Fotofun The Two Forms of Fotofun! Regular, and Real Photo Postcard LAUGH YOUR HEAD OFF

One of my favorite finds is Fotofun!  There were two...one for regular snapshots and one which produced real photo postcards (of a sort)  Both are pretty scarce.  Those of you manipulating photographs might be surprised to know W. J. Glassmacher thought up the gimmick in 1934.

Pair of Treasure Chest Fotofun Novelty Photograph beheading games!   Laugh your HEADS off!  Collection Jim Linderman

Surfa-Tone Tex Products Mid-Century Modern Wall Slurry! Antique Color Chemical Soup for the Wall.

It's SURFA-TONE the Rubber Paint!  In the "antique color" series here, I generally tell a bit of company history, but a brief search is all it took to learn there are too many variations of the "Tex" name in companies.  This one was based in Newark, New Jersey and has probably morphed into some other company by now.  The history is as murky as the waters around Newark.  You know, as you drive towards the big apple you go through a dead zone of swamp before hitting the tunnel?  That murky chemical blend THING?

Search for "Rubberized Paint"  and that goofy "Flex Seal" product is what you'll find first.  You know, the guy who paints the bottom of his boat and scoots over the alligators without springing a leak!  I love when he dips his tools into it and makes a hand-grip like magic!

Now I suspect this product was invented for the parents of the baby boomers.  They all got  tired of rubbing crayon off the walls, so they sealed it off with this magic covering.  I've run my fingers over the paint chips here, and it does feel a bit different.  Oddly, the patter here claims you can wash off lipstick too!  Who kisses a wall?

Surfa-Tone Wall Finish by Tex Products.  No Date (c. 1960?)  Mid-Century Modern Wall Covering pamphlet. Collection Jim Linderman

Risky Risque Sequential Real Photo Postcards

Risky Risque Sequential Real Photo Postcards circa 1940

Cracker Jack Spacey Spectacles from the 1950s

Cracker Jack Spacey Spectacles.  Said to date around 1957.  Collection Jim Linderman

Mattress Swing Hammock Spring Longing photo by Jim Linderman

Spring Longing.  Mattress Swing Hammock South Carolina Circa 1992 Original Photograph by Jim Linderman

Machine age paper die cut stamp

Machine age paper die cut stamp, both sides!  Collection Jim Linderman
Courtesy BOX LOT on Facebook.

Toy Walkie Talkie set made of Cardboard and String c. 1950

Toy Walkie Talkie set made of Cardboard and String  c. 1950  Collection Jim Linderman

Schoolgirl Handmade Sewing Instruction Book Antique Vintage Old

I haven't quite figured out the date on this remarkable handmade sewing instruction book, but she received a 95.  What was the teacher looking for?  The cover alone is a 100.  You women out there could date the work inside by the fashions...there are tons of designs, color wheels, mini-pattern projects and all done with beautiful folky precision.  I'll post more one day.  Yes, the cover is 3-D!  The little pattern book on the table has pages!  A great reminder of what a school student was required to do before computers.

Mid-20th Century Sewing handmade sewing class book.  Mixed-media.  Collection Jim Linderman

The Dull Tool Dim Bulb collection of Bigass Cameras

Various Press Photographs of HUGE Cameras 1924 to 1970.  Collection Jim Linderman

Vintage Gem Duplicator Grainy Pinup Girls on Colored Paper

Likely created by a Gem duplicator which was sold out of St. Louis.  A crappy little machine no larger than a hankie box.  It was marketed as a way of "making your own postcards" in the 1940s, I believe.  These could have been run off on a competing product.  It isn't too hard to find the mechanical duplicator in a box on the web, but actual prints are less common.  These are good examples of cheap home technology meeting the gals and gams of post-war folly. They have a nice "etching" like shading.

Group of home duplicator pinup girls on paper Collection Jim Linderman
Books and Ebooks by the author available HERE

Trio of Handmade Folk Art Marble Game Boards made by the same hand circa 1955

A trio of folk art game boards by the same hand.  Odd to see three like this together now… but they  collectively make up a "mid-century modern graphic" oddity for the wall.  Cabin decor class!   Circa 1955?  Each just over 16" x 16.

A commercial version of the game was manufactured in 1960, but I am going to guess guys had been making this marble game for decades in the basement.  Hobbyist and woodworking magazines were full of this kind of thing around the 1950s.  But how were three boards by the same hand re-assembled into one collection 50+ years later?

I speculate each was eventually given BACK to the maker long after they were gifted. Maybe Pop made a set for each of his kids?  All found and assembled into a collection by a picker?  All three have bread board ends, which were hand built, and all drilled with the same precision.  Each shows different use and wear, each has age and all three were found together at an antique shop.  One has a taped "rules" sheet affixed still.

Trio of Handmade Folk Art Marble Game Boards circa 1955 Collection Jim Linderman

Mysterious and Thrilling Atomic Energy Circus with Dancing Static Girl

Well, it's not really Atomic Energy which makes the little guys twirl, it's static.  Still, static seems to be a powerful force!  It's ripped the panties right from the paper-thin dancing woman!  Thrilling! "Mysterious"  Sorta like Fukishima!
BOOKS AND EBOOKS BY THE AUTHOR OF DULL TOOL DIM BULB ARE AVAILABLE HERE

Big Blly Cox and his Football Friends Art from the Sports Trades

Billy Cox and a few of his locker buds from 1950.  Source material for Billy, but the other two are, as yet (or as forever) anonymous.  If I liked football, I might take the time to ID them. Football, for all the gizmos and flying cameras and million dollar talking heads, is probably no better than it was in 1950.  I didn't watch then either, of course.  The last game I saw had Tom Brady, supermodel dater and super deflategate cheater.  He makes around 10 million bucks a year shilling products and the team pays him 20 million a year.  He used to support Trump until someone in the upper office told him to shut up.

Anonymous crayon drawings of football players, circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

Sounds from the AIR new book by Jim Linderman Preview

Vintage photographs of mystery and science. In SOUNDS FROM THE AIR one will find pictures of the invisible. The presence of audible waves as captured by anonymous photographers. Mysterious and beautiful visions in sepia. The language of ether. Collected and curated, the pictures generate the buzz of static without making a noise. 78 pages. Available in paperback and instant PDF download. Jim Linderman has produced numerous art and photography books on the obscure.  ORDER SOUNDS FROM THE AIR HERE

Vintage Shoe Design by Lucien Guilbert Circa 1940 - 1950 original drawings Spring forward in Style!

Vintage SHOE FASHION ILLUSTRATION SKETCHES BY LUCIEN E GUILBERT. Prolific Shoe Designer of the 1940's and 1950's.  The designer worked out of St. Louis during the 1940s and 1950s. Monseuir Guilbert designed shoes for high-end stores including some in New York City such as Nordstroms, Lazarus, Lord & Taylors and similar department stores as well as small specialty shops.  Some 150 drawings were sold in a lot several years ago.   Collection Jim Linderman 

CLICK HERE TO ORDER BOOKS AND EBOOKS BY THE AUTHOR OF DULL TOOL DIM BULB

Long lost childhood craft? Antique Folk Art paper cut colorful whatever!

Folk Art paper cutting colorful whatever!  I don't know a name for the technique.  Paper cutting for sure, as the top portion was folded and cut...then glued atop a second piece of paper which seems to have been painted first.  Paper stained glass!  If there is someone out there with a name for this (or these) let me know. Maybe a school teacher who was working around the turn of the century? 

Collection Jim Linderman

Woman with Trombone Folk Art Carving Anonymous

Woman with Trombone Folk Art Carving highly reminiscent of the pieces carved by Earl Eyman.  Just over 6 inches tall.  No Date.

Collection Jim Linderman