A Very Special Monkees Christmas Post

On January 1, I fly out to California to start the second leg of the Pippin Tour with Micky Dolenz so I am posting a Monkees themed Christmas post for the holiday season. This time around it is the bootleg Christmas album that has been bought and sold on the internet for the past couple of years. It features tracks from the Christmas episode of the show, the MTV Christmas medley '86 and tracks taken from several solo releases from the Monkees. I made a similar mix back in the 80s and gave it to my cousins for Christmas. Here it is for your enjoyment! Merry Christmas!

Monkees Christmas Album

Wishbook PJs from Outer Space!

Pajamas were allways a big deal during my childhood. I have no idea why but they were something special. Especially these pajamas. The Star Trek ones were super cool because you could pretend you were actually an officer on the deck of the Eneterprise. They were an exact replica of the uniform. (I also had a regular shirt that had the emblem on it that I wore everywhere) The Mork pajamas were made of this really weird foam like material that is no longer in use. Probably because it was toxic or something. I also had Dallas Coyboy Pajamas made from the same material.

Christmas in 1950!

The Wish Book Item That Started It All

Although technically I received this as a birthday present, it still came from the Wish Book so I thought that I would post it in this continuing series of posts. This was one of my first record players. Actually, I'm not sure if this was my first one or not. I did have a really cool record player that folded up into a suitcase that had detachable speakers but I can't recall if I had that one before this one. Anyway, this Winnie The Pooh record player served me well and every once in a while I check e-bay to see if anyone has it for sale. One time I found it but the price skyrocketed to the point where I wasn't prepared to pay that much. I loved that I could play records in any room. I would just fold down the cover and carry it to wherever I wanted. If you think about it, it was the equivalent of a seventies i-pod! I remember getting two 45s with this as well: the Happy Days theme and Welcome Back by John Sebastion. I still have the John Sebastion record. My sister broke the Happy Days theme. Oh well.

"BOP!" " BAG!" " WISH!" " BOOK!"

When we were kids, I used to trick my sister into telling me what she was giving me for Christmas every year. It was really easy. Every year I would tell her that I was giving her an ironing board. I don't know why she believed me every year but she did. Anyway, the only gift that I remember that she told me about was this: a Batman Bop Bag. I loved this bag and it took quite the beating from me. I still wish I had this today. In fact, whenever I see bop bags in a store, it takes me a while to walk past without picking one up and buying it.

Holy Bendables, Batman! More Wishbook stuff!

I got this great Batman Bendy as a stocking stuffer and for the longest time carried everywhere I went. It seemed to always be around right up until my Junior High years when my parents got rid of our toy chest. The weird thing that I remember about this was that there were two small holes in Batman's right arm. I still have no idea what they were or where they came from. Anyway, I know I loved this toy!


Speaking of superhero items from the wishbook, this was also a favorite of mine. The Spiderman Camera! It was a real camera that took amazing pictures. I used this camera for most of my pre-teen years and would still be using it today if technology hadn't destroyed the wonderful years of the Kodak legacy! No matter where I went people always thought it was a toy. That used to make me upset but it also made sure that people didn't realise that I was taking their picture!

Christmas With A Brooklyn Accent

FALALALALA.COM has posted one of my all time favorite Christmas albums - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by The Peppermint Kandy Kids! This was one of two albums that I received as a kid that had decorations as part of their covers. You could take the front flap of the album off and set it on a mantle or shelf or a door or what have you. The other album that had this feature was Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. I still have these albums and love them. What was the coolest about these albums was that there were the classic Christmas carols woven into a story albong with original songs as well. Holiday entertainment at its finest! Head over to FALALALALA.COM to get this classic! And tell them Dartman sent you!

Hi-o Wish Book, Away!

Here's another Wish Book ad featuring one of my many Christmas presents from childhood. This time out it's the Lone Ranger riding on Silver. This was one of the many toys that wound up on my dresser in the exact same position as in this ad. I hardly ever played with it. It served more as a statue than a toy. I had a high level of respect for this toy. I felt very cultured having it on my dresser. It was quite the gift!

More items from the Wishbook!

In the 70s the coolest character on television was of course, the 6 Million Dollar Man. I had the action figure with the bionic parts that you could take out (they would never have that today - the parts were very small thus they would be a major choking hazard!) and it also had a "Bionic Eye" that you could look through from the back of Steve Austin's plastic head. But the fun did not stop there - I also had the Bionic Emergency Center. This was the coolest! It starts off as a rocket ship that holds the Steve Austin figure. Then of course you make it crash. Then, it turns into a medical table complete with wires and life support machines where you can "add" the Bionic Parts to the Bionic Man! And if that wasn't enough, I also had Mask-A-Tron, the face changing robot who was Steve Austin's arch rival. The figure came with several different faces that you could put on - Steve Austin, Oscar Goldman and Mask-A-Tron's own face. And when the fun with the action figures stopped, you could always rely on the board game from the show to keep you entertained! But if you wanted to watch the show on any other day than Sunday night, you could only watch it with the hand held movie cassette reels that featured scenes from the show! I recently won an unopened Bionic Recsue Center on E-Bay and thought that it would be cool to have again. I sold it on E-Bay when I realised that it just wasn't the same. However, I would love to have Mask-A-Tron again!

Wishbook Pages of Christmas Past

As a child, gearing up for Christmas meant breaking out the latest Sears Wishbook and writing out a 3+ page list of all of the goodies inside that I wanted for Christmas. I then gave it to my Mom who of course sent it to Santa who we all knew used the Sears Wishbook for all of his shopping! As Christmas 2006 gets nearer and nearer, I thought that I would share some of those great items that made the list and eventually made it under the tree. Here's number 1:



This was the Golden Ticket for Viewmaster fans - The Viewmaster Projector! Bsically it was just a projector that made it possible for more than one person to enjoy a Viewmaster Reel. Nothing spectacular but this was during the days when there were no VCRs or DVD players. The only person "qualified" to run the home movie projecter was Dad so this was a kids way of showing and watching big screen characters that they found enjoyable. I still have this projector today. As soon as I find a replacement bulb I can share it with my niece and nephew!