Dark Shadows Game

Dark Shadows, the 1960s supernatural soap opera, spun off a couple of vampire themed board games. This one is by Whitman, and dates from 1968.

 Illustrations of Barnabas Collins and Collinwood mansion 

feature on the box cover.

 The "board" is actually a giant paper mat, and consequently rather fragile. A simple track runs though representations of Collinwood and its grounds.

 Players select a pawn (a gravestone, howling wolf, drippy candle, or grandfather clock about to strike midnight). Cards direct their movement along the track, and the first one to the finish wins.

I'm guessing most kids would have wanted to be the wolf, 

as opposed to being a candle...

The draw and discard piles on the board are an empty coffin and an open grave, respectively.

For all its spooky cool art, one would expect this to be an exciting game to play, but sadly it's rather dull, just a straightforward track. The other Dark Shadows game is anything but boring though, and it's coming up tomorrow.

Primitive Witch Doll

Another Halloween doll by one of my favorite primitive artists, this quirky 16 inch witch flies through the cornstalks on her twig broom.

Her funny face is worth a closeup, I think. Isn't it fabulously freaky?

Ghostly Dolly

Each October, one of my favorite primitive doll artists makes another batch of fantastic Halloween pieces. This hand sewn and delicately aged muslin ghost just drifted in. He holds a rusty old key; perhaps it unlocks the tomb behind him.

Boo!

Milton Bradley Bigfoot Game

Bigfoot, he of the infamous giant footprints, scored his own board game in 1977. A scarce find today, it's one of my favorite monster themed games.

 If this Bigfoot was meant to look friendly, the artist really missed the mark. He is clearly considering eating these children.

 

Players select pawns, which appear to be mountaineers, explorers, or possibly Bigfoot hunters.

The game track takes players through prime Bigfoot habitat, including snowy slopes and dense forests. A mining town, lumber mill, gold mine, and supply store appear to offer shelter.

The pawns are moved according to the roll of the dice, but if they land on a Bigfoot space, a subsequent roll moves the monster, a hefty plastic figure, along the track:

As Bigfoot crosses or lands on a pawn, he dispenses a disk, which may or may not bear a footprint. If the print appears, that pawn is out of the game. Last player left unstepped upon wins!

 This is good.

This is bad.

To learn more about Bigfoot, or possibly to report a sighting of your own, contact the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. (Oh yes: there really is one!)

                      

Antique Halloween Witch Candy Container

I got this last December, and have been waiting all year to post it. (My family has grown used to me asking for antique Halloween stuff for Christmas...)

This pumpkin bodied witch, 6 inches tall, is a candy container. The base opens, revealing a space inside that could be filled with small candies. Made in Germany circa the 1920s.

Tiny Treasures: Vintage Gumball Machine Prizes

As a kid, I adored the gumball machines full of tiny toys in the entrance of the grocery store. I would save my change for weeks and then, like a casino slots addict, feed coin after coin after coin into my favored machine, never giving up my belief that if I put in just one more dime, I'd finally get whatever must-have item had obsessed me.

Once I grew up, I was delighted to discover that private citizens can buy their own gumball machines, and I now have 5 vintage venders full of fantastic treasures in my dining room. Still, I'm always on the lookout for cool gumball prizes when I'm antiquing (and actually, still at the grocery store too.) I found this lot at a show this summer, and it had some really great pieces, mostly from the 1960s-70s.

This may look like a pile of cheap plastic, and it is, 

but it's also full of tiny treasures.

My favorite piece was this little pink guy with a really big nose.

The oldest item was this Barney Google charm: 











Monster charms are always a good find; these are from the '60s.

Oh joy of joys: a bunch of Funny Froot rings! I lusted after these as a child, but sadly, only ever got the Avocado Man (second from right).

Keeping with the anthropomorphic theme: a smiling radish guy pin:











An itty bitty parachute toy, barely an inch long, and never opened:

And last but not least: tiny fish and clamshell charms. I can remember seeing these as a kid, too, and being profoundly disappointed when, several dollars worth of dimes later, all I had gotten were lame stickers.

Vintage Halloween Cupcake Picks

Circa the 1940s-50s, these pulp paper cupcake picks, 2 3/4 inches tall, include two jack 'o lanterns, a black cat, and a grinning skull. It always amazes me to find such fragile, tiny pieces of ephemera have survived for so long...

King Kong Board Game

From my collection of vintage monster-themed board games comes "King Kong," made by Ideal in 1976. This was a tie-in product released in collaboration with the King Kong film remake that came out the same year. The film was not well-received; critic Leonard Maltin didn't mince his words when he said: "it dispels all the mythic, larger-than-life qualities of the original with idiotic characters and campy approach." Ouch. Still, the game is cool!

The box features fantastic promotional art from the movie poster, of Kong standing atop the World Trade Center towers (a change from the original film's climatic setting at the Empire State Building).

The game board is huge (appropriate for a story about a gigantic ape climbing gigantic buildings), measuring 32 inches long when fully opened.

The board represents the World Trade Center, and your mission as a player is to successfully attack Kong before he reaches the top. He, however, can spin about and knock you off the building, which is not a good thing.

Cards pulled can help ("take a helicopter ride!") or hinder you on your mission.

The spinner is totally cool, a tiny King Kong:

Vintage monster games generally command high prices, but Ideal's "King Kong" is still rather readily available and pretty reasonably priced, perhaps because of the remake film's unpopularity. See if you can find one, and play it this Halloween!

King Kong Carnival Chalkware Figure

If you visited the gaming tents of a traveling carnival in the 1930s, and fortune favored you that evening, you could have won this glorious chalkware prize: a 14 inch tall statue of King Kong.

If I'd been at a carnival back then, you can bet I would have been begging my date for one of these. It always amazes me to find such old chalkware pieces in such great condition today, as they are notoriously fragile.

 Grrrowrrr!

Vintage Invisible Man Weeble

Back in the 1970s, Scotch brand tape released a series of very creative television commercials featuring the Invisible Man, who promoted their product's high-quality "invisibility" when used for repairs.
Scotch also worked with the Hasbro toy company to create a promotional Weeble of the Invisible Man: a solid black Weeble with glow-in-the-dark hands, feet, and hat.
I didn't know anyone who had one of these back when we were kids: they were scarce back then, and are consequently even rarer today. Thank goodness for eBay...

Monster Trolls

A lot of people find trolls unappealing, even rather creepy.  If you are one of those people, you should probably skip this post.

Still here? Okay then:

During the 1960s troll craze, competing toy manufacturers were constantly striving to outdo each other, coming up with trolls of ever increasing novelty or ever cheaper production: whatever they could do to get a market edge. Well, someone in Hong Kong, observing both the 1960s troll fad and the concurrent monster craze, combined the two, creating what is now one of the most disturbing, and most-sought, trolls out there: the Frankenstein's Monster Troll. He proved so popular, two other monsters were added about a decade later: the Wolfman and King Kong.

 "We promise not to come alive at night and terrorize 
your other toys. Really."

"Lucky Shnook" Monster Trolls

These odd trolls date to the 1960s, and were made by an unknown Hong Kong manufacturer capitalizing on the troll fad. Their scary heads have led to them being referred to as "monster" or "vampire" trolls, but the mint-in-package examples reveal their true identity: "Lucky Shnooks." Never would have guessed that one...

STICKY: Free Toy Giveaway for Halloween! *UPDATE: We Have a Winner*

I've been thinking: just for fun, let's do a Free Toy Giveaway!

Getting a package of toys in the mail makes me really happy. I bet it makes you happy too. I think what the world needs right now is more people trying to help each other be happy.

So: I've got an extra 1960s Frankenstein Monster gumball machine prize and King Kong ring available. (Seriously, how many of these things do I need? I can only wear 2 Kongs at a time, and I've got enough Frankies to start an army and take over a small town.) Scroll down a few posts for details on these guys, if you're wondering what the heck they are.

If they appeal to you, send me a comment and tell me why you like/need them. Think of it as an adoption screening. (Please, no dealers looking to resell: my faith in the intrinsic goodness of humanity is wobbly, at best, and seeing these things for sale on ebay next week would really shatter it. Dealers who want to give them a happy home at their own house are fine, though.) Don't put your address in your comment unless you're okay with me posting it: when I announce the winner, you can send me another comment with your address, and I won't post that one.

There are no strings at all, just a few caveats: any toy giveaways are meant for adults only, as vintage toys can sometimes be dangerous for small children. Who knows how many kiddies choked on these Frankies back in the day...Also, I'm going to limit these giveaways to United States addresses only. Postage, customs, etc. etc., you know. Speaking of which: I'll pay the postage, so no worries there. I'll take comments through Saturday and pick a winner at random from all the ones I like on Sunday. Good luck!

*UPDATE: 10/11/09: We Have a Winner!
Morgan from Missouri is the winner, and here's her entry: "i would LOVELOVELOVE one of those little frankenthings because they are cutecuteCUTE and because i work at a library and just decorated the children's area yesterday AND because i love mail and love sending mail myself!" Morgan: I'll get these in the mail to you later this week. Hope you like them!

Watch for another free toy giveaway in December!

Spooky Primitive Folk Art Dolls

Happy October!

We're now in my favorite month of the year, so I'll be highlighting some of my favorite collections: spooky dolls, antique Halloween postcards and paraphernalia, and monster games and toys.

To start things off, here are some fantastic primitive/folk art dolls handmade by my friend Jane, who sells her work under the clever byline, "Nothing Plain By Jane." And plain they are not: her dolls are quirky, funny, weird and wonderful.

Above is Igor, her newest creation, while below are a long and lanky skeleton (he's almost a yard tall), and my first doll from Jane: Big Head Tillie. I have to turn her around at night so I can't see her eyes, or she freaks me out...

There's LOTS more dolls, but I'll finish up for now with a view of the Pumpkin Head Doll Patch, which covers the antique oak dresser in my bedroom (there's also a Pear Head Guy and a Melon Head Lady who sneaked in).

Colorforms Castle Dracula Fun House Playset

It's taken me 30 years, but I've just finally replaced one of my all-time favorite childhood toys: the Colorforms Castle Dracula Fun House Playset. Considered by Colorforms aficionados to be one of the best sets ever created, it's also sought by vintage monster toy collectors, which tends to drive its price to truly horrific levels.

After several years of lost auctions, I broke down and bought this from a dealer who sells all of her sets in individual lots. That is, she sells every single piece in a set separately. The intent is to enable collectors who are missing a few bits to buy just the pieces they need, instead of another whole set. In my case though, this led to 20 minutes of frantic clicking and buying, particularly as this set has characters with separate tops and bottoms. I bought the Frankenstein monster's head and torso; would I manage to complete the purchase of his bottom half before someone else beat me to it? And the Wolfman was even worse: he had a top, bottom, and frequently-lost separate arm. The tension was unbearable as I raced to complete his three separate purchases, worrying that I would end up spending a small fortune only to have an incomplete set, full of monsters missing vital body parts.

Fortunately there were no other missing parts monster collectors looking at the same time, and I managed to get everything I needed. And the lucky dealer got enough from me to make her car payment, I would guess...but hey, I got my monster Colorforms back!

Vintage Weebles Haunted House Playset

Ah, Weebles, a favorite toy of my 1970s childhood. Seemed like we always had a weeble or two in our pockets back then. Remember their ad jingle: "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!"?

Here's one of the most-sought Weeble sets, the Haunted House, just in time for Halloween. It originally came with a boy and girl with "scared" faces, a glow-in-the-dark ghost (still glows 40 years later!), and a witch with a removeable hat (usually lost and now very hard-to-find).

















Another great Halloweeny Weebles item was the purple Weebles Ghost Van. It's unclear whether it's a van for catching ghosts, or if it's a vehicle meant for ghosts to drive. The marketing storyline on this one was vague.

Speaking of marketing, though, I'll finish this post with a vintage ad for the Weebles Haunted House. Enjoy!