Plaid Stallions : Rambling and Reflections on 70's pop culture

This Family is a Team

2009-07-15T00:03:00.000-04:00

I'm going to assume two things here, 1) the purchaser of these scarring "Famjamas" was the father and 2) he likes sports...

Boy Scouts Approve Kenner Steve Scout

2009-07-14T00:03:00.001-04:00

It would have been disappointing if the Boy Scouts had condemned him...

The Green Team

2009-07-13T00:03:00.001-04:00

This 1976 NBC series about a pair of crusading loan officers helping people consolidate their debt load, relied too much on accounting jargon and featured little to no action sequences, save for when Stanley and Lamar would run for coffee. The show was decimated by ABC's "Starsky and Hutch", which held the same timeslot and was quickly cancelled.

Ironically, every episode of the series was destroyed when they were run over by a Ford Torino.

Meet The Rocketeer

2009-07-11T08:46:00.000-04:00

Mike T submitted this more recent mall appearance photo, it's from 1991 (that's what i consider recent) and it's his kids with Dave Steven's classic creation, The Rocketeer at Potomac Mills Mall near Woodbridge, Virginia . I didn't know there were appearances such as this but it makes total sense considering the costume.

Send us your Mall Appearance photos!

PS Contest: Schoolyard BS winners

2009-07-10T08:02:00.002-04:00

Well, you guys made it hard to decide but I've finally picked my three favourites out of the great submissions I received. I can't believe how many of you heard that "Gene Simmons had a cow's toungue surgericly implanted" thing, I used to believe that but not the "KISS went to Mars" my deskmate Andrew tried to pull on me.

Here are a few that didn't win but deserve mention:

I, Warren wrote: "{A kid in neighbourhood] claimed he saw an episode of Wonder Woman (of course it was the night before & I missed it) guest-starring Batman & Superman. Wonder Woman died in a truly horrible way - something about a wood chipper - so Superman & Batman prayed (?!?) and brought her back to life." (One to block on facebook...)

JF Stan related about a super gory version of Halloween some kids claimed to have seen, I love the answer when confronted:

"When I confronted the guys who played it up, they basically said that the theatrical version was too violent, even for HBO, and the version shown was dumbed down as not to drive viewers insane." Yes, HBO is very concerned about your sanity, that explains Arli$...

Beth wrote about being star struck: "in the 7th grade a boy told me that George Carlin was his uncle and would be at his house that weekend and if I went to 2nd base with him (the boy, not Carlin) that I could meet Uncle George and even have dinner with him!! Yep, I was a slut, and George Carlin was not his uncle. Damn, I'm still sore about that one."

In the seventh grade, I'd have gone to second base if there was a chance of meeting Carlin.

THE WINNERS: Here in no specific order are the winners (please don't mock my meager attempt to photo shop, I'm fragile and talentless):

Kong Jeans by Eric Feasterville

"Right after DeLaurentis' King Kong came out, a nefarious playground liar informed me that he had the latest in chic fashion: King Kong jeans! Yep, Dino had apparently cut off all the fur from the giant robot Kong used in the film and attached a snatch of it on the back pocket of these authentic Kong Jeans. I kept asking this liar to wear them into school, but of course he "wasn't allowed."

What a classic tale, the liar kid always had an excuse as to why he couldn't bring this faantabulous item to the school yard. I remember one kid said he left his amazing Flash Mego doll "at the cottage".

Charlie's Angel Card by Laura Moncur

Laura's entry is a tad long, so it's best read on her blog. Even though she is the spreader of the BS rumour, she uses it to get revenge on a bully, so it's ok. This story has everything and I'm a sucker for pictures of Jaclyn Smith.

Bigfoot by Mike

Mike submitted a pile but something about this made me laugh:

"On Six Million Dollar Man's Secret of Bigfoot ... Bigfoot was actually a real robot made by the studio.None of us ever heard of Andre the Giant back then ... and the name does sound like it's not a real person."

Weird name, must be a robot, completely rational line of thinking there Holmes...

Bonus Winner: Reverse BS

Ian Marchant sent in this schoolyard rumour he cried BS on which turned out to be true. It's so good, I decided it had to be a bonus winner. To be honest, I'd have done the same thing:

<>him a turnip etc then to prove him wrong we marched him to the lobby to discover Tom Baker handing out free copies of issue one of Dr Who Weekly. We were rightly humbled and I still have that dog eared copy.>>

And that's it. Thanks for all the amazing entries, winners I'll be in touch, or you can beat me to it.

1975 Marx Play Set Catalog

2009-07-10T00:00:00.001-04:00

Marx is the rolls royce of playsets, having gone from their hey day in the 1950s and 1960s, they still had a little fight left in them by the mid seventies. While miles away from their former glory, they were cranking out a toy that delivered hours of play in a little box.

Wonderful Wonderbug

2009-07-09T00:55:00.000-04:00

Steve F sent in this killer scan from a Duncan Catalog that featured something I've never seen before, a toy car based on the Sid and Marty Krofft series Wonderbug! Wonderbug was a segment on the Krofft Supershow and I doubt I missed an episode.

I have no idea if these hit stores, I've never seen one on the secondary market but that is by no means conclusive evidence, what I don't know could fill a warehouse.

Did anyone have this? Drop a line! This is the only other Wonderbug toy that I've seen, I know it was made:

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

2009-07-08T00:02:00.002-04:00

The ideal Sofa system for the dysfunctional family.

Pippi Short Pajamas

2009-07-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

Pippi Longstocking movies were a staple in my house as a kid, mostly because they were weird and I found them awfully hypnotic. This ad is from a German catalog (where Pippi still enjoys popuarity) , I have never seen too much Pippi merchandise in North America.

Going for the Gold

2009-07-06T00:09:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it was the beer or that crazy disco beat but for some reason, Sam decided it was the perfect moment to grab himself a handful of Jim....

PS Contest: Schoolyard BS Rumours

2009-07-05T09:40:00.004-04:00

It's contest time again and instead of trivia, I thought it'd be more fun to share personal stories, namely "What's the worst BS rumour you heard on the playground as a kid?" I'll share a couple:

In 78, I was that unfortunate kid who didn't see Star Wars when it came out, my pal Gerry claimed to have seen it. Gerry regailed me about the scene in which Obi Wan plays the Star Wars theme on the organ in the Millenium Falcon or the ending in which Luke, fresh from killing Darth Vader, deposits his light saber in R2 D2, who promptly blows up.

In '79, I finally caught Star Wars and can remember sitting in the dark thinking "Hey Gerry is filthy liar!" When confronted, he simply denied saying any of it, I was crazy you see....

In fifth grade, I sat next to a kid named Geoff, one of the cooler kids in school who told me he had seen an episode of "Battle of the Planets" that revealed Zoltar's identity to be none other than "a scientist at Center Neptune". It was a shocking series ender that other deskmate Dean confirmed as seeing. Must be a rare, lost episode....

Tell me yours, either in the comments section here or at the Museum Forum, Myspace or Facebook pages, I'll check them all and send the top three Fabulous Prizes! The winners will be poster here next Friday.

Jamie Meets Spidey

2009-07-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

Jamie submitted this great photo of him and Spidey to the PlaidStallions Facebook Page , I forgot to ask the date but judging by the cool Jaws Type Rubber shark he's holding I'm going to guess 1976...

Send us your Mall Appearance photos!

1977 Denys Fisher Cyborg Catalog

2009-07-03T00:19:00.003-04:00

"On a doom laden day 2250 the Trembling Earth came face to face with the holocaust! The pernicious plan of direful destruction launched by the MUTON- an alien master- from the death black reachs of space!"

In the mid seventies, UK Toy Maker (and the inventor of Spiro-Graph) Denys Fisher took a Japanese Toy called Henshin Cyborg (which was an off shoot of Captain Action and the father of the Micronauts) and transformed it into a compelling series of 9" figures.

The infusion of a western story line into Japanese toy creativity resulted in only thing, toy magic. The Denys Fisher Cyborg line may be the best toy that you've never heard of before. One word of caution, it may cause ebay searchs...

Thanks to Bill Frost, I also have a gallery of awesome boxed and carded Cyborg goodies to coincide with this.

Click Here to view the catalog and toy gallery

More Cyborgs and see through heroes

Big Jim Pirates

2009-07-02T00:03:00.000-04:00

While Big Jim was a memory in North America by 1978, European kids were getting cool new figures with kung fu grip hands. These pirates were mostly recycled P.A.C.K characters but they're so cleverly done (especially the Zorak character) that it deserves praise.

Hey, this is a private club!

2009-07-01T00:02:00.001-04:00

"Come back when your moustache is full and your shorts are mustardy!"

Doll Squad 2001

2009-06-30T00:08:00.002-04:00

After the great catostrophe of 1996, a group of bionically enhanced woman are on the run from their cruel overlords, watch them encounter a new civilization each week Friday nights at 9 on ABC...

The Wonderful World of Blythe

2009-06-29T00:05:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how this very Mod little doll was virtually unknown until 25 years after she was cancelled when it became a pop culture phenom thanks to the photography of Gina Garan. This is the Kenner catalog from 1972 and Blythe only gets a single page (click on it for a larger view) now she's a full blown icon.

Google the Blythe story one of these days, it's a good read.

DVD Review: Monster Squad the Complete Series

2009-06-27T19:32:00.004-04:00

Believe it or not, DVD reviews were originally a part of this site, I just stopped doing them mostly because of laziness (here is one I did almost three years ago) but I just needed to bring it back for the release of the Monster Squad TV series.

Monster Squad was one of those shows I was convinced I'd never see again, it had a huge impact on me as a wee one, I'd take my Lincoln Monster dolls and shove them in the G.I. Joe Capture Copter and pretend they were on patrol. I think my love of monsters stems from this and Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Then it got cancelled and well, I spent the majority of the eighties and nineties looking for tapes and discovering that people had largely forgotten the show.

So when this DVD got announced, it gave me joy and a kind of sick feeling, like a lot of things you like as a kid, what if it turns out to be total crap when you're an adult?

I'm happy to say after watching all 312 minutes, that I was pleasantly surprised at how good this show was. I'm not saying it's for all tastes but if you're a 70s kid who likes the Krofft shows, this is actually a cut above from say things like, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.

That's probably because the show's creator Stanley Ralph Ross was one of the headwriters on the 1966 Batman TV Series (another show that BEGS to be on DVD) and kind of passed on some of it's goofy brilliance, in fact, Monster Squad could have been a prime time series in the late sixties. It knows it's a stupid show and decides to make the best of it.

The Premise is simple, Walt, a night watchman at "Fred's Wax Museum" (played by a pre Love Boat Fred Grandy) accidently brings the statues of three famous monsters to life with his "Crime Computer" (a big blinky box), Bruce W. Wolf, Frank N. Stein and Dracula want to do good to make up for their past mistakes so they become crime fighters.

So each week the squad battles a new villain played by a celebrity guest star, above is Mephisto played by Barry Dennen, he played Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar in case you were wondering. It drove me nuts until I IMDB'd it. Part of the fun is the guest, you get see the likes of Julie Newar, Geoffry Lewis, Alice Ghostly, even Sid Haig gets in on this!

The show has some witty writing and pokes a lot of fun at itself, especially the scenes with the monsters trying to "act casual" (it always fails), there are other moments that are downright surreal and look like "Mr Show" sketches. The entire series in done on film, so the cheap sets look almost on purpose. Some of the fight scenes suffer from early 70s non violence rules, especially the scene where the Skull (Geoffry Lewis) tries to kill Bruce with a silver bullet, no gun, he just throws the bullet at him!

The bottom line is, everybody looks like they're having a lot of fun and it's kind of infectious. Let's talk about the DVD Fabulous Films has put out:

Film Quality: After years of watching 15th generation VHS, it's a joy to see the Squad so clean again, the film transfers are better than I expected.

Extras: I wasn't expecting anything and that was a good thing, I got a stills gallery and graphics on the menu that were scanned from the board game!

Value: I can't tell you how many bootlegs I've spent $20 on, this is a bargain. Amazon has this for $21.

Bottom Line: Not into Saturday Morning Cheese? Stay away in droves. However, if you're a Monster Kid or you dug the old Shazam! series then this is a lot of fun to be had. my kids really dug it as well.

Planet of the Apes by Well Made Toys Inc

2009-06-26T00:15:00.001-04:00

Well-Made Toys wasn't a real household word but they were very well known in 1974 when they landed the Planet of the Apes license and filled toy stores with their cute plush novelties based on the TV series. It burned brightly but not for a long time, leaving lots of cool toys in it's path.

Click here to visit the 1974 Well Made Toys Planet of the Apes Brochure

More Apes:

Goodbye to an icon

2009-06-25T21:02:00.004-04:00

I can't not mention the unfortunate passing of Farah Fawcett on this blog, if the seventies have a representative, Farrah would likely be the supreme candidate.

She was a Charles Angel, a runner, she was married to the Bionic Man, Girls wanted to be her and her hair style rocked a nation, guys being guys bought her poster at an alarming rate.

70s kids and Gen Xers, we've lost our Marylin Monroe....

Planet of the Apes Colorforms

2009-06-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

I love it when a toy concept I adore is crossed over with a license that rules, in this case it's the merging of Colorforms with Planet of the Apes. One of the my favourite things about this piece is it seems strongly influenced by the "Return to the Planet of the Apes" cartoon series.

That show is where is my "Ape Love" originated from, so I'm especially soft when it comes to that.

Fly a Kite Cornelius

2009-06-24T00:02:00.001-04:00

You know you've hit monsterous proportions when you're on a kite and having nothing to do with flying. I'd love to find a display of these or heck, even one. Click on this picture for a bigger view.

Apes by the Truck Load

2009-06-23T00:02:00.000-04:00

1974 saw the deluge of Apechandise as evidenced by this great newspaper ad, with the cancellation of the series in 1975 would see this stuff go on clearance.

When I started toy collecting in the early eighties, you could find discounted Apes merchandise in almost every convience store in Toronto, it was a good time to be alive.

Playsets of the Apes

2009-06-22T00:58:00.000-04:00

More shots from the 1974 Multiple Toys Catalog featuring these awesome Planet of the Apes playsets, I've seen the packaging on the set bove before but that doesn't mean it wasn't released.

I actually had this set at one point, I love how the soldiers are referred to as "earth men", I guess the folks at Multiple didn't stick around to see the Statue of Liberty...

Planet of the Apes Week

2009-06-21T00:17:00.000-04:00

This next week will be devoted to all things simian. Iy you grew up in the 1970s (which I'm guessing much of my readership did) then you couldn't have avoided "Apes Week" unless you didn't have a TV or lived in a cave. We'll spend the next five days looking at the garbage bags of merchandising produced for this landmark science fiction series, both logical and nonsensical.