Colouring Book Theatre: Tuffy Tooth Meets Butch Cavity and the No Tooth Kid

Great title huh? I found this little bit of pain at a flea market and I actually paid $2 for it. This is one of those things you got for free when your mom bought toothpaste or you could actually pay $0.25 for it, if you did that, you're as dumb as me.

I bought this because I'm pretty sure I had it as a kid but don't remember it being this bad. First off, it's about 6 pages long, with the reverse side being the same story in French (this is Canada ) secondly, it's TERRIBLY drawn and painfully written, just like you'd expect from something that's about dental hygiene....

Our hero "Doctor Friendly" is off to Cavity Canyon to look for his pal Tuffy Tooth, is "Cavity Canyon" the most unappealing name for a place ever? Me thinks yes.

No Dentists Allowed? Sounds like the work of Butch Cavity, the outlaw, not the Butch Cavity that makes those adult films where the girls never seem to show up.

Ah, our villains, the evil "No Tooth Kid" with his puckered mouth and rifle scope eyes. Butch Cavity and Lotta Snacks, who apears to be the town prostitute.

"Hello Big Boy Want Some Candy"?

Tuffy Tooth shows up and he's just a gigantic pile of whine. In the mine shaft, Doctor Friendly gives Tuffy a good rub down with some tooth paste while Barry White softly plays in the background.

Why does the no tooth kid have his name on his heel?

Anyway, we're saved by Doctor stick in the butt and toothboy. Butch Cavity and the No Tooth kid are hung by their necks until dead.

The Empire Strikes Cleveland

JD who sent in that great Spider-Man picture from last week also sent this awesome Darth Vader appearance from 1980 at the Parmatown Mall, also in the Cleveland area. The store was either Higbees or May Company, he can't remember. Just in case you don't see it, there is something that sets this apart from other mall shots:

Sweet mint in package Kenner Star Wars goodness! mmmmm hmmmmmm! Is that a boxed 12" Obi Wan or Jawa beside the Vader?

Send us your Mall Appearance photos! You will be our hero!

The Defenders :1975 Hasbro Catalog

So you're Hasbro in 1975 and everybody is cutting into your G.I. Joe profits with dolls named "Mighty Gary", "Fighting Yank" and "Mr Action", what do you do?

You rip them off of course! That's exactly what Hasbro did in 1975 with "The Defenders" a fairly cheap blow molded doll (whose head would later be recycled into Bulletman) who also was the perfect way to get rid of excess inventory (especially on military items).

Click Here to see the 1975 Hasbro The Defenders line

More Manliness

The Vest Suit

What a young man had to look forward to wearing in the early 70s, almost an indoctrination into "Furley hood"* and somehow, makes the option of Viet Nam that much more appealing.

* The right of passage where you became a lonely bachelour living in your brother Bart's apartment building.

There are 50 Adventures of G.I. Joe

And I want every single one of them! Argh!

I'm not really a Joe collector but about once every 4 years, I go on this insane bender, where I purchase as much as I can find and afford. Eventually I came to my senses realising a) I'm broke and b) I have no room to put all this stuff. So I end up paring it down a bit, keeping childhood favourites.

This cycle constantly repeats itself, I blame the packaging, it's brilliant and my inner six year old just makes me it's slave. Help me....

You and What Army Pal?

Something simply must be done to end the vicious cycle of "catalog model on Catalog model" violence. Last year's Montgomery Ward's shoot resulted in nine injuries and 37 pants related fatalities.

Super Spinner of Rack Toys

The stuff dreams are made of, a spinner packed to the gills full of rack toys by Henry Gordy inc. Imagine finding this in some long forgotten hardware store somehere. I'd fill my car with Superman Ball Blasters...

I don't get the Hulk handcuffs though unless he was kinda kinky.

Colouring Book Theatre: Lassie

Oh Snap! We are back with another installment of Colouring Book Theatre, thanks to my pal Sharry. I try not to go this long but it's hard to find affordable vintage colouring books to review in my neck of the woods.
Sharry's Lassie book is autographed by Jon Provost, who played Timmy (the guy who never fell in a well) even though this has nothing to do with the TV show.

I can honestly say the Lassie series didn't play when I was a kid because I had an older sister who wanted to be a vet and could totally take me, so I was forced to watch every episode of "Run, Joe, Run!" and "The Littlest Hobo". Had Lassie been on, I would have been an expert on the series.

We did have Lassie Golden books and Viewmasters thanks to my pet obsessed sister (who didn't become a vet but has like 11 dogs now) and I've never totally understood the appeal of this show.

The story thus far, Lassie is wandering the forest and gets her foot caught in a trap. She is rescued by a man named Jack Brundle (brother of Seth from the Fly), who's a scientist (see?) who lost his family in a car accident (why is this important?). When she's healed, he takes her for a walk and he falls down a hill and is injured. Lassie travels miles to a town and collapses in front of a family's home and they take her to the doctor. Then Lassie leads the family and the doctor to Jack. It turns out that the dad in the family and Jack work together and Jack was working on a secret formula before he lost his family. If the formula isn't completed, the company will go under.

Long, huh? I want to mention the art looks to be by Tony Tollarico, an industry vet who worked for Dell and on my favourite colouring book of all time.

I hope nobody was expecting anything more than a page of the dog blankly staring, that's all he does.

Well that proves it was a head injury.

Did I mention that this colouring book is very long, yet features a lot of scenes like this?

The door was locked but amazingly Lassie finds the spare key, which saves everyone from um, throwing a brick through a window or calling the hospital and asking the guy where he keeps his spare key.

Success, Lassie saved the company! Unfortunately, the company is Union Carbide, so Lassie's reputation was smudged forever....

Thanks Sharry!

Next Week: The Worst Colouring Book I have ever seen

Previously reviewed Colouring Books

If you have a colouring book you'd like to guest review, I'd like to hear from you!

Spider-Man visits Ohio

JD sent in this great vintage shot of a Spider-Man appearance in Cleveland 1978 although he can't quite remember the store it looks like Spider-Man is in the Office Supplies section.

If that didn't rock enough, JD also submitted this uber cool shot of what the "Free Spider-Man Button" looked like from last week's ad. Very cool!

Send us your Mall Appearance photos!

Rack Toys of the Apes

At this past weekend's Motor City Comic Con, I made the aquaintence of toy dealer Bob Serna, who had the most Planet of the Apes toys I've ever seen available for sale in one place. I spent the majority of my cash with Bob and I'll probably be going back for more shortly, here are some highlights. Above is a "Monkey Shines' flash light by Larami.

These "Gorilla Glasses" may also be by Larami and really show you what a true licensing juggernaut Planet of the Apes really was, it's the movie that likely showed George Lucas how much cash he could really make.

Larami's Ape Rifle

Apes Pinball, I love the header card on this thing...

Interplanetary Ape Phones?

A carded Azrak Hamway Ape Water Pistol was possibly one of the rarest items on display.

AHI's Zaius on horseback is a classic piece of POTA merchandise.

Now, onto what I picked up:

I've mocked the Azrak hamway Palnet of the Apes Helicopter for years but deep down, I've always wanted one, why? Because it's stupidly delicious and maybe a little bit because of this:

It's a little monkey pilot! Nice attention to detail AHI...

I don't know who made this cool little punch o'ball but for some reason I had to have it, maybe it's the reuse of the Addar model kit artwork, hmmmmm.

Anyway, I guess I collect Planet of the Apes again.....

Azrak Hamway (AHI) Planet of the Apes Rack Toy Gallery

Rack Toys by Larami Gallery

A Wild and Crazy Couple

Two prime examples as to why malls shouldn't serve alcohol. Drinking and shopping, don't mix.

Mego Super Heroes :Truth, Justice and Sales?

I love this ad for Licensing Corporation of America (the people who you had to contact if you wanted to make any sort of superhero toy goodness in the 1970s) featuring the Mego Superheroes. Eventhough it's been featured at the Mego Museum, I just thought it deserved more attention.

And Speaking of Mego (like my segway?) Mego Meet, the Fifth Annual Mego Convention is this June in Wheeling West Virginia, it's the largest gathering of Mego collectors in the world and if you're in the area, it's also a great toy show. I'll be there peddling my minimal wares, so give it a look:

Megomeet 2009 Official Website

More Scenes from Toy Fair 1975

This is the Hasbro booth for 1975, that's the suer awesome G.I Joe Skyhawk zooming over these gentleman's heads. From left to right they are Jim Camilleri, Jack Kipperman and Merril Hassenfeld, the man who put the H in Hasbro. Neat!

1976 Hasbro G.I. Joe Catalog

B. Goldberg and J. Romain are off the see the Wizard, the Mego Wizard of Oz line that is! While I'm elated to find this picture I wish I had more shots of the legendary Mego Toy Fair showrooms. This one looks pretty swell however.

MegoMuseum has the most comprehensive Wizard of Oz Gallery

Da-Dun! Da-Dun! Nora Flynn from Imperial Toys cuddles their new inflatable version of the Shark from "Jaws" Imperial made a lot of wonderful rack merchandising and is still in business today.

Imperial Toys Gallery

The Future is Fantastic! A representative from Saalfields shows off their latest offering, based on the new sicence fiction series "Space:1999" to the buyer from Bradlees. I need to review that for colouring book theatre....

Mort Liebman displays his Star Trek record, one of the hottest items in the toy field. This is the power records booth and I am drooling! Check out those Planet of the Apes and G.I. Joe store displays, amazing.