Allee Willis Blog » Accessories

05Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Doris Day Ashtray With Title Printed Wrong

05Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Doris Day Ashtray With Title Printed Wrong

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This promotional ashtray was put out by Columbia Records in 1956 for their big star, Doris Day, and her big hit, “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”. It has an exalted place in my Kitsch kollection because the title is printed backwards: “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)”. Whether the record sharks felt the foreign language was above the audience’s head or the manufacturer, Ceramicraft, goofed remains something only Doris or her dogs might know the answer to.

This ashtray was one of the first things I found when I first started seriously collecting in the early 1970’s and I decided to start collecting pop music memorabilia as a result of finding it. It came as a set with “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

I love this ashtray not only for the Kitsch title scramble but for the sentimental fact that my first job out of college was at Columbia Records, though long after Doris’s day had passed.

This ashtray was one of the first things I found when I first started seriously collecting in the early 1970’s and I decided to start collecting pop music memorabilia as a result of finding it. It came as a set with “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

I love this ashtray not only for the Kitsch title scramble but for the sentimental fact that my first job out of college was at Columbia Records, though long after Doris’s day had passed.

02Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Alice Apple Savings Bank

02Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Alice Apple Savings Bank

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Made of plastic and 6 inches high, this anthropomorphic apple has sat next to my coffeemaker for years greeting me with a smile and supremely curled eyelashes every morning as I pour a cup. I have a lot of fruit with faces, many freestanding like this happy gal as well as a plethora of plaster ones that hang on the wall. Apples, oranges, pears and red and green peppers seem to be the most popular in the plastic genre, joined by grapes and bananas in the plaster category.

I especially like the full-bodied fruit people made of a continuous string of fruits or vegetables. But multi-purpose Alice, both bank and cheery kitchen accessory, is one of my favorites because she’s so pathetically and kitschily plain. Not much else going on besides the exceptional way the curl of her eyelashes echoes the upturned sweep of her flower and leaf hair.

01Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1950’s Ponytail Eyeglass Case

01Oct 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1950’s Ponytail Eyeglass Case

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Don’t even ask how many Ponytail products I had as a kid because not only did I have a ponytail on my head that I thought made me look like the Ponytail girl but I had the diaries, dictionaries, deskettes, jewelry boxes, record totes and anything else that had the Ponytail girl on it.

My dictionary was powder blue and the deskette, a flat binder that opened to reveal slots for paper, pencils and envelopes, was red. But nothing touched my heart and made an indelible stamp on my aesthetic sense forever like the powder pink on the glass case here. Just looking at the pink Ponytail gal poking up in my bucket bag when I went to look for my milk money was enough to keep me happy all day. And since then that same pink has been all around me, from my house to my ’62 Corvair to anything else I love that I have a choice of color in.

28Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Vintage Ceramic Poodle Pitcher Bank

28Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Vintage Ceramic Poodle Pitcher Bank

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Poodle anything almost instantly qualifies as Kitsch. This one is a double K because for years I thought it was a pitcher until I finally went to use it and the canine started hemorrhaging lemonade from its back. I was upset because I’ve never noticed any hairline fractures but upon closer examination I discovered it wasn’t a pitcher at all but, rather, a bank!

I find the heavily detailed ceramic and wobbly head a rather odd choice for a children’s toy and lay odds on it breaking within the first five uses or whenever a silver dollar’s dropped inside, whichever comes first. But with a little putty jammed in the coin slot I still think it would make a lovely pitcher. Since that discovery about 10 years ago it’s just been a lovely nothing, something for my cat Niblet to rub herself against every now and then so I can take these cute pictures of her.

18Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Outdoor Transistor Radio-Mania

18Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Outdoor Transistor Radio-Mania

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I love actual owls and ladybugs but none so much as these transistorized versions. I have entire zoos and forests of these things but these are two of my favorites – a ladybug who, when you twist her left eyeball, opens her wing to expose a still working speaker and an owl who, when you twist her right pink rhinestone eyeball, chirps the sound of AM radio as clear as the day she was hatched. I bought the owl in the early ’80s and she still works perfectly despite the fact that I’ve never changed her batteries.

The ladybug, all plastic and made in Hong Kong by Sonnet, British Design, is 5 inches long and an inch and a half tall and counting. She comes with a convenient wrist strap and two rubber antennae.

The owl, made in Japan, is 8 inches tall and fat with a plastic body and gold medal wings, eyes, legs and speaker holes in the crotch.

I love actual owls and ladybugs but none so much as these transistorized versions. I have entire zoos and forests of these things but these are two of my favorites – a ladybug who, when you twist her left eyeball, opens her wing to expose a still working speaker and an owl who, when you twist her right pink rhinestone eyeball, chirps the sound of AM radio as clear as the day she was hatched. I bought the owl in the early ’80s and she still works perfectly despite the fact that I’ve never changed her batteries.

The ladybug’s all plastic and made in Hong Kong by Sonnet, British Design. Five inches long by an inch and a half tall, she comes with a convenient wrist strap and two rubber antennae which serve no apparent purpose.

The owl, made in Japan, is 8 inches tall and fat with a plastic body and gold medal wings, eyes, legs and speaker holes in the crotch.

Close ups of the species:

09Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – TV Salt & Pepper Shakers/Photo Holder

09Sep 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – TV Salt & Pepper Shakers/Photo Holder

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This is one of the first things I found when I started collecting vintage accessories. I also collected matching TVs, real ones like Predictas, Halo-Visions, hanging spheres and the like. I LOVE television and televisions. So this ‘Tiny-TV’ S&P set has been the main condiment carrier at my place for years.

The S&P containers raise up and down by turning the gold ‘on/off’ knob. It’s also theoretically a photo holder. You’re supposed to be able to push the screen in and slide in a photo. But this part of the TV is completely ill-conceived as the plastic, as I’m sure it was even back in its day, is unbelievably brittle so the slightest bit of pressure shatters the screen. And even if you could get the photo in there to be a real TV it ought to be behind the screen and not in front of it where grease and everything else going into your body can spatter it. Despite its shortcomings, this, one of five I’ve collected over the years, is still one of my favorite S&Ps.

This is one of the first things I found when I started collecting vintage accessories. I also collected matching TVs, real ones like Predictas, Halo-Visions, hanging spheres and the like. I LOVE television and televisions. So this ‘Tiny-TV’ S&P set has been the main condiment carrier at my place for years. The S&P containers raise up and down by turning the gold ‘on/off knob. It’s also theoretically a photo holder. You’re supposed to be able to push the screen in and slide in a photo. But this part of the TV is completely ill-conceived as the plastic, as I’m sure it was even back in its day, is unbelievably brittle so the slightest bit of pressure shatters the screen. And even if you could get the photo in there to be a real TV it ought to be behind the screen and not in front of it where grease and everything else going into your body can spatter it. Despite its shortcomings, this, one of five I’ve collected over the years, is still one of my favorite S&Ps.

28Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Head Nut Desk Accessory

28Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Head Nut Desk Accessory

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These kind of joke desk accessories, along with their companion sculptures of young kissing boys and girls, wide eyed pups and inspirational sayings such as ‘Do It’ carved into rubber like Stonehenge, were all the rage in the late 1960’s. One of the biggest manufacturers of them was “Paula”. One of the rarest Paula’s was this “Head Nut”. This one is dated 1968 and stamped W79. It’s sat on my desk and reminded me of my status for at least 20 years. I’ve always liked that the only color is the little red tongue, the rest of the beige motif reminding me how drained I feel when I overwork – a situation that’s now gone on for months – and how much I’m looking forward to the weekend when I don’t have to be the “Head Nut”.

26Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Resin Watermelon

26Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Resin Watermelon

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Cut to precision, this slick and shiny melon wedge is made of crushed glass imprisoned in perfectly buffed resin and rests on a light wood rind. Complete with seeds, it glows when positioned where the sun hits it. This is one of those objects certain friends always ask me if they can “steal” at least a few times a year. It’s managed to stay ripe on my table and, calling all friends, it ain’t goin’ nowhere.

21Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Mom And Babies Doggie Ashtray

21Aug 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Mom And Babies Doggie Ashtray

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Though mostly a craze associated with the 1950’s and 60’s, animal families as ashtrays and sculptures will never go out of style. This one has four pups following their boxer-ish mom around the rim of an Atomic shaped ashtray with a 70’s style crazed paint job. Not only are they cute but the puppies, earless mounds of clay that the artist apparently rushed through compared to the detail he/she gave to mom, provide excellent crevices in which to rest cigarettes and other smokables, keeping them ash free until crushed out in the doggie’s playground.

31Jul 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Cowboy Hat Ashtray

31Jul 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Cowboy Hat Ashtray

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Cowboy hat ashtrays had their heyday in the 1950’s. Made of tin, the dings and dents in this one make it more actual hat-like so I accept that the manufacturer didn’t spend the extra dime on sturdier material to grind ones butts out against. I have several of these but this coppertone one is my favorite. I’ve actually turned the ashtray over and used it as an appetizer size jello mold too.

Other models, two of a trillion: