If you sprinkle when you tinkle…

If you sprinkle when you tinkle…

Photo by Adobe Firefly

June 2024

Everything Old

If you sprinkle when you tinkle…

by Corbin Crable

This month’s cover story relays the history of outhouses, those quiet but stinky outdoor private places where everyone did their business in the 19th century.

First, however, I’d like to fast-forward through time to the mid-20th century, a time when tackiness could be found in every room of one’s house, from aspic in the refrigerator to shag carpet in the living room. The bathroom wasn’t spared from trends on which we now can look back and laugh, either. Conversely, some of the bathroom trends with which you grew up are ones you may remember fondly.
Good or bad, here are a few trends you might recall:

Carpet: Like nearly everything made since the Industrial Revolution, as the volume of carpet produced rose, its price soon saw a dip. In the postwar era, carpet production boomed, and American families in the suburbs snatched it up as it became more affordable. Despite its new affordability, however, carpets seemed to convey luxury and comfort.

Sometime during the 1960s, wall-to-wall carpeting in one’s bathroom became a desirable option – heightened risk of mold growth be damned. By the 1970s, shag carpeting had made its way onto toilet lids and even toilet seats as well (I shudder with revulsion at the thought, don’t you?). The garish trend finally died out during the 1980s. And speaking of which:

Padded toilet seats:

Most sources seem to agree that David Harrison invented these in 1993, though I’ve always thought they were older. Maybe that’s because my grandparents had them in every bathroom of their house. I can still hear the pppfffttttt sound the seats made when I sat on them.

Colored toilet paper: Who wants to wipe their tuchus with boring white toilet paper when mint green toilet paper exists? It was one of a rainbow of pastel colors in which toilet paper was made. The 20-year period between the 1950s and the 1970s saw the use of toilet paper in colors such as pink, blue, green, brown, and another shade of brown. In the ‘70s, however, doctors warned of the dangers of the dyes found in these colorful rolls, and the paper was summarily flushed away, lost to time.

 

Toilet paper cozies:

You had to cover your toilet paper in something, and these items conveniently combined your love of the crochet arts with the practicality of paper designed to keep your derriere clean. The most collectible variation on the toilet paper cozy came in doll form, made to look like a dainty Southern belle wearing a huge gown from the Antebellum South. Was the addition of a dainty cover meant to “soften” a taboo topic such as using the potty? Between these ladies and the lack of any bathroom in the “Brady Bunch” house, I’d like to think so. They physically concealed toilet paper but metaphorically concealed acknowledgment of its existence. Or perhaps I’m overthinking such a simple creation.

Colorful tile on all

surfaces: Bathrooms done in pastel-colored tiles were all the rage from the 1930s to the ‘50s. Want your bathroom to be Pepto Bismol pink, just like First Lady Mamie Eisenhower? You got it. Surely it’s a decision you won’t later regret.

Now, if you’re reading this on the toilet, I hope this little distraction has made your time on the john go a bit faster. We’ll see you the next time nature calls.

Contact Corbin Crable at editor@discovervintage.com​

The seasoning with a storied history

The seasoning with a storied history

Photo by Lachlan on Unsplash

May 2024

Everything Old

The seasoning with a storied history

by Corbin Crable

Everyone knows there are two types of people: Those who crave sugary snacks, and those who would prefer something salty instead.

I’ve always fallen into the latter category — bring on the sodium chloride! As a child, at the dinner table, I would try to heavily salt my food, only to be stopped by my parents (thank goodness!). Now, as an adult, I still love salt, but I’ve been successful in finding healthful alternatives to it when seasoning my food.

Our bodies need salt – all of us, both humans and animals. Salt has been used to bring out the flavor in our food for millennia – long before recorded history (it’s done wonders for what we drink, too – sprinkling a dash of salt in your mug of beer will decrease the bitter taste of an IPA). Of course, in addition to being edible, its story is sprinkled with fascinating factoids.

The first recorded mention of salt

The first recorded mention of salt can be traced back to 2700 BCE in China. Cultures the world over valued salt due to its scarcity. Before the advent of the refrigerator, rubbing salt into cuts of meat helped to preserve them aboard merchant ships during journeys overseas. The only rock that we eat, salt also was used as currency in the ancient world (‘salt,’ in fact, is the root of the word ‘salary’). Salt remained important to both our dishes and our economies, being used in everything from agriculture to the roads on which we walk. In the New World, Native Americans made salt from brine springs. Large-scale production of salt began during the Civil War.

Salt: A World History

 

Shortly before that, in 1848, Richmond & Co. was founded as a small salt sales company. That company would rename itself the Morton Salt Co. in 1889, quickly growing its operation with large-scale production and becoming the household name it remains today (the sodium giant unveiled its adorable mascot, the Morton Salt Girl, in 1914, complete with umbrella and the slogan, “When It Rains, It Pours”).

Fast forward to the present day, and you can even see salt’s importance to our region in Strataca: The Underground Salt Museum, located in Hutchinson, KS. Descend 650 feet below the surface to traverse 150 miles of tunnels, throughout which historical salt formations can be seen. Along the way, you’ll learn plenty about salt mining and its importance to not only our region, but also our world.

“Salt: A World History.”

Although the complete history of salt obviously won’t fit into this small space, I encourage you to read historian Mark Kurlansky’s 2002 book, named (what else?) “Salt: A World History.” In the meantime, check out our center spread in this issue and learn all about those most collectible of dinner table adornments – salt and pepper shakers, of course.

Contact Corbin Crable at editor@discovervintage.com​

Action figures were toy industry’s answer to Barbie

Action figures were toy industry’s answer to Barbie

April 2024

Everything Old

Action figures were toy industry’s answer to Barbie

by Corbin Crable

As little girls in the late 1950s and early 1960s played with a new doll named “Barbie,” their younger brothers probably wondered, “What’s the big deal with this toy?”

 

Action Figures

 

In the mid-1960s, those boys would get their own version in the form of a similar toy being marketed as an “action figure” – a fully posable “doll” with more masculine themes (though don’t you dare call them “dolls” to the boys who played with them!).

The term was developed by toy giant Hasbro in 1964, five years after Barbie was introduced, with their G.I. Joe action figure released in early February of that year. The 11.5-inch, military-themed figures proved to be instantly popular and would be licensed to other markets worldwide. Other less popular, flash-in-the-pan action figures would emerge as competitors to the G.I. Joe empire, including Action Hero (1965), Microman (1974), and Big Jim (1972-86), but the G.I. Joe figures, with their variety of weapon accessories and interchangeable uniforms, would prove their staying power in future decades.

With the 1980s came a Golden Age of sorts for action figures. Film and television allowed for seemingly endless merchandising opportunities. If you’re a male member of Generation X like I am, you likely fondly recall the action figures of that decade – Ghostbusters, Thundercats, and Masters of the Universe, to name just a few.

 

Star Wars Figures

 

But the most collectible of these had to be the action figures released in conjunction with the original Star Wars trilogy (Star Wars in 1977, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and Return of the Jedi in 1983). Usually around four inches high and posable in five body points, they were released attached to cardboard cardbacks, with the figure itself enclosed in plastic. On the reverse side of the cardback, you could usually find a listing of the other action figures in that series, along with a photograph of the character portrayed.

During the years of the original trilogy’s release, Ohio-based Kenner Toys sold more than 300 million Star Wars toys. Along with these action figures came an entire host of vehicles and playsets based on the Star Wars films

Some of the figures, of course, are worth more today than others. One of the most rare is in the form of a Jawa – those diminutive aliens from Star Wars who lived on the desert planet of Tatooine with glowing eyes who sold droids out of their massive Sandcrawler vehicles. The figure’s brown cape was made of fabric, but the original versions wore a cape made of vinyl, and only a few were produced. Websites such as Ranker value these original vinyl-caped fellows at between $20,000 and $28,000 in their original packaging.

Of course, to those of us who grew up with them, when it comes to nostalgia, these action figures are worth their weight in gold. I remember playing with them for hours on end as a kid growing up in the ‘80s. Now, as an adult, I wish I wouldn’t have treated them with the rough horseplay for which little boys are known, sometimes ripping off arms and legs for dramatic effect. And today, knowing how valuable some of these action figures are to collectors, I owe a huge apology to my dad for being so rough on them, or – even worse – selling them at garage sales. It’s a regret that continues to linger in my now-adult mind.

Remember, folks – whether it’s a G.I. Joe action figure or a Barbie doll, hang onto them and take good care of them. You never know how much these toys will be worth, both monetarily and in memories.

Contact Corbin Crable at editor@discovervintage.com​

Space Age design dominated  postwar America

Space Age design dominated postwar America

March 2024

Everything Old

Space Age design dominated postwar America

by Corbin Crable

This issue of Discover Vintage America will present decades of vintage NASA collectibles, which have chronicled our fascination with space exploration for more than half a century. It only makes sense to do this on the heels of NASA’s announcement of the Artemis 2 project, expected to launch sometime next year. Four astronauts will conduct a flyby of the moon in the first scheduled crewed mission of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

Down here on Earth, we can detect space travel in many other facets of our culture. First, however, it’s probably best to make the distinction between Space Age design and Atomic Age design, which can often confuse people because the two terms were sometimes used interchangeably.

According to Architectural Digest, the Atomic Age began after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, ending World War II and signifying a new period in human history that would be marked by the potential use of atomic power and the terrifying prospect of Armageddon. It was in this year, too, that author George Orwell first gave a name to the hostility and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union – the Cold War.

Still, despite their dark origins, the design trends that came from this period were sleek, colorful and even playful. Atomic particles became incorporated into everything from architecture to kitchen appliances and from wallpaper to light fixtures.

Space Age design, however, began more than a decade later, with the launch of the Sputnik satellite in late 1957. This movement’s visuals possess their own distinct look, and ‘Space Age’ is no longer used interchangeably with ‘Atomic Age’ when referring to design trends. Unlike the fear associated with the use of atomic technology, visuals consistent with the Space Age were full of optimism in humanity’s exploration of worlds beyond Earth, and faith in the good our ongoing technological developments could harness. The movement found its way into pop culture with TV shows like The Jetsons featuring it prominently. Space Age influence can even be found in the world of fashion – remember the white go-go boots worn by Jane Fonda in her groovy sci-fi flick “Barbarella” (1968)?

Nowhere was Space Age design more readily present than in the 1964 World’s Fair.

There, innovations from the smallest ink pen to the hulking automobile to the fair’s pavilions pointing skyward possessed the sleek look of the Space Age – it was a sign of promise, of advancement, of technological evolution, all of which coincided with the Baby Boomer generation.

Space Age design became synonymous with the Midcentury Modern movement, having enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as it becomes more closely aligned with camp and kitsch.

Obviously, you can still find echoes of Space Age design at your local antique store or vintage market. Take a moment to appreciate it as we prepare to look to the stars and to NASA’s bright future in the coming years.

Spaceshuttle

Contact Corbin Crable at editor@discovervintage.com​

Pachinko is Japan’s answer to pinball

Pachinko is Japan’s answer to pinball

Jan/Feb 2024

Everything Old

Pachinko is Japan’s answer to pinball

by Corbin Crable

In this issue of Discover Vintage America, you’ll read about the storied history of the pinball machine, from the controversy it faced in the game’s early days to its current iteration as a mainstay of dive bars and arcades everywhere.

But did you know that pinball isn’t only a Western game? Its Eastern version has an equally fascinating history.

Chinese pinball, or Pachinko, has its origins in Japan, but unlike Western pinball, it is still widely used for gambling in that country. Like Western pinball, there exist both manual and electronic versions of the game. The machines are vertical instead of horizontal, using smaller balls instead of the larger ones in our own machines.

With pachinko machines, a spring-loaded handle launches the small balls into a metal track, which guides the ball over the top of the playing field until it falls into the playing field. In that field are brass pins throughout, and several small cups at the bottom.

If, after bouncing around on the pins, the ball falls into one of the cups, the player wins, and multiple balls will be dispensed into a tray at the bottom as the player’s reward. If the ball doesn’t find its way into one of the small cups, it falls into a slot at the bottom of the machine, triggering a loss. Like modern-day slot machines, pachinko machines employ colorful graphics and LED lights.

In Japan, pachinko parlors used to be found in just about every large city, similar to our casinos. Those who play the machines and win take their metal balls to a parlor employee in exchange for small prizes, such as pens or cigarette lighters. And though playing pachinko for cash is illegal, many small stores nearby these parlors will allow patrons to exchange for money.

The pachinko machine first made its appearance in Japan in the 1920s, with public parlors opening after the end of World War II.

And while the number of parlors has decreased in number due to law enforcement crackdowns (many of them have been infiltrated by yakuza, or Japanese crime syndicates, for racketeering or money laundering), until the last decade or so, the industry was immensely lucrative one – according to Fortune, the industry in Japan garners more gambling revenue than Las Vegas, Singapore, and Macau combined.

Although these vintage machines were beautifully designed and decorated, the pachinko machines themselves aren’t very rare (though people usually seem to believe they are), with hundreds of thousands imported during the 1960s and 1970s. Machines from that period are usually only worth between $20 and $100, but the older, rarer machines can go for up to $1,000 or more.

My dad was giddy with excitement when he brought a vintage pachinko machine home from an antique store when I was a kid. My brother and I played on that machine in the basement many times, enjoying hearing the ding of bells as the metal balls bounced around the field of metal pins, our eyes carefully following them along.

We hope you enjoy reminiscing about the pinball machines of your youth as you learn about their story. It seems everyone of a certain age has one!

 

Contact Corbin Crable at editor@discovervintage.com​