’95 – ’15 – DC Comics Formidable Females

Posted on July 28, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

DC Girl Frenzy. 1998.

Artemis Requiem. 1996.

Supergirl and Batgirl. 1998.

Supergirl. 1998.

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1930s in film – Belles, Beaus, and the best of the ads (part 1)

Posted on July 22, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

: Film Pictorial Vol 1 N°25. Aug 13. 1932. Belle Chrystall.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. N°81. Vol. 2. Dec 10 1932. Miriam Hopkins.

Welcome to a new mini-series from TVTA in which we feature cinema stars of 1930s Classical Hollywood, plus beauty and fashion culture, all courtesy of British film entertainment magazines The Picturegoer Weekly and Film Pictorial.

The images you are about to see are almost 90 years old! And have been carefully scanned by TVTA from their original publications to delight modern cinema lovers.

Film Pictorial Vol 1 N°25. Aug 13. 1932. Greta Garbo.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Warner Baxter.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Barbara Stanwyck.

: Film Pictorial. 1932. Gene Gerrard.

: Film Pictorial. 1932. John Barrymore.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Love is a Racket

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Jeanette MacDonald.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Betty Stockfeld.

: The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932. Tallulah Bankhead.

Film Pictorial. 1932. Bright and Breezy.

The Picturegoer Weekly. 1932.

Film Pictorial. 1932. Laurel and Hardy.

Film Pictorial. 1932. Radio Studios girls.

Not much change afoot in 90 years

The content of these two journals is not much different than today’s comparable versions covering the entertainment side of movies; with articles and photos of celebrated film stars, Hollywood gossip and rumours, and adverts aimed at the fashion and beauty markets.

The adverts…

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Street art – a Sunday morning walk through an old town in Provence

Posted on July 19, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

When the Ice Melts, the Polar Bear is Grumpy. By Jean-Marc Navello.

This Sunday morn, I was making my way to get a baguette and croissants in a part of town I seldom travel, when I came across this polar bear and other street art to make you stop and stare. In truth, I’d seen this the week before, but didn’t have my camera on me. This morning I did 🙂

Below: also by Jean-Marc Navello.

Below: The Kid… (artist unknown)

Below: the town mural. Many French towns and villages have huge murals like this one painted on a side of a building. This scene depicts the town in older and more rural days.

Magic!

Then there is the local primary school… and a huge, magnificent fantasy scene based on the town in magical days before us humans went trudging about early in the morn in search of a baguette and croissants…

The artist: Loïko

Le Rocher of La Garde. The 11th century castle and chapel depicted from alternative views…

Le Rocher. La Garde. photo par TVTA.

Below: perpetuating the myth of certain creatures which inhabit the New York sewer system (and we’re not talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

Woof! (not Wooof)

Meow! (not Wooof)

And finally, a retro poster found about town… and another polar bear to end a post which began with a polar bear.

If you would like to learn more about polar bears, then check out TVTA’s polar-bear-in-a-fridge!!!

For now, that’s all folks. Thanks for taking an early morning stroll with us 🙂

In zany we trust – you do have to be mad to work here…

Posted on July 16, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

“There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.” Aristotle

Greetings, vintage mates. A funny thing happened to TVTA on the way to archives… we got a little more zanier than usual… I blamed the cat, and he blamed me, then we called it quits and decided to blame Denise over at Girlie On The Edge Blog

If you would like to blame Denise too, then why not follow her lovely blog and join in the zany fun that is Six Sentence Stories!

Here is our zany detour in all its kooky glory…

Oxford English Dictionary definition of zany

adjective

(comparative zanier, superlative zaniest)

(informal)

strange or unusual in a humorous way
synonyms: wacky; crazy; funny; kooky

… and now… TVTA brings you (a most zany): SIX SENTENCE STORY

Zany Janey

There was a young girl called Janey

who everyone thought was zany.

II.

T’was largely her diet

which caused such disquiet

for Janey ate everything with gravy.

III.

Cornflakes and gravy, poached eggs with gravy,

bananas and gravy, hot chocolate and gravy,

peanuts with gravy, fish fingers and gravy,

pancakes and salad and croissants with gravy.

IV.

With certain dismay, her mum said one day: ‘Janey it pains me for you to be zany and eat all your food mixed up with gravy.’

Replied Janey quite sanely and with words spoken plainly: ‘Mum don’t berate me for being zany, when at school my friend Daisy says gravy with everything makes you brainy!’

VI.

Zany word origin: late 16th century from French zani or Italian zan(n)i, Venetian form of Gianni, Giovanni ‘John’, stock name of the servants acting as clowns in the commedia dell’arte.

… yes, you do have to be mad to work here, and it helps 🙃

Thank you for being zany with us!

Dabbling in Divination

Posted on July 13, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Sharing this wonderful post by my WP blogging good buddy Wibi of Wibi Wonders!

Wibi Wonders

I was grateful to spot a recent ‘Anatomy of an Artwork’ in the Guardian Guide on ‘The Tower’ from the 1982 “Neuzeit-Tarot” (“New Age Tarot”). It provided some interesting background to the deck I was given in 1984. Initially I used the cards a lot, mainly for others (as one should). Below is the cover of the book that I used to help me make sense of the cards. Please note that the deck in the book is not the Neuzeit one, but the Raider-Waite deck).

photo of cover of a book on interpreting Tarot cards - showing the 2 of pentacles of the Raider-Waite deck

But let’s get back to the Neuzeit, or rather, its creator!

Tarot card from 1982 New Age deck - XVI - The Tower

Walter Wegmüller(February 25, 1937 – March 26, 2020)was aSwisspainterand recording artist. According to the Guardian’s Skye Sherwin: “Wegmüller’s sensibility was steeped in 1960s and 70s counterculture. Of Roma heritage and based in Switzerland, he was an intriguing figure in a local hippy circle that included the acid guru Timothy Leary, in exile…

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My Second Barbie – she’s a Wonder Woman!

Posted on July 8, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Presenting, my second Barbie… (first one here)

Dear readers, I am thrilled to add my second Barbie to TVTA’s toy collection – the 2003 Mattel Barbie DC Comics Playline Edition Wonder Woman doll.

My Barbie as Wonder Woman came mint in her original box, complete with accessories and a mini lunchbox keychain. A display stand is also included.

The reverse of the box shows an uncredited Wonder Woman comic artwork (possibly by Bruce Timm from Justice League Unlimited era, anyone?), and an image of the three DC Playline Edition Barbie dolls available at the time: Catgirl, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl.

She’s Wonder Woman, and she rules, but she’s also Barbie… therefore she must strike her glamour poses…

: Mattel Barbie as Wonder Woman DC Playline doll. 2003.

I was tempted to get one of the many exquisite Barbie Wonder Woman dolls based on the modern Gal Gadot version, but hesitated for the moment in favour of a more traditional comic book Wonder Woman + traditional Barbie look.

Honestly though, examples like the one below are going to be hard to resist!

In other Wonder Woman news…

Here is my freshly scanned copy of Odyssey of the Amazons – a ‘Before Wonder Woman’ tale. I’m hoping to jump into this epic story during my two days off before the weekend slog at work.

And finally, for those of you who just can’t get enough of Wonder Woman…

Look out for TVTA’s upcoming Wonder Woman tribute post, scheduled for this October in time for a very important film release 😉

Thank you for being Wonderful with us 🙂

Latest ads – Gremlins, Barbie, Superman, and vintage accolades galore!

Posted on July 5, 2020 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Figurine Panini Gremlins stickers offer in the comics Suzy; Victor; and Judy. 1984. UK.

It’s a TVTA extravaganza of cool ads featuring franchise promotions, comic strip posters, and enough accolades to win Accolades of the Year!

As Wooof once told me on his way to office cat astronaut training with the promise of bringing back twelve promotional bottles of strong moon beer and a box of NASA ballpoint pens – you’ve never had it so good, nor for so free!

Indeed. TVTA comes to you regularly, independently, and completely free of advertising (which is funny as we are a site that showcases advertising).

Recently we were voted the most perusal-friendly site on the internet by popular history magazine: Weekly Archive Newsletter Keeping Everything Real. Cool!

Not to mention our summer nomination for providing Free Universal Collectable Knowledge (we came 3rd and won a food hamper and picnic disguise kit).

We are big winners with our fans!

Also, I was voted ‘best editor of a free vintage website’ by Awesome Retro Style Editors.

Gosh! With all these awards coming in, Wooof has had to transform one of our archive wings into a trophy room! But we won’t let these accolades go to our head. No. TVTA will continue to bring you vintage materials with as much love, care, and enthusiasm as we have been doing since 2010, and all while fending off court orders, repossession notices, parking fines, and overdue library books!

TVTA… yar, keeping it free!