24Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Mary Kay Automatic Coffeemaker

24Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Mary Kay Automatic Coffeemaker

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Hooray for vintage Mary Kay anything! I serve Kool Aid out of this coffee urn, made by the appropriately named Poly Perk, at my all parties. Mary Kay and Brownie Wise, who invented the concept of Tupperware parties in 1950 and was the first woman to appear on the cover of Business Week, are two of my biggest entrepreneurial idols. I’m brewing coffee in the pink percolator as we speak and will toast finishing another Kitsch O’ The Day as soon as it’s ready.

An owner before me painted over the lettering that was probably dulled from years of Windex and Amway products. Usually I don’t approve of such restoration but the paint is very lumpy and sparkly and adds more of that Mary Kay flair.

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22Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Hippie & Flower Child “Let’s Toast Peace” Liquor Bottles

22Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Hippie & Flower Child “Let’s Toast Peace” Liquor Bottles

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Not that we don’t need a toast to Peace but the last inebriant a hippie or flower child was thinking about was liquor in 1968 when this Bourbon decanter was unleashed. The incongruity of which is what pushes this 86 proof Limited Edition Royal Enfield Porcelain booze vessel by Maloney into the higher echelons of Kitsch. As is inevitable when a trend as powerful as hippydom sweeps the world, all bastions of the old guarde attempt to hop on the wagon and cash in.

I’ve collected about five each of these bottles and I’m always amazed at the glaze job on the hippie’s face – as if a full can of mace exploded and left him with that Michael Jackson skin thing. I could understand if one of my bottles was messed up but the burn victim look is consistent on all five. Which means the quality control guy at Maloney was probably out back smoking a joint when the bottles came down the line.

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I also love that the best thing the establishment could give the hippie to sit on was a garbage can:

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To peace!

02Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Smokey Robinson 7-11 Slurpee Cup

02Jun 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Smokey Robinson 7-11 Slurpee Cup

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Everything goes down smooth, Smokey style at 7/11.  At the time, early in the stars cross-promoting with retail establishments 1970’s, I thought Smokey was too smooth to be on a cup.  But I loved Slurpees, Big Gulps and such and forgave him with my first swig back.  I still collect these cups.  Grand Funk Railroad and The Fifth Dimension sit right next to Smokey on my desk holding pencils, tv remotes and the like, still working round the clock in the studio.

29May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Home Bar Guide

29May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Home Bar Guide

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Just in time for the weekend comes this 1950’s plastic drink guide, the must-have bar accessory in any respectable Space Age home. Spin the dial and get recipes to Atomic cocktails like Between The Sheets, Blood & Sand, Gertie’s Garter, Millionaire Numbers 1 & 2 and Widow’s Dream. No tiki bar, rec room or man in gray flannel suit was without one of these back in the day.

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17May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – I’ll Have Some God With That Cobbler

17May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – I’ll Have Some God With That Cobbler

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God is everywhere, even on a coffee cup.  The Rev. Lyman Liggens served as Minister of the Warren AMC Church in Toledo, Ohio from 1968 into the late 70’s. Among his many achievements was having the foresight to use the institution of coffee cup to promote his cause, a trend that was just picking up steam in those days.  Hope your Sunday is filled with soulful cups and lots of cobbler!

14May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – ‘Blonds Have More Fun’ Glasses

14May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – ‘Blonds Have More Fun’ Glasses

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As the top layer of my hair has been blond for almost half my life I can’t argue with these glasses. The baked-in blonds are appropriately Russ Meyeresque and, despite the lighting in the photos,  the yellow is bombastically perfect bleached-out-beach-meets-strip-club platinum. Drink up!

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13May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Blue Jean Pitcher

13May 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Blue Jean Pitcher

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Blue jeans were SO popular in the 70’s they not only were wrapped around every inappropriate body shape imaginable but also around every object that could possibly be interpreted via denim. This pitcher is one of my favorites. Not only is the blue ceramic faithful to the blotches of fading with deeper blue remaining around the stitching but it even has a glossy ceramic rawhide label.

I used this on the set of Just Say Julie, the first music video clip show on MTV ever, which I art directed from 1989 to 1991. That’s when I crossed the line from a collector of great Atomic design into hard core Kitsch. Some of things I bought at swap meets were so ugly it creeped me out they were in the car. But they were perfect for Julie as they were as crass and commercial as many of the videos she was spoofing.

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30Apr 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – HALF A Cup Of Coffee

30Apr 2009

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – HALF A Cup Of Coffee

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I cannot tell you how many people ask me if they can keep this vintage cup after I serve them the half a cup of coffee they ask for. Tons of these were made as state souvenirs. Lots of different styles. Not always easy to find but as of this morning there were 8 on Ebay. Run.

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