Laconia Antique Center July 28, 2013

There is a lot of visual inspiration and/or kitschy fun at an antique store. The Laconia (NH) Antique Center has a lot of great material for inspiration. Here are a few photos I took when I was there.

JIMMY'S COLORING BOOK is, as you can see, a coloring book of Jimmy Carter. I looked at the cover and sure thought it was drawn by one of the Mad Magazine guys. Maybe Angelo Torres. But NO!!!! The cover was drawn and signed by none other than the great Neal Adams!

The Magic Stay-On Dresses teach the important fact that clothes should fit and stay on!

Love this painted box cover to "Kindergarten Compendium, 5 Popular Pastimes for Kiddies." It includes bead mosaic, stencil outfit, sewing cards, basket weaving and little knitter.

The "Game of India" has this cartoon elephant in a turban, with what looks like club-weilding dog and bunny bodyguards.

The Bingo box art is typical: colorful, fully rendered paitings of white kids have lots of wholesome fun.

Story-a-Day was a magazine that had seven stories for kids in it and it's full of fun 1950s commercial art. They are, however, rather pricey.

Putting a graduation cap and granny glasses on a bear does not make him appear wiser. Why wasn't the owl (opposite, left) made to be the smart one?

Above and below are the cover and first page of HUCKLEBERRY HOUND CHUCKLEBERRY TIME, an oversized comic from 1960.

That cat always looked way too mean to me.

Dale Evans wrote "The Bible Tells Me So?!?!" News to me!

Here's an empty sack, that used to be full of something call Wirthmore Baby-Chick Starter. It's one of the few times I have seen an in-cute drawing of baby chicks. I guess that's to show how serious the Wirthmore people are.

For sale: an old bag of rubber worms.

Here's a, um, er, squirrel, I think, eyeballing the Storze Beer logo. Storz, the beer as "refreshing as the whole outdoors," was a Nebaska-based brewery from 1863 to 1972. I've enver heard of it, but the place has its own Wikipedia page and many items on eBay.

And there were also a series of posters below, depicting kids at play, cute babies, the nativity, father and sons fishing and so on. These look like promo posters that salesmen would hawk to stores. Each one has a space above for the store's logo. 

Here's a nice old poster for Claudette Colbert, Joan Bennett and Charles Boyer in PRIVATE WORLDS -- as well as upcoming attractions FOLIES BERGER and George Arlis in THE IRON DUKE, This has terrific visual impact, regardless of the fact it's 2 colors with only the one graphic of the head of Colbert. The movie came out in 1935.

A book of recipes from a chef of a long-forgotten regional chain. Everything, as Don motions to us, will be okay!

Some signs from Bond Bread: "The Lone Ranger says ... 'Let Safety Be Your rule for the Honor of Your School!' Always Be Careful!" This little sign, which has a handy 8 inch ruler on the top, was "prepared in the interest of the safety education by the Bond Bread Bakers."