For the Love of Christmas Pixies!

Posted on December 1, 2012 by

It is now December, which means it is time to break out the decorations and make it look like Christmas threw up in our house!  We at the Collector Gene all love Christmas, and want to take some time this month to share some of our favorite decorations and traditions with you.  I would like to start with one of my favorite traditions that I started when I was about four or five years old.

In recent years, 1950’s-60’s Christmas pixies have had a huge resurgence thanks to a little book called “Elf on a Shelf”.  That’s right, for all of you hiding a red and white elf all over your house for your kids that don’t already know this, the design of that elf is based directly on the cute little Christmas knee hugger pixies of the 1950’s and 1960’s.  I have been collecting pixies since I was a kid, so I will admit that it can be frustrating at times when people see my collections and say “Oh, like Elf on a Shelf, right?”  No, not like Elf on a Shelf, because the vintage pixies I have been collecting predate “Elf on a Shelf” by forty to fifty years.  At the same time, it is nice to know that a new generation of kids will be growing up with an appreciation for kitschy Christmas elves just like I did.

My first Christmas pixie was given to me when I think I was about four or five (I can’t remember exactly when).  My father has two antique cars, and belonged to a local antique car club.  Every year the club would have a Christmas party and my whole family would attend.  Usually it was just an excuse for Ben and I to each get one Christmas present early, as every year there was a Pollyanna and my mom would put a gift for each of us in the pile of presents to make a party with no other children but us a little more bearable (my dad was among the younger members of the club, so he was the only one bringing young kids to the party).  One year the women of the club said that they were going to throw out the Christmas tree that they had been using for years and replace it with a new one, so any ornaments anyone wanted were up for grabs.  On the tree was one small pixie elf that my mom took for me, and that is what started my collection of 1950’s and 1960’s pixies.

This is Elfie.  Yes, I know, what a clever name for an elf, right?  I never was terribly clever when it came to naming my toys as a kid.  Elfie is what is known as a “knee hugger” pixie.  If you look at the picture you can probably figure out why, but if you can’t it is because his arms loop around his knees like he is hugging them.  To me a pixie is a toy or decoration with one of those sappy and cute little elf heads, and not all vintage pixies are knee huggers.  They come in all shapes and sizes, and I have found them with all sorts of different bodies and designs.  Some pixie collectors only go for the knee huggers, but I enjoy all 1950’s and 1960’s pixies in my collection.  Knee huggers and pixies also exist for other occasions besides Christmas, but we will get into that a little bit later.

This is Elfie’s cousin.  I never gave him a name beyond that, but he was the second pixie I got.  He is not a knee hugger.  He just has wires in his legs that make him poseable.  Most of the non-knee hugger pixies I have come across have wire bodies like this one, but some of them have plastic bodies, and others have no poseability at all.  For many years these were the only two pixies I had.  I wanted to give them a little bit of prominence in my Christmas display as a kid, so I took a small log cabin doll house I had and turned it into “Elfie’s House”.  I took miniatures and doll house furniture and tiny Christmas decorations and decorated it, and that is how Elfie is displayed each year.  Now there are a plethora of other pixies surrounding the house since I started collecting them more, but the only two elves inside are Elfie and his cousin.  It is a tradition.  Every time I bring it out it reminds me of being a kid and creating it in the first place.  That is my pixie tradition at Christmas, and now that that story is out of the way I want to talk about all of the other cool and interesting pixies I have come across over the past 20 years.

I put this group together to show the various shapes and sizes that pixies can come in.  Only the drum major pixie pictured is a knee hugger, and the rest are pixies with mostly wire bodies.  They range in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and there is even a cute little snowman pixie in the picture that I found at a flea market.  All of these qualify as pixies in my book, and all of them are equally kitschy!

Here are some weirder pixies.  Even though most pixies were made to hang on a tree, several of these are approached as more traditional ornaments than most.  They are lacking the plush doll bodies, and are lacking poseability.  There is also a pencil with a pixie head on top and pixie head on a wire that was most likely used for some other decorating purpose, though I am not sure exactly what.

Pixies come in all shapes and sizes including GIANT PIXIES!  I threw in a few more traditionally sized knee huggers for comparison, so these guys are pretty big.  They range from 14” – 18” in height.  The large pixies are tougher to come by, and when I see them they are usually not knee huggers, even though we have found one giant knee hugger (the guy on the right).  I think that these guys were more likely given to children as dolls rather than used as traditional decorations in their day.

In this grouping I have decided to show a few more unusual pixies.  The one with the closed eyes in the middle doesn’t have a terribly elf looking face, and reminds me more of Elmer Fudd.  He is not a design I come across too often.  With the little blonde guy next to him, the dealer I bought it from thought it was one of the Rice Krispies mascots, Snap, Crackle, and Pop.  I don’t think so, but it is a bit more unusual a face and I see where he was coming from.  The little red and white guy is an example of a pixie with a plastic doll body.  He is one of the smallest in my collection standing about 2” tall.

Obviously Christmas is the time of year for most pixies, but they do sneak into other uses throughout the year.  Why create new head sculpts for your holiday decoration company when you can reuse the same thing over and over again?  Pixies and knee huggers exist for almost every holiday, and were used for other souvenir doll purposes as well.  Some of these next guys are pretty strange.

None of the non-Christmas pixies are easy to find, but I have come across the Hillbilly knee huggers a few times in the wild.  I love the guy in the middle with the little plastic feet!  I am assuming that these were sold as souvenirs somewhere because I am not sure why else they would exist.

“Mexican Elfie” is one of my favorites.  Why you would put a poncho and sombrero on a pixie is beyond me, unless you are purposely trying to be ironic.  The other little guy is a sailor.  Again, I assume these were sold as souvenirs somewhere because I have no other explanation as to why they exist.  I can just picture Mexican pixies lining the shelves at South of the Border…

I mentioned earlier that they made pixies for almost every holiday.  Well, here are some that I have come across.  The Easter Bunny is a more unusual form, and the Halloween knee huggers like this witch are very popular.  Most of the other holiday knee huggers I find don’t have pixie heads, so the pilgrims are kind of interesting in that regard.  Collectors really go for the non-Christmas holiday pixies and knee huggers, and they are not easy to come by at all.

One great thing about pixies gaining popularity again thanks to “Elf on a Shelf” is that sometimes you get cool new ideas for pixies.  My mom and dad found this alien knee hugger on their cross country trip.  As far as I know, they didn’t make a vintage alien, so this is a really cool new idea.  Of course I prefer the vintage pixies for my own collection, but sometimes the new stuff can be really interesting as well.

Speaking of new pixies that are super cool (get ready for some very shameless self-promotion right now) I have produced my own Krampus pixie!  You know Krampus.  He’s the Austrian Christmas devil that punishes bad children while Santa rewards the good ones.  This little guy is made right in my studio in the heart of the Collector Gene archive (our house).  I do everything myself.  I sell them on Etsy.com and eBay, in case anyone out there is interested.  Now that I am done shamelessly plugging my business (which is called Plastictastic, by the way and you can like it on Facebook) I can get back to talking about Christmas pixies.

One of the best parts about collecting pixies is that, in general, they are pretty inexpensive.  They were popular in their day, and a lot of them show up at flea markets and yard sales.  Of course, the non-Christmas knee huggers and pixies are a bit tougher to come by and that adds some expense and challenge to collecting pixies, but I think it just makes it more fun.  Whether you buy them to hide around your house for the kids for a month, or buy them for the love of kitsch, it really doesn’t matter.  To me, they will always remind me of Christmas because of my silly little tradition, and it is nice to see other kids creating Christmas traditions with knee huggers and pixies today.

Posted in 1950's, 1960's, 2010's, Amy, Christmas, Dolls, Hand Made, Holiday, Humor, Road Trip, Toys | 19 Comments

Rock Lords – The Gnarliest of Narlies, Snarlie Narlie!

Posted on November 27, 2012 by

I’ve mentioned Rock Lords in passing in my Kojak article, but I’ll elaborate a little further. While Transformers and Go-Bots were the most popular of the transforming toys of the 1980s, there were several other smaller lines that were popular in their own right and have established devoted collector followings all these years later. Rock Lords were released in the United States by Tonka, but they have their origins in Japan, where they were made by Bandai and released as part of the Machine Robo line, the line that became Go-Bots in the United States. While the Go-Bots name generally does not appear anywhere on the package, many collectors consider Rock Lords to be a sort of sub-line.

A lot of jokes are generally made at the Rock Lords expense. While other transforming toys turned into vehicles or weapons, Rock Lords turned into…well, rocks. I like to think of them more like elemental warriors. Each warrior was made of substances like tungsten, quartz, granite, gold, etc. That should make my geology professor sort of proud, right?

I don’t want to belabor the introduction to Rock Lords because I’m here to talk about the off-shoot of Rock Lords, a group of furry toys called the Narlies! Unlike the rest of the Rock Lords line, these creatures were the creations of Tonka and did not originate in Japan. They were very loosely based on various animals and had corresponding names like Narliphant, Narlihog, and Narligator. Each of them had a wheel on the bottom, and when you rolled them on the floor, they opened and shut their mouths, they wagged their tails, and they made an odd little noise. They also had goofy hair on top of them as if Tonka was just attempting to make them look as ridiculous as possible.

The first series of Narlies is not that hard to find. The second series is another story entirely.

Like most of the later Rock Lords (Series 3, Jewel Lords, Shock Rocks, etc.), the second series of Narlies (Narlibaboon, Narlirhino, Narlibat, and Narlilion) barely saw release, and as such, they are extremely difficult to come by. But if it wasn’t obvious already from that promotional image, the true standout of the Narlies is the massive Snarlie Narlie! Snarlie Narlie was electronic and obviously much larger than the rest of the Narlies. The toy is absurdly hard to find, and most of the references to boxed examples I found on the web belonged to other collectors who supplied pictures to the websites’ owners. It’s one of those toys that’s so rare, it’s existence would be almost legendary if those pictures didn’t exist.

So of course, I own one now.

I prefer my toys loose, but I wasn’t about to pass up a SEALED example for a great price. I found it in a collection of toys online (the other toys were fine, but this was the clear standout), and my friend in Massachusetts picked it up for me. Again, I don’t like to discuss price because you have to consider that I used gas and paid tolls and traveled across five states to pick this up. Thankfully, I turn all of these little excursions into mini-vacations, so I tend not to think about all those factors.

My absolute favorite part of this example is actually the only really serious condition issue. It looks like this was not sold at a conventional retailer but rather a local discount store. The price written on the plastic bubble started out at $6.99, then was marked down to $3, and finally, just to get rid of it, they priced it at a whopping $1. I love seeing old prices like this. It’s hard to believe that one of the rarest toys of the 1980s had to essentially be given away in order for anybody to take it home. Even then, the child it was intended for never even opened it. It certainly worked to my benefit.

I’ve made a lot of great finds this year, but I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have imagined pulling this one off

Posted in 1980's, Action Figures, Toys, Weird | 6 Comments

Truman Political Cartoon – It’s Toon Time at the L.A. Times

Posted on November 26, 2012 by

Since we last gave attention to Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, it seems only fair that while the election season is still only a few weeks behind us, we pay some attention to his Democratic predecessor – Harry S. Truman.

It is also an opportunity to tell you about my favorite purchase on our recent cross-country trip.

We were finally heading east, but our trip was far from over.  We were in Arizona, had visited the Grand Canyon, and were spending a couple of nights in Sedona.   While Sedona offered beautiful scenery and a very “New Age” vibe, our first love of antiquing drew us to nearby Prescott, which was about an hour away.  Prescott is a very clean little city with a nice park, an interesting museum about Arizona history – and a lot of antique shops.

The shops we visited had, for the most part, a good variety and good quality of merchandise so finding a few more treasures to stuff into the back of our little car wasn’t going to be a problem.  Money, of course, doesn’t grow on trees and by this point in the trip, we were starting to be a little more selective in our purchases.

Naturally, I found something in the first shop we visited that I couldn’t live without.  I had pretty much gone through the entire shop when I came to one of the last booths I needed to visit. There it was!  Sitting on the floor was an old, framed political cartoon with the obvious likeness of Harry S. Truman.  I picked it up and could see that this was an original artwork and not merely a print.  There was an inscription at the bottom that read “To Nellie ‘Pat’ Eklund with my best wishes – Bruce Russell.”

Fortunately the dealer had done some homework and put a note with it saying that Bruce Russell had been a political cartoonist with the L. A. Times from 1942 through 1963 and that Nellie Eklund had been a resident of the Prescott Valley area since 1991.

In the shop, I noticed the reference to Wake Island on the cartoon and was fairly sure what the subject matter was all about.  A little bit of quick research on the internet confirmed my suspicions.  On October 15, 1950, President Truman flew to Wake Island in the Pacific to meet with General Douglas Macarthur concerning the Korean War.

MacArthur was by that time considered one of the greatest generals of the twentieth century.  He was a hero in World War II, overseeing Japan’s surrender on the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and essentially ruled Japan after the war.  He was now in charge of US forces in Korea but wasn’t always following what the Truman administration ordered him to do.  This meeting was set up to make sure everyone was on the same page.

After the meeting, Truman then flew to San Francisco and on October 17, 1950, announced the results of his meeting with General MacArthur at the War Memorial Opera House in that city.  The cartoon from October 17 deals with that upcoming speech.

The cartoon was marked $45.00, but everything in the booth was 25 percent off – so I got my new treasure and piece of history for $33.75.

I went on to find that Bruce Russell (1903 – 1963) was actually lead editorial cartoonist at the Los Angeles Times from 1934 through 1963 when he died of a sudden heart attack.  He also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1946.

Having visited the Truman home and library in Independence Missouri earlier in the trip only made this find more special.  I’m sure Harry Truman would not have been thrilled with how he was depicted in this cartoon, but it underscores the many challenges he faced as president.  Truman was far from the most popular president at the time.  History, however, has been kind to him, and he now ranks among our better leaders.  He is a personal favorite of mine.

To sum it all up – finding an original political cartoon drawn by a Pulitzer Prize winning artist for a major newspaper about one of the most important events of the Truman Presidency for a mere $33.75 was for me what collecting is all about – the thrill of making a great find!

I didn’t even have to wait for Black Friday.

Posted in 1950's, Americana, Historical, Jim, Political, Road Trip | 2 Comments

Smile! Sixty Years Ago, We Liked Ike

Posted on November 6, 2012 by

In 1952, like today, America went to the polls.  By the time the votes counted, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the clear winner.  The popular World War II hero and five star general was approached by both parties as a possible candidate but ultimately chose to lead the Republican ticket that year.  The campaign slogan “I Like Ike” became one of the most famous in history and would be used by Ike again in his successful bid for re-election in 1956.  This “I Like Ike” button is a whopping nine inches in diameter!    Somebody obviously really liked Ike back then.

 

 

Posted in 1950's, Americana, Historical, Jim, Political | Leave a comment

Smile! A Traditional Jack O’Lantern Wishes You a Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by

This jack o’lantern may be smiling, but there’s something slightly menacing about it.  Of course, that’s part of his appeal to collectors.  Over seven inches in height, he’s made of a paper pulp product that was shaped by pressing into a mold and hardened.  Then he was given a coat of bright orange paint, and a thin paper insert fills in the openings with his red/yellow eyes and nice straight teeth.  There’s a hole in the bottom into which a candle could be inserted to light him up.  Picture him with his eyes and teeth glowing.  Pretty cool, right?  Of course, he’s made of completely flammable material, so you can imagine how safe putting a lighted candle inside of him was, but that’s how it was done “back in the day.”  These American-made Halloween decorations date from the late 1930’s to the early 1950’s and are highly collectible.  It’s very difficult to find them in good condition with their paper inserts intact.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!  Best wishes from Collectorgene!

Posted in 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, Americana, Carol, Halloween, Holiday, Uncategorized, Weird | Leave a comment

Smile! A Cross-Eyed Pumpkin-Headed Guy Just for You

Posted on October 28, 2012 by

Once you start collecting vintage Halloween items, you notice how frequently fruit and vegetable-headed figures show up.  Here’s a good example of a small, incidental bisque figurine that was probably produced in the 1930’s and sold for a nickel or a dime.  It might have been a party favor or just a little knick-knack, but there’s certainly nothing scary about him.  He’s about three inches tall and is marked “Japan” on his back.  And if his jaunty little top hat, crossed eyes, and big grin don’t put a smile on your face, nothing will.

Posted in 1930's, Carol, Halloween, Holiday, Humor, Toys, Weird | Leave a comment

Smile! Something Bewitching for You

Posted on October 27, 2012 by

This adorable old hag is proof positive that they don’t make paper Halloween decorations like they used to.  With rivets at the shoulders to allow for arm movement and a generous supply of crepe paper to create a winged cape effect, this goes well beyond a simple cardboard cut-out.  Yet, back in the 1940’s or 50’s when you could buy this decoration in the local five and dime, she probably cost no more than twenty-five cents.  This winking witch is about eight inches tall and was made in the USA by an unknown company.  She has a string loop for hanging but we usually just prop her standing up in and among the other vintage decorations.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Smile – You Devil, You!

Posted on October 26, 2012 by

This little devil with a devilish grin is only about two and a half inches tall.  He’s made of a composition material in a hollow mold.  Obviously, his feet need a little restoration, but devil figures, especially cute ones like this, aren’t easy to come by.  He was probably made in Japan in the 1920’s or 30’s and may have been glued to a little box that held candy.  He’s been part of our Halloween collection for many years now, and he always puts a smile on our face.  Hopefully, he does the same for you.

Posted in 1920's, 1930's, Carol, Halloween, Holiday, Monsters, Weird | Leave a comment

Smile! Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 25, 2012 by

With less than one week to go until Halloween, we’ve decided to send good wishes your way by posting a happy Halloween face every day until October 31.  First up is this little wooden skeleton/ghoul with his happy, toothy smile.  He’s just under three-and-a-half inches high.  Because he’s wooden, there’s a good chance that he dates to the early 1940’s when metal was restricted to military use and plastic was still in its infancy.  It’s possible he’s a little older than that and is from the 1930’s.  Was he just decorative or part of a game?  We don’t know.  He’s old and he’s cute and he’s meant for Halloween.  Enjoy!

Posted in 1940's, Carol, Halloween, Holiday, Toys, Weird | Leave a comment

Meet the Oh Lantern Family!

Posted on October 24, 2012 by

As much as I’d like to say that I was a pretty decent artist as a kid, I was never able to master the art of pumpkin carving. From drawing the outline on the uneven surface of the pumpkin to the disgusting process of pulling out all the seeds to shoving a “safe” knife in and out of my outlines, my pumpkins were serviceable, but never on the level of award-winning. And this was long before you spoiled kids had all those fancy, shmancy patterns that you could just print out from the Internet.

If you were in my predicament, I’m sure you would have loved to have had a jack o’lantern that required no carving on your part, and once you bought it, you could put out every year and it would look great. And for years, various department stores have given us that option. You have to settle for lame, generic designs, but they get the job done.

But one artist in the 1980s said, “I can do better” (probably…I’ve never read an interview in which he actually said that). His name was Todd Masters, and he created a set of “carved” “pumpkins” that could be displayed year after year that have never, ever been rivaled. Masters’ background was as a Hollywood make-up artist, and if you decide to check out his IMDB profile, you can see that he’s had a long and varied career, working on everything from A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child to Tales from the Crypt to even recent films like The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0557724/

In 1987, a company called Pumpkin Productions produced Masters’ creation, a line of foam, sculpted pumpkins called “The Oh Lantern Family.” It was impossible not to notice these in Hallmark and other gift shops when they were brand new. They all had very expressive, charming, and sometimes, frightening and disgusting faces. They were the most lifelike jack o’lanterns you had ever seen, and they even came with their own story!

“Tucked away in the far corner of the ol’ field was a unique family of pumpkins, unique in that they were able to survive the harvest year after year, going unnoticed by the farmers. They would watch on as their friends and neighbors would pack up and leaf. They had heard through the vine again and again about something called ‘Halloween’ and finally their curiosity got the best of them. They finally got tired of their patch, stemming their desire to leaf the field themselves and to discover Halloween.”

Jack Oh Lantern

James Oh Lantern

Jesabell Oh Lantern

Jesse Oh Lantern

Jock Oh Lantern

Jody Oh Lantern

Joey Oh Lantern

Johnny Oh Lantern

There were eight members of the Oh Lantern family initially: Jesse, Jody, Jesabell, Joey, Jack, James, Johnny, and Jock. Each one was roughly the size of an actual pumpkin. Each one had a tag that told you about when they were born and a little bit about their personality and how they were related to the rest of the family.

I was able to find a story written by Frank DeCaro (later of “The Daily Show” fame) in 1987 and published in The Chicago Tribune as they first achieved popularity. Apparently, they retailed for roughly $10 each, and even when churning out “20,000 members of the Oh Lantern family a day,” they still had a tough time meeting demand. Stores were selling out within days.

Jamie and Jason Oh Lantern

Jennifer Oh Lantern and Jack Oh Lantern Jr.

Jimmy and Judy Oh Lantern

Julie and Josh Oh Lantern

The popularity of the Oh Lantern family was so great that eight new additions to the family were later available. These were Baby Oh Lanterns: Jason, Jimmy, Josh, Jack Jr., Jamie, Julie, Jennifer, and Judy. These weren’t quite as grotesque as the “adults” of the line, but while a few of them were cute, many of them were making upset baby faces. It gave the feel of authenticity.

A few pieces of merchandise outside of the actual pumpkins were made for the Oh Lantern family. We have one example of a finger puppet/pencil topper and we also have one example of a wax candle.

The pamphlet that came with the babies advertises a newsletter, and I’d be curious to see if more than one issue was ever published.

As popular as the Oh Lantern family was in 1987 and probably 1988, they didn’t last. My guess is that sales were really great in September and October and rather stagnant the rest of the year. Like Homer Simpson learned, pumpkins do not make for a great year-round investment. The thing about this fad is that while the Oh Lantern family may have gone away from retail stores, Halloween NEVER goes away. It rears its ugly head each year, and it seems like it’s even more popular to go crazy decorating for the holiday now than it was even 25 years ago.

I am VERY fortunate that my parents purchased the entire Oh Lantern family when they were brand new. While the article mentions Hallmark stores, my parents said they bought the majority of their collection at Spencer Gifts (back when the store was awesome). I vividly remember them on display around the kitchen in our first house around Halloween. I was only four years old when these were first available, so I really don’t remember a Halloween without them. I was dressed up as a pirate that year. Yup, the Oh Lantern family and my pirate costume are about all that I can recall of Halloween 1987.

We moved to my parents’ current house in 1995. Even though my parents prefer their antique and truly vintage Halloween collection, these were deemed cool enough to keep and survived the move. They hadn’t been on display in several years until my sister and I decided to go through our old Halloween decorations and determine what should be preserved and what should be sold. That’s when we rediscovered the Oh Lantern family.

For a line of decorations that had such enormous sales, it’s amazing that they are as hard to find today as they are. They are made of foam rubber, so if not stored properly, these will definitely not last. We always displayed them indoors, so I think that helped. The market is pretty strong for anything related to the Oh Lantern family. Clearly, with sales as strong as they were, a lot of people who were alive in the 1980s must remember these, and it’s clear that many of them are nostalgic for these amazing decorations. It looks like if you have one in really nice shape with its original tag, you’re looking at between $75 and $125 if eBay prices are to be believed. Condition is everything though. A missing stem or deteriorated foam basically kills all of the value.

That is for the regular series. I can tell you that the babies are ABSURDLY hard to find, and in fact, I believe our website is the first to publish a picture of the complete set of eight.

While my family definitely treasures the vintage and antique Halloween collection my parents have put together over the years, the Oh Lantern family is one piece of nostalgia from my childhood that I am always happy to see reappear this time of year.

PLEASE NOTE: Since we’re trying to put together a definitive guide to The Oh Lantern Family, any information you have on the line that is not detailed here would be greatly appreciated!

A Note from Amy:

I could have sworn that somewhere we had pictures of Ben and I as little kids posing with the Oh Lanterns.  Well, if we do I couldn’t find them… but I did find some 1987 and 1988 photos in our personal collection of our Oh Lanterns!

Remember Ben saying that all he remembered about the Halloween of 1987 was being a pirate and Oh Lanterns?  Well, here is little Ben as a pirate at his nursery school Halloween party.  In the background on the table next to an awesome Godzilla figure is Jock Oh Lantern!

It might be a bit hard to see, but the pumpkin kid in the middle there is holding Jock Oh Lantern (by the stem I might add.  Oh the humanity!)  I think my mom must have decided to use him for a party game with the kids.  After this abuse it is amazing that he is still in great shape today.

Like Ben, I always remember the Oh Lanterns being on display in the kitchen, but in 1988 they were in the dining room.

My mom liked the Oh Lanterns so much that she took them out to the back yard and photographed them in 1988.  Here is one picture.  By now I am pretty sure my family looks Oh Lantern obsessed, but I don’t care.  There are a lot of happy childhood memories from these things, and they are just so cool looking!

Posted in 1980's, Amy, Ben, Halloween, Holiday, Humor, Monsters, Toys, Weird | 18 Comments