Dizzy Gillespie – “Salt Peanuts” – 1947

Joe Harris is on skins.

Buddy Lee – Selling Lee Denim from the 1920’s – Present Day

Buddy Lee was an advertising character developed in the 1920’s by Lee Jeans to promote their products. Check out early 1940’s railroad Buddy below, along with some rare promotional Buddys from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Railroad buddy is part of my Mother’s doll collection.

Some rare Buddy Lee dolls below:

An extremely rare football Buddy Lee doll - 1940's

Ultra rare Dr. Pepper Buddy Lee - 1940's

Rare Coca-Cola Buddy Lee - 1940's

The Agent – Back in the Cold

Attention Operatives:

The Agent has gone back out into the cold.  Please standby for posts to resume by end of this week.

-Office of the Director

Pin-up Cocktail Sticks – 1950’s

These 1950’s pin-up cocktail sticks are amazing.  These were used to keep track of your cocktail at parties.

Destination Moon – 1950

It’s pretty amazing what you can buy on Amazon for $3. Destination Moon is one of those great finds. It’s one of the first space exploration movies that took into consideration the prospect, technology, and problems of space travel (Fritz Lang’s “Frau Im Mond” also attempted this in 1929 although little was know about feasible space travel.) The film was produced by George Pál, who later produced “When Worlds Collide”, “The War of the Worlds”, and “The Time Machine”. The film won the Academy Award for best visual effects in 1950!

I even found some great stills in the LIFE photography archive! The vision of space suits in the future is AWESOME!

The Mellotron – Changing Pop Music in the 1960’s

A Mellotron M400 in clear lucite

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. The heart of the instrument is a bank of parallel linear magnetic audio tapes, which have approximately eight seconds of playing time each. Playback heads underneath each key enable the playing of pre-recorded sounds. (Info via Wikipedia)

The Mellotron was used by British rock artists Graham Bond and Mike Pinder before it was used and brought to public popularity by The Beatles in the song “Strawberry Fields Forever”

Check out the Mellotron below in action:

Speedy Swimsuit Tag – 1940’s

I love the old JC Penney sticker!

Sounds in Space – Pop Music of the 1960’s

The sounds of space age pop filled bachelor pads far and wide in the 1960’s. Below are some of my favorite album covers! Images via.

This cover features Charles Eames' solar powered "Do Nothing" toy!

Buriki: Japanese Tin Toys from the Golden Age of the American Automobile – The Yoku Tanaka Collection

I had the pleasure of checking out the Buriki: Japanese Tin Toys from the Golden Age of American Automobile exhibit at the Japan Society this past weekend. The exhibit was a celebration of Japan’s achievements in tin toy design in the first two decades following World War II. The detail and construction of these is amazing. Some of them even have working lights, doors, horns, and automatic retractable convertible tops. Below are some highlights from the exhibit. All images are from the Japan Society website.

The Lincoln Futura concept car (This was the inspiration for the Batmobile)

This one had a working horn, lights, and retractable top!

Ambassador Magma is driving this sweet 1962 Cadillac

Russian Space Program Pin – 1960’s

This pin is awesome!