As *spoon* as Arch comes back from vacation Hepcat will still be Hepcat. 8 8

[Hepcat]

but it is so weird how it was perfectly fine for me to leave the house and spend the entire day going door to door to everyone's house asking them to buy junk..now kids can hardly trick or treat

 

Where did you grow up?

 

And truthfully I don't think the world is any less safe now. It's just that anything that happens is so broadly publicized by the mass media today that parents' attitudes have changed completely.

 

...but mostly you know flashlight radio combos..radio that was a fluffy dog stuffed animal..or the huge doll house..that turned out to be made of cardboard.

 

Were those from selling the seeds or Xmas cards from the ads on the back covers of comic books?

 

...without selling them cookies I wouldn't have gotten those 6 hell weeks at Camp Tanasi ...

 

1. Did you wear a proper little brown dress as a Brownie and a nice blue dress as a Girl Scout/Guide? The girls flogging their cookies these days are all slovenly. Even their troop masters are wearing jeans. I always chew out said troopmasters for setting such a bad example for their charges. I always tell them that I'd buy lots of their cookies if they were wearing proper dresses.

 

2. Where was Camp Tanasi? What kind of facilities did it have?

 

But When I first got into pageants(around 14 or so)....

 

We want to see the pictures!

 

Edited May 5, 2012 by Hepcat

[Chespirito]

[Hepcat]

Man those wallets are so freaking cool Hep..

 

There were actually eight variants of the Standard Plastics Products monster wallets. Each of these four wallets was available with either a magic slate and plastic pencil, or with a mirror that said "Look, a monster!".

 

 

Edited May 5, 2012 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Another fond collecting memory I have is trick or treating on Halloween with two of my best buddies in 1963 or 1964. At a house near Ridout Street I was given one card in a generic wrapper. Opening it up we discovered the "Hairy Fiend" card from the Mars Attacks set. We were awestruck since we'd never never seen any of the cards before and the card was absolutely wild! Without the wrapper, we failed to even figure out the name of the set despite the Mars Attacks title on the back!

 

 

Nonetheless, that "Hairy Fiend" card became the prize of our gum card collection which was soon to reach 6500 cards or so. It wasn't until about 25 years ago that I figured out that our "Hairy Fiend" card was part of the notorious Mars Attacks set. I've been pecking away at the elusive, and expensive, Mars Attacks cards ever since but I still don't have a "Hairy Fiend" card.

 

Edited May 7, 2012 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Perhaps the best score of my young life to that time was in the summer of 1964 on a family trip to visit my uncle and his family. I got my father to fund a purchase of a "Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory" at the hobby shop on the north side of Seven Mile Road just west of the Southfield Expressway in Detroit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess my father thought that a chemistry set must be educational...! It was a fabulous piece. My two best buddies were more than eager to be my demented half-brained lab assistants and enthusiastically fetched tapwater for me while I mixed up the concoctions. I mean they would even squabble about whose turn it was to be my lead assistant!

 

Unfortunately, I think my father gave the set away to the snot nosed kid down the street when I went off to boarding school in Kennebunkport, Maine for ninth grade. Very sad. I've been looking for another one ever since. It's my holy grail item.

 

Edited May 10, 2012 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

It must have been sometime in late 1962 or early 1963. My mother had taken me along on one of her shopping expeditions to the Kresge store in downtown London. While she was examining whatever, I of course gravitated to the toy department, and there on an island mixed in with other model kits and sundry stuff were a whole bunch of Aurora monster model kits! They were just too awesome! Wolfman was the one I wanted the most, but for whatever reason I cannot recall begging my mother for one. Perhaps I was making the shrewd calculation that if I asked for too much, I'd get nothing and I could kiss the bowl of ice cream she'd often buy me at the lunch counter goodbye. Or else I did ask and she said no.

 

Then on a subsequent visit in 1963 I saw that the Creature had joined Aurora's kit line:

 

 

 

 

Man oh man, that was the one that became my favourite! Not that I got that one either. Curiously enough the first Aurora kit that I ended up buying and building a year or so later was the Bride of Frankenstein:

 

 

 

 

I guess I had enough of my own money from my paper route that day and the Bride was the kit staring me in the eye on the trip to the hobby shop. No harm done though. I have all the Aurora monster model kits in my collection today with the exception of Mummy's Chariot and the King Kong and Godzilla ones:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2012 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

In addition to comics and other collectibles, I'm also heavily into music and sound equipment. Here's the story of how I got into buying records:

 

It was August of 1967 and I was fifteen years old. I had my first summer job - on a tobacco farm near Delhi in southern Ontario. This meant of course that for the first time in my life I'd have a real wad of disposable income - and my plan was to get some of those records to which I had been grooving on the radio. Some of the tunes that stood out in my mind from 1966-67 were "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" by the Beatles, "Paint It Black" and "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" by the Rolling Stones, "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and Papas, "These Boots Are Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra, "Sounds of Silence" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel, "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire, "Time Won't Let Me" by the Outsiders, "I Fought the Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four, "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" by the Electric Prunes, "Pied Piper" by Crispian St. Peters, "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians, "Come on Down to My Boat Baby" by Every Mother's Son, "Red Rubber Ball" by the Cyrkle and "Let's Live for Today" by the Grassroots. I was quite familiar with the music from earlier in the decade since the radio station to which I had been listening was CHLO in St. Thomas which played an oldie every second number on a Souvenir Safari program every weekend.

 

Having fulfilled our quota relatively early one Saturday afternoon, some of the older fellows (very cool twenty year olds from Montreal!) were given permission to take the farmer's car into the big town, that being Simcoe, and the even bigger metropolis of Brantford! At the 100 plus mile per hour speed at which they drove the car (no, no seat belts), it didn't take us very long to get to those places.

 

Of course we stopped at a record shop. The new exotic Beatles' album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", was on prominent display and I decided to make it my first purchase when I got back home in September.

 

 

The other album that I remember catching my eye was "Flowers". The cover picture featured a more decadent and vaguely threatening looking group of young fellows. "Are these the Rolling Stones?" I wondered. I hadn't yet seen the Stones on TV but my guess was of course correct.

 

 

The new psychedelic sounding Rolling Stones single "We Love You" was just hitting the airwaves when I returned home just before Labour Day. I listened raptly and marveled at the sound I was hearing.

 

I went through with my plans and made "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" my first record purchase. I quickly followed up this purchase by acquiring the Beatles' first three Canadian albums in order, "Beatlemania", "Twist and Shout" and "Long Tall Sally".

 

I then stepped outside the box in October and bought "Big Hits - High Tide and Green Grass" by the Rolling Stones. I was floored! I found the Stones' record far edgier than the comparatively tame Beatles' albums. Then of course there was the innovative for the time booklet of their pictures included within the double sleeve.

 

 

I wasn't entirely sure which Stone was which at the time but the brooding, mysterious Stones appealed to me in a way the Beatles did not. I went out and added "Flowers" to my swiftly growing record collection within a couple of weeks. Here are the Stones performing a track from Flowers on the Ed Sullivan Show:

 

 

I think the "Best of the Animals" may have been the first non-Beatle or Stone album I bought. "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had been a popular chant at the boarding school I had attended in Kennebunkport, Maine for grade nine although my favourite Animals' tune at the time was "It's My Life". The "Kinks' Greatest Hits" may have been the next.

 

I took to reading the record/music review sections of "Time" magazine to which we had a subscription and "Stereo Review" which I could find at the library to get an idea for new, cutting edge bands that weren't necessarily being played on top forty radio.

 

My musical horizons were further altered when the Doors released their signature hit, "Light My Fire". When I heard the dark melodic strains on the kitchen radio for the first time I was fascinated. I loved it! It was like nothing I'd heard on the radio to that time. I knew that the boundaries encompassing rock had just been dramatically expanded and that rock had left its period of youthful innocence behind.

 

It was the Doors' performance of "Light My Fire" on the Ed Sullivan Show that established them as the cultural icons they remain today. Jim appeared wearing tight black leather pants which must have caused appalled parents' jaws to drop across every single living room in North America. I certainly expected expressions of horrified disgust in as many as two languages from my very old school father. He must have been too shocked though, or maybe he too was hypnotized by the seductive organ riff behind Jim's throaty vocals. Much to my surprise he just sat there in silence. All I know is that I watched the performance intently in almost rapt disbelief. These fellows made the Beatles look like innocent schoolboys! They were a step above and beyond whatever else was happening in rock at the time. Here's the video:

 

 

Interesting too is that Ed Sullivan had demanded that the Doors change the words of the song from "Girl we coudn't get much higher" to "Girl we coudn't get much better" as a condition of performing. You see it was actually illegal to use the word "higher" as a drug reference on American TV at the time. The Doors had agreed but when it came time to sing the line, Jim clearly enunciated the word "higher". Ed Sullivan was understandably furious and banned the Doors from any further appearances on his show. When told that the rest of the band's five scheduled appearances on the show had been cancelled, Jim reportedly said "Hey man, so what? We just did the Ed Sullivan Show!"

 

I just love that type of insolence. Stick it to the straights I still say! I may be a stockbroker and a "respectable" member of society these days, but I still take delight in offending those more straightlaced than myself. And woe to any bureaucrat or corporate suit who annoys me and finds himself in my company!

 

I bought their debut album a couple of months later - and let me tell you I was well and truly hooked on the Doors within a couple of plays. The music just drew me in.

 

 

When I played it for one of my buddies, he stayed uncharacteristically silent - but bought his own copy a few weeks later. He later confessed to me that the Doors sounded so moody and Satanic to him the first time I played the record that he never thought he'd be able to like them! He's remained every bit as much of a Doors fan as I am to this very day.

 

By the end of 1968 I had progressed to buying albums by the Doors, Who, Yardbirds, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. All these I played on the Seabreeze suitcase stereo with detachable speakers that I had bought to replace the family record player. My father condemned my purchase as shamelessly profligate since the existing mono record player that we'd purchased used some years back was still perfectly serviceable!

 

Now of course I have hundreds of record albums and 45s as well as a steadily growing collection of CDs which I play on a very nice stereo sound system indeed. (My father would be aghast I suppose.) My musical tastes are many and varied - but, nevertheless, after all these years I'm still very much a Stones and Doors fan.

 

 

 

[chrisco37]

Great stuff Hepkat!

[Jeffro.]

Interesting too is that Ed Sullivan had demanded that the Doors change the words of the song from "Girl we coudn't get much higher" to "Girl we coudn't get much better" as a condition of performing. You see it was actually illegal to use the word "higher" as a drug reference on American TV at the time. The Doors had agreed but when it came time to sing the line, Jim clearly enunciated the word "higher". Ed Sullivan was understandably furious and banned the Doors from any further appearances on his show. When told that the rest of the band's five scheduled appearances on the show had been cancelled, Jim reportedly said "Hey man, so what? We just did the Ed Sullivan Show!"

 

I just love that type of insolence. Stick it to the straights I still say! I may be a stockbroker and a "respectable" member of society these days, but I still take delight in offending those more straightlaced than myself. And woe to any bureaucrat or corporate suit who annoys me and finds himself in my company!

 

He did it to the Rolling Stones too.

 

From wikipedia

On The Ed Sullivan Show, the band was initially refused permission to perform the number. Sullivan himself told Jagger, "Either the song goes or you go".[3] A compromise was reached to substitute the words "let's spend some time together" in place of "let's spend the night together"; Jagger agreed to change the lyrics but ostentatiously rolled his eyes at the TV camera while singing them. Ed Sullivan announced that the Rolling Stones would be banned from performing on his show again.[4] Ironically, the group's "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" had been performed uncensored in 1966. In April 2006, for their first-ever performance in China, authorities prohibited the group from performing the song due to its "suggestive lyrics".[5]

 

 

[Hepcat]

The Doors other most noteworthy TV appearance was on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Check out guitarist Robby Krieger's shiner in this clip. He got it in an altercation with some rednecks in a Los Angeles bar a few days earlier. He refused to let the makeup people disguise it!

 

 

 

[jpepx78]

It must have been sometime in late 1962 or early 1963. My mother had taken me along on one of her shopping expeditions to the Kresge store in downtown London. While she was examining whatever, I of course gravitated to the toy department, and there on an island mixed in with other model kits and sundry stuff were a whole bunch of Aurora monster model kits! They were just too awesome! Wolfman was the one I wanted the most, but for whatever reason I cannot recall begging my mother for one. Perhaps I was making the shrewd calculation that if I asked for too much, I'd get nothing and I could kiss the bowl of ice cream she'd often buy me at the lunch counter goodbye. Or else I did ask and she said no.

 

 

 

hepcat- you have an awesome collection of comics, cards & toys and i enjoyed looking at your pictures. i built a few model kits as a kid but they never looked as good as the pictures on the box.

while looking for pictures of comics, i came across this cool picture of the model kit section from a kress store in 1963 kansas.

notice the monster kits? i bet you could identify all the model kits and might even have most of kits pictured!

 

 

 

[Hepcat]

Fabulous picture!

 

And you're right. I have every single Aurora and Hawk kit that appears in the photo in my present collection.

 

[Hepcat]

Here are pictures of the Rocky & Bullwinkle items in my collection. First my Kenner Presto Sparkle Paint set:

 

 

 

And here is a Sewing Card set that was offered as a mail order cereal premium:

 

 

 

Here are the Pepsi glasses I have portraying some of the characters from the show:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the sixty coins of my Old London Rocky & Bullwinkle set:

 

 

 

Old London Potato Chips were sold in Pennsylvania and in other adjacent northeastern States.

 

Edited September 14, 2012 by Hepcat

[comicwiz]

I thought my collecting interests were eclectic! Wow, some great stuff you almost never, ever see. Thanks for sharing (thumbs u

[Hepcat]

The Olympics get underway in less than three weeks! The final grouping of teams for the men's basketball competition has now been announced:

 

Group A

 

Argentina

France

Lithuania

Nigeria

Tunisia

U.S.A.

 

Group B

 

Australia

Brazil

China

Great Britain

Russia

Spain

 

So we'll definitely get to see another battle between the United States and Lietuva!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hepcat]

Here I took The MAN with me to the park down the block to help me show off my Lithuanian Olympic basketball T-shirts. They fit him better!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DiceX]

Those rock.

 

 

[Hepcat]

More T-shirt pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hepcat]

Here I am checking out the yard sale down the street for forgotten/overlooked treasures:

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am negotiating prices with the homeowner Tux:

 

 

 

 

 

On my way home I briefly paused to consider whether Pinky might not be tasty fried and fricaseed:

 

 

 

 

After some consideration I decided he was too tough and scrawny for my delicate palate. Here I am relaxing on the porch with my buddy Sooty prior to a supper of fried clams.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2012 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Here are some more photos of the three Aurora monsters in hot rod kits I have in my collection:

 

 

 

 

Here are more photos of some of my Revell "Big Daddy" Roth kits:

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more pictures of some of the Hawk Weird-Oh kits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are photos of a couple of my Monogram Fred Flypogger kits: