Stuff From the Box
It's been nearly a month since we last visited THE BOX, and it's high time we looked at more STUFF. We'll start with the nice brass badge featuring the well-rendered likenesses of Roy and his faithful horse, Trigger. The badge is a 1950 Quaker Cereal premium. It must have been very popular, because these badges are plentiful, even today.
On the back, you can see that the pin swivels to reveal a reflective mirror so that you can flash Morse code messages to folks within eyeshot ("B-R-I-N-G C-A-N-D-Y"). And there's a whistle for annoying your parents.
I know that I have several different pins given to Holiday Inn employees. This one is for eight years of service... I think that my other pins are for different lengths of term. I love that the pin is a mini "Great Sign", impressive but friendly. At the top is a gemstone, perhaps a peridot? The birthstone for August, and sometimes found in meteorites!
Next is this tin-litho Deputy Sheriff badge from Riverview Park (or Riverview Beach Park) in Pennsville, New Jersey; this park really got going in 1914, starting small, but more land was acquired, and attractions were added. "The Old Mill", "The Whip", "Tilt-a-Whirl", a Ferris wheel, and more. The park closed forever in 1967.
Texaco's red, five-pointed star is an appealing logo, even when it's teensy (less than .75"), as it is on this ten-year appreciation award.
Here's an oddball little pin for a radio program - "Scattergood Baines". It was an American serial radio program that was broadcast in two versions, one on CBS from 1937 until 1942 and the other on Mutual in 1949. Both versions were based on stories written by Clarence Budington Kelland and published in magazines. Wikipedia continues: The title character operated a hardware store in Cold River, a small town, and used persuasion to encourage people to do what was in their best interests.
And finally, here's a fun celluloid "flip" for San Marto Coffee. The coffee of elves? The patent date on the back is May 16, 1905. Say, that was a while ago!
I hope you have enjoyed today's Stuff From the Box.
20 comments:
Major-
Pretty classy Holiday Inn pin - ® and everything-!
Thanks, Major.
All the stuff from the box is excellent today. I can't decide which is my favorite, the Scattergood Baines Radio Program pin or the San Marto Coffee celluloid flip. I love them both.
The Frontierland Deputy Sherrif badge from Riverview Park New Jersey is quite nice too. Thanks, Major.
You're right, Major. That IS a pretty good likeness of Roy Rogers. I wouldn't know about Trigger though. A horse is a horse, of course, of course. Pretty cool that the badge morphs into other things, too.
I like the Holiday Inn pin but I'm not sure about that meteoric gemstone. I think it's used to summon Cthulhu from the eldritch depths of unseen dimensions... or not.
I like the history behind the Riverview Park pin, but the pin itself is a bit homely-looking, IMO. Where is the gold!? Where is the glitter? ;-)
Ooh, I like the Texaco pin. There's the gold! There's the glitter! Also the art deco design. Wish the red star was a little brighter though; maybe it was, back in the day. This one comes in first place today.
I'm rather fond of the Scattergood Baines pin, too. But I can't get "Splattered Brains" out of my head. I think I've seen too many zombie shows.
I have mixed feelings about the San Marto Coffee pin. I respect the age of it (although it may have been manufactured years after the patent date). Not sure what the elf has to do with it; evidently he was the mascot? He's kinda creepy, and appealing, in that early 1900s sort of way, like that toothy Coney Island, Steeplechase Park guy.
Stuff From the Box days are always interesting days, Major.
More cool pins! I like that Coffee Elf pin. That Riverview park pin has me wondering something. Did they copy the "Frontierland" name from Disney, or did Disney copy it from them?
Thanks for another peek into "The Box," Major!
I'm surprised things like "Frontierland" or other "lands" have not been copyrighted by the house of mouse. Perhaps they tried? Someone knows. A friend of mine from days long ago was responsible for taking that Texaco logo and modernizing it to the familiar logo known today. He showed me the original artwork- all hand done at that time, and then told me that he was fired from the Ad firm (some biggie one like Chait Day et al) once digital technology rolled around and he became redundant due to the new school. Elves and coffee/...who knew? Maybe 1905 was pre-Santa and elves had a different job...like picking coffee beans? That old Holiday Inn logo is fantastic and brought up memories of passing these sparkling lighted signs when traveling. Could we ever be that fancy to stay in such a place? If so, I would hoard all the logo tiny soaps, match books, anything. I was kind of obsessed with Holiday Inn, and then they became HI. Not Hawaii. And nothing to do with the old branding. More like "TRE PRESENTS...THE FORMER SHELL OF HOLIDAY INN". I like the movie Holiday Inn as a kid...another thing I was obsessed about, and thought that the REAL holiday Inn should be more like the movie Holiday Inn...as I escaped into the world of non-reality. The Holiday Inn sign near Disneyland was the precursor of more exciting things to come...still there....but not at all. Do some research: the old building had a fantastic Movieland Wax Museum vibe. Now all part of the IHG hotel group. Thanks for the morning stuff Major!
Bu, it's funny that you mention the old Anaheim Holiday Inn having a Movieland Wax Museum vibe. That building used to be a wax museum, before it was part of the Holiday Inn:
Anaheim Wax Museum
They had even used the original Wax Museum sign with the star on top and kept the statue that was located underneath the sign:
Anaheim Holiday Inn
Bu (again), according to "Stuff From The Park," the Anaheim wax museum's figures came from the 1964/65 New York World's Fair:
http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2014/07/souvenir-friday-wide-world-in-wax-wax.html
Sadly, the building's exterior facade/arches survived mostly intact, all the way up until 2008. Then between 2008 and 2009, the arches were chopped off, leaving only the support columns. Today, nobody would ever have an idea how special that building was at one time. They truly do ruin everything. Here's the view in 2008, before the arches were removed or covered up:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8017998,-117.9151622,3a,75y,73.12h,90.27t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s7gRtWPer9JHFAOlXH1bqMg!2e0!5s20080601T000000!7i3328!8i1664
And here's how it looks now:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8018043,-117.9151326,3a,75y,73.12h,90.27t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPhBmHIFqf4MfzXReytFgfw!2e0!5s20230101T000000!7i16384!8i8192
When I saw the tiny Holiday Inn sign, everything else just faded into the background. I miss those signs so much.
What makes me so sad about today’s post and commentary is that the Holiday Inn Great Signs just sort of disappeared in the early ‘80s and I didn’t even notice. I was shocked to learn a few months ago that there are like three left on the planet. It makes me wonder - what else did I miss slipping from the American architectural landscape.? And what am I missing right now?
TM!, I think I stayed in that Holiday Inn in 2007 or 2008. I was in LA for a conference, was trying to build up some IHG points, and thought I’d stay near the Park so I could wander over to Downtown Disney and pick up some souvenirs for the kids. I had no idea it had been a wax museum. And now, nobody else will, either.
Nanook, I think I have a 15-year Holiday Inn pin somewhere, I’ll have to find it. Not sure how different it is.
K. Martinez, somehow the name “Scattergood Baines” made me assume that it was a British show, so I was surprised to find out that it ran in the U.S. for over 10 years. I wonder if any episodes are over at archive.org? There’s a lot of old-time radio there. I like the Riverview Park badge too, but realize that I need to upgrade!
JB, you can recognize tigger from his impish grin. Very distinctive in a horse. I’ve never tried to summon Cthulu using the Holiday Inn gem, but I’ll give it a shot right after I finish with the comments. Tin ‘fold-over’ badges like the one for Riverview Park seemed to be a common giveaway back then, and I’m sure they cost a pittance. Hey, it’s a freebie! I almost always love old Texaco pins, the star logo is one I’ve liked instinctively since I was a kid. I’m sorry you have “Splattered Brains” in your head. Maybe the coffee pin guy is not an elf?? Though I can’t figure out what else he could be.
TokyoMagic!, I have the feeling that the “Frontierland” name was around before Disneyland. Same with “Fantasyland”, since I believe that there were several storybook-themed parks with that name.
Bu, I’m not sure what the rules for copyrighting a name would be, but if somebody was using “Frontierland” before Disney, I don’t think they would be able to copyright it. I’ll try to copyright the name “Bu” and see what happens! ;-) I remember when I first learned how to do computer graphics, there was an old guy in the class who had clearly done things by hand for his whole career. He was very angry that he had to be there, and I think he just wasn’t getting the idea of vector graphics (or raster graphics, for that matter). I felt kind of bad for him, but he also kept derailing the class by arguing with the teacher about how ridiculous computers were. I’m not sure if we ever stayed in a Holiday Inn, but I think we did. Once or twice? We used to do those summer road trips. I hate the new Holiday Inn logos and signs. Boring. Corporate.
TokyoMagic!, man, that was a beautiful mid-century building! thank you for the links!
TokyoMagic!, interesting that the figures were from the Fair. Unbelievable that anyone would decide that those arches had to go. I can’t even imagine WHY. They were elegant. It’s as if some VP had nothing better to do. “We need to modernize this building!”. Modernize = ruin. Very sad.
Melissa, I was shocked to learn that only a single original Holiday Inn sign survives, in a sign museum somewhere in the midwest. There must have been hundreds of them at one time!
Chuck, ha ha, well after my comment to Melissa, you come along and say that there are THREE Holiday Inn signs. Maybe the article that I read long ago was wrong. I have no doubt that beautiful old architecture is vanishing every day - I look at the “Vintage L.A.” Facebook page, and it is depressing how often they announce the destruction of a wonderful building or business. Always to be replaced by “luxury condos”.
Box Stuff! The Holiday Inn pin is great, funny that they made them for 8 years, not just 5, 10, etc. The green gem is a nice touch. The coffee elf is so weird, and pointy; you could pin it to your collar and then poke someone’s behind like in the Three Stooges! Thanks, Major.
My Dad was a die hard Texaco man, so I love the Texaco badge. (among all the other gems).
Thank you, beautiful collection Major.
We had a suburban Holiday Inn and a downtown Ramada in our town, and through some process of Freaky Friday real estate, they swapped buildings around the same time the Howard Johnson’s went out of business. The Holiday Inn didn’t want to take their fabulous sign downtown with them, so that’s when it was lost. An old coworker of mine worked for a while as a security guard in the empty HoJo’s building, keeping urban explorers out, I guess. Must have been like a low-budget version of The Shining.
Major- All neat items posted today. Being partial to Western related things, I like the Roy Rogers & Trigger badge the best. The Texaco award is nice too.
I recall visiting the wax museum that TokyoMagic! mentioned. I remember seeing the Beatles figures & the Universal Monster characters the most. There was a newspaper article sometime later about a fire that occurred there & destroyed much of the interior. I don't know if a cause was determined, but it seemed very suspicious...
-DW
Kathy!, you’re right, I’d expect pins to be given out (as you said) every five years or so, but I guess the hotel biz wasn’t as prone to holding on to employees for so long? The celluloid “flips” are an old-fashioned advertising giveaway, I have the feeling that pinback buttons replaced them - because you could avoid being jabbed!
DrGoat, I remember having a plastic Texaco fireman’s hat when I was a kid, but the plastic was so thin that it split without much effort. Glad you enjoyed today’s stuff!
Melissa, I can imagine that moving one of those huge signs would have been an expensive and difficult proposition. Still, it’s hard to think about them being bulldozed. It’s funny how folks didn’t value such things at the time. “It’s just an old hotel sign! Who cares?”. My family occasionally ate in Howard Johnson’s restaurants, but I don’t think we ever stayed in one of their hotels.
hannibal8 (DW!), you can’t go wrong with Roy Rogers stuff, and in fact I have more RR items to share in the future. Not a lot, but… some. I always liked the monsters at any wax museum, in my opinion those were always the best part. You’re right about the fire seeming suspicious, in fact I always suspect foul play whenever I hear about a building being destroyed by flames.
After a previous post about the Holiday Inn signs, I was certain that a Holiday Inn near my childhood home still had the classic sign - I remember it as a landmark when driving to the Caldor department store, if that gives a sense of time. When I drove past it a few months ago, I was saddened to see a boring modern marquee. TRE, indeed.
Dean Finder, yes, those modern marquees are so incredibly dull! I'll bet some designer got paid tens of thousands of dollars. The old Holiday Inn signs radiated a kind of cheerful exuberance. Stay here! It's nice, and maybe even fun!
Chuck, I never stayed at that hotel, but I went to a seminar in the building that used to be the wax museum. It was where the hotels convention rooms were. But I had no idea of the buildings history at that time....only that it had a really cool mid-century facade. You'd think that there might have been a faint lingering smell of burnt wax, but no such luck.
Bu, Chuck, & Tokyo, we stayed in that Holiday Inn on one Disney visit. I recall it as very nice, fancier than our usual motels. Thanks for the links! I might even have a matchbook from that one.
Of course they wrecked it, that’s what architects do.
Love the Holiday Inn pin, Major.
Guarantee if those “lands” could be trademarked, Disney will have done it. I’m surprised we don’t get takedown notices for writing them in comments.
JG
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