Mandrake, the Magician... Artwork project

The other day while I was at the local thrift shop, I found this really cool looking frame that was priced just right! I wasn't sure what I was going to put in it, but I knew I could find something really cool to replace the purple plant art that was in it currently. Once I was home, I had a look at all the things I had printed recently, looking for just the right image to put into this frame. The frame looked to me to be 'old' and had a certain retro style that made me think of something that would be hanging in a study, Hall, Billiard Room or Conservatory [yeah, I just played Clue a few days ago] of some cool old home. I decided on the Mandrake, The Magician theatrical poster from the 1939 Columbia Pictures theatrical serial because I love old magic posters, am a fan of Mandrake, and it looked like something that should be in this cool old frame.

There is a shadow box in the centre of the frame, and its height was not as tall as the 11 x 17 poster I had originally printed, so I had to go into photoshop and remove some of the top and bottom of the poster to make it fit.

It took way longer than I had thought to open the frame, as it was never meant to be taken apart. It was nailed and glued together very tightly. After pulling it apart, I was able to remove the flower picture and add a sheet of black construction paper to the back of the shadow box and then affix the newly printed Mandrake poster, before putting the whole thing back together.

I think the final result is pretty awesome, don't you! I can't wait to find a spot to hang this gem on my study wall - that's the fancy name I'm giving my living room.

Happy 14th Birthday Big Pile of Stuff!

Happy 14th Birthday to my blog, Ronn's Big Pile of Stuff! When I started it, it was mostly a joke to see if I could put something on the internet every day for a year. Then, once I started it, I kinda liked it! Hopefully there is someone out there also enjoying it, but if its just me, that's fine because I'm having fun!

Pluto and the 37th Recon Co.

I saw this logo online featuring Pluto for the 37th Recon Co. created by the Walt Disney Company during World War II. I really liked the logo but wished there was a better version online. After looking around, I didn't find any that looked much better, so I decided to make one myself which now pops up every now and again in my iMac's screen saver. Along with the logo I made, I decided to make a second one that looks older and distressed as if it was actually used. The bottom logo is the original and the other two are the ones I created in Photoshop.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in "Ye Olden Days"

Here is another faux Oswald the Lucky Rabbit poster I made for myself. I always liked the poster for Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse in "Ye Olden Days", so I decided it would be fun to re imagine the image as an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit animated film. Here is my faux Oswald poster, along with the original poster. I hope you enjoy!

Hey look... I'm in a Captain Canuck comic!

Captain Canuck #6 from 1979 was one of my first comic books and the one that really got me into collecting comics! The original series ran just 14 issues, from 1975 until its end in 1981. Many years later a limited edition #15 was released. Then 23 years later, a new Captain Canuck mini series titled Unholy War was released. When I saw it solicited in Previews I was so excited! I quickly wrote and mailed off a letter to Richard Comely telling him how excited I was that after so many years of waiting, there was finally going to be some new Captain Canuck comic books. To my surprise, when issue #1 was released in October 2004, right there in the back of the book, was my letter!

So far, I have had letters printed in two of my three favourite comic books, Captain Canuck, and Groo the Wanderer. Now I just have to wait for them to start printing letters in Batman again, and I can try to make it three for three!

I did make one mistake in my letter, when I wrote that I was member #6 in the Captain Canuck Club. I am actually #13. Sorry I lied in my letter. At the time I wrote my letter, I could not find my membership card, and for some reason I remembered being member #6. I'm so glad I can correct my error 16 years later. Feels good to get that off my chest.

Sergio Aragones custom artwork

Back in 1994 I had the pleasure of meeting Sergio Aragones for the first time at the Vancouver Comic Con. It was my first comic con and I had heard that when you meet artists etc, you were usually allowed to get one item signed and a photo and then sent on your way. I brought one issue of Groo the Wanderer to get signed and expected that would be it. When I went to his booth, he was sitting there working on artwork for an upcoming issue of Groo. He was really nice and signed my comic and showed me what he was working on. He said that he had spilled coffee on some pages he was drawing on the plane, so was doing them again (I guess thats ok when you are the worlds fastest cartoonist). I also asked him if he would do a drawing of Groo as a fireman for my KISS magazine, Firehouse Magazine. He said sure, but that he would do Alfred E Neuman. I'm not sure why he didn't want to do Groo (I would have been so much more excited for drawing of my favourite comic book character Groo), but I walked away with a really cool addition to my collection.

Mighty Mouse The New Adventures

In 1987, the animated television series, Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures debuted on Fox Kids. It was a revival of the mighty Mouse cartoon character from the 1940's. This version aired on CBS on Saturday mornings rom fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season. I loved this show back then, and would get up early every Saturday morning to record the show on VHS (which I still have). As was the norm with new cartoon series at the time, Wendy's offered kids toys for their kids meals based on the characters from Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures. I just found the cards that came with three of my favourites, Bat-Bat, Petey Pate and The Cow. I also managed to get the window cling from my local Wendy's that advertised the kids meal toys. Its still stuck on the piece of glass I stuck it to back in 1989.
Here are the fronts and backs of three of the cards that came with the toys.

KING-TVs famed mascot designed by Walt Disney studios

I recently saw a picture of Walt Disney with a drawing of KING TVs mascot King Mike, and it reminded me that in 1998 when KING TV celebrated their 50th anniversary, I wrote to the station asking for anything with King Mike on it. I don't remember if I actually new at the time that it was designed by Disney, I think I just thought it was a rally cool retro looking character. They were nice enough to send me a 50th Anniversary mouse pad with King Mike on it. More recently I found that he was actually created by Disney.
King Mike, the first KING-TV employee and mascot, was created by Walt Disney's studios in 1951. When Dorothy Bullitt created Channel 5 in 1948, she changed the call letters to KING. And soon after, she reached out to her good friend Walt Disney who lent his artistic flair to help her get the station off the ground by created King Mike.
The Disney company confirms, although Walt Disney himself was involved in the design, that it was one of his artists who actually made the rendering. The cost of the design and work: $75.
It's believed that King Mike is the only word that Walt Disney commissioned outside of the Disney studios.
To this day, KING Mike has been used in promotions and logos.

That's Quarantainment!

More fun for those of us participating in Pandemic 2020. Next Weeks Episode of Talent Time is gonna be done online via youtube. Check out the banner and info they posted on their facebook page.

Just a beautiful Facebook banner for our next show. So much has happened since the last one (that weirdly enough I was wearing rubber gloves on??) I really wish we could all mingle IRL. I guess this is real life now. For the time being anyway. So this is the next best thing. Also people is other cities can join us now too which is super cool!! Please mark your calendar (April 2nd 7:00 pst) and tune ti on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/TalentTimeTV

Mickey Mouse and th Perilous Jungle Cruise

Recently while visiting one of my favourite Disney sites, I saw some great faux Disney movie posters that are displayed at the character meet and greet at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. They were all really cool, but I especially liked the one for "Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in The Jungle Cruise". A day or two later I saw the cover of a 1947 comic book, "Mickey Mouse and the Submarine Pirates", and immediately imagined it as a Jungle Cruise themed picture. So, a little bit of Photoshop magic and, voila, it's Mickey Mouse and the Perilous Jungle Cruise.

The Silent Comedy Watch Party

During Pandemic 2020, people are coming up with all kinds of great ways to help all of us stuck at home. Last week I got to watch the 'pilot' of The Silent Comedy Watch Party with Ben Model playing along to two old silent comedies. And just the other day I received the following message from Ben. So, I know what I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon.

Last Sunday's "pilot" of The Silent Comedy Watch Party was a success! Over 360 people watched the show, and I got so many touching and enthusiastic comments from people about it. Most of all, for me, were the comments that the show and the hilarious films were a bright spot in their day, a much needed one after everything that had gone down last week.

So (drumroll please)...

Steve Massa and I will be doing another show this Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm (Eastern time). This will be the official "premiere" and episode #1 of The Silent Comedy Watch Party!

Here is the link:

https://silentfilmmusic.us11.list-manage.com/track/click…

Riverview Park Ride Tickets

You never know what fun things you'll find as you search your local thrift ships. Today, I found this very cool framed photo of Riverview Park with 18 ride tickets. I didn't know anything about Riverview Park. A quick google search and I found this: Riverview Park was an amusement park in  Chicago, Illinois which operated from 1904 to 1967. It was located on 74 acres on Chicago's north side. Among its ride collection, it had 6 roller coasters.

The ride tickets included with this framed picture are: 

Tilt-A-Whirl

Wild Mouse [Wild Mouse coaster]

Chutes [Shoot the Chutes old fashioned water ride]

Comet [Roller Coaster]

Bobs [Wooden Roller Coaster]

Boomerang

Water Bug

Pair-O-Chutes

Aladdin's Castle [Fun house]

Rollo Plane

Jet Stream [Wooden Roller Coaster - Philadelphia Toboggan Company]

Flying Turns [Wooden bobsled ride]

Space Ride

Tunnel of Love

Flash [Silver Flash Roller Coaster]

Miniature R.R. [ Coal-fired miniature steam engine]

Fireball [Roller Coaster]

Bump 'Em [Bumper cars]

Little Golden Book Monday #181

While at the thrift store the other day I found two copies of the Little Golden Book, Donald Duck's Toy Sailboat. Once I had both in hand, I realized the covers were actually slightly different. I prefer the Donald on the newer edition, but think the chipmunks on the older one are much better. What do you think?

Here are scans of the covers as well as the inside page from both versions.
The first one is the Fourteenth Printing from 1975. The second one is from 1990.

Gilligan's Island Comic Books

Back in the early 90's Harvey Comics got back into funny books in a big way! They got the licenses for Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Caster the Ghost, Baby Huey, Richie Rich and others. I was excited to have all these new funny books to buy each month, but it got me thinking about my favourite TV show of all time, Gilligan's Island, and more specifically the cartoon series that followed the three years of the live action show, The New Adventures of Gilligan. It would make an great comic book, and it seemed like it would fit in nicely with the stuff that Harvey was publishing at the time, so I decided to write them with my great idea! I was excited and not to surprised to received a reply that said my idea was great, but that the idea didn't fit into their 'present publishing plans'. Knowing what I do not about the show and mess with its rights, I realized it was not to be. But, it would have been my favourite title every moth if it had come out as a comic book!

Shown here is the letter I received from Sid Jacobson, along with the cool envelope with embossed Casper just below the word Entertainment. The letter from July 2, 1993, reads: Thanks so much for your suggestions about Gilligan's Island. I'm sorry but the idea doesn't fit into our present publishing plans. I with it would... It would be fun. But I'm afraid it would be to difficult for us to reach the appropriate market. Sincerely Sid Jacobson.
Also shown is the New Adventures of Gilligan comic book cover I threw together in Photoshop. Anybody else here want to buy a copy of this first issue!