The World's Largest Quark collection grows

I promised myself when I started this blog that I wouldn't write about not being able to write. However, I haven't been able to write for awhile for a reason that has to do with collecting, in a way, so I'll explain more soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy this TV Week with a cover of Quark that I picked up awhile back. The article inside quoted Buck Henry as saying Quark was meant to do for Science Fiction what "Get Smart" did for the spy genre. And it did, just not for very long.

"The World's Largest" is a joke I use for when I collect something incredibly, incredibly obscure and imagine no one else in the world has even bothered to put two items together. Please note I'm aware that most likely there is a larger collection out there somewhere. That has nothing to do with the joke and I'm not trying to get nto the Guinness Book. It's more to the point that I'm collecting something fairly obscure.


Like, for example, my World's Largest Collection for "Carpoolers," the short-lived ABC show from last year: this air freshener, and a single episode still saved on my Tivo. I really grew to like that program. Why do all the best TV shows seem to have less than 13 episodes?

Before Lobster, Snapper

Returning to my current fascination with the history of Restaurant Row, and more specifically, Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel:

After stopping by the Melrose Trading Post looking for Restaurant Row memorabilia (but instead finding this great historic photo), I went down to Santa Monica to check out an antique mall I hadn't been to in a few years.  It is still there and was packed with tons of tiny items of interest to me, squirreled away in the shelves and tiny drawers of about 200 dealers stalls.

If you're a collector, often it's the hunt that is the most fun, and that afternoon, I was in the mood to go over the place with a fine toothed comb.  I was probably there at least 2 hours, and found many, many great items.  Like the matchbook for "Clif Herd's Red Snapper" on Restaurant Row, above.  As you can see, it's the same address as the Lobster Barrel - 826 La Cienega.  From the graphics I'd say this was in the late 50's or early 60's - just a guess - and sometime after it was "The Famous Restaurant."  I have no idea who Clif Herd was, but apparently he also had a Red Snapper restaurant in Monterey Bay (at least according to this auction).

A curious feature of Ebay for the masochistic collector is that you can search completed auctions too.  Though I found nothing currently offered from the Red Snapper, a completed search showed me that a mere couple weeks before I learned the place existed, another collector bought the menu above, unchallenged, with a bid of 10 dollars.  Well, at least I swiped this scan of it from the auction for free... but as I've said before "virtual" collecting isn't quite as satisfying as the real thing.

Mother Met

SPOILER ALERT: If you've been reading along here, you may have noticed this is not generally a "spoiler" blog: visiting recordings of "The Big Bang Theory," for example, I went out of the way to not comment on the episode details until they aired.  On "How I Met Your Mother," however, I believe it's fair game to share my speculation that the "Mother" mentioned in the title has been "Met,"on the show, by main character Ted.  I have I had been told by a producer of the show or such that yes, my theory here is true, I wouldn't be printing it.  Sharing speculation is part of the fun of enjoying a show; sharing insider information to me ruins it.

Luckily in this case, I don't know any of the creators of How I Met Your Mother.  However, if you don't want to read my theory on how the show will play out, don't read on.

Ok.  It was established very early in the 3rd season (now available on DVD) that the "short version" of the story of Ted meeting his bride-to-be is "that thing with her umbrella," and establishes that she carries a unique yellow umbrella.  Next, in the episode "No Tomorrow" it is established that Mom is at a St. Patrick's Day party Ted attends, in part by showing the yellow umbrella on line.  Ted says they didn't meet at that party, but if he hadn't gone, they might not have ever met.

At the end of the episode, Ted returns to the bar to retrieve his lost cell phone, and borrows that yellow umbrella when a sudden downpour starts as he leaves:

So, we can guess that at some point in the future, Ted will use the yellow umbrella, and "Mom" will confront him or some such, love at first sight, series over.

I believe, however, that they did meet at that party:  In one scene as Ted crosses the room, he bumps into an attractive brunette and excuses himself:

She says "That's okay," gives him a very brief once over and moves on.  Is this Mom?  I think so.  When you're telling a story in 22 minutes, you don't waste a moment on anything unnecessary.  And when you pay actors more to speak than not, you don't give them a line when a smile and a "no problem" nod would suffice.  That's why I believe this innocent little encounter is a nod to a character to come on the show.

Usually I end up writing about collectibles here, but "How I Met Your Mother" is a rare case of a show I'm just a fan of - at least so far,  I have the DVDs, but I'm not seeking out autographs, posters, or books from the program.

Yet.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!

Just in time for New Year's Day, this is a program from the 1974 Tournament of Roses Parade, signed by the Grand Marshall that year, with a sketch of a little character he was known for drawing.  
Jack Whitehead was an official with the Tournament for some time - I can't find any details about him - but several years back he decided to sell a lot of his memorabilia, through a friend of mine, including this program signed by Charles Schulz along with a photo of Jack and Charles together.  The Snoopy rode in the car with him.  You can see a photo of Schulz during the parade, as well as (at least just about) the only self-referencing Peanuts strip Schulz ever wrote, on the Charles M. Schulz museum's timeline page for the 70's here.

Happy New Year, folks!

Tales from Storage and Planet Ten

A Banzai Institute T-shirt.  Vintage original 1980's rarely worn.  Will Be Long Treasured.

Ebay Selling tip #1

Suppose you have a program for a small high school production of "Guys and Dolls" from the 60's, and nobody bids on it on Ebay.  Here's a tip: check the ads in the back.  Maybe the back cover is for something someone collects...

You get my point.  This great ad with coupon for a "Big Barney" was listed on Ebay as such, and I bought it for ten bucks.  It came, of course, attached to the whole program.  Very clever listing!  the seller knew there were more Red Barn collectors than small high school Guys and Dolls program collectors.

Another Red Barn collectible that I actually passed on bidding on for the longest time were the giant stuffed dolls of the "Hungries" from the early 70's.  They are, to say the least, frightening.

And they're huge!  Look at how the stuffed (I say stuffed because he's definitely not "plush") Hamburger Hungry towers over the mug of the same character.  He's big enough to help me drive in the carpool lane here in California.  And the way his hamburger bun - shaped head translated into the odd mangy-dog looking fur...I wonder how many of these survive?   I mean, how many kids really wanted these back then?

Still, I can't wait to get the stuffed "Chicken Hungry," shaped like a giant furry drumstick with a face...

Merry Christmas from Max & Alex (Zach too).

I have "collected" a lot of different Christmas stuff - when they started doing great action figures based on the Rankin Bass specials, and the Peanuts Christmas Special, I got a lot of those.  I also like to collect different holiday songs - I've always liked different covers of songs I like, so I like to compare The Partridge Family's "Silent Night" to Bing Crosby's, for example.

One of the odder Christmas things I have - more so from an American perspective - is this Annual for the short-lived TV series "Mr. Merlin."  For one full season of 22 episodes starting in 1981, I loved this odd comedy about "Zach," a teenager working at "Max Merlin's" garage, who one day pulls a crowbar out of a block of cement and proves himself to be apprentice-worthy of the great wizard Merlin who, surprise surprise, Mr. Merlin really is.  Of course, being a teen in a 1980's comedy, Zach often used the magic he learned inappropriately, to pick up girls or make money - always with zany consequences.  (The show had enough of an impact on me that when I saw Barnard Hughes in Tron a couple years later, I kept thinking of him as Mr. Merlin.  Same when he showed up in Lost Boys even later).

I distinctly remember first seeing a promo for Mr. Merlin running on a monitor at the Channel 5 booth in the Horticulture Building at the New York State Fair in August, 1981.  (Their booth was right back by where they gave away the free baked potatoes, but I didn't like baked potatoes myself.  The State Fair was an amazing destination in the end of summer each year, and I was lucky to live pretty close).

British Annuals are a bit trickier to explain than 80s comedies, unless I have it right:  basically, they seem to be books printed about a popular show, sport, or comic strip or book that are published at the end of the year, pretty much as Christmas gifts.  Every one I've seen is filled with comics, games, and photos.  Doctor Who has an annual each year again these days, as do many popular brands.  It's interesting just to go to Amazon UK and search "annual" and see what turns up.

The Mr. Merlin annual includes some comics, some stories with oddly proportioned illustrations of the actors (see above) and lots of photos of the cast.  Lots.  I think there wasn't much to say about the little show.  there is a two page spread showing the recipes to make real magic potions from the middle ages, with ingredients including parts of lions and gorillas, with the caution "please don't try these at home."  Darn, I was just going to go for my mortar & pestle....  I found this Annual in a used book store here in Southern California and Had To Have It; I knew if I put it down I'd never see another copy.

Merry Christmas folks.  (If you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a great day on December 25th of my calendar anyway, and enjoy any holidays you do observe).  If you'd like to see something a little more "Christmassy," I recommend taking a look at Jim Fanning's recent Tulgey Wood posts:  among some other great holiday things, he's posted a terrific rare Peanuts book called "Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking" which I had never heard of.  Enjoy!!