Contemporary Collectibles from Creators Syndicate

FDR'S Fala and the Fad for Scotties for 08/26/2010

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

There has been any number of well-known presidential pooches in modern history, including Richard Nixon's infamous spaniel, Checkers; LBJ's beagles, Him and Her; Gerald Ford's golden retriever, Liberty (much spoofed by Chevy Chase in the early days of "SNL"); George Bush Sr.'s Springer spaniel, Millie; Clinton's chocolate Lab, Buddy; and the present, long-anticipated Portuguese water ...

Updated: Thu Aug 26, 2010

The Yo-Yo Story for 08/19/2010

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The yo-yo, like many other things, has been around for so long that we tend to take it completely for granted, not thinking about how it originated or, for that matter, how it got its distinctive name. But now that the yo-yo is becoming something of a hot collectible, it seems like a good time to look into its origins and history.

Its roots actually date back to China around 1,000 B.C., ...

Updated: Thu Aug 19, 2010

Recollecting and Collecting Mutt and Jeff for 08/12/2010

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Even today, more than a century after they entered the realm of popular culture, this comic-strip team's name is part of the common vernacular — put a tall guy and a short guy next to each other and they'll almost inevitably still be called Mutt and Jeff.

The popular, long-running comic strip debuted in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1907 and is now considered to be the first conti ...

Updated: Thu Aug 12, 2010

For Collectors, the Milkman Cometh for 08/05/2010

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

You may have noticed that glass milk bottles are gradually reappearing on supermarket shelves, bringing them back into the modern era. But for people of a certain age, there is still no sound quite as nostalgic as the clink of milk bottles jangling up against one another. For several generations, the arrival of the milkman with his carrying cases of cream-topped bottles was the signal of a new ...

Updated: Thu Aug 05, 2010

Ma Bell Collectibles for 07/29/2010

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

What with land-line phones rapidly becoming an endangered species, it's not surprising that the standard phones of both the recent and distant past are evoking a large measure of nostalgia and growing interest among collectors.

Not surprisingly, the earliest examples are the rarest. The oldest Bell phones in general use, which were mahogany boxes, date from 1877 and have little chance of ...

Updated: Thu Jul 29, 2010

Hey, Hey -- It's the Monkees Collectibles! for 07/22/2010

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

When "The Monkees" made its debut on NBC on Sept. 12, 1966, cynical critics dubbed them the "Pre-Fab Four" and said the group "looked like the Beatles run through a Xerox machine."

And it cannot be denied, there were certain intentional similarities: four lads with what was then considered long hair, a name that was the misspelling of a zoological species an ...

Updated: Thu Jul 22, 2010

Colorful Old Recipe Booklets Offer Dainty Treats for 07/15/2010

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

With prices escalating rapidly for rare old hardcover cookbooks, interest has now extended to the colorful, kitschy, advertising-pamphlet-type recipe books put out in large editions by hundreds of companies, particularly from the 1910s through the 1950s.

It seems as if every appliance manufacturer and food product purveyor from Pillsbury to Planters Peanuts, Heinz to Hershey, Westinghous ...

Updated: Thu Jul 15, 2010

The Gumby Story for 07/08/2010

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

We all know Gumby, but do we have the slightest clue about his origins? Did he start life as a rubber toy? Was he first an animated cartoon character? Did he originate in a comic strip?

None of the above.

The answer is: He was a creature of television. Gumby was introduced on the iconic early kids' show "Howdy Doody" in 1956. He and his talking pony, Pokey, were movable ...

Updated: Thu Jul 08, 2010

Collectors Still Grooving Out to Lava Lamps for 07/01/2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

If anything seems to symbolize '60s d‚cor — especially to those who disdained it when it was introduced — it would have to be the lava lamp, seen as a psychedelic symbol of a spacey time when it was groovy just to sit and watch the undulating patterns of your light fixture.

They may still be viewed that way today, but they're also taken semi-seriously by those looking to acce ...

Updated: Thu Jul 01, 2010

Surf's Up for Collectors for 06/24/2010

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Surf's up! And so is interest in surfing collectibles. More and more of the sport's enthusiasts are seeking out relics from the various periods of its modern history.

No one knows, of course, when the first person stood up on a board and rode the waves, but it's been recorded that natives of the Sandwich Isles in the Pacific were doing it at least as far back as the 15th century. The fir ...

Updated: Thu Jun 24, 2010

It's Popeye the Sailor Man for 06/17/2010

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

It might seem as though the muscle-flexing, pipe-smoking, spinach-popping sailor man has been around forever, but it actually took him a while to break into the funny papers. Elzie Crisler Segar's comic-adventure strip "Thimble Theatre" had been running for a full four years before Popeye made his appearance in it in 1929.

"Thimble Theatre" began in 1925 as a replacem ...

Updated: Thu Jun 17, 2010

Smokin' Cigar Collectibles for 06/10/2010

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Cigars sure ain't what they used to be. In terms of symbolic significance, at any rate.

Gone are the days, for example, when the cigar represented backroom politics and big-business boardrooms, when the ladies would have to leave the table so that the gentlemen could talk without inhibition over brandy and cigars.

Gone, too, are the days when little girls slipped colorful cigar ba ...

Updated: Thu Jun 10, 2010

More Mighty Marvel Superheroes for 06/03/2010

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Since the Walt Disney Co. has acquired the Marvel Comics franchise, and since "Iron Man" I and 2 were gigantic hits, we can expect a lot more superhero movies to follow in their wake.

Already on the drawing board are "Thor," to be directed by the distinguished Kenneth Branagh, and the patriotic "Captain America," not to mention the all-star "The Avenger ...

Updated: Thu Jun 03, 2010

The End of Orphan Annie for 05/27/2010

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

It hasn't exactly been headline news, but it is noteworthy that the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip will quietly fade away on June 13, after an incredible 85-year run, its heroine having become a true American icon.

In recent years — and especially since the Broadway musical and movie — Annie was seen as a spunky manifestation of "we won't let the Depression ...

Updated: Thu May 27, 2010

New Books on Old Photos -- and Where They Lived for 05/20/2010

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

"Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937-1950" by Peter Dans and Suzanne Wasserman (Princeton Architectural Press, $29.95)

Many of the great documentary photographers of the past — Lewis Hine, Jacob Riis, Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt — were fascinated with the immigrant tenement and street life of New York's Lower East Side. Less known is R ...

Updated: Thu May 20, 2010

Collecting Vintage Radios: Skyscrapers and Cathedrals for 05/13/2010

Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Lots of people collect old-time radio memorabilia — advertising premiums with images of serial heroes like Jack Armstrong; Tom Mix; the Lone Ranger; Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and such — but many others collect the actual vintage radios that aired those adventures. These range from the crystal sets and battery-powered receivers of the early 1920s to the wooden "cathedral," & ...

Updated: Thu May 13, 2010

Collecting Chinaware for Kiddies for 05/06/2010

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

There are two kinds of children's dishes: those made for playing and those made for eating, and Both are charming in their own way.

The practice of manufacturing plates and mugs scaled and decorated to appeal to children dates back to the late 18th century, when the Staffordshire Pottery produced a considerable variety of cream ware pieces, some displaying the alphabet embossed or printe ...

Updated: Thu May 06, 2010

Drilling for Dental Collectibles for 04/29/2010

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

There are certain occupational groups who are avid collectors of the old paraphernalia of their professions. Pharmacists collect vintage mortars and pestles; barbers collect barber poles; policemen seek out primitive handcuffs and billy clubs, etc. One segment of the population that hunts for equipment that would hardly be of interest to anyone else is members of the dental profession — s ...

Updated: Thu Apr 29, 2010

Paper Boy Cutouts for 04/22/2010

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

If and when we think of vintage paper dolls, we quite naturally picture the female variety — a Betty Grable or a Betty Boop stripped down to her lacy teddy and camisole, and provided with trunks full of accessorized outfits for every occasion.

But there were paper boys as well over the years, the guys who were supplied with terry cloth robes and tuxes to place over their skivvies. ...

Updated: Thu Apr 22, 2010

Paper Boy Cutouts for 04/22/2010

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

But there were paper boys as well over the years, the guys who were supplied with terry cloth robes and tuxes to place over their skivvies.< ...

Updated: Thu Apr 22, 2010