A blog dedicated to the historical preservation and memory of the American Baby Boomer's & Generation X's Pop Culture. Our blog has & will continue to post entries about the second half of the 20th
century, everything from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s going up to 2000 (and occasionally 2010.) Our definition of Pop Culture includes, Classic TV, Vintage TV Toys (coloring books - paper dolls,) TV
Guides, animation cels, Old movies, Vintage advertising memorabilia, Humorous political collectibles, funny billboards, movie & TV film location photographs, Vintage sports star memorabilia &
BASICALLY, ANYTHING & EVERYTHING
THE RAT PATROL WAS ON THE AIR FOR 3 SEASONS - 1966 UNTIL 1968.
THE PREMISE FOR THE SHOW: Chistopher George was Sergeant Sam Troy, and he was the commander of a group of commando soldiers during WWII. The soldiers had two incredibly agile jeeps in their commando unit, which were each armed with a 50 caliper machine gun. The vehicles had the ability to climb over the steepest Sahara sand dune with minimal effort. The 50 caliper guns never ran out of ammo, and were capable of stopping every piece of German heavy armored weapon. Nothing could stop the RAT PATROL - including LOGIC.
TV LOGIC: 1) A Sergeant commanding a two jeep commando unit, without the need for officers.
2) The soldiers would never sweat in the hot desert - their uniforms were pristine.
3) The soldiers always had a never ending supply of explosives & 50 caliper ammunition.
4) The soldiers would occasionally team up with the German Captain Hans Dietrich.
THE RAT PATROL was a campy, shoot 'em up TV show, where nobody was ever killed or maimed. It was the 1960's version of the hit 1980's TV show, THE A-TEAM.
The show had lots of loud shooting & dynamite explosions, which was used to entertain the gun loving REDNECKS of this country.
Nobody ever dies on THE RAT PATROL TV show.
People do die in STANFORD, FLORIDA.
_________________________________________________________________________ AN INTERESTING SIDE NOTE:
THE RAT PATROL actor who played the role of German Captain Hans Dietrich was credited by his birth name, which was Hans Gudegast. Hans was born in Kiel, Germany, on April 3, 1941, which of course was during the middle of WW II. He immigrated to the U.S. during the mid 1950's.
For the first 8 years of his acting career he went by his birth name. He changed his acting name to Eric Braeden, around 1969. For the last 32 years, he has played the part of Victor Newman on the long running soap opera, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.
_________________________________________________________________________
POSTED BELOW IS A COMIC BOOK AD FOR:
THE RAT PATROL AURORA TOY PLAYSET.
FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT - A FULL EPISODE OF THE RAT PATROL.
Back in 1962, the Post cereal company decided to take advantage of the American love affair with the space program. They stole the idea of a cereal with sugary sweet oat numbers from their own corporate product - ALPHA BITS. The difference between the two cereals: one cereal had numbers, and the other cereal had letters. The ALPHA BITS semi-cloned (copied, but slightly different) cereal was named COUNT OFF.
About a year ago, I wrote a satirical blog post about Alpha Bits being used as a learning tool for a young George W. Bush. Supposedly, "W" had a hard time learning to spell, and his parents bought thousands of boxes of Alpha Bits to help their son learn 3rd grade spelling (when he was 13 years old.) Who knows, maybe Count Off cereal was also used as a "W" learning tool to help teach him to count.
He never seemed to be able to include the Iraq war in the budget. He always had to pay for the war as an EMERGENCY SPENDING BILL. A little more intelligence with numbers, and the budget would have been a truthful document, and it would also have been a HUMONGOUS deficit laden budget. Was it STUPIDITY, or was it being a SNEAKY, CONNIVING GOP politician - YOU BE THE JUDGE?
Posted below is an original 1962 commercial for Count Off cereal.
The GOP loves to CLAIM that the government can't do anything well. They like to CLAIM that private business is capable of being a PERFECT remedy for the SUPPOSEDLY poorly run government enterprises.
BULL POO POO - PILED 1 MILLION MILES HIGH.
__________________________________________________________
EXAMPLES OF WELL RUN GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS
1) State & U.S. government money has educated BILLIONS of children, who later attended some of the finest universities in the world (American universities.) I get a kick out of the GOP claiming that public school educated students have a SUPPOSEDLY poor quality education. I guess they base their false assumptions on test results, which are then compared to test results from other countries.
HEY, PEOPLE - APPLES & ORANGES. The tests are not the same from one country to the next.
The SUPPOSEDLY poor quality public educated student leaves the public high school, and then goes to one of the world's finest universities (which would be located in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) and magically becomes an exceptional student. Could it be that the public educated student really did have a quality education, and the SUPPOSEDLY poor quality public school is actually an excellent institution?
2) The public library was first created by Benjamin Franklin. They are fantastic governmental institutions, which are run by local governments, and are subsidized by state / federal money. They are prime examples of a socialistic governmental institution. Public tax money is paid by everyone, even if a person never has a need for the library they still pay taxes to help support it. The existence of the library helps the betterment of the American public. NO MONEY IS NEEDED TO BORROW A BOOK, as opposed to a FOR PROFIT LIBRARY.
Hopefully, GOP politicians might someday pick up a book. Who knows, maybe they might LEARN something. Anything is possible.
For the most part, libraries do not censor what you can read. They also do not keep a dossier of what you read. They are not in the business of keeping tabs on the citizens, which is something that BIG BUSINESS LOVES TO DO.
CAN ANYBODY SAY THE WORD G-O-O-G-L-E?
3) NASA - a government agency that single-handedly created multiple industries, by issuing contracts to private companies, for the development of the hardware/software to get to the moon. The end result of those contracts created the needed equipment for us to put a man on the moon. After those goverment contracted products were created the private companies then started to think of possible spinoff uses for those products. GOVERNMENT & PRIVATE BUSINESS WORKING TOGETHER - A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT.
Do you think that private business would open up their collective corporate purses to develop the hardware/software on their own? AHHHHH NOOOO!!! NASA was the catalyst. If NASA had never existed, we wouldn't be enjoying the benefits of the space program products that were spun off from their original purposes. Many spinoff industries would not exist if NASA didn't have a need to "CATTLE PROD" American companies to think out of the box.
4) AMTRAK - a government owned corporation, which was created to provide NEEDED passenger train transportation. Passenger train travel that the PRIVATE BUSINESS railroad companies had CLAIMED they couldn't provide profitably.
Even with "inheriting" crappy equipment along with the dilapadated train stations, and with MINIMAL support from GOP politicians, Amtrak still has been able to survive. If Amtrak was really able to compete with the airlines - THEY WOULD KICK THE AIRLINE'S BUTTS. A single train engine could pull over 100 railroad cars. Amtrak could sell an incredibly cheap ticket hauling 100 cars of passengers, while using one locomotive. Dedicated railroad tracks, which do not give preference to freight trains, would allow the trains to fly from one city to the next (figuratively.)
5) Social Security & Medicare have been succesful business enterprises for over 80 years.
6) The Postal Service was making a tidy profit - prior to the Lame Duck session of Congress, at the end of 2006. The REPUKEICAN controlled House snuck in a bill that required the Post Office to fund 75 years worth of pension benefits during a 10 year period. No other business has ever been forced to do that. Federal Express, or UPS would be out of business if they were forced to fund 75 years of pensions.
The Postal Service has to fund the pension benefits of employees that are not even BORN. 75 years in advanced prepaid pension payments means that a future-to-be retiree is currently a newborn baby.
The GOP snuck that law in for one reason. They wanted to break the postal unions. At the same time, the GOP created law will force the closure of thousands of rural Post Offices. Post Offices that are in rural RED STATE - REPUBLICAN areas.
Not too smart, REPUKEICANS.
A lot of people don't know that UPS & Federal Express send packages to the Post Office, because it isn't profitable for the two PRIVATE companies to deliver rural area packages. The Postal Service can do it better than UPS & Federal Express.
What do you think would happen if the Postal Service has to make drastic service cuts to rural areas? Do you think Fed Ex / UPS will take up the slack in the rural areas of the country? YEAH, RIGHT - there isn't any profit in that.
During the year 1919, a 25 year old Otto Schnering founded the Curtiss Candy company in the Chicago metro area. It was at the height of World War 1, and it was not a good idea to mention that you have a Germanic sounding company name. That is why Otto decided to name his candy company after his mother's maiden name - CURTISS.
The Chicago area was the candy capitol of the world, and the Curtiss Candy company was one of the major reasons for that designation, up untill approximately 2007. Even with former candy companies going out of business, or being purchased by bigger companies, Chicago still is a major candy manufacturing city.
Chicago has also always been the railroad capitol of the nation. All of the major railroad freight lines were designed to end in the Chicago area, and the ingredients for candy could be brought into the Chicago area with relative ease, plus the cost would be substantially less than other parts of the country..
Going off on a tangent - Illinois has the second largest number of railroad crossings in the country. Only Texas, which is 4 times bigger than Illinois, has a slightly larger number of crossings.
Getting back to the original subject. The Chicago area also had a substantial German immigrant population. German farmers founded many of the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, and they were probably familiar with the making of chocolate. Just like in today's world, the manufacturer is constantly looking for the CHEAPEST labor force they can find, and the German immigrants fulfilled that need.
Posted below are several very colorful comic book ads that Curtiss Candy Co. created. Being that the Baby Ruth candy bar sold for 5 cents, the major customer for the candy bar would be children. That is why there are so many wonderful pieces of advertising memorabilia that promoted the Baby Ruth candy bar.
The ads during WWII promoted the war effort, and did not mention the founder's name. Ads that were created after the war promoted adventure. One ad showcases a child riding a rocket, and another advertisement has a child on a broncing horse. The post WWII ads have Otto's name prominently displayed as the founder.
WORLD WAR 2 ADS
POST WW 2 ADS
A SPACE THEMED - POST WW 2 AD THAT DOESN'T MENTION OTTO
POSTED BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF A 6 YEAR OLD WILY YOUNG LADY.
SHE IS ATTEMPTING TO OUTSMART A 6 YEAR OLD MALE FRIEND.
WILY YOUNG LADY ATTEMPTING TO GET HI-C FROM A "SMART" YOUNG MAN
MY OPINION - IT IS IN HER DNA.
_______________________________________________________________________
TO THE FEMALES IN MY LIFE:
I'm only kidding, I don't mean what I am writing - it is only written for entertainment purposes. I would never imply that any of you are manipulative, or vindictive. It is my personal opinion that women are the sweetest creatures in the world. I personally believe that a female is incapable of attempting to manipulate a male, simply because they are the most wonderful creatures in the universe.
Please do not hurt me - verbally, or physically.
_______________________________________________________________________
TO THE MALES IN MY LIFE:
PURE BULL. I just said it to get them off my back.
Just like in a situation comedy, all of their problems were solved in less than 30 minutes.
On our second visit, which was about two weeks later, the UNUSUAL couple conspires to do away with what they referred to as their 3 year old boarder. The evidence shows that they made a new home for their "boarder in the backyard compost heap.
The fun-loving couple ended their adventurous day by going out on the town to enjoy an evening of square dancing, while their compost heap was decomposing.
On this visit, Lucy & Desi have a need to remodel their home, since they no longer have to share their home with their former 3-year old BOARDER.
OUR FAVORITE COLORING BOOK CHARACTERS WORK IN TANDEM.
DESI SUPPORTS THE FAMILY OF 2 (FORMALLY 3) BY PLAYING THE CONGA DRUMS FOR A HUGE AUDIENCE.
DESI BRINGS HOME THE BIG BUCKS TO SUPPORT A LAVISH COLORING BOOK CHARACTER LIFESTYLE.
WHILE DESI ENTERTAINS, LUCY CLEANS UP THE EVIDENCE OF THEIR FORMER 3 YEAR OLD BOARDER.
THE FORENSIC EVIDENCE IS IN MORE THAN ONE ROOM.
LUCY NEEDS TO PUT HER BOOK DOWN.
SHE NEEDS TO CONCENTRATE ON HER MAIN JOB OF ELIMINATING ALL TRACES OF THE BOARDER.
THE LAST PART OF THEIR COVERUP SPRING CLEANING WOULD BE TO PAINT THE FORMER NURSERY.
PART 1 - ELIMINATION OF THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF THE YOUNG BOARDER.
PART 2 - ELIMINATION OF EVERYBODY WHO CAN CONNECT THEM TO THE BOARDER.
1309 passengers left Southampton, on Sunday April 8, 2012, for a memorial Titanic cruise. The ship is expected to arrive above the burial site of thousands of the Titanic's passengers, on the evening of April 14, 2012. The time of the ship sinking below the waves is pegged at 5:18 a.m G.M.T., April 15, 1912, and the memorial (ghoul) cruise will conduct a memorial service for the deceased, at 5:18 a.m. G.M.T., April 15, 2012.
I consider the memorial cruise to be a crass entrepreneurial event. My opinion is that the people conducting the memorial cruise really do not care about the deceased passengers. In my humble opinion, a staged memorial service will block their true motive - MAKING MONEY OFF OF THE DEAD.
_________________________________________________________________________
GLOBAL WARMING DISAPPOINTMENT:
THE ICEBERGS ARE NOW ICE CUBES
Dean Foods was the second largest dairy in the United States, and was bought by the #1 dairy, in December, 2001. The former Chicagoland company ceased to exist after the Dallas based Suiza corporation bought it. The merger between the #1 Suiza Dairy, and the #2 Dean's Dairy went unchallenged by the "W" Justice Department. In their tiny little minds - ANTITRUST DOES NOT EXIST.
Suiza changed their name to a more "friendly" name, which happened to be the same name as their acquired #2 competitor, Dean Foods.
Even though I am not a fan of the anti-competitive business dealings of the corporation (in my humble opinion), I am a loyal customer of their products, mainly because, they have a huge monopoly in the Chicago market.
Their products taste great, but I didn't know why they tasted so good. It seems they have DIRECT-FROM-THE-COW-UDDER MILK. Supposedly, I have an exclusive photo of the Dean's delivery truck unloading the cow in the grocery store parking lot.
THIS CEREAL SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED WHOLE WHEAT CRISP - YEAH, RIGHT.
A TV COMMERCIAL AVOIDING THE NEGATIVE & PROMOTING THE POSITIVE - HOW RARE.
During the early 1960's, Post cereal was promoted by the infamous Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck. The commercial, that I have posted below, went to great lengths to tell the viewers that the cereal was made from whole wheat, and it helped to make Bugs Bunny into the 1960's version of ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER. It never once "claimed" that the sugary cereal gave the young consumers lots of SUGAR INDUCED ENERGY. They were trying to avoid that information.
The commercial showcases the bunny's bulging biceps, which were supposedly created by the consumption of Sugar Crisp cereal. The advertisement went on to show the young viewers that those muscles were capable of instantly destroying a sledge hammer, which was aimed at Mr. Bugs Bunny by a frequent attacker of the rabbit.
Daffy Duck was the felonious attacker of Bugs, and he "SUPPOSEDLY" was using the sledge hammer to prove the benefits of Post Sugar Crisp. Daffy's act of criminal Battery was stopped when the sledge hammer instantly disintegrated. Bugs Bunny's MASSIVE Sugar Crisp created muscles destroyed the hammer on impact.