The 25 Posts of Christmas: Day 20

Fisher Price was probably one of the biggest companies to make kids toys. They came up with the coolest items for every age group. I was the proud owner of the Little Tykes Basket Ball set. It rocked! The best part was every time you scored a basket, a bell would ring! And you could keep score by rotating the number wheel on the right and left sides of the basket! I also had the Little Red School House. It was even more of a novelty for me as we had a Little Red Schoolhouse in the town where I grew up! This was not just a school house playset - it was a chalkboard and a magnet board as well! In fact, my mother still finds those letters around the house, some 30 odd years later! The garage playset was awesome. That ramp was the coolest! But nothing beat out the barn! When the doors opened up, you heard the loudest "MOO" ever heard. And of course, we all remember the Little People! How many people had the dog only to have it end up with one ear which would be twisted upside down?!

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Day 17

Super 8 Theater presents Santa Claus' Story performed by Monkeys!!!!

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Day 14

Another Great item from the Sears Wishbook:
This item was a very special and bizarre part of my childhood. I went through a phase where I wanted nothing more than to have a brother. Unfortunately, I had one sister and after me, my mom was not able to have any more children. Then I heard about this television show called SOAP where a character on the show had a dummy that he referred to as a brother. Being the impressionable child that I was, I asked for this dummy that was advertised in the Sears Catalogue. It was called Willie Talk. A play on words that never hit me until I was well past this stage of my life and kept the dummy in a box in a closet. Anyway, I received him for Christmas and took him with me everywhere, always referring to him as my brother Willie. This worked rather well until I dropped him and his mouth caved into his head. I was able to pull out the mouth and put it back in place, but since the fall had broken one of the points that kept his mouth in place, if I pulled the cord on the back too hard, the mouth would go back into the head again. Eventually, as I stated above, Willie Talk found his way into a box in my closet where he stayed until years later when I tossed him.

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Day 9

More Wishbook Items!


For some odd reason, my family liked to give me lots of Dallas Cowboys related items. I don't know why. I was never a fan of football. I didn't play football. I only liked the Cowboys because in the 70s, you were either a Cowboys fan or a Steelers fan. I chose the Cowboys because of their colors (I picked the Dodgers as my fav baseball team for the same reason!). Anyway, with my parents trying desperately for me to be like other "normal boys" I guess they thought that NFL paraphenalia would help make a man out of me. Hence the pajamas, sweatshirts, duffle bags, bedspreads, etc . . .

Interesting side note to this story: My mother was extremely over-protective of me as a child. Even if I did want to play football she would not have allowed it. In fact, she even found a way to not let me play flag football in gym class. Which makes these gifts even more confusing.

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Day 4

Continuing with my 25 posts of Christmas, I bring you some items from the Sears Wishbook. As I stated last year, when I was young, 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 I did last year, I thought that I would share some of those great items that made the list and eventually made it under the tree.

For this post I bring you the "controversial" Ernie puppet. This was a hand puppet that was given to me one Christmas when I was very young. Since I came from a big Italian family, we would exchange gifts between the family on Christmas Eve (after the 5 hour dinner spectacular!). On that fateful Christmas Eve, I received the Ernie puppet from my Aunt and Uncle. At first I thought it was great. Then my father picked it up and tried to entertain me by biting me on the nose with it. Of course, this terrified me and started me crying which then led to the puppet being locked away in a drawer, never to be played with again. Good times!

The Greatest Dare-Devil Is Gone

I just found out that Evel Knievel, the greatest Dare-Devil in the history of mankind, died today. If you were a child of the 70s and 80s (like me), then you know that there is only one #1 and that's Evel Knievel. Here are some you-tube clips of his awe inspiring feats and crashes.

Hey Man, Dig Those Krispies!

Dave Says "Thank You, Drive Through"

Here's a classic clip from The Late Show with David Letterman with Dave running the drive through at McDonald's. Enjoy!

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors . . .

Abbott and Costello Spend a Night in a Haunted House

Here's an episode of the Abbott and Costello Radio Show from 1947. It's titled "Night In A Haunted House". The title tells it all. Enjoy!

Abbott and Costello (OTR)

The Costumed Youth of The Dartman Part 4

By the time The Empire Strikes Back had come out, the art of "customising" my store bought costumes had come to new heights. When I donned my Ben Cooper Yoda costume, I had a cane once owned by my great grandfather. This was no ordinary cane. It had decorative polish writing carved into it thus making it look like it could possibly belong to an aging jedi master. I think this was the last time I wore a store bought costume. It was fun while it lasted!

If Mary Poppins Was A Horror Film

The Costumed Youth of The Dartman Part 3

Continuing with my posts about my store bought Halloween costumes, I bring you my only attempt at impersonating Robin Williams. I am, of course, talking about Mork from Ork. This was the start of my "customising" my costumes. I realised that Mork wore white gloves when he was in his spacesuit, so I borrowed my mother's crossing guard gloves and wore those as an added bonus! Thus I was more than just an average store bought wearing costumed kid! I was a one of a kind! Incidentally, I was at a vintage clothing store yesterday and they were selling the smock from the Ben Cooper C-3PO costume. Part of me wanted to buy it but the rational part of me said no. The rational side won.

The Costumed Youth of The Dartman Part 2

As we continue on with the countdown ( I suddenly had a flashback of Casey Kasem) I give you another great store bought Halloween costume that once adorned my little boyish body back in the day. This time around it's Steve Austin, aka The Six Million Dollar Man! I was a huge fan of TSMDM and still am to this day! (waiting patiently for the DVDS to be released someday!). This was a cool costume because on the mask, it was very obvious to tell which eye was bionic and you kind of felt like you had a bionic eye because you were looking through an eye-hole cut out of a plastic mask! My mother still has a picture of me in this outfit with my sister in her outfit from when we marched in the town's Halloween Parade. I don't know if there were any other towns that did this, but in sunny Clinton, CT, they would have a Halloween Parade on a Saturday morning and all of the kids would march in costume where they were looked upon by the town. At the end you got a goodie bag of candy and treats like wax teeth and a statue of Dracula that had liquid in it. My father told me that the liquid was gross so I chose to leave the wax statue on my bourough until one day, in a fit of anger, I ripped the head off and then cried that I had ruined it. Good times! Speaking of the Six Million Dollar Man, in case you missed it, I posted the Power Records version of the series a while back. You can catch it here!

Halloween Mix 06 Repost

Here is my official Halloween mix from last year in case anyone missed it or doesn't have it. Featuring various spooks, shrieks and all around halloween goodness! It's in two parts due to the amount of tracks. Enjoy and stay tuned for this year's mix coming up real soon!

Part 1
Part 2

The Costumed Youth of The Dartman Part 1

When I was a kid, Halloween costume shopping consisted of going to the local Caldor store and walking through the Halloween section until you found the aisle with all of the costume boxes. Back then, costumes were made by three different companies: Ben Cooper, Collegeville and Halco. These costume boxes consisted of a vinyl smock that you would tie around your body and a plastic mask that had a rubberband to wrap around your face. When you walked, the vinyl smock would make sounds so loud you could hear them a mile away, and your face would sweat from the mask that you couldn't help but stick your tongue through the breathing hole at your mouth. Plus, with the mask on, all sounds you heard sounded like you were in a tin can and your voice seemed to be amplified to you but to no one else. The themes of the outfits were usually TV and movie characters but there were also generic ones like a witch or a ghost or somehting else. If you got to the store too late in the season you would have to settle for what was left that hadn't been picked over (more on that topic later). The first costume that I can remember owning was Casper.

As you can see from the picture, the smock would feature a scene invloving the characters rather than an actual look-a-like outfit. As I was too young to actually remember wearing this particular outfit, I do remember owning the mask and wearing it for a few years after the initial halloween purchase. More to come on these great costumes of the past!

Halloween With The Nelsons!

Continuing with our countdown to Halloween, here is an episode of The Ozzie And Harriet Radio show. The show is entitled, "Haunted House" and you can guess what the plot line is. Anyway, here it is for you now as an mp3 file! Enjoy!

Ozzie and Harriet-Haunted House

October Is Upon Us!

Today is October 1 and that means we have 30 days until Halloween!! To do the just service of counting down the days until the spooktakular event, I will post nothing but spooky, fun Halloween-esque like posts all month long. Of course there will be my Funtastic Halloween Mix for this year but that will come soon enough. Today I thought we would start out with some monsters! The Sesame Street Monsters to be exact! This album haunted me for years. Not because I was scared by it or anything (it is a Sesame Street record!) but because I couldn't have it. When I was a kid in grade school, every so often they would have a book fair in the library. They would have all sorts of cool things besides books. I remember they had magazines and records as well. Every year, the Sesame Street Monsters record would be there to buy and every year I would want it. However, I was under strict rules from my father that I could only buy books at the book fair and not records (even as a child I couldn't keep away from records!) As the years went by I forgot all about this album. And then I saw it in a thrift store one day and the memories came rushing back. Suprisingly, it was in excellent condition. So naturally I bought it and of course had to share it with you! Let's start the scary month of October off with "Sesame Street Monsters"! Enjoy!

Sesame Street Monsters

Singles Collection: Celebrity Edition - Episode 9

Last night was a big night for all of us on the Avenue Q tour. In the audience were none other than Christpher Guest and Eugene Levy! After the show they came backstage and said Hi and we got the above picture taken with them. I got to talk to them a little and told them how much of an honor it was to meet Nigel Tufnel and one half of the Schmenge Brothers! Eugne Levy was tickled by the comment and thanked me and then they left and we all sat around and quoted their films for hours. Anyway, it brings me to todays post. Back in the mid 80s, SNL was not doing so well. But there were a few bright moments. One of them featured Christpher Guest and Billy Crystal as two nightwatchmen who would go on and on about how things hurt them and then they would always say "I hate when that happens." This skit became so big that they even recorded it with backing music for Crystal's album, "Marvelous". Here is the single version for you now. Enjoy!

Billy Crystal & Christopher Guest-I Hate When That Happens

Super 8 Theater Presents: Abbot and Costello

Here's a great silent 8mm castle films reel of Abbot and Costello in "Have Badge Will Chase". Though not from my collection it is still pretty cool! Enjoy!

Steve Austin Gets Active!

I'm in LA right now and everywhere I look I see an advertisement for the new Bionic Woman. I've already seen the first episode and I really didn't think it was that great. But that's just my opinion. I'm hoping that with all of the hype for the new series that the official US DVD release of the original Six Million Dollar Man finally sees the light of day. In the meantime, you can listen to the first Power Records version of the show here! That's what I am offering you today. This album has been in my collection since I got it as a kid when it was first released back in the 70s! I can quote almost every line from the album and the cover alone is worth its weight in gold! Here it is for you now! Enjoy!

The Six Million Dollar Man(Power Records)

Time For Timer!

Return of TV Themes!!!

Sorry about the lack of posts this past week. My computer was having issues and where I am currently staying (I'm on the road with the National Tour of Avenue Q) I can't get a decent signal. Thus my on-line time last week was entirely at the mac store where I was limited to what I could do. Anyway, I return to the land of blogging with not one but two posts in the same veign as my last two!
First up is a cool record I found at a thrift store around the corner from my house. There is no artist or group name on it. In fact, I'm not really sure what the title of the album is. I guess you could call it "New Original TV Themes". Either way it focus' on three shows: "The Green Hornet", Tarzan" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." It features the themes to all three shows and each show gets two original songs complete with sound effects and cheese! All in all, a keeper! Enjoy!

Original TV Themes

Part two of my posting today is yet another TV Theme Song Album. This time around it's the fabulous Harmonicats doing their rendition of "The Avengers" theme. This album rocks! (and the cover's pretty hot too!)
In addition to the "Avengers Theme", the harmonicats take on "Peter Gunn" as well as movie themes such as "Born Free", "Georgy Girl" and "The Pink Panther". This one is sure to please! Enjoy and I promise to keep up on the posts as I am able! Thanks.

Jerry Murad's Harmonicats-Great Themes From TV and Motion Pictures

Fonzie Says "Honk"

Louis Live!

Here's my third and last Louis Prima post this month. It is an amazing live record recorded at the height of Louis' fame back in the late fifties. Louis and his partner/wife, Keeley Smith, had multi-million dollar contracts with both the Sahara and the Desert Inn at Las Vegas. They played there exclusively every night of the week. The shows were always sell outs and no two performances were ever the same. To get a little taste of this excitement to the rest of the world, Capitol Records recorded one of their shows at the Sahara and released it as "Las Vegas - Prima Style". The result is a party on a platter. It's obvious that this is only part of the live show and the cuts are noticable. And there are sections where the song sounds like they may have cut out a solo or two (common practice in LP days). However, this is still a must have for any fan of Louis Prima. This is the real "Wildest". Enjoy!

Las Vegas-Prima Style

Louis Prima Answers The Call!

Louis Prima is an American Icon. Of course, being part Italian I think it's manditory for me to think that. As a bold, talented, ambitious youngster, Prima rose from the rank-and-file of musicians in the training ground of New Orleans in 1934 and headed for the "Big Time" in the city of New York. After a few weeks the Louis Prima Band became a smash hit in the small-but-jumping club,"Famous Door" and before long, the entire 52nd Street, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, was renamed "Swing Street." A whole new era of music began, with Louis coining such expressions as "swing" and other "hep" sayings like "solid jack," "crazy man," and many more. A few years passed and Louis hit the charts with "Angelina." It started the whole country talking about pizza, veal parmegiana, pasta fagiole, and antipasto. One smash came after another, like, "Josephina," "Please No Squeeza Da Banana," "Bacciagaloop, Makes Love on the Stoop" and "Felicia No Capicia." When Elvis Presley was asked where he got the wiggle, he replied, "From Louis Prima, of course." Louis down-sized the big band to a small group and added the sounds and talents of the great sax-man Sam Butera and vocalist, Keely Smith. He performed magic again by developing a shuffle beat, combined with a New Orleans southern rock sound, added the wailing sax and for comedic value, transformed the vocalist into the dead-pan partner that he could play off of. The string of hits that followed included "Just a Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody," "Buona Sera," "Black Magic," "Zooma, Zooma," "When You're Smilin'," and on and on. Louis Prima was not just Louis Prima - he was the "Big Daddy" of them all! One of his best albums (that include most of his fore mentioned hits) was 'The Call of The Wildest". What's even better than the album is the hilarious cover of Louis singing to a moose! I present it for you now. Enjoy!

Call of The Wildest

Weird Science Re-Up!

On June 23 I posted the soundtrack to the great 80s film, "Weird Science". After receiving numerous complaints about the file not opening, I tried to download and unzip it myself, only to find that it was true: the file was corrupt. As a result, I posted a comment saying that I was on tour and was unable to re-up it for a while. Due to some amazing circumstances, I was able to re-up the file and bring you the restored version. So, here for you now is the soundtrack to "Weird Science"! (I've also gone back to the original post and changed it there too!) enjoy!

Weird Science OST

The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center of The Philippines presents "Thriller"

Indiana Jones Raids Your Ears

I was kind of bummed that when Spielberg and Lucas came to New Haven to film parts of the new Indiana Jones movie I was on tour in San Diego (I'm still there). It's still kind of cool to know that when I see the film I'll recognize the places that are just 15 minutes from my house! Anyway, in the great tradition of The Story of Star Wars, The Story of The Empire Strikes Back and The Story of Return of The Jedi, here is "Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record". Released by Colombia Records in 1981, this was the best way to bring the film home with you - remember, this was before going to the video store or watching films on-line were even thought of. (not to mention that Spielberg and Lucas once made an announcement that they would never release the film to television, cable or home releases) Out of all of these story records, this one is by far the best. It even won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album at the 1982 Grammy Awards. I present it for you now. Here is "Raiders of The Lost Ark: The Movie on Record". Enjoy!

Raiders of The Lost Ark: The Movie on Record

Telly Wonders About Love . . .

If you like this, you should check out my Telly post from last year.

Singles Collection: Celebrity Edition - Episode 6

They finally released the entire first season of "Welcome Back Kotter" on DVD this week. I've been waiting for them to do this for a long time. I always loved this show. I did a 10 year stint at a high school where I worked as a Resource Room Tutor and believe it or not, I used a lot of techniques I learned from this show. Anyway, my copy came in the mail earlier this week and I'll soon have it cued up and ready to watch. In the meantime, I thought that I would post this single released by Gabe Kaplan to cash in on the Kotter craze back in the 70s. The first side is called "Up Your Nose" and is a disco-ish boogie that really makes you think that Gabe should just stick to comedy. Which he does on the flip side, a stand up bit about Bicentennial Minutes called, "Bye-Centennial Minutes". If you weren't around in 1976 I'll explain what a Bicentennial Minute is. Just like the "The More You Know" ads from the late 90s, the Bicentennial Minutes were short little minute commercials that featured celebrities talking about the history of our country over it's past 200 years. If you were around then, the B side of this single gets a laugh. If you weren't, I'd imagine that you won't get it. But I'll let you be the judge of that. Here is Gabe Kaplan's 1977 single, "Up Your Nose" along with it's B-Side, "Bye-Centennial Minutes" and the picture sleeve that it came in. Enjoy!

Gabe Kaplan-Up Your Nose/Bye-Centennial Minutes

Paul Lynde For The Win!

The last post of Mel Brooks' film music had ironic timing. AMC played Young Frankenstein on their "DVD TV" series last night and I found out today, that the musical version of YF is opening in November! Interesting! It also made me think of one of my favorite albums. This was originally owned by my father and then passed down to me when I started hosting my own radio show in college. The show was a Dr. Demento type show that featured comedy records and song parodies. In between the songs, I would play random short snippets from this album. What album am I talking about, you ask? Why Zingers From The Hollywood Squares, of course! This is from the seventies incarnation of Hollywood Squares. (Thank god. I didn't care too much for the 90s revival) It features all of the regulars from that era including the center square, Paul Lynde. It also features some great remarks from Burt Reynolds, Charo, Rich Little and many others. How does this tie in with the last post? It also features Mel Brooks! Here it is for you now to listen and love as I have over the years. Enjoy!

Zingers From The Hollywood Squares

Mel Brooks' Greatest Hits

When I was in college and working at the campus radio station, they had a record that, in my opinion, was truly great. From the front cover, it looked like the original soundtrack to Mel Brooks' film, "High Anxiety". But when you turned it over, you realised that it was a collection of songs from all of his films up to High Anxiety. In fact, the spine of the album reads "Mel Brooks' Greatest Hits Featuring The Fabulous Film Scores of John Morris." Interesting packaging. Anyway, it was soon after finding that at the station that I went home for Christmas break. At the local record store, what do I find in the discount bin but a sealed copy of that same album. I present it to you now. Featuring songs from The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles (yes, "I'm Tired" is here), Young Frankenstein (the complete "Puttin' On The Ritz"), Silent Movie and High Anxiety! Enjoy!

Part 1
Part 2

The Continuing Adventures of Chapi Chapo

Last year I posted the opening segment to Nickelodeon's "Chapi Chapo" which was a featured bit on their "Pinwheel" program. Since then, youtube has grown so much that now there are complete episodes of the show online! Here's one of them. This is entitled "Les Fleurs". Enjoy!

Super 8 Theater Presents: Top Cat

A great super 8 home movie reel featuring Top Cat in "Goofy Golf". Beautifully digitised by my good friend, Mark "Dangerboy" Nelson who added the delectable soundtrack (can anyone guess where the music is from originally?!) as well! Enjoy!

All Good Stories Come To An End

Here is my last Star Wars post for a while (probably for this year)seeing as how this weekend marks the 30th anniversay! I am choosing to end the run with the final "Story" album from the trilogy. This one doesn't stand up to the other two. First off, the cover is just plain blah. It looks like they just took a picture from the film, slapped the logo on it and added the words "The Story of". It is obviously not as grandiose as the Empire album. Secondly, they had to cut a lot out of the story as there was just way too much visual stuff in Jedi that couldn't be put onto record without cheezy descriptions. And speaking of descriptions, my description of the narrator is boring! He sounds like this is the last gig he ever thought he would get. But, for completeists like myself, this is a must have. Let me know what you think as you listen to "The Story of Return of The Jedi". Enjoy!

The Story of Return of The Jedi

Friends Don't Let Friends Fly Drunk

Moisture Farm Remembers

The Wonderful World of Star Wars in Full Color!!!

Here's another book and record set featuring C-3PO and R2D2. This time around, the droids are in a perilous adventure and use colors and shapes to get them out of it. It could happen! Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

Star Wars Colors & Shapes

It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad Universe!

More Lost Scenes From Star Wars . . .

Here's part two of the scenes from "Abandoned Magic". This time we get to hear the two different Aunt Berus. In the mono mix of the film, it was voiced by a different actress than in the stereo mix. Strange, isn't it?!

Here's A Story, of a boy named Skywalker . . . (re-post)

Here is one of my favorite items from my Star Wars collection. "The Story of Star Wars" album featuring a stripped down version of the film in audio format. This was pre-home video so this was the only way people had to relive the experience of Star Wars at home. I have had this record since 1977 and have easily listened to it thousands of times. (I have it memorized!) Interesting fact - This album went GOLD in 1977! Here it is for you. Unfortunately rapidshare is not letting me upload large files so I had to upload it in three files - Side 1, Side 2 and the artwork (which includes both the regular and picture disc versions as well as an 8-track and the gold record!). They did this with the other two films as well. What the future may bring . . . . . Enjoy!

The Story of Star Wars Side 1
The Story of Star Wars Side 2
The Story of Star Wars Artwork

Lost Scenes From The Original Cut of Star Wars

Need I say more? This is from a film called "Abandoned Magic". There are many versions of these deleted scenes put into a larger film. To be honest I don't know a lot about any of them but I do know that they are pretty darn cool!

Star Wars As A Teaching Aide! (re-post)

Here's a fun little read-along-book and record from the 80s! It's the Star Wars Adventures in ABC. It's Anthoney Daniels as C-3PO and a narrator going through the alphabet giving each letter a different reference from the original trilogy. Tacky and cheesy, yes, but a fun time as well. My favorite is "K is for Kessel Run". I wonder if any child who listened to this went to school and answered his teacher at school with "U is for Ugnauts"?! Enjoy!

Star Wars ABCs

Gettin' Down At The Death Star (re-post)

Meco Monardo was born in 1939 in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania.Meco worked from 1965 to 1974 as a studio player, and also landed a number of arranging gigs, most notably on Tommy James' "Crystal Blue Persuasion." His breakthrough arrived in 1974 when he co-produced the Gloria Gaynor smash "Never Can Say Goodbye," followed by the Carol Douglas masterpiece "Doctor's Orders." Having aligned himself with Broadway arranger Harold Wheeler and producer Tony Bongiovi, Meco was now on his way to producing several early disco hits.
On May 25, 1977, Meco joined the people at a New York City theatre who were lined up to see the opening day screening of a new film starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. Like millions of other fans seeing George Lucas' "Star Wars" for the first time, Meco thought the film was a tour de force. He loved the music-although he didn't think the main title theme, as performed by John Williams and The London Symphony Orchestra, was commercial enough to be a Top 40 single.
Before long, he had conceived of a 15-minute disco treatment of several themes in the movie, including the music played by the Cantina Band in the bar on Tatooine. He also planned to include R2-D2 sound effects. He called Jimmy Ienner at Millennium Records and Neil Bogart at Casablanca Records and explained his idea. Based on the tremendous success of "Star Wars," Bogart and Ienner agreed to Meco's idea without hearing any of the music.
Meco hired (unheard of for a pop production) 75 musicians to play on the track, and played trombone and keyboard himself.The complete composition was released as part of an album, "Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk," and on a 12" single. The original main title theme by The London Symphony Orchestra was released by 20th Century Records and entered the Hot 100 on July 9, 1977, less than two months after the film opened. Monardo was wrong about it's commerciality; it raced up to number 10 on the charts. But Meco's version, "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band," which debuted on the chart on August 6, 1977, raced past it to go to number one the week of October 1, 1977 where it stayed for two weeks.
Here for you now is "Star Wars & Other Galactic Funk"! Enjoy!

MECO-Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk

Countdown To Star Wars 30th!!!

As we approach the 30th anniversary of the greatest movie of all time, a lot of other bloggers have begun their marathon of Star Wars related posts! Most notable are John Rozum and Neato Coolville! These guys have some excellent Star Wars items posted! You chould definitely check them out! I will repost some of my Star Wars items from the past as well as post some new items as well. Stay tuned for all of the fun!!! For now, enjoy this unintentional pornographic page from a Star Wars coloring book.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

I turn 36 today! (send me presents!!!)

The Giorgio Variety Special Parts 9 & 10!

The Giorgio Variety Special Part 8

The Giorgio Variety Special Part 7

The Giorgio Variety Special Part 6

The Giorgio Variety Show Part 5

The Giorgio Variety Special Part 4!!!

The Giorgio Variety Show Part 3

The Giorgio Variety Show Part 2

The Giorgio Variety Show Part 1

I have officially declared this week "The Great Giorgio Week" here at the world of wonder. Everyday I will post another clip from The Giorgio Variety Show. If you've been following this blog, you'll have seen part of this show in a recent post. This week will feature the whole show!!! Here's part 1:

Calvert DeForest RIP

I just found out that Calvert DeForest, aka Larry "Bud" Melman, passed away on March 19. Here is one of my favorite Larry Melman moments from the Late Night with David Letterman show.

One Final Thought on Star Wars . . .

I could go on with Star Wars posts for a while, but I've decided to save some of those goodies for a later date and get back to the normal functions of my "World of Wonder". So I give you one final Star Wars post. Take a good look at the trading card above this text. I'm sure it is one that you all had at one time or another. Did you ever notice that the guy on the ground is not Mark Hamill? It's his stand in. What gives it away is the hair color. Mark Hamill was a blond!!!!

Super 8 Theater presents: The Flintstones

A great super 8 home movie reel featuring The Flintstones in "Steak Struck". Beautifully digitised by my good friend, Mark "Dangerboy" Nelson who added the delectable soundtrack (can anyone guess where the music is from originally?!) as well! Enjoy!

It's A Marx, Marx, Marx, Marx World Part 2

More great items from the world wide web!

The Marx Brothers in Color!

Here's an oddity: A color test done while the boys were filming "Animal Crackers". They did this color test during a rehearsal. You'll notice that Harpo is out of wig! A rarity if I ever saw one!

As Funny As It Gets

One of the many prizes of my 78 collection is this fine gem from Groucho. It's a children's record called "The Funniest Song In The World" and tells the story of a monkey going amongst the other animals of the jungle and singing what he believes to be the funniest song in the world. One of the many interesting things I find about this record is that with all of the many releases of Groucho on CD, this has yet to see the the surface of a compact disc. Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

The Funniest Song In The World

It's A Marx, Marx, Marx, Marx World

Here are two images I found on the internet paying homage to The Marx Brothers. The first is self-explanitory while the second comes from a Disney cartoon entitled "The Bird Store".