him over to SNL) that would go on to receive merchandise, these characters seemed somewhat tame and even kid-friendly when compared to Carrey’s burn victim or Wayans’s and Grier’s overtly homosexual stereotypes.

That’s why I was shocked to learn that In Living Color did receive one piece of somewhat kid-friendly merchandise: a 24” tall plush doll of one of their most popular characters, Homey D. Clown.

Since In Living Color ended its run nearly 20 years ago, I feel like the premise of the Homey D. Clown sketches is not nearly as well known as it once was. Played by Damon Wayans, Homey is an ex-con who works as a clown as part of his parole agreement. Not surprisingly, Homey isn’t thrilled with having to perform as a clown, and if anyone attempts to cajole him into doing typical clown things like juggling or making balloon animals, an agitated Homey takes a black sock full of tennis balls, smacks whoever is bothering him, and says his signature phrase, “Homey don’t play dat.” Throughout his appearances, he frequently expresses a desire to get back at “The Man.”

Why on Earth Acme Supply Company thought that Homey was a great character to turn into a doll is beyond me. However, back in the early 1990s, there were stores like Spencer Gifts where you could buy “toys” that had sort of a risqué or overtly offensive or political quality to them. That’s why it’s so depressing to walk into a Spencer’s store these days. Those of us who remember how great it was in the 1980s and 1990s long for the kind of store it used to be, since that was before online ordering was commonplace and the store was perhaps the only place you could go to reliably find oddball items like Homey.

I bought this at an antique store in Cape May County back around the 2009 holiday season. I think I paid about $20 for it, so it wasn’t exactly a bargain. However, for a plush toy, it’s in remarkably nice shape with its original hang tag. If you really want a Homey D. Clown plush for your own collection, they’re not incredibly hard to come by, but they do command a pretty hefty price tag (approximately $40 to $50) for an old plush toy that’s only a little more than 20 years old.

Posted in 1990's, Ben, Dolls, Humor, Toys, Uncategorized, Weird | 1 Comment

Uncle Sam – He Collects From Us So Why Not Collect Him?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by

It might be more appropriate to talk about Uncle Sam around the Fourth of July, when symbols of patriotism abound. He dresses in red, white, and blue, after all, and sometimes has stars on the brim of his hat and stripes on his pants!

Somehow, though, I think more Americans think of their Uncle Sam in April when the deadline to file taxes comes along. I think nearly every family has a relative like Uncle Sam. He always seems to want your money. He’s not too good at living within his means and before you know it, he’s back wanting more! But he is family and we all want him to succeed. He is the personification of the United States of America itself and we all have a stake in his future.

Uncle Sam doll made in Germany around the turn of the century.

The origin of Uncle Sam can be traced back to 1813 when Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York supplied beef for the army during the War of 1812. The barrels of beef were marked “U.S.” for the United States, but the soldiers began referring to them as “Uncle Sams”, a nickname for Samuel Wilson.

The image of Uncle Sam as we know him is attributed to Thomas Nast, the prolific political cartoonist of the nineteenth century who also gave us the image of Santa Claus. The most famous image of him, however, is attributed to James Montgomery Flagg, who created the Uncle Sam made famous on the World War I recruiting poster pointing sternly with the caption “I Want You”.

This plaster figure of Uncle Sam is dated 1917 and is captioned “Rollin ’em up,” referring to preparations to fight in World War I.

With his tall, lean and lanky physique matched by his colorful attire, Uncle Sam is a natural for collectors if you can find him out there in Collectorland. His popularity was at its peak from about the late nineteenth century (especially around the Spanish-American War of 1898) through World War II. He was usually portrayed in a positive light during that time when America was becoming a stronger and more influential player among the family of nations. During the Vietnam War he wasn’t quite so popular.

Uncle Sam pin tray from the early 20th century.

Poster from World War II

Artist-made figure of Uncle Sam in a Pickle. It’s hard to date exactly because historically Uncle Sam always seems to be in a pickle!

German candy container of Uncle Sam riding a rabbit. This well-detailed piece was probably made around the Spanish American War (1898).

Today the image of Uncle Sam can often be found in craft shops as a patriotic decoration. Unfortunately he is often portrayed with a Santa Claus type beard and moustache instead of the long thin beard grown only on his chin. How did the song go – “Don’t know much about history”!

Many of our Uncle Sam items were purchased back in the seventies and eighties. Today, finding them is difficult and can be expensive. As always with collecting, however, you never know what lies ahead at the next flea market, auction, or yard sale.

This flask is a souvenir from Canada during Prohibition when many Americans headed north to get a drink!

This Uncle Sam on a bicycle toy was made between the wars by the A. C. Gilbert Company. He would ride along a string moving his legs.

This decal is dated 1933 and reflects the optimism that the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt would soon put an end to the Depression.

This piece of “Uncle Sammy” sheet music is dated 1904 and shows Uncle Sam with a map of the U.S. and its territories, some of which were acquired at the end of the Spanish-American War.

Posted in 1900's, 1910's, 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, Americana, Dolls, Ephemera, Historical, Jim, Political, Toys, WWII | 3 Comments

The Dick Clark Doll – An Amazing Likeness

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

Legendary television performer Dick Clark died a year ago on April 18, 2012 at the age of 82. Virtually every American over 18 alive today has some memory or association with him whether it be as the host of “American Bandstand”, the host of “The $10,000 Pyramid” (later “The $100,000 Pyramid”), or the host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”.

Just as Sally Starr was a television personality closely associated with my Philadelphia area childhood, so, too, was Dick Clark. As a first and second grader, I clearly remember coming home from school and tuning in “American Bandstand” which was being filmed live just across the river in Philadelphia. I think I was fascinated by the dancing teenagers more than the rock and roll performers, but I also liked Dick Clark. He had a likeability factor that was off the charts, and it served him well in a broadcasting career that spanned seven decades and earned him accolades galore.

Just before Dick Clark died last year, Jim and I were in an antique shop in Pennsylvania when we encountered, for the first time, a 1950’s Dick Clark autograph doll. He was nattily dressed in a sports coat, vest, and slacks with a plaid tie and matching plaid socks (which we now know are actually plaid legs) and nifty black and white saddle shoes on his feet. Most amazing, however, was the doll’s vinyl face. It looked just like Dick did back in the 1950’s!


We couldn’t afford the doll when we saw it last year, but a few weeks ago, we found an example in very good condition at a much more affordable price, so we bought him. Here he is.

The only marking on the doll is a very tiny word “Juro” just below the hairline at the back of Dick’s head. This is the mark of the Juro Novelty Company, a New York based toy company that specialized in ventriloquist dolls such as Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Jerry Mahoney, and Knucklehead Smiff. The company was in existence from the 1950’s until 1977. The Dick Clark doll is not a ventriloquist dummy, but he’s obviously a very well made doll with a lot of attention to detail. According to my research, this doll sold for $7.49 back in 1958, which was a considerable amount of money at the time. Photos of the original box that the doll came in show that it was billed as an “autograph doll.” The doll’s jacket does have “Dick Clark” written on it. I guess the idea was for a teenage girl to get her friends to put their signatures on the jacket as well.

I found some additional information from a December 2009 entry on Kovels.com. According to their answer to a query, there were two sizes of Dick Clark dolls. The smaller size, which is the one we have, is 25 inches. There’s a larger one that’s 45 inches. That’s practically life-sized!

Dick Clark’s impact on American music in particular and American pop culture in general is inestimable. We’ve already had one New Year’s Eve without him, but at least at our house his memory will be kept alive this New Year’s Eve by this very life-like doll.

Posted in 1950's, Americana, Carol, Dolls, Toys | 8 Comments

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to The Collector Gene!

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

One year ago today our first article about Hagen Renaker Little Horribles went up! Happy anniversary to us!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Davy Crockett Coonskin Cap – “Born on a Mountaintop in Tennessee” – In the 1950’s Davy Sent Little Boomers on a Spending Spree!

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

1955 was a great year for Walt Disney. Disneyland opened that summer. The TV show “Mickey Mouse Club” premiered and Davy Crockett became a phenomenon that has rarely been rivaled since.
“Davy Crockett”, starring Fess Parker in the title role first aired in December, 1954 as part of the “Disneyland” TV show. Chronicling the life of the real frontier hero, some might have questioned the historical accuracy of the three part series, but if you were a kid at the time, you really didn’t care much about that. Soon “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” could be heard everywhere and a merchandising superstar had been born. In the following year about $300 million worth of figures, playsets, wallets, watches, drinking glasses and just about anything else could be found with Davy Crockett emblazoned on it.

But the thing that just about any kid wanted more than anything else was the hat. We all wanted a coonskin cap with a genuine raccoon tail hanging out the back. After all, that’s what set Davy apart from everyone else. I got mine that Christmas of 1955 and it was the genuine one that came in the box with Fess Parker’s picture on it. The box called it the “Official Davy Crockett Indian Fighter Hat”.

Inside the box was a hat made of real animal fur. Let’s just say that 1955 was not a good year to be a raccoon. The term “Indian Fighter” would not survive our current wave of “political correctness” either. My original hat disappeared years ago – probably thrown out after my head got too big for it and the fad had come and gone. Fortunately about three years ago I was able to purchase another one from its original owner, a man who apparently never wrecked any of his toys.

As with many old toys from my youth, the box was almost as good as the toy. In the case of the Davy Crockett hat, it was the only way to tell it was the real deal. I remember that my Davy Crockett hat had a round cardboard picture of Fess Parker attached to it which I suspect was detached from my current example years ago to make it look more realistic. The man I bought it from, however, claims that it never had anything attached to it.

Disney would go on to make two more episodes for the Davy Crockett series and edit four of the five episodes into two feature length movies (in 1955 and 1956) but the fad had run its course.
Soon Disney would give us “Zorro.” The sign of the “Z” could soon be found everywhere.

Posted in 1950's, Americana, Costumes, Disney, Jim, Toys, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Mattel’s Food Fighters Variations – Now in Four Exciting New Flavors!

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Were you ever scolded as a kid for playing with your food? Well, I was lucky enough to grow up in an era where there was one time that it was absolutely okay to get your hands all over donuts and French fries and pizza at any time of the day, and that was when I was playing with one of Mattel’s wackiest action figure lines of all time: FOOD FIGHTERS!

I think virtually every other review on the internet describes these toys as “somewhat obscure.” To that I say: really?!? Every kid in my class at school knew what Food Fighters were! Sure, they lacked the obligatory TV show or comic book to tie-in with the toy line that most 1980s action figure lines had, but they had an incredible commercial showing claymation versions of these anthropomorphic snacks duking it out in the kitchen.

How do I know that commercial resonated with kids in my age bracket? When I was in sixth grade in about 1996, a few years after Food Fighters had disappeared from store shelves, one of my teachers showed us a video of tricks that commercials used to get you to buy things, and they spent a lot of time talking about how awful the Food Fighters commercial was because they showed the characters flying around the kitchen and talking and walking around despite the fact that the toys didn’t actually do any of those things…except when a kid had them and used his or her IMAGINATION which is the basic premise behind all toys throughout all of human existence. Even though that video/time-waster gave us kids a “behind the scenes” look at how the commercial was trying to deceive us all, when those Food Fighters came on screen, every boy in the class collectively yelled, “I remember those! They were awesome!”

I feel like the “obscure” part comes from the fact that it’s a toy line that only lasted one year and it was released in the LATE 1980s as opposed to what many consider to be the golden era of action figures in the early and mid-1980s, so collectors who think Food Fighters are awesome today may have been too old for these toys in 1988. However, there is one part to the toy line that is definitely obscure, and that’s a set of four variation figures, which is what’s for dinner in today’s Collector Gene entry.

These variants are newer versions of existing figures. What’s great about these color variants is that they actually make perfect sense for the toy line. Instead of maple syrup, Short Stack was covered in blueberry syrup.

(L to R) Maple Syrup Short Stack, Blueberry Short Stack

(L to R) Maple Syrup Short Stack, Blueberry Short Stack

Instead of chocolate ice cream, Sergeant Scoop was made of orange sherbet.

(L to R) Chocolate Sergeant Scoop, Sherbet Sergeant Scoop

Chip the Ripper went from a chocolate chip cookie to a chocolate cookie with macadamia nuts.

(L to R) Chocolate Chip Chip the Ripper, Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Chip the Ripper

Finally, you could get your Major Munch with either a chocolate glaze or a cherry glaze.

(L to R) Chocolate Glaze Major Munch, Cherry Glaze Major Munch

It would have been tough to make similar variants for the rest of the line, especially considering the fact that these repaints worked with the original sculpts, but I think for these four characters in particular, the variations make sense. However, when it comes to tracking them down today, if you want blueberry Short Stack, sherbet Sergeant Scoop, chocolate and macadamia Chip the Ripper, or cherry Major Munch, you have quite the mission ahead of you, as those four variants are much harder to find than their original counterparts.

When I was a kid, I never remember seeing these variations, and like most people, I only discovered them through eBay. However, whenever I would see one of these variations, the variant figures would almost always be listed in an auction coming from somewhere in Europe. Now, of course, with online auctions having been in existence for years now, quite a few examples of these figures can be found in the states, but it seemed like if I wanted a better chance at finding the four aforementioned figures, I would check European auctions. This French version of the Food Fighters commercial, which shows the variations at the end, helps back up my theory that they were primarily released in Europe.

Behold! A French Food Fighters commercial!

However, you can see on my carded versions of these toys that they all came from a department store called Hills, which used to have locations spread throughout the mid-Atlantic and the mid-west, as well as a few other states. All of these examples were discounted. It’s possible that these figures could have been a closeout deal where a large order had to be filled, and so the store ended up receiving the rarer second assortment that contained the four variations. It’s proof that these particular examples were indeed sold in the United States. While price tags do affect the value of toys, I always enjoy seeing them because they provide us with a history of where the toy came from and how much was paid for it at retail.

Food Fighters as a whole are not too rare, but it’s nearly impossible to find loose examples with the tiny generic backpacks and guns that came with them. Their popularity has also swelled in recent years by collectors who appreciate some of the more non-traditional action figures that are available. These variants do show up with some regularity, but they are quite desirable by collectors today, especially since I still firmly believe these four particular figures did not see wide distribution in the United States. This is one case where picking the right flavor could be a very important decision for your collection!

Posted in 1980's, Action Figures, Ben, Food, Humor, Monsters, Toys, Weird | 2 Comments

The Le Macabre Skull

Posted on February 27, 2013 by

It seems like ages since I have written an article for The Collector Gene, so I wanted to come back with one of my favorite pieces from my collection.  I have been waiting to write about this one for a while.  I can’t really explain why I like this thing so much; I just do.  This is my Le Macabre skull.

I purchased this skull a few years ago at a Pennsylvania flea market.  I walked into the market with $52 in my wallet, which doesn’t usually go a long way at an antique flea market.  So of course I found this piece in the first booth I went in, and it was priced at $50.  Needless to say, I was frustrated.  I really liked the skull, but buying it would wipe me out before I was even finished my first row of dealers.  We were also going to check a few more flea markets and shops later that day, which made it even tougher to fathom spending all of my money immediately, especially on an object I knew nothing about.

At first I left it on the table and walked away figuring I would probably go back to buy it after I made sure that there was nothing I wanted more at the flea market.  However, a few minutes later and about half way down the second row of the market, I realized that I didn’t want to risk it.  I really liked the skull, and I knew I would be upset if someone else bought it while I was walking around.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted it.  I cut back to the dealer’s booth again and bought it, and I have had no regrets about blowing all of my money in the first booth I went in at the flea market that day.  There was nothing else I wanted more, and in my opinion this piece would have been hard to top.  A lot of people like to collect what they know, but I find that the objects I tend to like best in my collection are the objects I didn’t know I needed until I saw them.  Some of the fun of collecting, to me, is finding an object you love, and then finding out you love it even more as you learn more about it.  The Le Macabre skull did that for me.

The Le Macabre skull is made out of plaster, with the name of its place of origin, Le Macabre, Meard Street SOHO, stamped into its forehead.  It is just about life-sized, though it is stylized and kind of elongated if you look at the skull from its side.  The back of the skull is flat and hollow, and the eye sockets are hollow as well.  It has a little metal hook imbedded in the plaster so you can hang it on the wall.  The skull is probably from the 1950’s, which is part of what made it appeal to me, and for some reason I like skulls, so it had double appeal.  The damage to his chin was there when I bought him, and even though I could totally restore it myself, I haven’t done it yet.  I don’t know why. Maybe sometimes I like to think that he received his battle scar in some really epic way and it is a part of his history.  He is a very intriguing advertising piece, and the more I learn about him, the more I love him hanging on my wall.

One of the biggest mysteries with the Le Macabre skull is this: How did it end up in the United States?  Le Macabre was a coffee and espresso bar in SOHO London.  This I knew when I bought the skull because it is stamped on his forehead, and I got an original postcard from Le Macabre with it.

I love this postcard.  The imagery is great, and it adds a sense of humor to the skull plaque.   I have it framed and hanging under the plaque on my wall.  None of this, however, explains why these two pieces crossed the pond and ended up in New Jersey, and the more I research Le Macabre, the more I still don’t understand how these two ended up here.

When I first went to research this piece on the internet back when I bought it, the only information I could find out at the time was that Le Macabre existed from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, and that it offered a place for London jazz musicians and rock musicians to perform.  There was also some reference to Orson Wells hanging out at Le Macabre, which I thought was pretty cool.  Le Macabre had coffin shaped tables and skeleton murals on the wall, but there was never any mention of skulls like mine hanging in the bar anywhere.  I was happy to know that Le Macabre played an integral part in the early history of jazz and rock n roll in England, but there were no pictures to help me understand what part my skull played in the bar.  Were there more than one?  Was it for decoration or a souvenir?  For several years I just assumed that I would never fully understand the skull plaque, but that was okay because I liked it, and I liked that it represented pre-British invasion rock and jazz in London.

It wasn’t until late last year that I decided to research my skull again, and a lot more information has surfaced on Le Macabre thanks to two British news reels, one from 1958 and one from 1959, that have since been posted to the internet.

The first newsreel I found in the internet was the 1958 newsreel called “It’s the Age of the Teenager”, and I couldn’t believe what I saw when I watched it.  If you go to the 00.32 minute mark right in the beginning of the film and look behind the bartender’s head, you will see a skull just like mine hanging on the wall!  Mystery solved!  Well, sort of.  If you keep watching through the rest of the “Le Macabre” section of the film, you will see several other skulls hanging up throughout the joint.  Some are used over light fixtures, and others are just hanging on the wall as decoration.  I still can’t believe that these films exist, and that through them I could finally learn in some capacity why my skull plaque exists.  The rest of the film is an interesting look at British teenagers in the 1950’s.  It doesn’t spend too much time in coffee bars outside of Le Macabre, but it is definitely worth watching and kind of funny by today’s standards.  Follow this link to the website for Pathe to watch the filmstrip.

The 1959 strip is in color and called “Look at Life: Coffee Bar”, and it shows Le Macabre at about the 07.01 minute mark.  If you look towards the ceiling in one of the early scenes, you might catch skulls like mine hanging up near the ceiling.  They are covering light fixtures that will make the eyes glow when they are lit.  The whole news reel is a rather interesting look into the rise of the coffee bar in London and its clientele and significance.  It is fascinating and worth watching if you want to learn more about the “coffee craze”.    Apparently there were dozens of coffee and espresso bars in SOHO in the 1950’s, but there were so many that it became difficult for them to thrive with all of the competition.  The “coffee craze” in London was certainly not a point in history on my radar before buying the Le Macabre skull, but this is why I love buying pieces of history that I know very little about until I get them home to research them.  You never know what you will find out.   Look at Life: Coffee Bar

Of course, there are still a lot of things I do not know about this skull and about Le Macabre.  I still don’t know if they sold these skulls as souvenirs or if my skull was salvaged when Le Macabre shut down in the 1970’s.  Are there many other skull plaques still in existence out there?  I have never seen another one, but then again, I am nowhere near London.  If anyone out there has any more information about this skull or Le Macabre itself, please share it on the comments section of this site.  I would love to know any information that I can get.

It is very rare to buy an object with very little information and to find out as much as I did from the Le Macabre skull plaque.  Most of the time you aren’t that lucky, and you are left to speculate as to the purpose of an object.  I certainly never could have dreamed that somewhere along the line someone, and in this case more than one person, would post video evidence of my find in its original context.  When we first started this website almost a year ago, I was planning on writing about the Le Macabre skull. However, because I knew very little about it, I was just planning to post a picture and what little bit I knew in hopes that somewhere along the line a person who knew more about it would comment on the site and I would have an answer.  Then the internet surprisingly answered a few of my questions for me.  It has been a fun ride so far figuring out the origins of Le Macabre and the little piece of it I hang on my wall and look at every day, but I have a feeling there is still a lot to learn.

 

Article Update:

Hey everyone!  This is the first time I have had the opportunity to update an article after gaining some valuable information on its subject matter from another passionate collector.  Hopefully this will be a trend!  Since posting my article about Le Macabre and my skull I was contacted by Del Fuller, another fan of Le Macabre who was actually fortunate enough to visit Le Macabre before it closed in the 70’s.  He and his friend Keith Ryan have supplied me with the following images of other Le Macabre memorabilia and were generous enough to let me share it with the internet.  Please enjoy!

This is a different post card made to promote Le Macabre.  Skeletons and naked ladies were kind of Le Macabre’s thing.

This is an original menu from Le Macabre.  They used the same image from my postcard on the cover.  It is kind of fascinating to see how they made changes to the menu by just crossing things off and adding other things in.

This is a smaller skull than mine measuring about 3″ by 2 1/4″.  We aren’t quite sure of its practical purpose, but it was used on the tables at Le Macabre and has “Saturday 17th Jan 1959″ written in ink on the bottom.
We still aren’t sure as to whether they sold Le Macabre skulls or if patrons just swiped them, making Del, Keith, and I lucky enough to own what we have.  Either way, it is a fascinating place, and I am so grateful to learn from other collectors and fans about the objects I am passionate about.

Posted in 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, Advertising, Amy, English, Foreign, Halloween, Historical, Humor, Monsters, Signs, Weird | 11 Comments

Manglor Mountain: A Tale of When Lightning Strikes Twice

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

Not surprisingly, I’ve made quite a few friends over the years in the collecting community. Since I’m out and about constantly hunting for vintage toys, I often ask my friends if there are any specific items they’d like me to hunt for in my travels. The vast, vast majority of these requests are hard to grant because either a.) I want the exact same item for my own collection, or b.) the items they’re asking me to find are extremely rare, so much so that even finding them on a worldwide platform like eBay is next to impossible.

However, despite these esoteric requests, once in a great while, I am able to score something so utterly specific that, to quote a certain smuggler with a crazy awesome apeman sidekick, sometimes, I amaze even myself.

What makes this find worth highlighting, however, is that I found the same absurdly rare item again in almost the exact same condition for almost the exact same price nearly two weeks after the original find.

The toy in question is Manglor Mountain, the lone playset from the short-lived toyline Manglors. Made by Ideal in 1984, the basic conceit of Manglors was that you could literally tear these creatures apart, and with their patented sort-of-sticky design, you could mix and match the limbs with other Manglors. Of course, once you actually did what the package told you to do, you literally destroyed the toy, in the sense that even though the limbs could stick back on, the original figure would never retain the same fortitude as when it was brand new and had never been torn apart. It was a flawed concept with a pretty awful execution. The idea was handled by Ertl much better years later with their awesome toyline Socket Poppers.

However, from a collecting standpoint, you really can’t get more challenging than trying to collect a toyline that was based around the idea of purposefully destroying the toys. Yet that’s exactly what one of my friends wanted me to do. I scoffed at the notion, realizing the likelihood of finding any original Manglors was rather minimal.

So of course, in November, when my family set up at the Greater York Toy Extravaganza in Pennsylvania, the dealer who was set up right across the aisle from us put out a sealed Manglor Mountain playset. I negotiated the price and called my friend who asked about Manglors to make sure he was okay with it, and I purchased it for him for $45. The box was a little rough around the edges, but since it was sealed, it was essentially a guarantee that the contents were in mint, unused condition.

Fast forward to a mere two weeks later in December when I attended an indoor mixed flea market. A dealer had a few old toys, and lo and behold, there was yet ANOTHER Manglor Mountain in the original box! The box had been opened, but the original contents had never been used. I bought this with another item, and I figure I paid about $40 for this particular example. Seeing as how I was already able to help my friend get his Manglors fix, I kept this second one for myself.

I’m pretty sure I had maybe one other opportunity to purchase this toy at a local toy show, but I’m glad I waited, because this one is a really nice example.

The box art, which is probably among the very best of the 1980s (and far better than what the toys deserved), shows Manglord emerging from a pit of Manglava that supposedly gives him extra powers or something like that. This is definitely something I miss from the 1980s: icky, creepy monsters. Monsters never go away completely from toy aisles, but they certainly never achieve the grotesque look that used to be so commonplace among toy lines like this.

Here’s Manglord, the figure that came with this playset. This happy-looking fella is supposed to be a Swamp Thing-like creature from what I gather. This is the first Manglor I’ve been able to hold in person. Thankfully, the previous owner never took it out of the original plastic baggie (and I’m not about to, either), so this example is still fairly moist and sticky. Manglors are so rare that I’m not sure what happens to them over time, but my guess is that if they were not stored like this example, they would be prone to drying. It looks as though the version of Manglord that was sold individually had a purple collar and skirt, so this version is likely exclusive to the playset.

The “mountain” part of the toy was this great looking dragon-headed pedestal. Inside is a pit where you would place the Manglava, a red liquid. The cage pictured alongside of it is where you would Manglord or any other Manglor that you may have been lucky enough to own. You would then lower the cage into the pit (so it would end up behind the dragon head). You would then press the dragon’s tongue to make the Manglava bubble up. Then, you would put on a red topper and shake the thing around like you’re mixing a martini, and then out would pop the Manglor, covered in Manglava. In other words, turn one sticky mess into an even stickier mess!

One of the amazing aspects about this example is that the Manglava is still there! However, unlike the Manglord that came with this example, the Manglava has not held up over time. It has congealed into a solid little ball. The good news is that it’s miraculously intact, and thankfully, the original owner never decided to throw it into the mountain itself. Otherwise, I would have had a lot of goop to clean out.

While Manglors were obviously flawed in concept, there’s a certain charm associated with old toys like these, especially if they took risks. Ideal was simply trying to stake its claim in the wildly popular world of action figures in the early 1980s, and while it didn’t quite work, at least they created something completely different in the process. And I’m glad I was able to find the same rare toy twice so as to not feeling like I’m hoarding things from people who want to own them more than I do.

 

 

Posted in 1980's, Action Figures, Ben, Monsters | 5 Comments