Stuff From the Box
Welcome to another installment of STUFF FROM THE BOX. I know you've been anxiously waiting. There are more rings for you - in fact, rings are all that's left in this small box.
First up is this somewhat scarce ring from the Joe E. Brown Club. This was a premium given out with Grape Nuts cereal in 1936, and it has a pretty good likeness of Joe in bas-relief. I can't find out any info about whether Joe E. Brown hosted a radio programs, or if he was just beloved by kids in '36.
A few years back, somebody shared this wonderful photo of Joe E. Brown with some adorable girls at Disneyland. Obviously this is not my photo, and I don't even know who to credit, so if the owner sees this and would like me to remove it (or give them proper credit), I will be happy to do so. Two of the girls are holding their TWA "Rocket to the Moon" certificates.
The next two are "cheapies", at least compared to the quality brass Joe Brown ring. This mystery metal item has the zonked-out face of Smokey Bear staring at us uncomprehendingly. "Far out, man". That's Smokey's famous catchphrase. Or was that Tommy Chong from "Cheech and Chong"? I know nothing about this ring, and I don't want to know anything.
Another mystery cheapie - an aluminum ring featuring the likeness of one of my favorite Hanna-Barbera characters, Mr. Jinks. He's barely recognizable here, I admit. I have one or two similar rings with different HB characters, but I have no idea when they were made and who distributed them.
You remember Mr. Jinks! Voiced by the wonderful Daws Butler. Pixie and Dixie made his life a torment, I always wanted Jinksie to triumph.
On the side we see Quick Draw McGraw. HE'LL do the thinnin' around here!
Stay tuned for one more selection of premium rings, and then it's on to a different box.
12 comments:
Major-
Who knew there was a Joe E. Brown Club-? Well, nobody's perfect.
Thanks, Major.
I only know Joe E. Brown from "Some Like it Hot", where he was enamored with Jack Lemon's character, whom he thought was a woman. (It makes sense if you've seen the movie.). Strange looking guy. Huuuuge mouth. Oh well, "Nobody's perfect".
Major, I'm gonna tell you stuff about the Smokey bear ring... even if you don't want to know: This ring (you have the only one in existence) was found by Howard Carter when he entered King Tut's tomb. As we all know, bears were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. And bears wearing hats, even more so. Needless to say, this ring is cursed! Do not handle it with your bare hands! What's that, you say? You've already handled it?... Ohhhh myyyy.
I like his red mouth.
Hmmm, the Mr. Jinks ring makes it look like Jinksy is part alligator. The Pixie and Dixie cartoons (with Mr. Jinks) were my favorite HB cartoons.
Are you sure that's Quick Draw McGraw? He looks like he could just as well be Huckleberry Hound!... Or Godzilla!
My favorite today? Hmm, that's a toughie. I like the joyous expressions on the girls' faces in the Joe E. Brown photo. I also like the color Pixie and Dixie image. But I think I'll go with the Smokey Bear ring. Besides being cursed, he shoots plutonium rays out of his eyes! (I bet you didn't know that, did you?)
Nanook, haha. We both used his signature line.
Major, thanks for more of your Stuff!
My favorite is the Smokey the Bear ring. And I believe Smokey's catchphrase was, "Only YOU can prevent pyorrhea!" ;-)
Major, I'm hoping they made a Yakky Doodle ring, and that you have it! He's by far THE best HB character EVER!
A cartoon version of Joe E. Brown appeared in the black and white short, "Mickey's Gala Premiere":
Joe E. Brown - Mickey's Gala Premiere
Thanks for more "Rings from the Box," Major!
Long ago I helped build scenery for a show at the Joe E. Brown Theater at Bowling Green State University, which was the smaller theater directly below the Eva Marie Saint Theater. Sadly, that entire wing of University Hall was removed a few years ago. The remodeling looks nice, but there was so much history in the old theaters and nothing new was named for the two Ohio-born stars, one of whom had attended the school and performed in the theater program as a student. It also left Alice the Theater Ghost homeless.
I like the Smokey ring because Smokey. Can’t believe I forgot about his 80th birthday last year. For those of you with long memories of the obscurely wonderful conversations we have here, I did manage to secure a replacement for the inflatable Smokey I had as a child that I mentioned in this post. I bought it on eBay within a couple of days of that post and promptly misplaced it. Mrs Chuck recently found it cleaning up our junk room while I was away. I believe I shall celebrate its recovery today by inflating it. I wonder if we have any helium left…
Joe E. Brown was very popular in the infancy of "talkies" for some time. A Vaudevillian/Pro baseball player but didn't go on to the Yankees so he could pursue his entertainment career. He has an interesting story without a blemish on it: a genuinely nice person and humanitarian. Not everyone needs to be a "looker" in Hollywood, but it helps to have some kind of "look"...which clearly Joe E. Brown did. His daughters were married when this photo was taken, so they might be just some random kids. He was still popular in the 50's, and his last film he shared credits with "Rhubarb" the cat...(no joke). Rhubarb was also pretty famous, playing alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Rhubarb was a family member of "Benji"...(real name Higgins) who was the dog on Petticoat Junction. Their owner: Frank Inn also had a storied career working with many many animals. I met him and Benji's (Higgins) daughter (Benjean) when I worked at Disneyland. The animals were doing a show at Plaza Gardens...and Benji (Benjean) was in the parade that week. Benji looks bigger on screen, he (she) is actually pretty small. She knew when to "turn it on" for the guests...and sat like a little princess in the back seat of a Main St. vehicle in the parade. Now that that rabbit hole has been taken care of: Smokey...who doesn't love Smokey? Mr. Jinx I had to dig a little deeper, and am wondering about the "Hanna Barbera Nerds" who are also out there...with their own blog. Hanna Barbera had a cool building off the 101 across from Universal...and a few block from the bar "Residuals"....a bar where if you produced a residual check for less than a dollar, you would get a free drink. Yes....I did...quite a few actually. The bar was kind of a dive in a strip mall...and it's STILL there....I don't think they have the free drink thing anymore though. Wow: lot's of rabbits today. Thanks Major, and looking forward to the next "box".
Smokey the Bear does it for me. That's not Quick Draw McGraw. The tail, body and facial profile are all wrong. It's got to be some other Hanna Barbera character. I don't see Mr. Jinks in that ring unless he's masking as an alligator. Doesn't even look like Wally Gator either.
Thanks, Major.
I have learned more about Joe E. Brown just now than I ever thought possible, especially since I had never heard of him five minutes ago. Major, you should charge more for the education provided by GDB.
I’m going with Smokey the bear too, even though he looks like he is inhaling the wrong kinds of smoke. I sort of like “Queek-straw” too, those were fun comics.
Chuck, good to hear about your keepsake. It’s fun to revisit those old memories. I’ve done a lot of that recently.
Thanks Major!
JG
Joe E. Brown had his own link to an amusement park. A giant plaster caricature head of Joe dared visitors to enter the Toonerville Fun House on the Ocean Park Pier, which decades later was revamped as Pacific Ocean Park. This grotesque head is seen in the 1935 movie "Dante's Inferno", and likely also in some Little Rascals shorts.
Thanks Major, this is the Stuff dreams are made on.
Nanook, I sure didn’t know! But I now have another Joe E. Brown Club item, you’ll see that sometime in the next decade.
JB, yes, I’ve only seen Joe in “Some Like It Hot”. Of course he was famous for his big mouth, I know he was caricatured in some old cartoons that featured celebrities of the day. I DO seem to remember some artifact from King Tut’s tomb with bears on it, but can’t recall exactly what it was. Since they seemed to make gods of almost every other animal, they surely must have worshipped bears too. Yeah, that Mr. Jinks ring isn’t great, I just got it because I love Jinksie as a character, but wish it was better. Wow I would not have thought that anybody would choose the Smokey Bear ring as a favorite!
TokyoMagic!, well gosh, I guess I don’t know anything. Ha ha, I know that (based on your career) would be all-in on a bear who wanted to prevent pyorrhea! Yakky Doodle, oh my gosh, I watched one of his cartoons a year or so ago, that voice just about drove me nuts. I think it was a rare Cinemascope cartoon! Hey, there’s a link to one of those cartoons I was talking about!
Chuck, aw, it’s sad that the Joe E. Brown Theater and the Eva Marie Saint Theater were both removed. Old buildings are made to be torn down, I guess. I certainly forgot (or never knew) that it was Smokey’s 80th birthday. 80 years! Hard to believe. I love that Smokey inflatable toy. Don’t punch him!
Bu, I have no doubt that the photo of Joe E. Brown and the girls was just a case of a family recognizing him and asking for a picture. In fact I think the person who originally shared this on Facebook might have been one of the girls, all grown up now of course. Rhubarb the Cat, hilarious. Things were different back then. Or were they? I once had a book about “The Disney Animals”, all of the various critters who appeared in so many movies. It’s probably a scarce book, I’m kind of sorry I got rid of it, but you can’t keep everything. Benji, yeesh, even as a child I didn’t want to watch Benji movies. They were for little girls or dimwits (that was my thinking, anyway). I preferred drinking bourbon and watching roller derby. I know about the Hanna Barbera building, and in fact did an interview there when I first tried to get into animation. In retrospect I wish I’d paid more attention to the actual studio. I have a friend who used to ride his bike over there when he was a kid, he’d pull cells out of a dumpster. Just imagine! I’m sure nobody cared back then. He sold them long ago, sadly.
K. Martinez, wow, another vote for Smokey! I’m shocked. And I guess you’re right, that’s not Quickdraw. But who is it! Huckleberry Hound? No idea.
JG, I’m happy to have educated you about Joe E. Brown. I should definitely charge people to read GDB! That will be great for my already-tiny readership numbers. JEEZ, another vote for Smokey? I am truly amazed.
Stefano, ah, now that you mention it, I have seen photos of that giant head of Joe E. Brown! I’d forgotten all about it. It’s so weird and (as you said) grotesque that it is awesome!
I'm still upset that they changed "Smokey the Bear" to just "Smokey Bear."
I....I....have to sit down....
Whenever I see Smokey Bear, that stupid commercial plays in my head: "It's NOT Easter THE Bunny....it's NOT Santa THE Claus!" I couldn't wear that ring, as I'd get tired of hearing that over and over, in my head.
Something's fishy about that Mr. Jinks ring, as already mentioned. I think that's Huckleberry-Flintstone-McGraw.
I LOVE how the humble little white fence makes an appearance along side of Joe E. Brown and friends.
Thanks, Major, for sharing more fun stuff.
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