midcentury Levi's silkscreened banner (1950s)

yo yo yo, caught this on the Antiques Roadshow, by far my guiltiest pleasure on television. This silkscreened on denim banner came out of a general store in Camp Verde, Arizona and was valued at $1800-2000. I guess that episode was a rerun from 2006, so I would expect to go for slightly less now, but holy shit, I would LOVE to own that thing! This bad larry is 10 feet long and from the 1950s.

Kirk Cameron rocks a Growing Pains shirt

This photo just struck me as the penultimate of self referential tomfoolery. We know you're on Growing Pains, dude. We know you're a fan.

This is a bit like Metallica wearing their own band shirts on stage, which they constantly did. Oh, you like YOUR OWN BAND THAT IS PLAYING RIGHT NOW THAT I PAID MONEY TO SEE? I had no idea.

By the way, I'm on a mission to find that shirt now.

Bear down!

This is just a random found image, but this is exactly what everyone in Chicago looked like in 1986.

Bears looked good last night, but even though I am from Chicago, I'm a lot more cautiously optimistic than average. Their secondary looked like tissue paper as Denver's lesser tier receivers and Kyle friggin' Orton had no problem carving them up last night.

early 80s fashions, elderly Cajun style (and some Yankees)

Ken Burns' documentary "Huey Long" seems like an unlikely place to find great American vintage style (though Long was a dapper gentleman himself), but Burns' 1985 documentary captures a time and place that has since disappeared- and not just the Kingfish. The folks that he interviewed had a unique style that took me back to my own childhood in Louisiana- a unique and particular style that has since vanished. The landed Southern aristocrats he interviewed looked the part, as did they journalists, historians, and Cajuns.

I haven't been back to Louisiana much in the past years, but I suspect that the Wal-Martificiation of America has also not left Sportsman's Paradise unscathed. The folks have long past as has a unique part of America and American history.

Dorothy Stratten and Hugh Hefner

from A Man out of Time

These two seem to keep finding me lately. Something about a girl in striped kneehighs, man.

Playboy's Roller-Disco and Pajama Party (1979)

"In November 1979, Richard Dawson hosted The Playboy Roller Disco and Pajama Party (sic) on ABC With musical entertainment provided by Chuck Mangione and the Village People, most of the activity focused on Hefner and several dozen skimplily clad Playmates roller skating to disco music on the tennis courts, dancing in the mansion's great hall, and lounging by the swimming pool and grotto." - from Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream.

grabbed from some YouTube video. Is that Dorothy Stratten in the final shot? She is not listed as appearing in this on IMDB. Hmm, maybe it's not her, but she was PMOY in 1980. PS. Star 80 is awesome- Eric Roberts' best work.

You may also know Chuck Mangione from his appearances on King of the Hill.

what John Hughes' funeral should look like

it's so hot, our clothes are HALF OFF

Hey, everything in the Bulldog Vintage eBay store is HALF OFF right now- plus many of my items ship for free. BUY BUY BUY.

CHECK IT OUT!

Pulp "This is Hardcore"

safety suit for aviators (1910)

From the pages Popular Mechanics, which was a lot more badass in 1910 when the emerging science of aviation was in full flower. I like how the safety suit is accented by a crisply creased pair of dress trousers and freshly shined shoes.

pigtails fad (1940s)

Judy Canova- read more about her on the always fascinating I'm Learning to Share

Pigtails on Shirley Slade, pilot trainee (1943)

Co-ed Lenore Tingle from Life Magazine archives.

Pigtails on a felt bonnet on a comely young lass.

Actress Joan Fontaine (1942) meooowrrr- how natural and cute is her smile? And the perfect amount of sun-kissed freckles!

Co-ed Ann Teal Smith (1941) Hubba hubba!

This last dame? Some skirt named Norma Jean Baker.

I stumbled upon the pigtails trend whilst wasting hours on the Life Magazine image archives on Google. It seems that country singer Judy Canova was the originator of the trend. Her "country" look clearly influence the look of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (1939)
It seems odd that such a cute and practical look inspired such a trend, but considering the complicated hair-dos of the late Thirties and Forties, pigtails must have seemed like a godsend. I've always had a thing for pigtails.

incredible letterhead for The Alfred Dolge celebrated felt slippers

I absolutely love this kind of letter head and logo. I love how the most banal necessities become "celebrated" and grandoise in translation. i can't get enough of this stuff.

I grabbed this one from the Emergeance of Advertising collection of Duke University, but here are some other items of interest:
Sheaff Ephemera
and
Artistic Printing
and
this post on A Time to Get

previous posts on my other blog, Save vs. Death:
Wille zur Macht meets Willy Loman
Oil Lamp +2 spot illustration