Made of spun spaghetti metal, this poodle is one of the most popular pets I’ve ever owned. I almost didn’t buy it because poodles, like flamingos, harlequins and other icons of the 1950s, are over-popularized, repro’s belched out at an alarming rate in wrong colors and materials, enough to drive any collector of the real thing mad. But this poodle is a stellar example of the lengths to which style, convenience and innovation were earmarks of 1950s Atomic design.

2 feet long, 22 inches tall and 14 inches wide, it and its mate – yes, I found TWO of them! – sit on either side of my fluffy-pink-covered-in-plastic-as-any-great-50’s-couch-would-be couch and are endless conversation pieces for those exposed to the pets for the first time.

Today’s reading materials feature a Bat and Bar Mitzvah resources catalog and a “TVs Greatest Hits” book that includes the Friends theme song that I co-wrote and which partially funded the buying of these two precious pooches.