Come On Get...Confused?

 This week's post started simply enough. I was going to compliment my Monkeemobile posts with one about another famous TV vehicle, the Partridge Family bus! So, I went and got the Johnny Lightning bus, took pictures and sat down to write. It was at this point that I made the fateful decision to see if the markings on the toy bus matched the markings on the original (they don't). It was while down this rabbit hole that I discovered what happened to the original bus...or not...

First, here are the pictures of my bus...

This series of "Hollywood on Wheels" cars was released in 1989. The only ones I bought were the Monkeemobile and the Partridge Family Bus. I guess because I actually watched both shows.

Upon taking this picture of the roof, I started wondering about that paint job...

The back of the card. Just for completeness.

Here are a couple "screen grab" pictures that I found on the ol' interwebs. As you can see, the paint details are not real close. 

And now to the mystery. The official story is that this bus is a 1957 Chevy bought by the show from an Orange County school district for around 500.00. In 1974, upon completion of the show, it was painted white and used in the show Apple's Way. When that show failed after one season, it was sold to Lucy's Tacos near USC. There it sat until 1987, when it had to be moved due to repaving. It was sold to a salvage yard and met a gruesome end. 

But wait! As is so often the case, the "official" story may well not be the real story!

A guy going by the handle of "Streamliner" on the Internet Movie Database pointed out some very interesting details.

He lead by saying that the real Partridge Family bus and the one behind Lucy's Tacos were NOT the same bus. He stated, "For the record, the Partridge Family show bus was a 1955 Chevrolet 6800 with a Superior Coach body. Specifically, an eight window with a 220 inch wheelbase. It was not a 1957 Chevrolet, nor did it have an IHC chassis or Carpenter or other make coach body. The Chevrolet badging and Superior name is easily seen countless times." He goes on to say the show bus was a model that was only made for five months in 1955. Therefore, the Lucy's bus was a lookalike "tribute" bus. The biggest difference being that the Lucy's bus had one too many windows on each side!

By the way, he also pointed out that the bus purchased in the pilot episode was not the actual bus used in the series. It seems that it WAS a 1957 Carpenter body Chevy. It was never seen in the series again, though.

So, what happened to the real show bus? No one knows. It may still be out there. If it is, it should be easy for an expert to spot. More than likely, though, it was scrapped. Things that seem like they would be valuable bits of show-biz history were (and are) typically trashed when a show wrapped. 

Of course, there's always the Johnny Lighning version; eight windows and all! 

Until next time, keep searching for treasure! (and 1955 Chevy busses)

Stormy Brains!

 Ok, I'll admit that this week's title is a little weird. Still, it fits well with our subject. May I introduce you to the game "Brainstorm" by E. S. Lowe! 

As you can see by the red grease pencil marking on the box, I picked this up for a buck 99 at a thrift store. It was many years ago, so I have no idea what store it was, but I know that pickings were rather slim that day because: 1. This isn't the kind of game I normally buy and 2. It was actually missing it's timer.  I don't normally buy games with missing parts, unless it's something really special. 

But what IS Brainstorm anyway? Well, remember last week when I told you about how Prize Property improved Monopoly? Well, Brainstorm, (released in 1972) was designed to improve tic-tac-toe. Did it? Let's look closer...

This is what's inside the box. Notice the missing timer. I replaced it with a 30 second timer that  I happened to have. Let's take all the stuff out...

There we go! Notice the added timer! In addition to that, we have a blow molded plastic playing board, a dice cup, and 15 "X and O" dice. That cup might look a little familiar (that's called foreshadowing). 

Now let's look at the instructions...

Pretty easy, really. It plays pretty much like tic-tac-toe with the addition of the timer and special spaces on the board. Most of the instructions are scoring examples. So, it seems like a solid game, but not a world changing one. But that's ok, because E.S. Lowe had already changed the gaming world by this time. Twice, actually.

Let's travel back in time to the late 1920's when Mr. Lowe was at a carnival in Georgia. He was watching people play a game called "Beano," where they covered up numbers on a card with beans. Later, he went and had some of his own cards printed up and introduced it to his friends. While they were playing, one young lady got so excited when she won that instead of yelling "Beano!" she yelled "Bingo!" And the name stuck. Shortly after that, a church approached him about using his game as a fundraiser. Gaming World Change Number One.

Flash forward to the early 1950's. A wealthy couple approached Mr. Lowe about printing up some score pads for their dice game that they played with friends on their yacht. They called it "The Yacht Game," but when Mr. Lowe bought the rights he changed it to "Yahtzee." Gaming World Change Number Two.

So, by 1972, E. S. Lowe was gaming royalty, no matter how "Brainstorm" did. Interestingly, Milton Bradley bought the company a couple of years later and then Hasbro bought THEM. 

So, yes, Brainstorm beats regular tic-tac-toe. But the most interesting part is the company itself!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!