A few years before advertising mascot classic Boo Berry and Fruit Brute (to say nothing of Fruity Yummy Mummy) entered the pantheon of Monster Cereal mascots, there was the original duo of Count Chocula and Franken Berry.

General Mills introduced the pair — legal names Count Alfred Chocula and Franken Berry — in 1971. They were notable not just for their delicious breakfast cereals but for their utter cowardice in TV ads.

I’m not sure if they ever really left the shelves for any length of time (Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy came back briefly but are discontinued as of 2020) but for the past decade they’ve only been available around the Halloween season. The current iterations of the Count and his pink nemesis are computer-generated abominations, so let’s remember them here as they should always be.

Folks, this one has it all. Matching outfits, leis, pants up to the belly button, at least three tubes of Brylcreem, a vibraphone (or is it a marimba?), and state of the art photo editing. It’s Arthur Lyman on Broadway!

This gem of an LP was released in 1959 on the HiFi Records label. Lyman, who made his name with music that could roughly be called Polynesian, explored the world of show tunes here. There are four cuts on the album — “The King and I,” “My Fair Lady,” Porgy and Bess,” and “South Pacific.”

Here’s a wonderful early-to-mid century postcard from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (aka the Christmas City”).

There’s no postmark or other text on this one.

Here is a wonderful piece of Thanksgiving and U.S. military ephemera. It’s the 1952 Thanksgiving menu for a dinner held by the Long Beach Group of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Reserve Fleet. Here’s the cover, with its wonderfully traditional illustration and typeface:

And the menu itself, including Thanksgiving staples such as ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, and cigars!

The birth of the modern disaster movie can likely be traced to the 1970 hit Airport, starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin among others. Released on May 29 of that year, it grossed more than $100 million at the box office – an impressive number today but staggering 50 years ago.

This newspaper ad is courtesy the Arizona Daily Star from November 12, by which time Airport was still enjoying its run. Looks like the original ad from May was simply repurposed based on my research. Of note, the film spawned a pair of sequels — Airport 1975 and Airport ’77.

Just in time for Halloween, I’m kicking off a new series featuring a festive Halloween cover. It’s the cover to Our Gang Comics #28 (Dell, November 1946). 

Since Halloween is once again just around the corner, here are a few slides from days gone by featuring kids and adults in fun costumes. Here are some adults from some time in the 1950s. The poor guy on the left looks totally thrilled.

And here is a decidedly happier-looking group of kids from the ’70s.

Courtesy the October 27, 1928 issue of The Saturday Evening Post comes this great, spooky ad for Whitman’s Chocolates. Not just nuts but fruits too!

Happy birthday to CHiPs, which debuted on NBC on September 15, 1977. The show was critically panned but lasted for six seasons, 139 episodes, and one movie.

Here’s an ad for the show’s debut, taken from the Tampa Times.