Woodward's Music Department

The other day while flipping though the records at a local thrift shop, I came across this unusual item. It is a small bag, just big enough to hold a 45 rpm record, from Woodward's music department. For those of you who don't know, Woodward's was the name of a department store which operated in Western Canada for one hundred years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company 1993, at which time the Woodward's stores retired to the history books.
I remember that when I was young, most department stores had a pretty decent record department. I did a lot of my record shopping at Planters which was the record department of the Bay. This paper bag was obviously for anyone purchasing and 45 singles, or other smaller items. I assume they also had a larger version for LPs. This one has a flap on the back like an envelope, and you can see where it had been taped shut when the customer made their purchase and left the store.
The front of the bag lists the shopping locations in British Columbia as Vancouver, Oakridge, West Vancouver, New Westminster, Victoria and Port Alberni, and in Alberta in Edmonton, Westmount and Calgary.
When I found this, I was really hoping their might be an original receipt inside so I could see how much was spent on records, but no such luck.
Luckily though, the thrift store clerk let me take this treasure home with me for free!

Little Golden Book Monday #22

I've been reading The Annotated Cat: Under the hats of Seuss and His Cats for the past few days, so I am in a real Seuss mood. So for today's Little Golden book I have chosen the "Cat in the Hat" movie addition from 2003. Adapted by Jesse Leon McCann, Based on the motion-picture screenplay written by Alec Berg & David Mandel & Jeff Schaffer, Illustrated by Christopher Moroney, Based on the book by Dr. Seuss... whew, did you get all that!
It's the story from the Universal Studio movie, but with artwork that looks very similar to the original "Cat in the Hat" and "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" books from 1957 and 1958.
Although I was not a big fan of the movie, I am certainly a fan of the books. I remember as a young child having a copy of both "Cat and the Hat" and "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" (which I still have today), and loving to curling up in bed to have mom read them to me, which seems kind of ironic now after reading the Annotated Cat book in which they make a big point of that fact that these books were meant to help kids learn to read by themselves, and even sported the "for beginning readers" and "I can read it all by myself" slogans on he original and subsequent printings of the books. I remember them being books that I loved to have read to me, but I don't really remember reading them myself. I guess I was more of a Dick and Jane reader.
...the Cat in the Hat - singing, and driving his super-splendiferous Housecleaning machine!
Conrad and Sally could scarcely believe their eyes.
When the cleaning crew had finished, the house was spotless. They'd dry-cleaned Mom's dress, scrubbed Conrad and Sally, and even given Nevins a both - all without waking up Mrs. Kwan!
"Good-bye, Cat!" called Conrad and Sally. "Thanks for everything!"
The Cat was still singing as he drove away.

Donald Duck the Milkman 45 RPM

The other day while out thrift shop shopping, I came upon a large collection of picture sleeve 45's... all priced at 49 cents each! One of my absolute favorite things to collect is Disneyland Records, and any time I find a new addition to my Disneyland Records collection, I am very excited! Among the great picture sleeve 45's I found that day, I picked up this great Walt Disney "Little Gem" Record with 2 Fun Stories, "Donald Duck The Milkman" and Donald Duck The Peanut Vendor". The record is copyright 1961 Walt Disney Productions. There is a large white sticker on the front of the record with the price of 39 cents, which I am sure was put on the record back when it was originally on the store shelve back in the 60's. I absolutely love the artwork on the front!
On the back of the record sleeve is a listing of other Little Gem records. If you and your children enjoy this Walt Disney Little Gem record we know that you'll be happy to learn that the Disney Studio has prepared a wonderful library of 12-inch LPs for children.
This Little Gem record, while complete in itself, is only a small portion of the high quality and good musicianship found on the Disney 12-inch LP line. We invite your attention to the following LP titles which are available at your favorite record store:
DQ-1201 SNOW WHITE - Sound Track
DQ-1202 PINOCCHIO - Sound Track
DQ-1203M BAMBI - Sound Track
DQ-1204 DUMBO - Sound Track
DQ-1205 UNCLE REMUS - Sound Track
DQ-1206M PETER PAN - Sound Track
DQ-1207 CINDERELLA - Sound Track
DQ-1208 ALICE IN WONDERLAND
DQ-1209 Walt Disney's FUN WITH MUSIC
DQ-1210 GOOFY'S DANCE PARTY
DQ-1211 MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY RHYMES
DQ-1212 DONALD DUCK AND HIS FRIENDS
DQ-1213M BEST LOVED DISNEY SONGS
DQ-1214M HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HOLIDAY SONGS
DQ-1215M MUSICAL MONKEY SHINES
DQ-1216 ZOO SONGS
DQ-1217 SONGS OF OUR AMERICAN HERITAGE
DQ-1218 STORIES OF AESOP
DQ-1219 BABES IN TOYLAND
DQ-1220 Walt Disney's DOG SONGS
DQ-1221 ANIMAL SONGS FROM AESOP
DQ-1222 PROFESSOR LUDWIG VON DRAKE
ST-1901 STORY OF DARBY O'GILL
ST-1902 STORY OF GOLIATH
ST-1903 STORY OF THE COUNTRY COUSIN
ST-1904 STORY TO TOBY TYLER
ST-1905 STORY OF GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANTS
ST-1906 STORY OF POLLYANNA
ST-1907 STORY OF SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
ST-1908 STORY OF 101 DALMATIANS
ST-1909 STORY OF PERRI
ST-1910 STORY OF THREE LITTLE PIGS
ST-1911 STORY OF THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR
ST-1912 STORY OF THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
ST-1913 STORY OF NIKKI
WDL-1008M A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES
WDL-1016 PETER AND THE WOLF
WDL-1030 LITTLE GEMS FROM BIG SHOWS
WDL-1039 SALUDOS AMIGOS
WDL-4101A RITE OF SPRING / TOCCATA AND FUGUE
WDL-4101B NUTCRACKER SUITE / DANCE OF THE HOURS
WDL-4101C PASTORAL SYMPHONY / NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN

Captain Canuck Vs the Walrus

The other day I was at the library and this particular magazine caught my eye. I could only see half the cover (there is a half cover with text, that can be folded back to reveal the complete picture without text), but the artwork looked very familiar. It turned out it was a drawing of Canadian super hero Captain Canuck, drawn by Captain Canuck creator Richard Comely. It was the February 2007 issue of a Canadian magazine called The Walrus. I took it out along with a pile of other great reads, including the Overstreet Comic Price Guide.
When I got home, I quickly thumbed through the magazine looking for an article on my favorite comic hero, but was disappointed to find that the cover drawing and a small note on the contents page, "Cover: Captain Canuck has been appearing in comic books since 1975. Painting by Richard Comely" were the only Captain Canuck items to be found in the magazine. Inside was an article which said "To The Rescue! Have the Liberals found their Captain Canuck? which is I guess why someone thought it would be a good idea to put a comic book character on the cover.
As for the magazine its self, its one of those magazines where its really hard to tell exactly what the focus (if any) the magazine has. The Walrus magazine is definently not a magazine I will be picking up again, but it was a neat treat to see my favorite super hero on the cover of a recent magazine sitting there at my local library... and now I have a scan of it here on my blog for all to see!

Kinda Related to Last Post...

Today while out checking out my favorite thrift shops, I came across this book called TJ Bearytales: My Bear-riffic Safari Adventure. After Monday's post all about the Knott's Beary Tales attraction, I decided to pick this up.
It turns out this is part of a Playskool musical toy. On the first page it says "Slide the play camera into T.J.'s left paw and during the story, he'll snap pretend pictures!" On the back page it says "Slide switch at top of the backpack to 'on'. Push to start or pause the story. Push 'music note' for activities & songs." So, apparently this is part of a toy that comes with a spoken story & music, stuffed bear (with camera and backpack), and the book which I picked up.

Little Golden Book Monday #21

"Welcome one and all! Ya ‘all come have a ball! Things are very fine, ridin’ on the ol’ Knott’s Berry Line."

Today's Little Golden book is All My Chickens by Robert Kraus, 1993. I picked this one up at a local thrift shop for one thin dime. I immediately liked the cover but didn't really know why until later when I got home and took another look at it. I realized that it was in some small way, reminding me of the long since closed Knott's Berry Farm attraction "Bear-y Tales", which I so fondly remember riding as a 9 year old kid back in 1977. To this day, this silly little attraction is one of the things I remember most about that vacation!
Knott's Bear-y Tales opened at Knott's in 1975. It was a slow moving dark ride that took riders past various adventures of the Bear-y Family. Along the way, you’d see Frog Forrest, the Candy Company and bakery where everyone is making boysenberry pies and preserves, the Gypsy camp, where Sara tells your fortune, and the spiders and creatures of Thunder Cave. And you can’t forget the Weird Woods, home of Crafty Coyote, or the trilling conclusion at the Country Fair.
Some of the most endearing things about Knott's Bear-y Tales was its catchy theme song, boysenberry smell throughout the attraction, and the campy, black-light look through the entire ride. Knott's Bear-y Tales wasn't a mass-produced dark ride. It was 100% Knott's Berry Farm, back before thrills ruled the day and rides were restricted to last only as long as the MTV attention span.
Sadly, when I went back in the late 80's I hoping to ride this attraction again, I found it had been replace with a ride to capitalize on the popularity of dinosaurs. Bear-y Tales closed in 1986 to make room for Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. "KOD" used the exact same ride system, vehicles, and track as Bear-y Tales to take riders on an adventure back to the time of the dinosaurs.
I have since purchased the "Bear-y Tales" DVD from Extinct Attractions Club, which has allowed me to relive all the excitement (or is that disappointment) of that long forgotten attraction. After rewatching my Bear-y Tales DVD today, I realize how much this ride reminds me the Splash Mountain ride thru, with the same sorts of visuals and a theme song that gets stuck in your head while you ride. The only thing missing is the flume at the end!

Batman could totally beat Superman!

I have never considered myself a comic nerd, but I do love comics. I have been collecting them since the early 80's when I got my first issues of Captain Canuck, Silver Surfer and Rom: Space Knight. I have been going to comic shops almost as long as I have been reading comics, but it seems there is never enough time to really spend digging around my favorite comic shops. I'm always in a hurry, or have someone waiting for me, or worse yet, have my 2 year old son with me while I try to browse!
There has been the odd time where for some reason I wasn't in a rush and we able to hang out at the comic shop. I got to listen to and partake in some of those bizarre conversations about which comic book heroes would beat who, or discussions on why something that happened in a recent issue could never have happened the way it did. Real geek speak stuff... and just the kind of stuff that makes me smile.
So, while reading though an old copy of Wizard I picked up recently, I couldn't help but get a chuckle out of the following article.
Can it be done? The Flash's breathing rate. With DC's Scarlet Speedster sprinting toward a new era in his career, we got to wondering - since all living things process oxygen to perform physical acts like running, wouldn't the Flash use up all of Earth's oxygen during one of his light-speed dashes?
Professor James Kakalios of the university of Minnesota has the answer. "A student of mine asked that question in class, and I loved it so much that I used it in my new book," said Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes (2005). "If you do some calculations using the Flash's body mass, the volume of oxygen used to run a mile and the number of oxygen molecules in that volume, and assuming he runs at the speed of light, you come up with a number like a trillion trillion oxygen molecules that he inhales per second. But since Earth's atmosphere contains 20 million trillion trillion oxygen molecules, he's have to run that fast for about 27 million years before he exhausted all the oxygen in the atmosphere."
That sound you hear is us breathing a sigh of relief. [Reprinted from Wizard magazine, issue 169]
The comic cover shown with this blog entry is from "The Flash", issue #118, from October 1996. This cover has been on display on the comic spinner in the basement for some time now, and I was thrilled to have an excuse to scan it and use it on my blog!

Little Golden Book Monday #20

Today's Little Golden book is "Buster Cat Goes Out" by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Rose Mary Berlin, 1989. Not sure why I liked this one so much, but it stuck out from all the other books I saw at the thrift store the other day. The artwork and story inside are nothing special, but I really liked the cover. I'm not sure if it's Buster, or the cute little squirrel climbing the tree that I like so much!? And without giving anything away, Buster does end up meeting the cute little squirrel near the end of the story.
On the inside front cover of my copy, it says "This little Golden Book belongs to Emma and Eric W." I hope Emma & Eric were OK with Mom (or Dad) sending this treasure off to the thrift store.

Chimp-Artist Will Paint For You!

Commission a canvas for yourself or an art-loving friend... a genuine primitive by the world's first professional chimpanzee artist! Not a dabbler, not a fingerpainter, talented Pablo uses brush and palette (sometimes 2 brushes) for his spectacular abstract originals. Created individually for you in oils on canvas, the painting comes handsomely wood-framed (12" x 18") with a gleaming engraved metal plaque that tells the world who it's been commissioned for. Included are documentary photos of Pablo at work. Fantastic art value - untouched by human hands! Be sure to specify the name of the fortunate recipient. Primitive Painting... $9.98
This was in an old 60's comic book. If this was available today, I would be sending off my $9.98 right away!

This ad also got me thinking... here is a drawing my two year old son Kaden drew recently. I wonder if we could put ads in he back of comic books today, selling "Toddler-Artist Will Paint For You!". we could sell Kaden's artwork as a PDF file sent to the purchaser via email along with a few photos of him creating their artwork!
Anyone want to commission a Kaden Blaze masterpiece?

Little Golden Book Monday #19

Today's Little Golden Book is "From Trash to Treasure" which seems very appropriate for me right now, as I have been on a real Thrift store kick recently. There is a certain thrill in finding some treasure amongst a pile of junk at the local thrift shop, and recently I have been venturing into a lot of said thrift shops!
So, in honor of my recent trash to treasure finds, I bring you the 1993 CTW Sesame Street "From Trash To Treasure" in which Ernie and Bert, along with the rest of the Sesame Street gang learn about recycling, in which "new things can be made from trash."
So I guess what this book teaches me, is that I am actually helping the environment by buying all this stuff and keeping it out of the land fill! Makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over just thinking about my planned visit to some new thrift shops tomorrow afternoon.

Hey, City That Never Sleeps...

Here is a great advertising stunt by Flogers coffee. They have placed this picture of a cup of cover with the slogan "Hey, City that Never Sleeps. Wake up. Folgers" over manhole covers in New York City. There are holes in the picture that line up with the holes in the manhole cover which allows the steam to come up through the holes to make it looks the the cup of coffee is steaming hot. Brilliant!