Vincent Price Studios

St. Louis native, Vincent Price was much more than just an iconic actor of stage and screen, he was a fantastic chef, rabid art collector, and for those unaware, he even had his own small chain of photography studios. It's really not uncommon to stumble upon abandoned Vincent Price Studio portraits at antique stores located around the greater STL area, or even right there in your own grandparent's photo albums, because as the article provided below states, "VPS served 75% of the high schools, nursing schools, and universities in STL County and Illinois." From the late 40's and well into the latter part of the 60's (possibly longer), VPS was the go-to studio for athletic and social events, club and yearbook, weddings, babies, etc. Here are a couple of lovely examples of two young ladies (from very different decades based on their hair styles), each captured in a beautiful black and white photo, and further preserved within a simple, elegantly designed portrait studio folder bearing Price's legendary name. Yes, it's just one more thing that makes St. Louis, MO one of the coolest cities in the USA.

The Beauty of You

The subject of Avon came up quite a few times last week at work, so of course yesterday while out antiquing down in Farmington, I stumble upon this perfectly adorable little Avon beauty and grooming booklet from 1967. Loaded with helpful tips, (not like some of you reading this post even need it!), as well as some seriously cute illustrations, the whole thing just shines with great design and ideas. Heck, even the vendor's booth at the antique mall was set up exquisitely! 

It's now time to know your best assets:

The Vampire State Building & Other "Funny" Jokes

Waaaay back in 2018 (click HERE), I posted one of these vintage Cracker Jacks prize joke books, and then apparently planned to post a few more throughout the same month, --but it looks like the follow-ups never actually happened! AIEEE!! I'm not even sure where those other two tiny joke books pictured in the original post are at this point anymore, but alas, I do have a 4th one, and it's packed with some real comical dandies, as well as a couple of dreadful duds. (Seriously, cat fish and carrots?) Of course, this post, like the other one, is barely even about the jokes, and more about that amazingly fun, cute artwork by some brilliant artist unknown.

The Devil's Fork

So, what was once the hottest restaurant / cocktail lounge in late 1960's Washington DC, you wonder? Why clearly it was The Devil's Fork located inside the Gramercy Inn on Rhode Island Avenue, 'natch!  Prepare to be greeted with the warmest of welcomes, and on your way out, don't forget to grab a handful of these flaming matchbooks in the basket at the end of the bar... or is it on your way down... down... dowwwwn?! And for more devilish dining details, dig the wicked array of illustrated devil dames on a rare, original MENU over at wild 'n wanton Worthpoint!

BIG X / ビックX Sonorama Storybook & Record

We leave the Western Hemisphere heroisms of Batman behind (see our previous post HERE), and now head off to the Eastern Hemi for BIG X, a very different flavor of super powered hero, as featured in this vintage Asahi Sonorama flexi record storybook from Japan. Legendary creator, Osamu Tezuka's boy with the iron body may not have had the same level of impact upon the world of manga and anime as his other masterful creations like Astroboy or Kimba the White Lion, but BIG X is still one heck of an action packed, WW2, sci-fi adventure about good vs. evil, and is freakin' overloaded with mad nazi science and rampaging robots. The manga ran in Shonen Book from November 1963 to Feb. 1966, while the TBS / Tokyo Movie anime TV series (now considered "lost" except for a handful of episodes) aired from August 1964 until Sept. 1965. As mentioned, this is a Sonorama flexi disc version, as well as a storybook, and below are my photos of every beautifully illustrated page, including pictures of both sides of the record. CLICK HERE to listen to the awesome BIG X theme song, and then click HERE, HERE, and HERE for more classic Japanese cartoon flexi fun found in the AEET Archive! For even more BIG X awesomeness, I've added a few pictures of my vintage villain bot "V-3" to the end of the post. I picked this up at the All Monsters Attack Convention in Indiana in 2022. He's missing the head fin, unfortunately, but it was still too cool to pass up! Does anyone have a 3D printer?