One thing that stinks about being an adult is that I don't get summers off anymore. One thing that rules about being an adult is I don't have to deal with the looming threat of Back to School time. So you see, now I can look at vintage back-to-school advertisements with joy and amusement, not dread. And now you can too. Enjoy!
Fans of That '70s Show remember the name Vista Cruiser well. Here we have an interesting publicity photo of the 1968 Vista Cruiser Custom from Oldsmobile (the one from the show is a '69 model). I do not recommend standing on any car roof like this.
Today's beauty comes to us from the mid 1960s, during what I think of as the golden age of amusement parks. It dates (I believe) from 1964, when the first Sea World opened in the Mission Bay area of San Diego, California. Located on 22 acres, the original vision for the park was a giant underwater restaurant. I think the amusement park was definitely the way to go.
Sea World's owners spared no expense with this brochure, as it has the evocative prose and lush illustrations typical of the best brochures and advertising material of the mid-century period. Behold the beauty of the front cover:
Let's take a closer look at that logo, for it is wonderful.
Just two colors here, but a great contrast of typefaces. And turning the standard '60s grid globe into a fish? Genius.
Bef...
In past ad galleries I've typically stuck with a particular theme or product, such as holiday-themed ads or new car lineups. I'm going to try something new and product an ad gallery from a single year, covering a wide range or products and services. Basically, a sort of visual shorthand to see what someone would've seen in print or TV ads in a particular year. Think of this as a virtual department store of sorts.
For the first edition I thought I'd travel back exactly 50 years to 1967. Let's browse!
Automobiles
Consumer Electronics
Entertainment
Fashion
Food and Beverage
Health and Beauty
Household Goods
Travel
Before We Was Fab looks at some of the best songs of the pre-Beatles era, in search of great singles that have largely been forgotten.
If you've heard of Benny Spellman at all, chances are it's because of his association with groups such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, The O'Jays, or The Hollies -- all of whom covered his songs.
As it happens, I was listening to the iconic Who album Live at Leeds and paid particular attention to their live rendition of "Fortune Teller." The Who, as with many English rock bands of the time, had a deep love and appreciation for popular and obscure R&B, and that's where "Fortune Teller" comes in.
The song was written by the great Allen Toussaint under the pseudonym Naomi Neville, and was first recorded by Spellman as the B-side of his only hit si
Courtesy this vintage car dealership postcard comes this fun image of the 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente Convertible. It's the best bargain under the big top!
One of the greatest television specials of all time, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, is celebrating its 50th birthday this year! Let's take a moment to recognize this essential piece of our childhoods and to pay homage to the man behind it all, Charles M. Schulz.
The now-yearly tradition began on October 27, 1966, when CBS debuted the half-hour animated special -- the third such Peanuts show -- as part of its Thursday evening lineup. Here are a few newspaper ads from that day.
Now as far as I can tell, the first reference to the Great Pumpkin appeared in the Peanuts comic strip almost exactly 7 years before the show, in October 1959. Here is that strip:
These days preserving memories of Halloween parties and trick or treating is as simple as clicking an icon on your phone. Back in the day it not only meant fumbling with a camera and film, but also finding a way to preserve all those spooky and cute memories.
To remind us all of simpler Halloween times, here is a gallery of 13 vintage slides (some Kodachrome) depicting kids (and kids at heart) getting into the Halloween spirit with costumes, jack-o-lanterns, parades, and of course trick or treating for candy!
The Dodge Polara was an automobile introduced in the United States for the 1960 model year as Dodge's top-of-the-line full-size car; after the introduction of the Dodge Custom 880 in 1962, the Polara nameplate designated a step below the full sized, best trimmed Dodge model. In its various forms, the Polara name was used by Dodge until 1973, when its position in Dodge's line-up was replaced by the Dodge Monaco.
The name Polara is a reference to the Polaris star, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race during the early 1960s. The Polara was a competitor to the Ford Galaxie 500 and the Chevrolet Impala.
