26Jan 2010

THE COLOR PURPLE coming back to LA. Feb. 10-28

26Jan 2010

THE COLOR PURPLE coming back to LA. Feb. 10-28

aw-tcp-pantages_1261

Fantasia as Celie. Fantastic cast, many from the original Broadway production. Five years of my life into the making of this baby. I’m very proud of it. If you’re in LA come to the Pantages.

25Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Corn People Salt ‘n Pepper Shakers

25Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Corn People Salt ‘n Pepper Shakers

corn-S&Ps_5074

Corn is a popular motif in salt and pepper shakers but usually it’s the stalks of corn themselves. Here we have a happy corn couple, born of ceramic, ready to shake at human request. Despite the fact that most salt shakers have more holes than their pepper mates,  this 3″ green textured guy and gal’s holes are as perfectly matched as their outfits. They were both born around 1950.

corn-S&Ps_5070 corn-S&Ps_5069 corn-S&Ps_5071

24Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – “Pardon Me” But Please Watch This Video For Unintentional Excellence In Kitsch

24Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – “Pardon Me” But Please Watch This Video For Unintentional Excellence In Kitsch

himmaxine-swaby-pardon-me

As I was sitting here minutes ago swamped with deadlines and in a panic because I didn’t write my Kitsch O’ The Day post yet I got an email from my good friend and reliable Kitsch spotter, Tom Trujillo, telling me that I HAD TO watch this video, “Pardon Me” by Maxine Swaby. My first thought was we finally have a few moments of sunshine here in LA and this video opens up with brightly colored tulips so wouldn’t that be nice? My second thought was this isn’t so bad, a little lethargic perhaps but no big deal.  My third thought was Maxine Swaby is leading me down a very subtle yet precious path of Kitsch because many of her notes hide somewhere under the melody, most of the shots and transitions are too literal interpretations of the lyric, and the energy of everything – Maxine, the shots, the color palette, et al – always stays so even keel you just want to show Ms. Swaby a picture of a clown or something that will make her laugh, give her a big shot of sugar so her hands won’t stay within the 3 inch range she confines them to, anything at all to add little ooooomph to the overall video situation.

This is by no means the kitschiest performance I’ve ever seen but it speaks to a middle of the road way of inducing Kitsch that brings about the undesired effect despite intentions otherwise. So many people say to me I don’t know what kitsch is.   I say to them yes you do, it’s all around you.  Just look at this video.

22Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Vintage Fold-Up Rain Hat

22Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Vintage Fold-Up Rain Hat

rainhat_2588

I keep this vintage 1950’s rain hat tucked in my purse regardless of whether it’s raining like in the days of Noah’s Ark as it has been in LA for the past week. Hi fashion for water emergencies, this quintessentially color schemed packet is always there to cover my head and stretch a smile across my face because it’s so cute I don’t mind that the skies are breaking over my head.

My favorite thing about the hat is that it says the style is “Polka Dot Design”.

rainhat_2590

I don’t see any polka dots.  Do you?

rainhat-aw_2597

This is actually a salesmens sample,  evident from the “Your Copy Here” text on the back. The Amsterdam Company that makes them better keep a closer eye on quality control before they turn out that many non-polkadotted Polka Dot Style 412-P’s.

rainhat_2589

21Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – “Rainy Days And Thursdays”, Ultimate Karaoke Performance

21Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – “Rainy Days And Thursdays”, Ultimate Karaoke Performance

rainy-days-mondays

A more appropriate title for this ultimate kitsch rendition of The Carpenters legendary “Rainy Days And Mondays” is “Raining Or Not, I Can’t Find the Key”. The problem with the stupefyingly scale-jumping Leo isn’t his voice so much as his ears. He slips over and under keys faster than a greased cat, consistent in his own musical universe thousands of miles beneath the melody only to rise like a phoenix into an entirely different melodic universe drenched in its own never-before-heard key. To be fair, there are actually two bars where Leo sings in the right key. Unfortunately they don’t follow each other.

I love when Leo gazes into the camera at 2:08 and then closes his eyes and FEELS the song even more. I love how his mouth gapes open at 2:07 and remains in a state of quivering preparedness waiting for the lyric to appear until 2:11 when he finally switches to spectacular nose wipe choreography during the instrumental. I love that all of this is performed in a “Jesus Loves You” t-shirt. Perhaps so, Leo, but I wish he loved you enough to include a check for vocal lessons.

20Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1950’s Sky King Rubber Stamping Kit

20Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1950’s Sky King Rubber Stamping Kit

sky-king-stamping-kit_5475

I shared many a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Vernor’s with Sky King and Penny as nothing could separate me from the TV when they were puttering around the sky in their beloved Songbird in search of bad people, hikers and whoever else roamed the environs near their Flying Crown Ranch. I wish that Sky and Penny were roaming around the skies of LA right now zipping up the clouds so the rain and hail would subside and we could have our nice sunny LA back.

This is a teeny weenie little rubber stamp kit from the early 1950’s. I’m not sure what the tie-in to the show was but this wasn’t a show with a lot of swag so this is a rare piece of memorabilia indeed. I can’t completely make out whose stamp it was either but I’m happy to give it shelter now.

sky-king-stamping-kit_5477 sky-king-stamping-kit_5478 sky-king-plane sky king

18Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Jell-o Spoon Candy

18Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Jell-o Spoon Candy

Jello-Spoon-Candy_5690

“The dessert that tastes like a candy bar” was a junk food lover’s xtreme fantasy when it hit the shelves in 1972. Short-lived – it was gone by ’73 – Jell-o Spoon Candy was a puddingish dessert with a topping you cracked through as you would the chocolate shell on a Dairy Queen. Spoon Candy, a kitschingly brilliant name especially when combined with the word “jello”, came in a variety of combo flavors like peanut butter and chocolate, chocolate with chocolate, vanilla with chocolate, caramel with chocolate, I guess chocolate came on everything. The topping inhabited a separate package stuffed into the box that you cut and squeezed onto the pudding.

The official reason given for Jell-o Spoon Candy’s demise was the rising cost of sugar but junk food lovers the world over still mourn its early demise and would have happily paid a few pennies more to get their fix.

Jello-Spoon-Candy_5688 Jello-Spoon-Candy_5689 Jello-Spoon-Candy_5687

17Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1970’s Sanka Ashtray

17Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – 1970’s Sanka Ashtray

Sanka-ashtray_2198

Along with Postum, Sanka is the brew that revolutionized the coffee world and kicked off the decaf trend. It was also the proud sponsor of quintessential 50’s TV shows like “I Love Lucy” and “The Andy Griffith Show”.  In those days, cigarettes were almost de rigueur with anything smelling like coffee, hence the promotional ashtray to top off the perfect cup.

Because the color orange was so synonymous with Sanka, coffee pots in restaurants with orange handles, universally signifying they contain the unleaded version of the brew, also have Sanka to thank for their instant recognition factor.

15Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Long Beach City Employees Ceramic Money Pouch Bank

15Jan 2010

Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Long Beach City Employees Ceramic Money Pouch Bank

bank-Long-Beach-city-employees_2171

Very nice of the Federal Credit Union of Signal Hill, CA to give these promotional money sack banks to Long Beach city employees but the gift would have been ever more meaningful if it came with a little cash jingling inside, something I’m sure the employees needed more than this lump of clay.

I’m not sure what year this is from but it’s definitely after November, 1991 when the 310 area code went into effect in that part of the financial world.bank-Long-Beach-city-employees_2173

bank-Long-Beach-city-employees_2172 bank-Long-Beach-city-employees_2176