Big Boy Comic Books

i just posted a big boy comic on etsythat they used to give to kids when you were seated and i couldn't resist a little research into the history of big boy's. 

it started in the 1930s in california and one of the regulars  at Bob's Pantry challenged Bob to make something different and he came up with the double decker Big Boy. 

Bob Wian used to give chores to a six-year-old boy named Richard Woodruff. he was a chubby kid with baggy pants and a funny pompadour hairstyle.  one day, a Warner Brothers cartoonist, Benny Washman, sketched the chubby boy on a napkin and gave it to Wian.  and  "the Big Boy" was born.

the comic book began in 1956 and the first of these comic books were written by Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and drawn by "Sub-Mariner" creator Bill Everett.

big boy was one of the places we hung out when i was a teenager and although my kids didn't go there that often, it was a tradition at gp north high for the senior class to "steal" the big boy from the restaurant at vernier and mack.  they finally chained Big Boy down.

fun memories

cool 1933 international cookbook

I really didn't intend to post again today, but I just finished listing this great old cookbook from F.W. McNess and I had to share.   These old books not only have great and interesting recipes but they are such a window on the daily life of the average woman.

Furst-McNess Company was started in 1908 in Freeport, IL.  According to the company website (yes they are still in business, with Furst family members) the company served area farmers and small town people with a quality line of livestock remedies and household products.  Frank Furst, a young Freeport lawyer, joined his talents and ambition with those of Frederick McNess, a brilliant pharmacist in this new venture.

The thing I find most unique is that the recipes, from Argentina, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russis, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, printed in their native language and translated into English.

1933 and the recipes for Chop Suey, Egg Foo Young and Bird's Nest Soup are printed in Chinese and English. 

This from a midwest company who makes Poultry Tonic and Barb Wire Liniment, Aspirin Tablets and Mustard Ointment.

Sometimes I forget what a melting pot our nation is.  And my hat's off to a company still going strong after 100 years.

yesterdays pickins

not much going on the last couple of weeks in the estate sale world, but helen and i had fun yesterday.  the sale was is wayne and the people had owned the local dairy queen for many years.  it was fun to see some of the old advertising.  there were no great old commercial malt mixers.  no i didn't buy one even though i love malts. 

but what was there was a wonderful collection of old tin easter candy molds :D   didn't get as many as i would have liked, because there were many people grabbing them, but  i'm happy.  got a large rabbit pulling an egg shaped wagon, a wonderful basket, a lamb, a really cute duck and several traditional chocolate rabbit molds.  i'll get pictures up as soon as i get them cleaned up.  not in perfect condition but very nice.

i spent some time today starting to gather easter things to take pictures for listing.  i have more things than i thought and less than i'd like to have.  what else is new. 

well off  to get something constructive done.  have a great one.

whitney made vintage valentines

Whitney Made valentines are those sweet little ones that are printed on a slick lighter weight paper, embossed and gilded. They often have line drawings inside and the poems are so fun. 

The majority of the ones I've been finding have been from the 1920s and 1930s, but the George Whitney Company was founded in Worcester, MA in the 1870s.
He developed the machinery for the embossing and paper lace cutting.  Prior to this time all these materials were imported from Europe.

Another name that shows up is Carrington out of Chicago, but I'm having a harder time finding info about them.  I even have a few cards that have both Whitney Made and Carrington printed on the back so I'm assuming there was a buy out or merger somewhere along the line. 

The inks used in these cards is still very bright and true and the paper used were obviously very low acid content, for them to have held up so well.

 

removing the ink from vintage postcards

i found this info last spring and filed it for future reference.  it comes from http://ruffledblog.com.  heather used vintage postcards for her save the date cards for her wedding, but i think they'd be neat for lots of different party invites. 

the process is for removing ball point pen (and that's another blog), so most probably cards for the late 40's and newer. 

if you actually want to mail the cards, you will need to steam off the old stamps first.  then:

"...to remove ballpoint pen ink: put on rubber gloves, get out bleach, q-tips, and a paper towel which has been run under water and then rung out so that it is slightly damp. Dip one q-tip in bleach and run the q-tip along each line of text. The ink should start to disappear. After bleaching a few rows of text, wipe the postcard clean with the damp paper towel. Continue this process until the ink is gone. It may take a few swipes, and some ink may not come off at all. The postmark will not be removed.."

although most of the really old postcards tell a story all their own, there are a great many "wish you were here" type cards out there with no significant value.  i think it could be fun just to recycle and resend some of these old cards.

what to do?

uncovered  a book when i was pickin  couple of weeks ago that i thought was cool.  found it again last night when i was moving some books and googled it.  found 3 copies priced between $150  and $500. yikes!  what to do?  list it, or hoard it?
list on etsy or go to eBay with it?  seems like the wrong time so close to christmas.  i may just have to fondle and hoard for a while.

from the looks of the estate sale listings it looks like pickin is going to be slim for the next few weeks.  only a few things posted for january.  do all the regular companies head for warmer climes in january?  what are helen and karen and i going to do?

well, i'm off the pack last minute orders, and then see what kind of trouble i can get into.   i could wrap packages....

Vintage sewing patterns began in the 1860s

Vintage patterns appeal on so many levels.  First the chance to recreate an old style, maybe something you remember your mom or grandmother wearing, or you just like dressing in the retro styles.  Maybe you are just a collector loving the vintage art work.  Or maybe you are a collage artist or scrapbooker who loves adding bits and pieces of the past to your work.

In any event,  over the last months I've followed some wonderful google trails and learned a great deal about commercial sewing patterns.

Patterns for the home sewer first appeared on the market in the 1860s.  Most women took apart old, worn out clothes to use as a pattern for a garment. With the birth of sized patterns sewing clothes, which all but the rich did, became much easier.

The birth of Butterick Patterns, thought to be the first, was inspired by the wife of Ebenezer Butterick, who commented to her tailor husband that it would be so much faster to make a garment if she had a sized pattern to follow.  He began to experiment and his first patterns were made from cardboard, but they were bulky and hard to ship, and he settled on tissue paper that was easy to fold and ship anywhere. 

Directions and cutting patterns did not begin to appear until the 1920s.  Up until that point, it was assumed that all women knew how to sew and just having a sized pattern to follow speeded up the process.