Pins From the Bag
Hey, what's in that bag? Why, it's a bunch of old PINS!
This first pin (or button) is fun, from the days when SoCal had the only Universal Studios. Most people know that there was a walk-around Frankenstein's Monster, but for a while there was a Baby Frankenstein! I'm unsure of the exact time, though I think "the 70s" would be at least partially correct (Google says BF was there into the 90s, much to my astonishment). There are a few Baby Frankenstein toys (plush dolls, at least), and I've seen souvenir slides showing Baby Frank, but so far I've haven't seen any that were taken by guests. I sure would love to have one!
Just for fun, here's a scan of a postcard with Baby Frankenstein:
Speaking of babies, in the 1950s your milk would be delivered to your doorstep by babies wearing hats. Things were screwy after the war. My dad used to talk about opening a bottle of milk and finding the layer of cream that had risen to the top, but that never happened once it was HOMOGENIZED. You get the good with the bad.
I don't believe I ever went to a Piggly Wiggly market, even though my family moved a lot. I do remember going to the A&P in Pennsylvania! And the Rainbow Market (?) in Minnesota. Anyway, I love this employee name badge with the cheerful piggy himself, paper hat at a jaunty angle.
I've mentioned the many pins that I purchased when I would visit a particular antiques store in the midwest, from states such as Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, and so on. I love the small-town celebrations; in this case, it's Benson, Minnesota's "Kid Day", circa 1958! The little girl with the tiara looks like the ideal midwest sweetheart, the Queen of Kids, perhaps.
I did not buy this one in that antiques store - I've had this one for decades. "Land in Cleveland Ohio In '36". Don't mind if I do! Back in the early days of the 20th Century, many cities hoped to lure folks to their fair land (via colorful pinback buttons), to start businesses, work in the local factories, and stimulate the local economy in various other ways. Find happiness and prosperity in Cleveland!
And finally, something a bit more modern. I think I bought it because I remember when McDonalds introduced Shamrock Shakes (in 1970)... going to McD's as a kid was a real treat (possibly not for my mom and dad, though). In my memory, Shamrock Shakes were just vanilla flavor with green food coloring added. My understanding is that they have been mint-flavored for many years, but I haven't had one of those shakes since I was under 10 years old.
That's it for this installment of PINS FROM THE BAG!
16 comments:
I hope that tangled, exposed film that BF is playing with wasn't anything important! A cute pin.
In the postcard of BF, i have that decorative font in my downloaded fonts folder. But I can't recall what it's called at the moment. Big Frank's platform shoes look a little ridiculous.
Milkbaby pin: We had (Darigold) milk delivered to our doorstep up until sometime in the mid-sixties. At first it was in those square, waxy cartons. Later, the milk came in clear, flexible plastic bags that would be placed in a (supplied) plastic pitcher. Then you snip a small corner off the bag and enjoy your plastic milk!
I always thought the Piggly Wiggly pig was a dead ringer for Porky Pig. I wonder if there was ever any litigation? On the other hand, Warner Bros. was probably happy to get the free publicity for Porky... even though it wasn't Porky.
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Green shakes that just tasted like vanilla? WHY??? I'd like to try one of the mint-flavored ones.
Hmm, another installment of "What's in the bag" where it's hard to choose a favorite. I suppose I'll go with the Milkbaby pin. I like the red, white, and blue, vintage design.
Thanks, Major.
Major-
This is a fun grouping of pins-! (I still say Baby Frankenstein is Eddie Munster with bangs, instead of a widow's peak-!)
We had home delivery from both Arden Dairy and Adohr Farms but I can't say I remember babies being responsible for handling all those heavy glass bottles - but maybe I wasn't paying attention-!
The only Piggly Wiggly Market I ever saw was the gigantic Piggly Wiggy Continental Market, opened in 1962, on Ventura Blvd, in Encino - across the street from Ralph Williams Ford - which is another story entirely. The 'Continental' was about as close to a "themed supermarket" as I ever saw... fancy casework for shelving; [as I recall] miniature ship 'galleons' held the produce; a miniature cable car held San Francisco sourdough and other breads; other parts of the store were styled like a Parisian boulevard with specialty displays; plus they carried a fully-stocked gifts and cosmetics counter; etc. Clearly, this 'folksy' style of button had no home in this grocery (and beyond) paradise-!
I have yet to add a tiara to my wardrobe, but the more images I see of them perched atop the head of a young lass, I keep asking myself 'why I should be denied that luxury just because I'm a boy'-!
Thanks, Major.
I had a Shamrock Shake and I have to say my memory is that it was mint flavor and a lovely light green. It was heavily promoted on TV, so I had to have it! We weren't really allowed shakes as kids because they were "too expensive"...so I really don't know how I maneuvered that....but I do have a strong memory of it being incredibly sticky and messy. This was probably why we had the "no shakes" rule! On to the San Fernando Valley, where the Universal Studios marquee sign seems to be cooking there in the sun: all faded....and it looks like the baby Frank is a now modern take on "Purple-fying" and "Cartoonizing" like a certain imagineer often does. Frankenstein looks amazing and I love those shoes! Baby frank looks like someone squeezed a beanie baby too hard. Those shoes, that hair...the outfit: "train wreck". In any case, I remember that Dame Edna did a serial reel about her visit to Universal, and was in the Glamour Tram as Frankenstein approached, and was referring him many times as "Sylvester Stallione"....."oh look...it's Sylvester Stallione!" hilarious. Was baby Frank a competitive response to "Scrappy Doo"? or perhaps "Cousin Oliver" when Robbie Rist made his landing onto the cast of the Bradys? With all of these things, all I can say is "what were they thinking". And let's name a grocery store Piggly Wiggly. It's cute and memorable. And the mascot: I too like the jaunty hat! And hats are always fun on animal cartoon characters. I especially love the frozen and artificially flavored "Otter Pops" (still sold today) where cute otters also wear very jaunty hats! Look them up. I do enjoy an Otter Pop on a hot summer day! Also very sticky like a Shamrock Shake! Thanks Major!
It's the Piggly Wiggly for me! I had a friend who remembered that grocery store.
I do remember Baby Frankenstein being featured in postcards and merch in the seventies and even the very early eighties, but I also never saw him in the park. However, I think we saw Frankenstein during every visit back then. BF reminds me of the "Son of Godzilla".....too cutesy and shouldn't be mixed in with serious monsters.
My childhood memory of the Shamrock Shakes is that they were supposed to be mint, but that they only had the faintest hint of mint flavoring, so they were a disappointment. But of course, we always had to have one when that time of year rolled around. Like Bu said, it was probably due to the heavy marketing, because my favorite flavor of shake has always been chocolate. Now that I think of it, McDonald's chocolate shakes were also "weak" and not as chocolatey as they could have been. And continuing with the weak flavor theme, Bu mentioned Otter Pops.....we always had those in the summer, and I remember them being very good and flavorful. My brother bought some about a year ago and gave me a couple of each flavor because he remembered them from our childhood. The flavor was very weak, and they were quite the disappointment. I wondered if it was just me, and as a child the weaker flavor was just fine, or if they had "cheapened" out on the flavoring. My guess is the latter.
The Piggly Wiggly character also looks like "Thummer," the longtime mascot of the L.A. County Fair. But then maybe there are only so many ways to draw a cartoon pig?
Thank you for sharing, Major. My favorite is Baby Frank!
Baby Frank seems like another installment of that odd 70’s compulsion to “refresh” older IPs with dwarf sidekicks, Scrappy Doo and BatMite come to mind. BF is unsettling when we think of his older brother’s advent. Sewing together kid parts is even more creepy and disgusting.
I remember homogenized and vitamin D enhanced milk, but I think they don’t add the vitamin or tout homogenization anymore.
I do remember Piggly Wiggly and laughing at the name, but there were none near us. That pig character got around though, a similar porker was the mascot for Purity Markets, which we did have close by. One in Hanford, another in Fresno, and I think in Tulare too.
Shamrock shakes were pretty good fun, I liked them.
I’m going with the pig today, but all of them are fun. Thank you!
JG
JB, looking more closely, I can see that Baby Frankenstein is messing with Alfred Hitchcock’s “The White Shadow” (1923, three reels missing). The little jerk! That font looks familiar to me as well, but I can’t figure out what it is. My dad used to have Alta Dena deliver milk for years, but it was in those plastic jugs just like you see at the store.. Piggly Wiggly does look like Porky Pig, he also looks like “Thummer” from the LA County Fair. In fact I used to think that Thummer WAS Porky Pig. I don’t know why the original Shamrock Shakes were just green vanilla shakes, but I am pretty sure that they were! The mint came later, maybe some people expected them to be mint.
Nanook, I guess I assumed that Baby Frankenstein was a relative of Eddie Munster. You know, like when all the cousins and uncles would come to visit. I honestly don’t think I ever saw a Piggly Wiggly market - are they still around? - but the branding is great, so memorable. Why wouldn’t you want to shop there? I think I might have seen photos of the Continental Market on the Vintage LA Facebook page. Or maybe not! It sounds pretty amazing, too bad we don’t have places like that anymore. Tiaras don’t just look good, they help to hold my toupee on!
Bu, I think that the mint Shamrock Shakes came along pretty soon after they were introduced. I’ll have to do some research later. Wikipedia to the rescue (hopefully). We were like you, generally shakes were verboten, but I think the marketing worked on my parents as well as us, which is why they relented. Somewhere on GDB I have a photo of that same Universal Studios marquee, only it looks fresh and new. That SoCal sun takes its toll though! Ha, I actually think it’s kind of funny to “mistake” Frankenstein for Sly Stallone. They talk alike, anyway. Robbie Rist, universally despised I believe. I hope he had (has) a happy life. It’s not his fault that Cousin Oliver was annoying as hell. I haven’t had Otter Pops for a while, but boy I used to love them, you’d get so many in a box. There was nothing like having a few on a hot summer day. The blue ones were my favorites.
K. Martinez, weirdly, I have a fondness for Alpha Beta stores. Seriously.
TokyoMagic!, I’m very sad that I never saw Baby Frankenstein - but then again, there was a very long stretch when I didn’t go to Universal Studios. Probably right in his heyday. You don’t like Minilla (Godzilla’s son)?? He’s the best! I think I have heard people call him “Godzuki” too. I can’t say that McDonald’s shakes are the best, but what do you expect from Mickey D’s? I used to like their strawberry shakes, but I am sure that they are “just OK” compared to a real shake with quality ice cream. Maybe your taste buds aren’t as sensitive as they used to be? The last time I had Otter Pops (years ago, admittedly), they tasted exactly the way I remembered them! Hey, I mentioned Thummer too, great minds think alike.
JG, I wonder if the folks at Universal thought that Frankenstein was too scary for children, but a “Baby Frankenstein” would be just the thing? Seems reasonable. You are right about how adding a shrunk-down version of a character was a real trend. And then there were the “babies”. Muppet babies. Disney babies. Flinstones babies. Etc. I think TokyoMagic! is right, there’s only so many ways to draw a cartoon pig, which is why the one for Purity Markets matched Piggly Wiggly. Now I want a Shamrock Shake! And I’m too late!
My wife worked as an accountant at Sunkist in Encino. She and her fellow accountants always cracked up when they billed the Piggly Wiggly account! We still have a few here in NC, but I've never been in one.
Major, I was wondering the same thing about it possibly just being my taste buds changing over time. But I haven't noticed a change in taste to anything else. To me, none of the McDonald's shakes ever had very strong flavor, when compared to getting a milkshake at a sit-down restaurant, or at an ice cream shop, like Baskin Robbins.
As for the Otter Pops, it's interesting that you said they tasted the same to you. But you did say that was years ago. I wonder if they could have changed something since then. This was only about a year ago that I had them. I really should ask my brother if he noticed a difference. I didn't want to tell him that tasted like "barely flavored ice" because he was excited when he found them and gave me some. I think I will ask him if he thought they were the same.
When I worked at Knott's, a lot of the older customers would say that the "Berry Punch" didn't taste the same as it used to and that it was weaker. I wondered if maybe their tastebuds had changed or maybe their memory of the taste wasn't accurate. Some of them used to even say that it was pure Boysenberry juice at one time, but I wasn't sure if that was true. Some years back "Stuff From The Park" posted a menu from Knott's Calico Saloon, and sure enough, it was listed as "Pure Boysenberry Juice." I think when I was a kid, it was listed on the menu as "Boysenberry Punch." But by the time I started working there, they were just calling it "Berry Punch." Speaking of Knott's, back in the eighties, their ice cream was made by Dairigold, a company that JB mentioned in his comment. The ice cream had been supplied by Carnation for years, but Knott's switched companies at some point.
Fun Fact: Piggly Wiggly introduced the concept of the self-service grocery store in 1916. There are still more than 500 Piggly Wigglys today. Most of them are in the Southeast, but there are also more than 50 in Wisconsin. Oddly, they are headquartered in New Hampshire, a state with excatly zero Piggly Wigglys in it today (in contrast with the 4,100 wiggly pigglys in the same state). I used to shop at one in North Charleston, South Carolina (yes, that's a real place name). Decent selection at a decent price. All one can ask for, really.
I recently had an Otter Pop and was disappointed as well. They don't taste much like otters at all.
The American Legion emblem on "Land in Cleveland" makes me suspect it was for a Legion convention. Although it was possible the local outpost was involved in civic promotions.
Always fascinated by how the Universal Monsters have been an enduring franchise despite the lack of successful new films. Aside from the Creature the classic monsters shambled their last in the early 40s; a generation later came the Monster Kid fad when those movies reached local television, and those were gradually overtaken by newer horror and scifi flicks.. Over the years Universal has attempted numerous reboots and remakes, but none of them really stuck. Merchandising and now lavish theme park attractions are sustained by the lasting impact of the originals.
Bu, "Baby frank looks like someone squeezed a beanie baby too hard." Ha! I liked that one. Made me laugh.
Tokyo!, "BF reminds me of the "Son of Godzilla".....too cutesy and shouldn't be mixed in with serious monsters." EXACTLY! BF reminded me of something but I couldn't put my finger on it... You nailed it!
Major, "Alfred Hitchcock’s “The White Shadow” (1923, three reels missing)". Well, now there are four reels missing! Like you said, "The little jerk!"
Chuck, "They don't taste much like otters at all." Ba-dum-bump.
Steve DeGaetano, ah, the Sunkist building! I’m not too far from there. You need to go to a Piggly Wiggly and dance through the aisles like I would if I could.
TokyoMagic!, I feel like McDonald’s shakes taste pretty much the same to me, which is not to say that they taste great, per se. They are OK… cold and sweet and creamy, there’s worse things. But the chocolate is “off”, as are the other flavors I suppose. YES, getting a shake at Baskin Robbins is like a whole different experience! Now I’m wondering if Otter Pops have changed since I last had them. I figure they’re probably mostly just water, corn syrup, some sort of artificial flavoring, and lots of awesome food coloring! Maybe I’ll buy a box of them when it gets a bit warmer and see how it goes. As for the Berry Juice…! I used to LOVE getting a cup of ice-cold berry juice, it was sweet and tart and so delicious. Then I went to KBF after many years away, and I was SO looking forward to the Boysenberry Punch (name change, uh oh). The stuff was watery and weak! I was super disappointed. They really did ruin one of the most special things, from a place named for the berry farm!
Chuck, interesting; I know that back in the old days you’d hand your list to somebody, and they’d get your groceries for you. “I can’t read your writing! Does this really say ’40 rutabagas’?””. “Yes, and mind your business, Eula May!” There’s nothing wrong with liking rutabagas, Chuck, I don’t know why you are so judgmental. Hmmm, I used to spend a lot of summer vacation in wonderful Wisconsin, but I don’t remember going to a Piggly Wiggly. Or I did go, and it was so traumatic that my mind has blanked it out as a survival mechanism. That’s probably it. How do you know that Otter Pops don’t taste like otters? HOW DO YOU KNOW?
DBenson, you are probably right, you know how those Legionnaires are. Always up to something, and probably while wearing funny hats. I personally still love the original Universal monsters, particularly The Invisible Man, Frankenstein (and The Bride of Frankenstein), The Wolf Man, Dracula, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon. But I even like the lesser (or bad?) sequels, they have a sort of charm in spite of their flaws. I am surprised that they never remade Creature From the Black Lagoon, although maybe “The Shape of Water” has made it moot.
JB, I didn’t laugh at the Beanie Baby remark, all my money is invested in Beanie Babies, and they are too precious to squeeze! I plan on selling them for millions. Like the Universal Monsters, I love even the cheesy and not-great Godzilla (etc) movies. Mothra, Ghidhora, Rodan, Mechagodzilla, Gigan, I could happily watch those movies for hours. I wonder if Hitchcock’s “The White Shadow” was about a basketball coach at an inner-city school?
Nice pins, Major.
When I first moved to the UK thirty-something years ago, the milk wasn't always homogenized. I got in the habit of shaking it before opening it so the cream would even out. To this day I often still shake it out of habit and people ask what I'm doing - especially when I'm back in the US.
When I was growing up in the South, you'd see Piggly Wiggly stores in small towns but never in a city, so I always assumed it was just a rural Southern chain. I don't know if that's still true, though.
I never heard of Shamrock Shakes until I was in college and my girlfriend insisted on going to get one when I had no idea what she was talking about. It did have a mint flavor, at least at the restaurant in that town. I got one pretty much every March since then until a few years ago. I had one after McD's changed to that "does everything" beverage machine, and it was disappointing. I haven't had one since. TRE even at McD's, apparently.
I love the Boris Karloff version of the Frankenstein Monster the best, and the 1931 Frankenstein movie is in my Top 10 Favorites. As a youngster, my dad and I would watch it on late night Saturdays whenever it was on TV [on Creature Features, IIRC]. It was so creepy, but I felt safe since my dad was near....fun memories. That Universal Baby Frankenstein is what nightmares are made of....and this is the first I ever heard of him or saw him.
"Baby Frank looks like someone squeezed a beanie baby too hard."
Like THIS maybe?
Thanks, Major.
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