This is NOT a blog post!

Due to statewide academic testing, there will be no post this week. Thank you for understanding...

Popping Open Another Mystery

A few years ago I picked up an item that has me still confused. This is it:

Now, what has me confused isn't what it is (it's a bottle opener) but what its back story could be.

Things we know...
1. It's from Denison Texas.
2. It seems to be advertising soda.
3. It's got some age to it.
4. It used to have a pen-knife attactched to it. (ok, you can't tell that by looking at it, but I'll explain later)
5. It has a patent date that I can't make out the year on.

That's about it. Let's look at what we know to discover what we don't.

Yes, it's from Denison, but from when? I don't think it's as old as it looks. By the style of shoe, it would seem to be from the early 1900's, but the "Ike's Soda Water" wouldn't make sense then. Denison's most famous son wouldn't be famous until a half century later.

And what about "Ike's Soda Water?" As far as I can find, there never was such a product. Or if there was, it was a tiny company. And by the time Ike was big, not many people would have called it "soda water." "Soda", "pop", or "cold drink" would haven all been in more common use then. And about that patent date...I'm not sure it matters. The opener could have been patented at an early date, and then made much later.

So, here is what I think...In 1973, Denison Texas had its centennial celebration. I think this could be an item produced to celebrate that event. I have seen one more, at Main Street Mall in Denison, which had a small pen knife attatched to it (I told you I would get back to that). It was in better shape and didn't seem quite so old. So, case closed!

Except that it isn't, of course. I could be completely wrong! If anybody out there can shed some light on the subject, please do.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Disney Mystery No Lighter After 10 Years....

About ten years ago I happened upon a lighter in an antique shop in Denison, Tx. I don't collect lighters, and I would have completely overlooked it if it hadn't been marked thusly:

As you can see, this seems to be an item produced for Disneyland in it's first year of operation (1955). I didn't snatch it up right away, but after thinking about it a while, I went back and purchased it.

Now, usually the first thing I do when I buy something that I haven't seen before is to go to the Great and Powerful Google to see what I can find. I did, and I found...nothing. I then went to Ebay and other auction sites....also, nothing. Hmmmmm.

I kept trying and kept failing. Finally, I got to the point where I emailed the leading authority on all things Disney, Dave Smith.

He had never seen it before.

He suggested that it might be a knockoff, sold outside the gates in the first few years of the park. A couple of things support this idea. First, the plastic certainly seems of the right age, but the lighter is rather poorly and cheaply made. Also, the addition of a date on the copyright seems odd, since most merchandise was simply marked "Walt Disney Productions" with no date. Thirdly, we know that such items being sold on the cheap right outside the park drove Walt a little nuts and that fact, along with the development springing up around Disneyland, prompted him to look for a place with "the luxury of size."

So there you have it. It seems I have a piece of Disneyland history that might have, in a very small way, inspired Walt Disney World!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Pine Wood and Hot Wheels!

Years ago, my daughter, Jessica, was involved in AWANAS at church. One of the yearly events was a pinewood derby race. Now, as you know, I am totally into Hot Wheels. What you don't know is that at the age of about nine, so was Jessica! (Hey, she's always been a cool kid!) Therefore, when it came to building a pinewood racer, you know where we went for inspiration...

Actually, I ended up buildind four cars with her over the years. Each one got a little closer to a real Hot Wheels car. This is the last in the series, when pinewood derby crashed head on into plastic model building and Hot Wheels collecting...I present to you, Jessica's Paddy Wagon!

The car uses plastic model parts on a pinewood chassis. 

The wheels are official pinewood derby wheels with painted hubs.

The plastic parts were glued directly to the wood base.

The bottom of the engine was cut so it would sit correctly on the wood slab.

The panel on the back can be opened so you can access and adjust the weights.

The inspiration- my mint 1970 Hot Wheels Paddy Wagon!

Jessica actually did a lot of the work on the car, although I helped. She took first place in the "Design" catagory! I think she may have won one race.

Now, Jessica is 27, so her pinewood derby days may be in the past. However, her kids (and my grandkids) Ayden and Kyrie are 7 and 5, so there may be racing yet to come!

Until next time keep searching for (and maybe building) treasure!

More Haunted Mansion Treasure....Plus One

Last week I shared a couple of items from my Haunted Mansion stash. However, as I said, those weren't my coolest items. Today, you get to see those!

It is no secret that there would not be a Haunted Mansion without the many creative Imagineers that willed it into being. The "big three" in my book would have to be Marc Davis, X. Atencio, and Rolly Crump. Granted, there were others who were just as, or even more important, but these three really set the tone for the attraction.

Of these three, I have items fron two. First, we have Rolly Crump.

Signed Rolly Crump artwork from the Museum of the Weird. The art in a print, the signature is real.

Rolly Crump worked on many Disney projects, but he was really allowed to go all out on the Museum of the Weird part of the Haunted Mansion. Even though the Museum didn't actually make it into the attraction, Mr. Crump's distinctive style is all over the architecture and furnishings.

Next, we have X. Atencio.

X is standing next to his HM tombstone which reads, Requiescat, Francies Xavier- No time off for good behavior- R.I.P.

You can read this one for yourself. 

X. Atencio actually wrote the script and words to the song for the Haunted Mansion! If you like Pirates better than ghosts, you might be interested to know that he did the same for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!

All of these items hang in my office at work so they can inspire me during the day.

Now for the "plus one." Here is a signed album from Imagineer Ward Kimball to director George Pal that I just happen to have in my collection. Enjoy!

Quite a story here...but I already wrote about in in Shroudlines- the Blog!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Welcome, Foolish Mortals....

My favorite attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World is probably the Haunted Mansion. I have been known to ride it six times in one trip. I just can't seem to get enough of its blend of creepy and funny that only Disney could pull off.

Of course, over the years I have collected various HM related items, ranging from posters to snow globes to watches to shirts...etc...etc... When I was wonderding what to show you from the Attic this week, a couple of things caught my eye...

First, we have a "Doom Buggy!" As you may know, Doom Buggies are the ride vehicles that take you on your tour of the mansion. In this die-cast version, Micky and Goofy are finding an unexpected Hitchhiking Ghost riding along!

This is buggy number "13" because....why wouldn't it be?

Boo!!!

The front of the buggy even opens like on the real ones!

 Next we have a die-cast model of something that sits in front of the WDW mansion...the Black Hearse with invisible horse!

The hearse in the original packaging.

...and out of it! It's hard to see the horse...of course...

So there you have it! To of my favorite HM items....but not my coolest. I think I'll show you those in a future post!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

When Tonka Went Tiny

Hello attic explorers! This week I'm featuring a toy that brings back fond childhood memories. In 1970 Tonka came out with a line of cars that were smaller than the typical Tonka truck. Instead of measuring in at the typical 8-12 inches (or more) these cars were closer to four inches long. The "Tiny Crazy A" line all featured the same body, with different paint, wheels, and tops. As a kid, I had this one...

The passenger side doesn't have a sticker...

 This is the Tiny Crazy A's Rat-A-Tat-Tat! It is obviously based on a 1930's gangster car, and as such is pretty much a black, straight stock 1930's Model A. Sometimes less is more, and that seems to be the case here. I just love the look of this car!

I can remember that mine had plenty of adventures holding up banks and escaping as imaginary machine guns blazed! Elliot Ness could never catch me!

Years later I found this in an antique mall...

Yep, it's the Crazy A's Tiny Taxi! As you can see, it's missing the roof (which is pretty typical) so I turned it into a touring car for my W.C. Fritos eraser....because....who wouldn't?

The car is identical to the Rat-A-Tat-Tat, except for the paint, stickers and rear wheels. The top would be the same if I had it.

These are really cool little cars that now sit proudly on my bookcase. I dust them every now and then and once in a great while, an imaginary bank may suddenly be short some deposits.... I think the eraser did it.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!