Lack o' Blog

I keep trying to blog, only to be thwarted by missing pieces of my feature items.  I hope to find them tonight.  They've got to be in the playroom somewhere.  This can't be another Fleas on Fred incident.

Newsies

One word:  NEWSIES

Newsies was a highly underrated Walt Disney creation released in 1992.  It was my favorite movie back then, and is still probably in my top 10 favorite movies of all time.  The movie is a musical that takes place in 1899, highlighting the lives of the "newsies" or news boys of NYC.  The main character, Jack "Cowboy" Kelley was played by none other than Christian Bale.  I love most of Christian Bale's work, but this has got to be his best.  It's pre- "I'm Batman" days for Bale, which is a good thing, because ever since Batman Begins, Bale likes to throw his creepy, deep "Batman voice" into his characters. There is none of that in Newsies.  Bale does, however, attempt a pretty terrible New York accent with lines like New "Joisey" and never "hoid of him,"but Bale wasn't the only culprit to do that in this movie, so I'll let that slide.  

Bale was not the only big name in this movie. Other cast members included Bill Pullman (as the newspaper reporter Bryan Denton who champions the Newsies), Ann-Margret (as the hooker-esque Medda Larkson, the "Swedish Meadowlark"), and Robert Duvall (as the ruthless Joseph Pulitzer).  Another notable was Max Casella (you know, Doogie Howser's best friend), as Racetrack Higgins.

I just watched the Newsies VHS this weekend, and wow, is this movie still fantastic.  I felt the urge to sing along to every song (of course I still know every lyric to every song).  I think my favorite might be the little known "Once and For All" song they sing in the background as they're slyly using Joe Pulitzer's press to print the newsboys' "pape."  Also, I can't help smiling when the hoards of child laborers turn the corner during the "Seize the Day" reprise. Oh, and for those of us from NJ, you gotta love that they rhyme Denton with Trenton during "King of New York."

My sister and I spent countless hours one summer creating our own dance to "Carrying the Banner."  Whenever possible, we included the original dance moves and incorporated newspaper props.  I recall attempting the move where one person bends in half and the other person rolls over her back, but I'm 99% sure that was unsuccessful.  I swear we video taped our dance one time when we performed it at Gram's house.  I also recall a bulldog interference at some point, but god I wish I knew where that video was.

Here are some little known facts about the film*:

It was originally intended as a drama, not a musical.

Most of the characters are based on real people, although Jack Kelley is fictional. 

At the time, Newsies was the lowest grossing live action film in Disney history.  And here is where I insert my commentary:  I have no clue how this movie did so poorly.  Every person I have ever talked to that has seen it, loves it.  No one is watching this movie for historical accuracy.  So what if in real life, by 1899 Joseph Pulitzer was blind?  And so what if the real Newsies strike of 1899 wasn't all that successful?  The soundtrack is phenomenal and the storyline is entertaining to adults while still be kid-friendly.  Newsies did, however, become more popular after it was released on VHS and the Disney channel started playing it fairly regularly in the mid-1990s.  I believe it was about this time when I went 2 straight weeks during which I watched the VHS every day.

I purchased the DVD for $6.00 on Amazon.com yesterday.  I cannot wait for its arrival.  I'm gonna go ahead and say that is probably the best $6.00 I ever spent. 

For those of you who love this movie as much as I do, you'll be happy to know that Newsies is coming to Broadway this spring.  Alan Menken is doing the music (just as he did for the movie), and he's added a few new songs.  Too bad the original cast is now too old to participate, but I have no doubt the Broadway show will be a hit.

*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104990/trivia

McDonald's Soft Serve

Holla!  It's been a while.  My apologies. 

Today's topic:  Fisher Price McDonald's Soft Serve

This toy was tremendous in so many ways.  Manufactured in 1988, it was part of a time when people weren't concerned about what their children consumed for fear of them ballooning to elephant proportions.  Granted, there was Richard Simmons and Jazzercise, but that was geared toward the adults.  Today's obesity epidemic among children makes me yearn for the days when you could give your child a toy that encouraged them to make milkshakes and orange sodas without worrying about the implications.  *sigh*

Also, how cool is it that this toy allowed your child to see how awesome it would be to work at Mickey D's?  Combine this toy with a viewing of Bye Bye Love, and McDonalds would never be hurting for employees.

Now on to a description of the machine:  The main dispenser had a variety of dispensing options.  Should one pull the far left lever, and BAM! Orange soda.  Ok, maybe not real orange soda.  It was more like a bright orange plastic tube would appear instantaneously, only to be sucked back into the machine when the lever was released. I believe the term for that is "Indian giver."

The same would happen with the milkshake lever, although the tube was a bit thicker, true to the thickness of the McDonald's milkshake.  Also, it was pink, indicating the shake was strawberry.  Should you like some ice with your beverage, a shoot from the top of the dispenser would nicely drop 2 fused plastic cubes into your cup.  I believe originally there was a second set of ice cubes, but naturally, we lost those long ago. **UPDATE:  I did some research, and this fountain in fact only came with one set of ice cubes.  Good for us for managing to keep them all these years.  In addition, I wondered what the holes in the top corners of the dispenser were for.  Apparently, they're to store white plastic spoons.  I know we still have them, but they're stored with our kitchen utensils at the moment.  You'll see them in a later post.** Also, if you did not want a clear glass, you could choose to use the very authentic looking McDonalds cup with lid.

These don't match the cups of today, but back in 1988, this is EXACTLY what the styrofoam coffee cups looked like.  Well done FP, nice design. 

Should you not be thirsty, another option with this device was the beloved ice cream cone.  A circular wheel at the top could be loaded with chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  We always alternated chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. Once loaded, all you had to do was slide the red button on the right to the side and a perfectly swirled portion of ice cream would fall from above into your cone (your cone also had the McDonald's stamp).  Having worked at an establishment that sold soft serve, I can appreciate a cone that is pre-swirled, because a good looking swirl required practice. 

For a better idea of how this worked, here's an image of the top of the dispenser sans lid:

But the machine did not stop there.  Would you like a topping on your ice cream?  No problem! 

These flexible rubbery toppings could easily be plopped on your faux dessert.  The brown topping was obviously hot fudge, but what the heck was the red supposed to be?  I have never seen an ice cream topping that took that form and color.  Maybe it was supposed to be strawberry sauce?  Or cherry? No clue.  Did McDonalds serve that in real life in the 80s?  They sure don't now. 

Overall I rate this toy an 7 out of 10*. It worked well, had great variety, and was true to real life. 

*I've decided I'm going to start rating the items I review.  Eventually, I'll go back and edit pre-existing posts to include ratings.  For now, I'll start with this one. 

Fashion Plates

Today we steer away from board games and wrap-up August with one of my favorites:  Fashion Plates

These toys were awesome, and I obviously liked them, considering that my sister and I had at least three of them (we still have three today).  As a kid I pretty much enjoyed playing with anything which involved coloring and drawing, so these were right up my alley.  Kind of ironic though....I am definitely no Monet these days.  Anywho (shout out to CQ), below are our surviving Fashion Plates:

All of the above were phenomenal products of Hasbro.  The first two are copyrighted 1989, the last one with the bear has a copyright stamp from 1991. Fashion Plates operated as follows: You'd select from 2-3 versions of plates and place them in the drawing area.  You'd then place a piece of paper over the plates and close the frame around them.  You'd rub the side of the supplied crayon over the paper on the plates, revealing the design below.  I was too dumb to realize this as a child, but examining the plates today I realized that on the reverse side of the plates were designs that could serve as a pattern to infill the clothes outlines.  Pretty neato.  I've gotta try this out.

The original fashion plates were products of the 19th century, when images were created to display the latest ladies' fashions in mail order catalogs.  The 1980s Hasbro version doesn't stray too far from that idea.  With the first Fashion plate, you could choose from a variety of heads, torsos, and bottoms sporting a wide variety of clothing styles.  This toy was obviously a product of the 80s because no one today wears loafers with knee-highs and shorts or MC Hammer pants.  This are tell-tale signs of 80s fashions.  As are the results of my early days as a make-up artist:

What was so great about the Face Fashion Plates was that it came with eye shadow and blush.  I was a big fan of applying copious amounts of blue eyeshadow to the brow line.  At times I may have gone a bit overboard with the blush, but what did I know?  I was five.  I'm not sure of the exact date of the artwork to the left, but I'm thinking it was done in the early to mid 90s, because I doubt that even I was that good at staying in the lines as a five year old.  I was, however, aware enough of the world around me to create a diverse array of faces.  I don't remember using the smaller plates with the bear all that often.  There is evidence of my sister writing her name with the crayon on the plastic (not recommended as a mode of play).  She did the same thing (backwards) on my big Fashion Plates drawing area. 

I'll leave you with this image detailing the raised design on the plates.  I hope other people enjoyed playing with these as much as I did.  I'm pretty sure they're still around, a true testament to their greatness.

Pizza Party

Today we play Pizza Party

Debuting in 1987, Parker Brothers' Pizza Party looked like it could be a fun game.  And it was, when I was 3 in 1987.  Having revived this game 2 weeks ago with my sister, I quickly discovered there's a reason why Parker Bros. intended this game for ages 4 to 8.  You know how some games just say 4 and up?  Well they made this one 4 to 8 because it is dullsville for anyone with the mental capacity beyond that of a sloth. 

The object of this game was to be the first player to fill your pizza slice with all six of the same topping pieces.  To start, each player selected a "slice" with a uniquely colored handle.  The topping pieces were placed face down in the center of the table.  A player would take his first turn by selecting a topping piece and placing it face up in an opening on his slice.  That topping would then become the player's designated topping and his goal would then be to fill his slice with all six pieces of that topping.  If another player already claimed the selected topping as his own, the piece was returned, face down, to the middle of the table.  This was where it was useful to remember where your opponent placed unwanted pieces, because if it was yours, you could select it on your next turn.  To mix things up a little, Parker Bros. also threw in "switch pieces."  If a player selected a switch piece, they had to switch their in-progess slice with the slice that had the handle matching the color on the switch piece.  If the player was in possesion of that color when the switch was selected, he must switch his slice with any other slice.  This could be awesome or depressing, depending on the progress of your slice.  You could either end up receiving a slice filled with 5 pieces or giving away a nearly complete slice.  And as if the game wasn't simple enough, Parker Bros. does supply "Suggestions for Simpler Play" in the rules.  This mainly involves leaving out the switch pieces.  Personally, I think it's good for kids to learn at an early age that just when things are going your way, BAM-O! SWITCH!

For those interested, here's the commercial, courtesy of retrojunk:  http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/18714/

I must admit, I love the graphics on this game.  I always wanted to be the pepperoni (mainly because that's my favorite pizza topping, but also because he was a cool, pensive-looking dude and his legs kind of reminded me of the California Raisins). 

Other topping options included mushrooms, onions, and peppers.  Mushrooms and peppers were female.  Onions and pepperoni were male.  Of course.

Fleas on Fred

Editor's note:  Today I am veering slightly off the normal path by featuring a game I no longer possess.  I felt that this game was too great a part of my childhood to let it slip through the cracks on a technicality.

Image:  http://www.amazon.com/Fleas-on-Fred/dp/B001OZM0QW

FaFaFaFleas on Fred!

Where to begin?  This game was the epitome of fantastic.  Released by Tyco in 1995, it consisted of a yellow dog named Fred with floppy ears and a flat back, a whole bunch of fleas on sticks, dull tweezers, and little upright baggies.  The fleas of varying colors were inserted into holes in Fred's back and Fred's switch was turned to "on."  When on, Fred would convulse violently as the players attempted to pluck their designated color fleas from his body and place them in their bags on opposite corners of the room.  The winner was the person who removed all of their color fleas from Fred and placed them in the designated bag first.  Oh, and just in case anyone is concerned that Fred might get a head injury from those convulsions, no worries.  He was anchored to a plastic fire hydrant.  Nice touch Tyco.  For a better visual, please view the FOF commercial courtesy of my favorite website, retrojunk.com:  Fleas on Fred Commercial

I must admit I was not the primary owner of FOF.  My sister received Fred as a birthday gift in November of '95.  It was supposed to be a surprise from Grandmom, but the day before her birthday, my sister and I were playing with the wheelchair lift in Grandmom's van when Caitlin jumped in the backseat, only to noticed the unwrapped FOF package in the trunk.  Despite the ruined surprise, my sister was still thrilled to receive FOF for her birthday that year.  We enjoyed many hours of fun with Fred until one year my mom decided to clean out the playroom (unbeknownst to us) and sadly FOF didn't make the cut.  In mom's defense, the playroom did need a good tidying, so some things definitely needed to go, but I wish she would have used better judgement when it came to FOF.  Needless to say, we came down to the sparkling clean and neatly organized playroom and immediately noticed Fred's absence.  It was too late to save him from his impending doom. 

Years later, my sister swore he was one of the casualties during the flood of '96 when many of our toys had to be thrown out due to water damage in the basement.  But honestly, who is she kidding?  Fred was ENTIRELY PLASTIC.  No flood was going to take him down.  I think subconsciously she was trying to protect my mom, considering that in all other matters excluding FOF, she's the greatest mom on the planet.

Word on the street is that the game has been re-released with a hairer dog.  Bad move Tyco.  The gleam from Fred's jaundiced skin was one of his most appealing features.  Besides, a hairy Fred would never have survived the flood of '96.

Sevylor Floats

Today's discussion:  Sevylor Floats

Many a summer during my childhood was spent at Harry Wright Lake.  And what would a trip to the Lake be without floatation devices?  In 1992 Gram and Pop went to Clover, a discount department store which no longer exists, to get some rafts for us.  They picked up two blue tubes (that could be used in cold or hot weather) and two rafts.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the red and blue raft they got us.  It does still exist though.  Taking a picture of it would have involved me blowing up the raft and my lungs weren't up to the challenge today.  Here is an image of the box holding the blue tube:

They picked a rather chunky child to model the tube.  I don't think I took up that much room in the tube until I was 12.  This tube was particularly awesome to flip.  If you swam under the person in the tube then lifted up from below, they'd flip head first into the waters below.  I'm really glad Gram kept the prices and years on things so that years later we could know how much things cost. According to the box, G + P spent $9.99 on this in 1992.

My ultimate favorite flotation device though, was the kick board.

Not only did this kick board have tropical birds emblazened across the front, it had a window so one could view the fishies below.  Dope.   According to the box, G + P spent $19.99 on this in 1992.  This price would make the kick board TOTL (Top of the Line) in 1992. 

The front and back of the box show small children enjoying the fun of the kick board.  The side is a bit more risque, displaying a bikini clad broad. 

The high-thighed bikini is indicative of the era. 

Considering all of these floats still exist 18 years later and that they were used for at least 10 of those 18 years, I'd say that these were high quality devices for all ages and should be used again whenever the next opportunity arises.