Kim Deitch

A Photo Only I Could Love?

Posted by

0

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  More Pre-Halloween seasonal fun! I fell hard for this card, but it was one if those rare occasions when Kim just couldn’t see it. Don’t get me wrong – he would never actively discourage me from purchasing a photo I was crazy about, but sometimes when he seems truly mystified it does take the wind out of my sails. There’s nothing about marriage which makes me think you should like all the same stuff – more interesting if you don’t really and Kim readily agrees. And I know that the kindest thing he can say about some of the most ratty of my toy purchases is that this one or that one look like a stuffed demon, or worse yet, a roll of the eyes and a (sad) shake of the head – but somehow I expect our esthetic sensibility for images such as photos to be more aligned. But on the other hand, how can my husband fail to see the bizarre greatness of a card of someone in a homemade Felix costume, with a mask made out of a bag and an advertising sign that says, Felix left off walking when he bought a bike from Curry’s? Or am I really just crazy? I mean, it was The Prize Winner at Boston. Really Kim!

Another time this happened was an attempt to purchase these photos of co-eds donning Felix-y costumes. I was seriously jazzed when I saw them and Kim…wasn’t. I was so befuddled I put it out to Facebook for a vote. The buys had it (by a good margin, but not unanimous) but so shaken was my confidence that I underbid and ultimately lost it. (Below is the scan pulled off of Facebook from eBay.)

IMG_0191.PNG

There are those occasions when Kim seems unimpressed until the photo enters the apartment. There are numerous examples of this, but the most recent is the photo featured in my post Cat Hat, sadly this was not one of those times.

For me, the costume, complete with broken cat tail and white socks for feet (those folks at Curry’s were nothing if not resourceful), posed on an early British version of Astroturf just tickles me silly. I hope it does as much for you, my reader.

Flip and Froggy

Posted by

1

unnamed-15unnamed-14169061_1691043688879_1784164_n

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: The Frogs have it! Let me start with this – I don’t collect frogs. (Not that there’s anything wrong with collecting frogs.) However, as a toy collector these three have found their way into our home. Starting with Flip who I purchased on eBay. He is made by Dean’s Rag Company and I consider him an undervalued toy. Mine isn’t in pristine condition (he’s an old, old frog after all) but I bought him, unchallenged, for very little. No one needed Flip that day, but me I guess.  I am a fan of the Flip the Frog cartoons, although it wasn’t until well into adulthood that I caught up with them. (Kim introduced me to them. He saw them on tv as a child – says it was big news in their house when they went on tv. I’ve already discussed how impoverished my childhood was compared to his.) I can’t resist including a specimen cartoon – I don’t remember seeing this one before.  Flip really is one strange looking frog – even when he isn’t playing a dentist.

Next up is Froggy. This toy came to us as a wedding gift – thank you Monty! Smilin’ Ed and Andy’s Gang did not make it into the rerun tv packages of my childhood either, and I was introduced to Froggy and company while Kim was working on his book Smilin’ Ed.  (Brief commercial for the family product: you can find Smilin’ Ed here.) Kim worked on the story through our early years together so Froggy has endeared himself to me, despite being absolutely evil in the book. Here is a clip of Froggy in action (Incidentally, I have always wondered why there don’t seem to be any Midnight the Cat toys, but they’d probably be sort of scary anyway.)

So you can imagine my great surprise when a few years ago I wandered into the mall at Columbus Circle just before Christmas and there in a pop-up shop I found the new Froggy shown here! That’s right, someone found one of the variations on the Froggy toy and recreated him….as a dog toy. I bought up the few they had in stock and later found the company online. Needless to say, several people received Froggy toys that year! Should you wish to order a rather expensive, lead-free dog toy for you or someone else who appreciates vintage tv you can do so at Roll Over Red Rover. Perhaps given his misdeeds it is Froggy’s karma to end up reincarnated as a dog toy.