Nick And Nora's Nifty Knick-Knacks

Singin' In The Rain

2010-02-05T20:42:00.003+10:00

The forecast for the Gold Coast tomorrow is for rain over most of the weekend, so this week's Friday pin-up is dedicated to summer showers.

Which is just as well because our lovely lass (looking a little like a young Geena Davis) has discovered it's not a good idea to take off one's wet clothes until after one is indoors.

Unless what's falling in this picture is the fallout after an early experimental version of the nude bomb.

Feared By The Bad, Loved By The Good

2010-02-03T20:42:00.008+10:00

If you haven't been over to Archive.org, then we strongly encourage you to do so.

Nicky and I have been enjoying the highly entertaining 1950s TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The series strong narrative holds up well, even today, and what is pleasing is all of the major characters are well-rounded and given plenty to do.

While Richard Greene's Robin Hood is always the hero, one never left with the impression that other characters are merely supporting fodder, an feeling that one very much gets from series such as the original Star Trek series in which every other episode is some exotic femme falling in love with Captain Kirk.

What seems odd to viewers today is that the series has a high number of contract players and it's not unusual to see the likes of stalwart TV star Paul Eddington play a villain in one ep and the dashing Will Scarlet in another.

Completing the hat trick of enjoyment is the star spotting throughout the series (especially for those familiar with English film and television).

Passing through Sherwood forest are Dr Who (Patrick Trouton), Leo McKern, Richard O'Sullivan, Donald Pleasance, Jane Asher, Joan Sims and Edward Mulhare.

Don't just take our word for it, watch part of the debut ep below:

Life's A Beach

2010-02-02T20:07:00.005+10:00

Couldn't resist this Crown Devon dish from a series called The Beach, bought from an antique store in Esk (which, ironically is no where near a beach).

It's 30cm in length with a smooth red back and a stucco face with hand painted beach balls, bucket and spade, a deck chair and bathing machine popular during the time when beach belles didn't stroll nonchalantly half-naked to the water to take a dip.

Crown Devon started in 1870 and its life came to an end in 1982 with the last 60 years of its work more producing novelty and souvenir pieces. More history is here.

According to an eBay listing, a Crown Devon jug from the same collection, Antigua Stucco, dates to the 1950s, so it's reasonable to assume that this dish is about the same age.

Cute - but it's the closest I've been to the beach all summer!

"I Need the Old Blade Runner"

2010-01-29T18:31:00.006+10:00

Nicky is much better qualified to comment upon this rare beast - the original theatrical release of Blade Runner... on Beta.
It's one of his favourite films.

Sure, you can get Blade Runner, arguably one of Ridley Scott's best films, on DVD, but you'll be suffering through the interminable director's cut.

Sure, you can still get the original theatrical release, but it means having to purchase a DVD box set with 578,204,000 different versions before you get to the one people paid good money to see at the cinema.

Nicky says there is a very good reason producers make directors edit and chase films.

Scott has enjoyed aftermarket DVD success with the directors' only because of the cult following the original version enjoyed.

Being the early adopter he was, Nicky still has his original Beta video recorder and a heap of tapes that we're now recording onto a digital format.

Not seen Blade Runner? Don't know what the fuss is about?

Take a look at Rutger Hauer's moving performance as Replicant Roy Batty:

Looking Smart In Tweed

2010-01-29T16:25:00.007+10:00

Nifty Knick Knacks are back!

It has been a very long hiatus from sifting through all things nifty and from blogging in general - but that's life - it happens when you least expect it.

While the updates have dried up, the collecting hasn't. While Nifty Knick Knack postings will be a little less frequent than before, there will be at least two updates a week.

One thing which has been lovely is discovering that we have no where near exhausted the supply of Gold Coast souvenirs. There's at least another four in the collection and they'll be profiled over the next few weeks.

This one is the most recent in our collection thanks to a last minute eBay bid.
It's a candy dish with what seems to be a 1930s view looking north-east along Wharf Street across the New South Wales border town of Tweed Heads to its adjoining 'twin', Coolangatta in Queensland.

From the Gold Coast City Council's local studies library is the photograph on which this transfer print is based.

Of course, none of the buildings found in this picture exist any more but that's just par for the course on the Coast.

Here is a Google map reference for that street.

There used to be a Myer store on that street, just on the New South Wales side of the border but that closed down in the late 1970s when Tweed Mall, now Centro Tweed was opened.

That Myer was the only one for 120km and in the days before Pacific Fair Brisbane or Tweed were your only choices for upmarket furniture and household items not quite as upmarket or as old money as David Jones mind, but very flash for a working class family all the same.

My mother bought this in the mid 1970s from that very Myer. Here's some info on it from one of our links, Retro Select.

I don't recall the occasion, except as a child a trip aaalllll the way into NSW was a day-long adventure.

I do remember is being fascinated by fabulous coin operated carousel dappled horse that sat outside the store.

According to the pillar box red coin box was sixpence a ride, even though pounds, shilling and pence had gone a decade earlier.

What a bargain I thought, it used to be sixpence now it's five cents!

No Fault

2009-01-04T20:44:00.002+10:00

The Australian summer tennis season has started with the opening new Brisbane tennis centre at Tennyson.

Well, it was an excuse to use this pic.

Cute huh?

Good Thing It Was A British Explorer

2009-01-03T17:46:00.004+10:00

Australia Day isn't until three and a bit weeks but one couldn't resist the temptation to go with this image early.

It is the third plate in the lovely Ladybird book series Flight One Australia.

The image is supposed to depict Captain James Cook landing at Botany Bay in 1770 but in fact it bares more resemblance to the portrait of Captain Phillip Arthur who settled at Sydney Cove on January 26 1788.

Note the difference between the naval ensign and the Union Jack in each of the portraits and this image.

Here's some text from the facing page in the book:

"They had an idea there was land here," said Mrs Spencer. "The old maps only had vague lines drawn on this part of the world and it was called the 'Unknown Land'. Three of four hundred years ago seamen from England, Portugal, Holland and France discovered the other side, but it was such a barren land they they didn't bother about it."

"Captain Cook came the other way," said Mike. "He sailed around South American and across the Pacific and landing in this bay. He was so excited about all the new plants he found that he called it Botany Bay."

"What a good thing it was a British explorer," said John.

Yes.

Yes indeed it is, John.

Another Brick In The Wall

2009-01-03T17:24:00.003+10:00

Love this picture. Only the man's phone (and the lairy sports jacket) really date this image.

It was only taken in 1991 and found in the 1991-1992 Dick Smith Electronics catalogue.

Boasting that it's small and convenient, these babies have a small battery pack that can offer a whopping 1.5 hours of talk time and 8 hours standby.

Ah, 1991 when the biggest hit at the box office was Terminator 2 and its then revolutionary morphing technology turned Robert Patrick into liquid and back.

Maintaining Focus

2008-09-10T20:18:00.004+10:00

Last week we showed a street view of Surfers Paradise and the newly opened cylindrical Focus building.

Here from Alexander McRobbie's unsurpassable history of the city, The Fabulous Gold Coast, we see the Focus still under construction in an aerial photograph taken in 1975 looking down The Strip, heading south.

The Focus was part of the 1970s construction boom in the city that attracted Nora's grandparents to the region. The boom continued until the late 1980s when Australia's parlous economic state brought the ambition plans to an end for a good decade.

Over the past eight years the big, ambitious high rise developers have returned to Surfers Paradise to create the iconic Q1, the rather interesting Circle on Cavill trio of buildings, Chevron Renaissance and the upcoming Soul building.

Experienced developers such as Jim Raptis have also turned their eyes to other parts of the Gold Coast, such as neighbouring Southport to help redevelop the city's tired CBD to create Southport Central.

Just as it did in the credit crunch of the 1960s, the down turn in the 1970s, the near bankruptcy of the late 1980s and the recession of the early 1990s, the start of low part of the economic cycle is here with Raptis exposed to the volatile US finance market and now forced to call in an administrator.

Hopefully this will be just for the short term and that projects such as the re-re-re-redevelopment of the part of Surfers Paradise that once had Cathay Cafe before it was torn down as part of the Dolphin Arcade Development which was torn down as part of the upcoming Hilton Hotel development will go ahead as scheduled.

Racy Red Head

2008-09-10T20:06:00.003+10:00

Lovely pic.

Nora doesn't know where Nick found it, but it's fab.

Our red headed lass is not a piece of track side eye-candy. She looks like she really knows how to handle a stick shift.

So to speak.

The car looks too early to be a Cobra, perhaps someone with better eye for detail can help illuminate.

Ashes To Ashes

2008-09-10T19:35:00.004+10:00

Y'know with one of these You'll never miss an episode of LA Law.

Ah yes, LA Law, one of the under rated show from the late 1980s which crossed over into the 1990s, yet struggled at the end its eight year run to remain relevant in changing times.

The show revived Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey's careers and turned Corbin Bernsen into his a star for his lovable rogue Arnie Becker, a number arguably as famous as Gordon Gecko to epitomes the winner takes all in love and business that is supposed to have been a touchstone for the 1980s.

The show was co-written by wretched bleeding heart David E Kelley who took LA Law's trite and true formula for dramas Boston Legal, Boston Public and The Practice.

Ye gods! The things you find looking at IMDB. Kelley is remaking the fantastic, cop/sci fi drama Life On Mars for American audiences. Gag, gag, shudder!

Don't waste your time. See the original:

What an Adventure!

2008-09-10T18:58:00.002+10:00

Wow, we're looking at the cockpit of a passenger liner that's half a century old with technology largely developed during World War Two.

In fact the cockpit looks as uncomfortable and as utilitarian as a bomber.

Judging by the the line art on the book's cover (see the link below), it is reasonable to believe the plane is a De Havilland Comet 4B.

This is the second colour plate from Ladybird's Flight One Australia.

What an adventure it was! First they flew right across Europe, and on over the desert and mountains of Iraq and Persia. The plan stopped for an hour at Karachi in Pakistan and then went on eastwards across India, the land of the striped tiger and the lordly elephant.

Woman Of The Year

2008-09-04T18:43:00.002+10:00

This 1933 cigarette card, produced after the success of her debut 1932 film, A Bill of Divorcement, is one of the loveliest photographs of screen legend Katharine Hepburn.

With a reputation for being difficult, Katharine Hepburn is often a Hollywood celebrity one either adored or abhorred, but her extraordinary talent was recognised by fans and detractors alike.

Also, contrary to popular rumour, Hepburn didn't pitch a fit when she was passed over for the iconic role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind:

In 1939, Hepburn was going to do producer David O. Selznick a favor and play the role of Scarlett O'Hara because he did not yet have anyone else signed for the role.

Hepburn insisted that she did not have the lustful sexual appeal that the part demanded and told Selznick that his studio needed to find the woman who did. Hepburn rehearsed the lines thoroughly just in case. The night before the deadline, Selznick finally cast Vivien Leigh.

Unbeknownst to Hepburn and the rest of Hollywood, Leigh was favored for the role early on, but as an English actress, she was deemed unsuitable for the part. In addition, her affair with Laurence Olivier, while he was in the middle of a divorce, made her a controversial choice.

The vast "search for Scarlett" was orchestrated to make it seem as if no other actress could be found, thus limiting the shock of Vivien Leigh landing the role. Hepburn was later the maid of honor at Leigh and Olivier's wedding in 1940. Hepburn remained a close friend of Vivien Leigh until Leigh's death in 1967.

Who Listens To The Radio?

2008-09-03T20:24:00.002+10:00

Portable, personal stereos.

Chortle.

The equivalent today is an MP3 player the size of a man's thumb.

Still, groovy colours and retro styling on a radio you could actually attach to your pushie's handle bars!

All the better for singing along to British actor-singer Jimmy Nail's July 1992 hit, Ain't No Doubt:

Come Fly With Me

2008-09-03T20:00:00.005+10:00

Nick and Nora went on a little camping adventure last weekend and stopped off at the markets of a little country hamlet called Jimna.

Well markets, is somewhat over stating things, it was more like a second hand, second hand store in the local public hall.

Sadly it would appear that Jimna's best days as a timber milling town are behind it, but that's a blog for another time.

For 50 cents, Nora picked up this little 1958 Ladybird children's book Flight One Australia, the first of a series of six books which introduced geography to six year old readers.

The text is engagingly trite - just as you'd expect a children's book from half a century to read.

The great air-liner stood at the end of the runaway, ready for the journey right across the world to Australia.

Among the passengers were two very ecitied children, Alison and John. John sat beside Daddy and Alison was in the seat in front, next to a tall suburned gentleman.

The stranger pointed tot he ravellingbag on Alsion's lap, marked B.O.A.C. "I see you've got your tucket-bag,"aid. "Tucker-bag is an Australian word, it means food-bag."

"Oh, I see," said Alison. "Are you a real Australian?"

Unfortunately the paper dust jacket is long gone from this edition, but the colour plates are just as beautiful as ever. The one illustrated here is one presumes an idealistic view of the white cliffs of Dover.

This will be the first in a series on this book.

Artists' Revealed

2008-09-03T19:30:00.003+10:00

This week's pin up comes from an artist which has become one of the Charles' favourites - Gil Elvgren.

Right up there with Alberto Vargas, Elvgren specialised in the classic pin-up style popular from the 1930s to the 1960s.

While Elvgren was the top of the tree but, as Lileks has noticed, there were other artists who just didn't 'get it'.

Art Frahm was one of those artists (oh yes, completely safe for work). Click for James Lileks' social history on this interesting artist.

'77 The Strip

2008-09-03T18:29:00.005+10:00

Channel 9 launches The Strip, the crime drama filmed on the Gold Coast tomorrow night.

The Charles household is in two minds whether to watch or not.

On the one hand there's a bit of voyeuristic pleasure is watching familiar landmarks on the other hand, the majority of Australian drama is awful.

So, if you're planning to watch, just spend a minute or two in the way back machine to view the Surfers Paradise strip from 1977 (click on the image for an extra large view:

Here's 'The Strip' today, courtesy of Google street maps. (Well it's not really the same because the picture above from this book is has been foreshortened thanks to a zoom lens.)

View Larger Map

UPDATE: The verdict is in and it's not good.

While the city looked lovely, as one might imagine, the show was let down by dreadful writing - not only in the dialogue but also in the police procedurals - as well as stiff, uncomfortable acting (which describes the majority of Australian TV performances).

Railroaded

2008-08-28T20:33:00.005+10:00

Queen Street, looking north scanned from the 1954 Courier Mail Annual.

Queensland Transport Minister John Mickel is touting the return of the Brisbane tram - today known by its less romantic name of light rail.

While it represents a return to something old and familiar, it also marks the end of an era.

In our corner of south-east Queensland cars have ruled since the end of WWII. The 70km stretch from Brisbane to the Gold Coast lost its admittedly antiquated rail system in 1964 and got it back again in the mid 1990s.

Now personal private transportation is on its way to being demonised.

But enough social commentary. Click for a day-time view looking south down Brisbane's busy Queen Street circa 1948 complete with the tram network.

Wired For Sound

2008-08-28T20:14:00.005+10:00

Check out this hot rockin' stereo system (click the pic for a larger view).

It has not one, but two(!) cassette decks AND a CD player.

All the better to play the latest hits.

Who will win the 1991 Australian Music Awards for Most Popular International Album?

Roxette's Joyride?

Bryan Adams' Waking Up The Neighbours?

Guns 'N' Roses' Use Your Illusion Vols 1 and 2?

You'd just have to watch this clip, hosted by Jason Donovan to find out.

Hey, how come you're paying more than twice as much for the small system that doesn't even have a record deck?

What's up with that man? Vinyl lives!

Hook Line and Sinker

2008-08-28T20:01:00.004+10:00

No wonderful shoes on this week's pin up - just fabulous makeup and an interesting story.

The artist is Edward Runci, an Italian born, US-raised artist best known for his pin ups of the 1940s and 1950s.

If you notice a theme with his girls, it's because his wife Maxine was the model and inspiration of these rather sweet pin-ups.

In fact Maxine was an accomplished artist in her own right. There's a lovely background (including a lovely portrait of Maxine) right here.

Blythe Spirit

2008-08-28T19:25:00.005+10:00

Such a great face on Betty Blythe, this week's long-forgotten silent film star.

She carries such a direct look. The set of her mouth suggests a sense of humour as well as a hint of some wicked bon mots.

Sadly, hers is not a name that one readily remembers as a leading light in the roaring 20s, yet funnily enough her name graces a London catering and gourmet food company.

Why?

Dunno. There's no explanation on the company's web site.

While Blythe's leading lady career ended in the silent era, she did appear in two of Nora's favourite films - The Women (in an uncredited role) and as the lead in the 1940 farce Misbehaving Husbands.

Here's a clip:

You can watch the whole film here for free.

Betty's most famous role was the title role in 1921's The Queen of Sheba and yet one is pretty sure there was none of the media titillation surrounding her topless appearance in the film, in sharp contrast to today's adolescent slavering media over actress Eva Mendez's breast flashing in Calvin Klein's latest perfume commercial.

It shows what's has changed in 87 years.

Wired For Sound

2008-08-21T19:23:00.005+10:00

Ah the 1990s. The time of joy, peace and calm after Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul 2 helped see to the end of the global threat of the Soviets and the beginning of great economic prosperity that became apparent from the mid-part of the decade.

And look how far we've come! The Internet, DVDs, iPods, Gigabytes of computing power... the Australian economy of the brink of recession, Russian aggression threatening Europe.

Well maybe some things don't change after all.

OOh, look at that! (Look above right) - Bright shiny technology! The latest and greatest from Tandys from 1991.

Micro cassette tapes! Computers with a 20 MB hard drive and 640K RAM! AM/FM players the size of a paperback novel! A combined TV, cassette player and AM/FM radio the size of a large shoe box.

Over the next few months we'll be exploring this and the Dick Smith Electronics Catalogue of the same vintage.

This is the site to bookmark, geeks!

Rose By Any Other Name

2008-08-21T18:37:00.004+10:00

Nick and Nora are rather fond of the classic pre-1970s pin ups, the water colour nymphs who tease rather than display a gynaeologically detailed view of their, um talents.

The girls are fantasy images in the purest form - flawless skin, delightful figures, lush settings but still friendly and approachable.

Nora's particularly enamored of the shoes...

So, enjoy, the first of a series of classic pinups for Thursday.

A Brief Moment In Time

2008-08-20T20:30:00.005+10:00

Nick and Nora took advantage of Lifeline's outstanding annual book fair in July to rummage through some literary treasures and went away with four books about the Gold Coast.

This book, naturally enough entitled the Gold Coast was certainly a must have.

Published in 1977, like many titles bout our city is very Surfers Paradise centric. The front cover showing a rather uncluttered skyline with the newly constructed fully circular Focus Apartments, the Q1 of its day, dominating the scene.

But that's okay, especially when they reveal gems like this picture looking south on what is now Surfers Paradise Boulevard.

In this neon wonderland, you can see The Walk Arcade (at the far right of the picture), an arcade incorrectly identified by Nora, previously as being on the beach side of the street but as this picture clearly shows, it is on the western side of the street, looking south.

Don't forget to click on the picture of a larger view.

Sadly, all of that stretch has since been redeveloped, which translates to razed, recomposed, realigned.

Here's today's view thanks to the incomparable Google maps:

View Larger Map

In a way the loss of the buildings is nothing - it's ephemera such as the charming and innocent animated Coppertone billboard, on which a child at the beach is losing her pants, that one really misses. The photo captures the moment at which the little girl's bikini briefs, tugged by a terrier, are at half mast.

Try getting away with a sign like that today.

Flame Of Youth

2008-08-20T20:02:00.003+10:00

She was the ultimate party girl, rumoured to only sleep two hours a night and used heroin to keep her hectic social schedule.

Amy Winehouse? Lindsay Lohan? Britney Spears?

No none of the above. Instead it's Barbara La Marr, a woman who didn't get to see her 30th birthday despite having talent and beauty.

Getting her start in Hollywood as a screen writer after achieving notoriety as a teenage burlesque dancer, she made the switch to the silver screen in such outstanding films as The Prisoner of Zenda and The Three Musketeers; trading on her reputation of The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful.

Beautiful, and five times married she may have been, but long forgotten she is now and today as are a lot of her films but here's a clip from The Three Musketeers starring Douglas Fairbanks.

The Car of the Hour!

2008-06-21T11:21:00.003+10:00

The 1954 Fiat 1100 sedan - advertised here in the 1954 Courier Mail Queensland Annual.

This looks to be the standard model - the sporty edition had a third headlight in the middle of the grille.

Let's take a look at its features:

"New Performance, Greater Comfort! Higher Speeds, Smarter Acceleration!"

That's the type of sales pitch you want to hear - not fuel economy and CO2 output rubbish.

Here's a site you might find interesting - the Internet Movie Car Database. Here's the entry on the Fiat.

The X Factor

2008-06-21T10:56:00.004+10:00

Nicky has a knack of finding the most fascinating books hidden away in charity shops, car boot sales or old book stores.

This is one of them, Theodore Sturgeon's sci-fi classic Venus Plus X.

Nora hasn't has a chance to read it, but plans to on an upcoming camping trip.

This edition is a first edition paperback from 1960. Just take a look at the front and back covers - fabulous. The artwork was done by Victor Kalin who created vivid book cover work, some of which can be found here.

Particularly fond of the precis text: "Charlie Johns woke up... and nearly went mad".

Yeah, we've all had mornings like that.

The Voice of Hollywood Number 12

2008-06-21T10:34:00.003+10:00

Walter Hiers was a big man with a big career in Hollywood, starring more than 100 films in his 20 year career.

Tipping the scales at 235 pounds (106kg) he died of pneumonia in 1933 having spend the later part of his career in uncredited roles but not before bringing vaudeville timing to Hollywood in the teens and '20s.

Aged just 40, Hiers is today joined by several other 'substantial' actors who died young including John Belushi and Chris Farley.

The Harder They Fall

2008-06-14T15:00:00.006+10:00

It's often heartbreaking visiting James Lileks' site.

He currently has a collection chronicling Minneapolis' finest buildings. As he leads readers through its history and architecture the pay off comes with a photograph or a Google Earth image showing the building in situ today.

Sadly there's not going to be that much history of our city, the Gold Coast, left to explore as the very thing that made the city in the first place - property development - becomes the very thing that destroys it.

It was with some sadness that one read that one of the city's earliest hotels, The Iluka is destined for demolition and 57 storey skyscraper put in its place. The link is to the Iluka web site - destined to last as long as its hosting one presumes.

Yes, one does appreciate the irony of lamenting the arrival of a new high rise because it does away with another one, but you'd have to be a Gold Coaster to understand.

The first generation of Surfers Paradise hotels built between 1965-1980, are in danger of extinction and so to the unique charm and character that made the beachside suburb the unofficial capital of our fair city.

Where it might have been true once that the tall buildings were a major tourism driver, it would be fair to say replacing mid-20th architecture with 21st design is not going to solve the problems that Surfers Paradise has at the moment - no matter how nice the seashell inspired monolith that will replace The Iluka looks.

And that raises a fascinating observation that has been made here before - every notice how old buildings with highly detailed facades look much much better close up than modern buildings?

Modern buildings are designed to look good as scale model 'off the plan' sales aids, or viewed at a distance. Once you get up close they're all the same - vast sheets of cold, soulless glass.

You never really engage with a modern building, they're museum pieces before their time - you can look, but don't touch.

Pity.

Nick and Nora took some photographs a couple of weeks back of a few of the older buildings around Surfers Paradise to have at least some photographic record before they too succumb to the developer's wrecking ball.

Those photographs and what history we can glean will be featured here over the next few weeks.

BTW apologies for the extra small picture of The Iluka when it was new. It's been taken as a thumbnail from the National Library of Australia's web site. There is a larger picture available online from the Gold Coast City Council web site, but that site's image server has failed. If the site is back online in the next few days, I'll replace it with a larger image. Don't forget to click on the first to images for larger pictures you can view in detail.

Alice In Wonderland

2008-06-14T14:34:00.004+10:00

Again, another silent screen icon whose name has been forgotten by al but the most ardent of Hollywood afficiandos.

Alice Terry appeared in some of the silent screen's most remarkable pictures - Civilisation (1916), The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), Scaramouche (1923).

But her influence was more keenly felt behind the scenes along with her director husband Rex Ingram where she championed a young actor by the name of Ramon Novarro.

Terry's film career lasted for 15 years before she bowed out with the advent of the talkies.

Fishing For Compliments

2008-06-14T13:50:00.000+10:00

From a 1964 Mechanix Illustrated magazine - where nothing says sporting and outdoorsy than Winston cigarettes.

Love the illustrations - they tell a story of a love that dare not speak its name:

1. A heterosexual couple, possibly even married, enjoying spending time together in a joint pursuit.

2. They're fishing. Most likely for pleasure - quick where's PETA?.

3. They share a joke (and a fruitless day on the water) with a cigarette.

The third thing on our list is considered bad. Very bad - while there are strong lobby groups that want to degrade the above two pleasures as well.

Considering that there's now a movement looking at influencing movie ratings that show the evil tobacco, enjoy this pic while you can still see it without password protection.

If you're interested in seeing more of these naughty pictures, click on the label links for magazines and old ads.

Shine A Light

2008-06-14T13:47:00.000+10:00

Pioneering days and a brave move by American beer maker Schlitz.

A beer, a light beer, something that wouldn't be accepted by Australian beer drinkers until the late 1980s (at least).

This ad (again from Mechanix Illustrated 1964) is great.

It's tight crop infers urgency and speed, a suggestion backed by the sweat pouring down our model's face. The background of sports lockers puts the entire photograph into its suggestive narrative: Spend a hard day on the sport field, quench your thirst quickly with a light beer.

Winter Wonderland

2008-06-14T09:52:00.000+10:00

Well winter is here and it's been a terrific excuse to bring out those winter coats - even if they only get worn at the beginning and end of the day.

We're spoiled here in Queensland. Winters typically mean crisp mornings, blue sky fine days and chilly evenings - very bearable all in all.

Posting on Nifty Knick Knacks is sporadic as real life duties overtake - the good news is there have been plenty of vintage books Nick and Nora have uncovered from long neglected boxes.

But if you're short of things to do, we recommend taking a look at Nick and Nora's Lovely Link List - there's a new entry, the bitingly acerbic What Not To Crochet and don't forget to look at Archive - plenty of radio plays, TV shows and old movies. They're all out of copyright and all completely free to download.

Back to our label. Who know what concoction this label held, so here are a couple of Winter Punch recipes to see us through the three months ahead.

Winter Punch Bowl
2 litres apple cider
500ml ginger ale
Juice of two lemons
Juice of two oranges
Ice (optional)
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 orange, thinly sliced
In a large punch bowl, combine cider, ginger ale and juices. Add ice if you wish and garnish with fruit slices

Shooting Stars

2008-05-30T19:57:00.002+10:00

Oops. I posted this without any notes didn't I?

My bad, as the kids say.

As you've seen this is the Gish sisters - Lillian on the left and Dorothy on the right.

Like the Talmadge sisters of the same silent era, the Gish sisters were abandoned by their father to be raise by their mother who found an acting niche and the girls went to follow suit and became the favourite choice of acclaimed director DW Griffith.

Also like the Talmadges, the young sister Dorothy found her niche as a comedic actress and purportedly surprised her sister who didn't think much of her acting chops.

Nevertheless, the sisters remained close, particularly as Lillian never married and Dorothy's only marriage lasted 15 years before ending in 1935.

Where our story departs from the Talmadges is that the Gish sisters did make the transition to talkies and both worked up until a few years before their deaths Dorothy in 1968 and Lillian in 1993.

What A Dish!

2008-05-24T10:45:00.000+10:00

Nicky is such a romantic.

He knew the perfect thing to buy me for our wedding anniversary - this 1950s Crown Devon Dish.

It's part of the Gaiety Grill collection, a whimsical series of serving dishes and platters illustrated with fruits, vegetables and sausages entertaining around the grill.

According to Retro Select, the pieces are relatively rare. But their rarity value means less to Nick and Nora than having a fun talking point around the family barbecue.

If you're interested in the interior and homeware design of the period, just a wuick peek at some of Sir Terence Conran's charming and iconic pieces.

The Outcast

2008-05-24T10:44:00.001+10:00

What a lovely face and a charming smile. A surprisingly modern look actually. Maybe a better looking version of Cameron Diaz perhaps?

Meet Agnes Ayres who became the envy of every jazz era girl by starring as the love interest of Rudolph Valentino not once, but twice in The Sheik and The Son Of The Sheik which is probably where this image is taken from.

She also starred in Cecil B DeMille's 1923 The Ten Commandments as 'The Outcast'.

The Great Depression and the 'talkies' proved a double blow to Agnes who lost her fortune in the stock market crash and her career quickly thereafter. With a daughter to support she supplemented her spotty acting opportunities with a side career in real estate.

Agnes died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1940.

Ford anglia life international 1959

2008-05-24T10:26:00.000+10:00

Have you ever wondered why for Ford Anglia is world's most exciting light car?

No?

Neither did we, but considering the trouble Ford is having at the moment, perhaps they need to get back to basics.

After all who could resist the massive 997cc engine or the remarkable 0-60mph in a whopping 28.5 seconds!

Okay, there is a great deal of difference between 1959 and 2008 and without the advances of 50 years, we would have lovely little cars like the Ford Fiesta XR4 which can go from 0-100kmh in 7.9 seconds - a whopping 20.6 seconds faster than our streamlined Anglia.

With fuel prices as they are, it's quite genuinely nice to know that we don't have to suffer the indignity of wretched performance and limited features as well.

This advertisement is from the October 26, 1959 edition of Life International magazine.

So, how popular was the 1959 Ford Anglia?
Enough to give it a starring role in gritty 1960 British film, Never Let Go in which Peter Sellers take a departure from his comic roles to play a Fagin-like used car salesman whose activities hide a 'steal to order' racket.

Richard Todd plays the owner of the stolen Anglia - and whose life isn't going so well to boot - who becomes determine to bring the men to justice.

British teen heart throb Adam Faith stars as one of the thieves in one of his earliest roles.

Here's a snippet:

Oranges and Lemons

2008-05-05T10:31:00.000+10:00

From the politically incorrect advertising motifs of our time...

And yet PC squeamishness aside, this is a lovely example of early mid-20th century commercial art with the brand itself a classic example of British Commonwealth enterprise.

According to Wikipedia it was established in Australia, taking a New Zealand name (it comes from a Maori greeting 'be well') and then importing it to Britain 1917.

It's a brand which has disappeared from Australia's supermarket shelves a long time ago but is still going strong in the UK where it is part of the Coca-Cola stable.

Speaking of unPC - a quick look on You Tube has turned up a TV commercial which features the long-standing tag line 'everyone adores a Kia Ora'.

Yes unlike the observation made at #7 of the most racist Disney characters, the crows are relevant and have something to do with the fact that in the real world they don't like oranges. Apparently.

Kia Ora advertisement from Picture Post Magazine, July 28, 1951.

The Queen's War

2008-05-04T12:44:00.001+10:00

It didn't take long for Brisbane to recover from World War II, judging by this photograph of Queen Street.

The reaction to the ceasing of hostilities in the Pacific was celebrated by people getting back to their lives.

As it should be.

But the influence of the war and particularly that of General Douglas MacArthur remains in the city centre today.

During the war Queen Street became more or less a garrison.

The National Mutual Building that dominates the left third of the photograph was commandeered for the war, the tiny building dwarfed next door is Brisbane's general post office and it leads out on to Post Office Square.

The flat topped, deco building next door to that was built in 1934 was the AMP building and it is better known today for its most important temporary tenant - MacArthur Central, named for the American five star general who made the building his headquarters for the south-west Pacific operations.

There's a museum on the eighth floor which originally housed the boardroom where MacArthur conducted operations.

Queen Street, between George and Edward Streets was closed to traffic and turned into a mall in 1982 as part of the Commonwealth Games redevelopment. Today Queen Street serves an army of shoppers and office workers.

Click for a larger image, photograph from the 1948 book, Queensland.

A Touch Of Frost

2008-05-04T11:23:00.000+10:00

For a girl growing up in the 1970s there was nothing more special then being allowed to occasionally have your fingernails painted with mum or gran's own nail polish.

In Nora's mind at least there was nothing more glamorous than a Cutex nail polish bottle. No small and stumpy brush handle here - just look at the long handle with its waist nipped in by the gold band.

Perfect for controlling the polish.

Sadly it looks like Cutex is now out of the colour game, instead now concentrating on the all important nail polish removal and general nail care.

BTW, gotta love the names of these colours - Aurora Lights, Blushing, Silver Frost, Wicked White, Nearly Pink, Amethyst, Virgin Pink and Snow White - it can't be easy to differentiate between so many similar hues.

Advertisement - Australian Women's Weekly, February 26, 1969. Click for a larger image.

Warming The Cockles of Your Heart

2008-05-04T10:33:00.005+10:00

Winter has come early to our corner of south-east Queensland.

By that we mean the mercury today has plunged to an uncivilised degrees 11 Celsius overnight and a tolerable 23 degrees during the day.

It also means the days are sunny with blue skies and virtually no breeze.

It could be worse, it could be spring in Craigmont Idaho.

No idea what beverage this label was advertising, possibly a stout. Needless to say, the product no long exists in Australia and chances are neither does the brewer.

If stout is not your cup of ale, then try this winter warmer instead:

Galliano Toddy
1 oz Scotch
3/4 oz Galliano
1/4 oz grenadine
1 slice lemon
2 oz boiling water
Pour into a hot cup, sprinkle with grated nutmeg, and serve.

Cecily Courtneidge

2008-03-30T12:43:00.002+10:00

The over the top hat and arch look tells you that this actress was perfect for comedy.

And so she was making the transition from vaudeville and musical hall to film.

Perhaps not surprising since she was born on April 1 in 1893 in Sydney, NSW.

Made a Commander of the British Empire in 1951 and elevated to Dame Commander in 1972, Cicely will be, for film and television afficiandos, remembered for her wonderful performances as the original 'Mum' in On The Buses.

Below is Cicley's performance in the 1930 film Elstree Calling. She was directed by her husband Jack Hulbert to whom she was married for 62 years before his death in 1978.

Are Friends Electric?

2008-03-30T12:43:00.001+10:00

Early experiments with electric toothbrushes were a failure.

Following reports that children all over the world were being electrocuted (see exhibit A at left), electric toothbrush manufacturers were forced to revise their 240V mains powered models.

Advertisement from The Australian Women's Weekly February 26, 1969.

Skittish

2008-03-30T12:41:00.001+10:00

I've never seen two people looking more raputous at the thought of undies.

The famous "Stretchy Seat" that gives with every move, never creeps or binds.

That quick-adjusting, gap-proof fly and the full cut pouch with its gentle support are mighty welcome, too!

Fear not, there's something for the little woman as well (apart from what's lurking in the full cut pouch):

Not only no buttons - but nothing to iron - and they wash in nothing flat!

Wear? Why, lady, those seams are reinforced - stronger than the material itself!

Besides - admit it - SKIT-Trunks would add to his appearance...

Despite this, the ad, from a February 1948 edition of Saturday Evening Post, is a lot less creepy than this 1970s Jockey ad.

Snow Cap Label J Bartlett

2008-03-30T12:39:00.000+10:00

Anyone like to take a guess what flavour Snow Cap might be?

Avalanche Apple?

Mattahorn Melon?

Kosciusko Cola?

And does it really matter what flavour it is when the day is hot and you're thirsty?

May McAvoy In Sunny California

2008-03-16T09:33:00.000+10:00

Looking a little pensive, May McAvoy's place in cinematic history appears to be all but forgotten.

It's a shame, as she was part of a series of Hollywood firsts that.

Anyone vaguely aware of film has heard of the first 'talkie' The Jazz Singer and can generally name Al Jolson in the lead but don't acknowledge her co-starring role.

Unlike other actresses at the time whose star waned with the advent of speaking roles, McAvoy put her career on hold on her own terms to start a family in 1929 and only returned to film in series of uncredited bit roles from the 1940s.

McAvoy also managed her career on terms. Shunned by the studios in 1923 after refusing Cecil B DeMille's offer a role that required nudity, McAvoy bought out her contract and became the first actress to successfully 'freelance' outside the studio system.

As a result she starred in classics such as Ben Hur, Lady Windermere's Fan and the Jazz Singer.

Watch the chariot race from the 1925 film here - still exciting after all these years.

Pam Am Oct 1973 modern motor

2008-03-16T09:24:00.000+10:00

It was the symbol of the global village, as ubiquitous as Coca-Cola.

It was Pan Am.

It was the symbol of the future, it's distinct stylised blue globe featuring in both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner.

Sadly, it never made the future, having finally collapsed in 1991 following set backs after the murderous Pan Am 103 bombing over the tiny Scottish town of Lockerbie.

But here in this advertisement from the October 1973 edition of Modern Motor, the future seemed assured for Pan Am -even wrapped in a bow.

Gotta love this 1958 ad promoting new jet flight:

Glen Ewin Jams

2008-03-13T09:41:00.001+10:00

Finally, a vintage label we can tell you something about.

Glen Ewin Estate in South Australia started as a vineyard in 1845, started producing jam in 1864, gave up producing wine in 1891, stopped making jams in 1989 and today under new owners now is a popular function venue, a wine cellar and purveyor of other fine comestibles.

This label probably dates to the 1930s.

Mortgage Stressed

2008-03-12T09:28:00.001+10:00

How times have changed.

Or not.

The average weekly wage in Australia today is $1110.20
The average (male) weekly wage in Australia in 1969 was $48.78

The population of Australia today is 21,000,000
The population of Australia in 1969 was 12,000,000

The average house price today is $412,500
The average house price in 1969 was $15,000

First home buyers grant today is $7000
First home buyers grant in 1969 was $500

The Australian Women's Weekly, February 21, 1969. Click for a full view.

Story Time

2008-03-09T09:39:00.000+10:00

Nifty Knick Knack's Sunday Drive goes a little further north - 70 kilometres in fact - to the state's capital of Brisbane.

This aerial view comes from the book Queensland, written in 1948 by Frank Hurley whose work we referenced here.

It's intriguing shot. Do click on it for a larger view

From this vantage point the city looks still, deserted - something that the Government and war strategists had considered five years earlier.

The Brisbane Line - all points north to be abandoned in case of a serious Japanese invasion from the north.

Dominating the shot is the city's iconic and graceful festoon of steel, The Story Bridge, completed in 1940s and whose history can be found here.

Scrolling down to the bottom quarter of the shot is the Brisbane City Hall, a lean and lovely elegant 1920s building, which its distinctive sandstone clock tower.

As you can see from the shot, Brisbane's CBD is a very tidily laid out district with long straight streets named, appropriately enough for Kings, Queens and Regents.

It's very easy to find your way through town as long as you remember that the 'Queens' run east-west and the 'Kings' are north-south.

The view to the top of the shot shows the Brisbane River wending its way into Moreton Bay out to the Harbour.

Here's what the city looks like today (don't forget to click) from roughly the same vantage point.

The Story Bridge is the centre of the shot, below it is the strong, straight, uncompromising Captain Cook Bridge which brings south side residents and Gold Coasters directly into the city via the Riverside Expressway.

Brisbane is a beautiful capital city this will be the first of a series of Sunday Drives taking a look at Queensland's capital.

Who's Talent On Display

2008-03-07T18:22:00.002+10:00

You know your product is groovy when The Who write lyrics about it. Even more surprisingly is, despite the 'endorsement', the brand still lives:

...She was happier than
she'd ever been
As he praised her for
her grace
But his expression
changed, she had seen
As he leant to kiss her
face

It ended there
He claimed a late
appointment
She quickly turned
To hide her
disappointment
She ripped her
glittering gown
Couldn't face another
show, no
Her deodorant had let
her down
She should have used
Odorono

Odorono could have
saved your day
Could have helped her
to get the part
Odorono and he would
have stay
To help her to save her
heart

It comes from the album The Who Sell Out,

If your mum knew that, she'd never let you buy that product.

You know she doesn't approve of that band and wishes you wouldn't play your records so loud but it was the final straw when she saw your latest boyfriend show up in something called a 'panel van'.

The only way you are allowed out with Sir Shags-alot, young lady, is if he keeps the armour on during the date.

Advertisement from the Australian Women's Weekly, February 21, 1969

Out of the Darkness

2008-03-06T15:15:00.000+10:00

Tom Meighan, Tom Meighan...

Let's see what Google throws up:

"Tom Meighan also called Justin Timberlake a "Midget with Whiskers", "Sex on legs" and a "Puppet in a million dollar suit".

Eh?

Oh, not it's not that Tom Meighan, it's this Tom Meighan.

Aahh, that makes more sense.

Let's look at IMDB:

Sadly, this once-popular silent screen star and older matinée idol for Paramount Studios, is all but forgotten today. Thomas "Tommy" Meighan was one of the rulers of the Hollywood roost, between the years 1915 and 1928.

Like most of the films of the silent and early talkie area, Meighan's body of work has turned to celluloid dust.

But what a good face he's got. Just the type you'd want playing a detective. A little like Gary Sinese, perhaps?

Feeling A Little Ginger

2008-03-05T15:18:00.000+10:00

Of the 20-odd labels profiled here on Nifty Knick Knacks there has been scant information on the companies that produced them.

Huzzah! The Oakland Cordial factory, according to this potted history, was the last roll of the dice for a brewer of more robust beverages.

But sadly it produces no more.

Photographer Darren Stones captured what remains of the facility.

We're Men... We're Men In Jocks!

2008-03-04T19:39:00.000+10:00

Some how one feels that this post ought to come with a content advisory warning.

There's something... disturbing about these male models.

Almost as if they like grooming themselves in the company other half dressed men.

Homo-erotic subtext aside - our heroes appear in the October 1973 edition of Australia's Modern Motor magazine and Sydney's gay and lesbian mardi gras was a still a sparkly sequin in some rent boy's eye - depiction of men's unmentionables has changed dramatically in 35 years.

Unless there is a celebrity (usually sporting) attached, men's undies today are depicted somewhat anonymously with no scary heads to distract from the, shall we say, business end.

If you've not been put off by frightening 70s fashions, then check out James Lileks frolic through the 1973 Sears Fall/Winter catalogue that he's subtitled Le Chic, C'est Bleak.

Can Get Some Satisfaction

2008-03-03T18:13:00.003+10:00

Who 'me' is appears to be Allan Grice pictured in 1973 driving a BMW and looking like a cross between George Lazenby and James Hunt.

According to a quick Google, Grice didn't seem have much luck in the Beamer but finding success driving a locally built Torana. In 1975 Grice won the national touring car round at Oran Park.

While not as phenomenally successful as Peter Brock, Grice still commanded a great deal of respect for conquering 'the Mountain' twice, 1986 and 1990.

He might also hold the record for being the first sitting member of Parliament to win a major motorsport event.

Gricey took the Gold Coast-based seat of Broadwater, previously held by conservative coalition partners, the Liberals in 1989. He held the seat until 2001.

So what has the man been up to since then?

He races a bit (v8 ute racing, very cool) but his main business is now supplying after market LPG tanks - smart business in this day and age.

Click on the ad for a larger view. Modern Motor, October 1973

Flushed With Success

2008-03-02T07:56:00.003+10:00

Overheard in an advertising creative meeting in 1948:

Ad man 1: So how are we going to sell toilet cleaner to the little woman?

Ad man 2: What do these broads like any way?

Ad man 3: My wife is always going on about Hollywood movie stars.

Ad man 2: Run through what this stuff is supposed to do will ya Bob.

Ad man 3: Well she sprinkles this stuff into the toilet bowl and it's supposed to have this fast acting ingredient.

Ad man 1: (Clicks fingers as inspiration strikes. A light bulb magically appears over his head and glows but appears only to the other ad men in the room. A secretary brought in to capture the killer idea just rolls her eyes.)

That's it! Acting!

Her ACTIONS put this cleaner in the bowl and the fast ACTING ingredients make it work!!

We'll make cleaning the toilet as glamorous as them Hollywood pictures!!!

Ad from the February 21, 1948 edition of Saturday Evening Post. Don't forget to click the image for a larger view.

River of Memories

2008-03-01T16:25:00.006+10:00

Some of the Gold Coast's history is subtle unlike the sometimes confronting and brassy image the city sometimes projects.

Take Cascade Gardens, for instance. Located just south of Surfers Paradise on the way to Broadbeach, the 13 acre gardens hug the Nerang River and stand about three blocks back from the beach.

View Larger Map

It was developed by the Surfers Paradise Rotary Club in the late 1960s as a drive-in picnic spot and quickly became popular. In addition to a large grassed picnic area, many of the trees and original rain forest were kept, interrupted only by a string of man-made slate waterfalls connected by walking circuit to its southern boundary.

Above right is an infant Nora pictured in 1969 with her mum watched carefully by grandma.

The fact the park still exists in the face of the city's growth is remarkable in itself, but that's not where the history ends.

The site was a popular picnic and camping site for the Kombumerri Aboriginal tribe before European settlement. It's also the last resting place for Edmund "Neddy" Harper, a city pioneer who arrived in the region in about 1842 as part of gang of cedargetters who created the city's first industry.

Harper built a wharf on the site and ran a ferry service across the Nerang River and died in 1896. According to one web site:

When he died in 1896, aged seventy, he was buried on a rise nearby.

Today Ned Harper’s land is overshadowed by Jupiter’s Casino and the giant Pacific Fair shopping complex in what is now Broadbeach, but his grave survives. It stands in the middle of the Cascade Gardens, a popular picnic spot. Over the years there have been isolated reports of the ghost of old Ned Harper taking his exercise among the flowerbeds and man-made waterfalls.

Cary On

2008-03-01T15:36:00.005+10:00

Some things get better with age, so do some people - a case in point is Cary Grant.

Pictured here at the start of his film career in 1932, a rather puckish figure in white tie and tails that don't seem to suit him.

It's almost a decade later, and beyond, when he can fill out the sophisticated evening dress with confidence and authority.

Grant is an intriguing character, one of the first actors to buck the studio star system and his choice of roles offer a hint into the complex nature of the man behind the suave persona which still bares the psychological scars of a poor and unhappy childhood in Bristol, England as Archibald Leach.

Little surprise that in the latter part of his career he was drawn to films directed by fellow expatriate Alfred Hitchcock.

He starred in four of Hitchcock's finest films. One of Nora's favourites is the thriller North by Northwest. Below is the fabulous and oft-emulated Tiger Moth chase scene which is one of the most memorable scenes in film history:

Speaking of favourites, another loved film, this time showcasing Grant's comedic flair along side Myrna Loy is the 1948 Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House.

Here's part 1 of the film which is available in its entirety across 11 parts on You Tube. It's worth your while:

Berry Nice

2008-03-01T15:05:00.005+10:00

Amongst Nick and Nora's eclectic collection are tea and coffee services of various vintages purchased purely because they look lovely.

The first in this showcase is this miniature unglazed tea set designed to look like strawberries. Nick and Nora bought it at auction for about $15 and we were the only bidders.

The tea pot, creamer have gold twig-like handles and strawberry leaves for spouts and saucers as well as being liberally decorated with strawberry flowers.

It's stamped Japan on the bottom of the tea pot but contains no other markings and possibly dates back to the 1960s.

Quite trippy really.

Speaking of 1960s and trippy, savour the film clip for the Beatles' complex and richly evocative 1967 hit Strawberry Fields Forever while enjoying a Strawberry Blond:

Strawberry Blond
1 oz strawberry liqueur
Ginger ale
1 teaspoon sugar
1 whole strawberry
Put a thin rim of sugar around a chilled cocktail glass. Then put crushed ice into glass. Pour strawberry liqueur over ice, add Ginger Ale to fill. Add strawberry for decoration.

It's Good For You

2008-03-01T09:38:00.003+10:00

It's the first of autumn and the La Nina influenced weather has given us a touch of cooler weather already.

It's the time where it's tempting the draw the blinds and focus internally, spending time being more quiet, more introspective, giving the appearance, to the outside world at least, there there is no one at home.

But that's not the excuse Nick and Nora are using.
No, there's been little time for quite reflection at the Charles' household over the first two months of the year but there may be hope towards the end of March.

It's a long story and much stamina and fortitude is required.

We need a long pull of Ballarat Double Stout.

Just for its health-giving efficacy of course.

Interesting label this. Note that the bird - a phoenix perhaps? - is holding the United Kingdom standard, demonstrating that you could be British while living half a world away.

It is also trade marked. Well, at least it was. It appears to have lapsed a long time ago and nothing remains of it or the company that brewed it.

Ole King Cola

2008-02-03T15:45:00.000+10:00

What makes this Cola better or different to Healesville's Koala stars and stripes Cola?

No idea.

Perhaps one was designed to appeal to Cola drinking republicans and this one to Cola drinking monarchists.

BTW has anyone else noticed how the media is talking up the republican issue again now that there is a Federal Labor Government in power?

Streets Ahead

2008-02-02T15:51:00.000+10:00

Did we say that last week was the last of Nick and Nora's porcelain Gold Coast souvenir collection?

Indeed we did.

But fortunately we were mistaken.

Featured here is the definitely the final piece in the collection.

It is a view looking east across what is now Surfers Paradise Boulevard.

See anything that looks familiar?

Here is a larger view of the print on the ash tray.

Right in the centre is the Cafe Cathay that we featured just a few weeks ago.

In that post we included a photo which has some other elements that are visible in this souvenir including the cinema on the left and the clock.

Sven And The Art of Interior Design

2008-02-02T15:18:00.001+10:00

Ja, etz tru, ze 1960s und 1970s intro-duced to der werld lotz things Swedish.

Zer is der gud: The Saint Volvo, ABBA, naughty movies, good interior design, the Swedish chef.

Und ze bad: The boxy Volvo, the welfare state and Ikea.

Diz foto iz part of der bad.

As seen in 1972's Conde Nast's The Bride's Guide and is entry number three in Nick and Nora's Nifty Knick Knack homage to bad bathrooms.

Mineral Deposits

2008-02-02T15:02:00.000+10:00

It's not exactly the most glamorous image, but in the 1950s, dirty great big smoke stacks meant industry and industry meant wealth that didn't rely 'riding on the sheep's back'.

Click to see a large, readable version of the ad.

Taken from the The Courier Mail's 1954 Queensland Annual, this ANZ advertisement could, and in the scheme of things nothing much has changed.

Apart from the logo.

Bow Tied

2008-02-02T14:18:00.000+10:00

It's amazing what links one finds where doing some research for Nifty Knick Knacks.

For instance, the reference fourth result in on a simply Google search on Clara Bow:

Did actress Clara Bow service the entire USC football team at orgies?

Pictured here being mauled by a fur wrap, Miss Bow, was Hollywood's original 'It Girl' a picture of both innocence and comehither sexuality which tantilised silent move goers in the 1920s.

Her career only lasted 11 years but those years defined the between-war era popularised by the likes of novelist F Scott Fitzgerald.

This cigarette card dated from 1933 was actually published at the end of her career. The reverse reads:

Clara Bow (Fox)
Won a beauty contest in 1922 and was given small part in a picture. Quickly rose to stardom and great popularity in silent pictures. After temporarily retiring from the screen she is returning in the talking picture "Call Her Savage". Born in Brooklyn. Red hair and brown eyes.

- From Who's Who on the Screen, 1933

Hints of Britney Spears emerges in the tale of Clara Bow - arising from poverty, becoming a sex symbol, suffering terribly from mental illness. Yet in the case of Bow, she acknowledged the end of the public career and retired at the age of 28 to raise two sons with her husband Rex Bell.

Bow died relatively young at the age of 60 in 1965.

So, is there any truth to the urban legend referenced at the start of the post? What do you think?

Below is part one of a documentary about Clara Bow:

All At Sea?

2008-01-27T18:59:00.000+10:00

Actually this bathroom isn't too bad compared to the monstrosity featured last week.

The upright fluoro tubes on the walls by the mirrored cabinet are a little dated but that would be about it.

It has the clean lines that most of us have come to expect in modern bathrooms.

The bold pattern in the flooring isn't competing with the walls. It has a strong ocean liner/art deco look which holds particular appeal for Nick and Nora. The SOE monogrammed towels and shower curtain may be a little too much for some but it all adds to the fun.

Class, all the way.

Grape Expectations

2008-01-27T02:32:00.000+10:00

It might be surprising in this day and age that, once upon a time, Australian wines weren't that highly regarded, despite the hard work of pioneering vintners of the 19th and early 20th Century.

But after World War Two a revolution happened. A new influx of migrants with winemaking skills moved here and better international transportation opened up export markets.

Nothing exists now of the Victorian Associated Vineyards which one presumes was a marketing co-operative but according to this eBay store, this label probably dates from the 1940s.

Greener On The Other Side

2008-01-26T14:28:00.000+10:00

Today Nick and Nora share the last (for now) of their Gold Coast souvenirs.

The first is a Delphine trio featuring a hand tinted transfer print of Coolangatta's famous Greenmount Guest House.

The second is a glass pin dish featuring a view from Razorback across the Coolangatta-Tweed Heads townships, looking eastward to Greenmount and Pilot Hill.

The photographs are deliberately displayed small here but don't forget to click on the images to view much larger sizes.

Greenmount Guest House, named in 1904, not for its physical location but hometown of the guest house's Irish proprietor, cemented Coolangatta as the premier holiday destination on Queensland's southern coast.

Surviving storms and cyclones, the timber guesthouse, complete with its expanses of timber verandahs went the way of many local landmarks - felled by a developer's bulldozer in 1978 and in its current incarnation has quite a bit of period charm, (of a fashion).

Today's Greenmount Resort is still a popular conference venue.

A Star Is Born

2008-01-26T13:54:00.000+10:00

In a youth obsessed Hollywood, there is a type of woman whose appeal doesn't diminish with age.

For teenage boys of Nick's generation actress and comedienne Suzanne Pleshette (who died this past week) had just as much sex appeal as younger starlets Ali MacGraw or the cast of Charlie's Angels.

To the generation earlier, the alluring older woman was Barbara Stanwyck whose role of matriarch Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley (1965-1969) set the standard for the glamorous older woman.

Indeed, she was the 'older woman' (by four years) in her second marriage to Robert Taylor which, although lasting 12 years was tempestuous for them both.

But back onto the Stanwyck legacy. Outstanding films like Double Indemnity, Stella Dallas and The Lady Eve, also earned her the title of the finest actress never to have won an Oscar.

Also in another bit of trivia, Stanwyck starred alongside Linda Evans in two series - The Big Valley and Dynasty.

Sins Of The Fathers

2008-01-19T08:48:00.000+10:00

SITE OWNER'S NOTE: This Nifty Knick Knack is a little more serious than the usual charming look at retro goodies. As a result it is also being cross-posted to The Thin Man Returns, the usual home of densely-linked serious subject matter.

If you're looking for some light viewing to accompany a morning cup of coffee, please feel free to look at the images or browse through some of the other pages.

Thank you.

News of teenage violence today is as shocking as it is common.

There is almost daily news of young gangs holding entire neighbourhoods to ransom, violently drunk party-goers bashing someone whose equally drunken remark offended them, psychopathicly murderous females or simply opportunistic criminal activity.

At the same time, the media shakes itself out of its summer silly season news torpor to create a celebrity out of a smart-arsed teenager whose drunken, orgiastic riot masquerading as a party.

As many commentators begin to question 'what the hell has gone wrong with our teenagers?', Nick and Nora invite you to step into their way-back machine to give you a little insight into what's wrong with today's youth.

We'll rapidly rewind the 'Trust No 1' of the 1990s, the post apocalyptic 1980s, the seriously bummed out 1970s, the anarchic 1960s to take a pause in the 1950s.

Not the nostalgic-soaked Happy Days but an era when the headlines screamed 'Seven Teen Agers Murder Polio Victim'.

The crime was a brutal one, members of a gang called the Egyptian Kings, having lost a pay-per-player stick ball game with rival gang Jesters, decided to compound their welshing with vengeance.

One night they lay in wait for their foes to appear, two teenage boys wandered through the park.

They were beaten and stabbed. One of the boys, a 15 year old who suffered a limp as a result of polio was killed.

So sensational did that crime and associated trial become, it finally awakened people to the reality of street violence. It also happened 50 years ago.

The crime and trial did two things. It resonated with Broadway audiences:

ACTION
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!

ACTION AND JETS
Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upset;
We never had the love that ev'ry child oughta get.
We ain't no delinquents,
We're misunderstood.
Deep down inside us there is good!

A powerful radio show about the Michael Farmer murder 50 years on is here. One of the commentators in the radio program is Nicky Cruz.

His story of transformation from criminal gang member to gospel preacher is told in part in The Cross And The Switchblade which became a best-selling book, a not-so-good movie and serialised here in comic book form.

The Cross And The Switchblade tells the story of a small town pastor, so shocked by the violence went to New York to share the gospel.

Admittedly naive, David Wilkinson's honest interest in the physical and spiritual welfare of gang members over five years of welfare and ministry won many of them over.

So was there anything particular about the 1950s that would cause a generation to run amok?

With the benefit of hindsight we can see some similarities - lack of spiritual direction, parents who are themselves dysfunctional to the point where the only familial connection their kids experience is in gangs.

But not all children involved in criminal activity or who find themselves victims of crime and violence are poor or ill-educated, indeed the Corey Worthingtons or the Matthew Stanleys of the world come from decidedly middle-class, relatively well off families.

So what went wrong?

For further insight, step back into the way-back machine for a trip past the 1940s when war ruled the world, the 1930s when the effects of the Great Depression bit hard to the Roaring 1920s, home to flappers, gangsters, wild parties and hedonistic wealth.

There is a scene the 1936 film My Man Godfrey in which the title character has it out with the brattish twentysomething daughter of his employer:

Cornelia Bullock: You can't go on like this forever. You really like me and you're afraid to admit it, aren't you?
Godfrey: You want me to tell you what I REALLY think of you?
Cornelia Bullock: Please do.
Godfrey: As Smith or as a butler?
Cornelia Bullock: Choose your own weapon.
Godfrey: You won't hold it against me?
Cornelia Bullock: It's your day off.
Godfrey: Very well. You belong to that unfortunate category that I would call the "Park Avenue brat". A spoiled child who's grown up in ease and luxury... who's always had her own way... and who's misdirected energies are so childish that they hardly deserve the comment, even of a butler on his off Thursday.
Cornelia Bullock: [hurt and angry] Thank you for a very lovely portrait.

Today there are a great deal of 'Park Avenue brats' who have grown up indulged with distractions and material possessions, wanting for nothing but consistent, effective discipline, the setting of boundaries and a realisation that the world doesn't revolve around them.

Gold Coast Bulletin columnist Robyn Wuth is on the right path when she wrote this week:

There you are, Australia. That's the youth of today -- aren't you proud?

Take a good look at the iGeneration and bear this frightening thought in mind -- this idiot and his stupid mates could be running the country in the next generation.

God help us all.

This is what the world is churning out these days and we have no one but ourselves to blame, us and the education system for turning out these ignorant little twits who are yet to have a thought, for teaching them more about their legal rights as horrid little brats instead of the three Rs.

Us, and the Government, and the legal system for making it harder and harder to discipline our children.

Us, and computer games, iPods and the internet for helping to turn out a generation of selfish little show-offs, publicity whores who want their 15 minutes of fame and then some.

Also, blame the parents of the 500 other kids who turned up and went wild. Where the hell were you? Did any one of them know where their kids were and what they were up to? I doubt it.

We can all feast on a sizeable portion of finger-pointing pie...

Long story, short: what's wrong with the kids of today? It's not just their parents, but also their grandparents, great grandparents and great, great grandparents.

The solution doesn't begin with government programs, police intervention or social workers. It begins with us.

What example do we set in our own behaviour and the standards we want to see in ourselves and others?

Break A Leg

2008-01-16T21:50:00.000+10:00

At right is a picture of Dietrich in 1933.

Linked here is another picture of Dietrich, in the form of a terrific memoir of her 1965 visit to Australia by entertainment journalist Raymond Stanley.

Between the press conference and the opening performance Dietrich had nine hours of rehearsal with the orchestra. At the final rehearsal, on the day of the opening, according to (impersario) Kenn Brodziak, the star never ceased to complain. Everything seemed to be wrong - the lights, sound, music - just about everything. At 4 p.m. she said: “It’s terrible. Everything’s wrong. I’m going. You’ll have to fix it.” And left the theatre.

There was dead silence and everyone seemed panic-stricken - except Brodziak. “We’re going to do nothing”, he said firmly, “she’s too much of a perfectionist. If anything was wrong she wouldn’t have left the theatre.”

Sadly one cannot sure whether Dietrich would have remembered our country foundly. While on tour here in 1975, at the age of 74, she broke her leg, effectively ending her stage career.

More Sars Than Class

2008-01-16T20:17:00.000+10:00

A very pretty cordial label from Hemley and Sons from Callawadda.

As noted previously full colour process was, up until fairly recently, a very costly and painstaking process.

Date: who knows.

About Hemley and Sons: ditto.

But it seems that they were involved in more than just the soft stuff.

According to this site a local vintner took some of his quaffable red to the Callawadda soft drink maker in 1939 to make a lightly aerated red wine.

The wine, called Claretta, is still made today with 6000 dozen bottles consumed in Australia each year.

Sadly no one in the area seems to care about sharing local history, on line at any rate, but least we can know the local weather.

It Won't Wash

2008-01-15T20:42:00.001+10:00

As a young newlywed how do you redecorate a small bathroom in an older home?

That's right - introduce even more colour and pattern! From the 1972's The Bride's Guide:

The small square bathroom typical of many found in big old houses, is brightened effectively by use of bold yellow (shudder) patterns on the wallpaper and tiles (Yes, but not both. Certainly not two hideously clashing patterns). The bath is panelled to match the splashback, and a splendid old mirror has been fitted to reflect and enlarge the room. (The mirror, suspended commode and basin are perhaps the only things worth keeping in this monstrosity).

Forever Young

2008-01-15T20:07:00.000+10:00

Amongst the things on loan from Nora's grandmother is this antique pressed and embossed paper photo frame which held a photograph of her father and mother.

It is one of the few keepsakes she has of her mother who died when her only daughter was young. We'll try to find the photo to profile in Nifty Knick Knacks some time in the future

Although in quite solid condition it is, as one might expect, discoloured from almost a century of life and several moves, including a trip from Ireland to the UK and then from the UK to Australia.

Originally it would have been bright white with hand tinted pick and white flowers.

A quick Google search returns nothing on the name of the seller in the bottom right of the frame -

Miniature Art Co
77. Aungier St.
Dublin
On site now - a computer accessories company Back From The Future.

Chopsticks

2008-01-13T07:48:00.000+10:00

Nick and Nora have always held that Australia is multicultural through its stomach.

It doesn't need government programs or politically correct mandarins to tell us to accept and absorb the best of other cultures. Our taste buds are quite capable of doing that for us.

For an aspiring world class holiday destination like the Gold Coast, it is only fitting that famous restaurants also be on the itinerary. In Surfers Paradise there was a choice of two, Margot Kelly's Hibiscus Room and the Cafe Cathay a few hundred metres to the north.

Both serviced different parts of the local and holiday market, both succumbed to the developer's bulldozer in the late 1970s-early 1980s and our local history is the poorer for it.

The above advertisement is from the 1954 Courier-Mail Annual. Apologies for the water damage at the top right, we presume it is meant to read 3. Point Plan For The Perfect Vacation.

The restaurant was located between what is now Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Orchid Avenue, just one block back from the beach at Surfers Paradise.

According to notes on this photograph (sourced from the Gold Coast local studies library) the building to the left of the Cafe Cathay housed the Surfers Paradise cinema as well as an amusement parlor.

And that would have been about here on Google maps (click on the blue marker).

View Larger Map

In searching for information on the Cafe Cathay we came across this fabulous home movie taken in Surfers Paradise around 1960. It is archived by the National Library of Australia under its Australian Screen project.

The clip is silent but features the Cafe Cathay, the Beachcomber resort (which still exists in a 1970s redeveloped form) as well as other long-forgotten land marks. Don't forget to pay attention to the fabulous street signage.

Magic.

Vice Grip

2008-01-12T09:48:00.000+10:00

From 'the more things change the more thing stay the same file' comes this report about a Hollywood celebrity whose rise to stardom from young teenage starlet is marred by alcoholism, drug taking, exhibitionism including taking her clothes off in public and less than discreet bisexual affairs.

Who is it?

Britney Spears?

Lindsay Lohan?

Nope it's Tallulah Bankhead who, to give her credit though, had more talent in her right hand than either of the two airheads mentioned above combined.

Tallulah managed to control her self-destructive tendencies to live for 66 years but the truth is her life was filled with missed career opportunities caused by her behaviour and also as roles she owned on stage such as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire went to other actresses when it came to their filming.

Although, based on her pithy quotes including: "If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner", it seems certain Bankhead would argue that she had nothing to regret.

One wonders whether in another 30 years Spears, Lohan, Richie and Hilton could claim the same.

Here's an online tribute we've found for Miss Bankhead:

Juicy Fruit

2008-01-12T09:24:00.000+10:00

There are some people who are dismissive of Australian history.

...The Aborigines didn't leave the written word or great ancient cities to attract archaeologists... European settlement is too recent to be of interest to the historian.

It's a short-sighted view that ignores the fact that even yesterday is history and has something worth preserving.

It's the reason Nick and Nora started Nifty Knick Knacks.

Today's label, crisply printed and colours still fresh and lush, is from the Eckerlsey and Sons of Melbourne whose name joins the archive of the lost and forgotten in terms of early Australian manufacturing.

According to Aussie Bottle Digger:

Eckersley operated from 226 King St Melbourne until 1900 them moved to 214 Queens St. In 1906 they moved to Bourke St Melbourne, another move saw them operating from Claredon St South Melbourne where they stayed until 1935.
They also produced Aerated Water Manufacturing Machinery.
This was a large company and they had many different styles of bottles.

One of which can be see here.

A large Australian manufacturing company that disappeared after 1935.

Isn't that a mystery worth exploring?

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho

2008-01-10T16:52:00.000+10:00

It's back to work week in the Charles' household.

The prospect of returning from holidays doesn't hold the same dismay as it did when Nick and Nora worked for other people or even the terror of returning back to school

Mainly, it's because we're masters of our own destiny, secondly we get to work together which has plenty of pleasant compensations.

Were things easier back in the past when housewives stayed at home to suffer through the monotony and murderous drudgery of housework and the menfolk went back into the work place to be fawned over by man-hungry, ambitious young secretaries?

Probably not.

The image at left, by the way, is in the household safety section of 1972 The Young Homemaker (Book Two) that we've previously profiled here.

Husbands worked hard to buy their womenfolk a time saving appliance like this:

Click on the image to see a much larger (and readable version from the October 9, 1948 edition of Saturday Evening Post).

While much has been written, usually in the post-feminist milieu, of capable war and home forces women being shoved back into their roles of wives, mothers and housekeepers post-World War II, there was another side of the story.

It must have been very difficult to swallow the safe predictable life of the workaday world after experiencing the life and death adrenalin rush that fed the terror of facing combat.

The subject is thoughtfully illustrated in Sloan Wilson's Man in the Gray Flannel suit (pictured is the first edition 1956 Australian copy - hence the reason why the title is changed from 'gray' [US spelling] to the local 'grey').

Filmed in 1956 starring the magnificent Gregory Peck in the title role, The Man in the Gray Flannel tells the story of a man trying hard to adjust back to the safe, monotonous civilian life after the end of the war while keeping some secrets of his time overseas.

Doubtless many men felt the same.

Still the seeds of independence were sown and young women of Nora's mother's generation read books like the 1963 Supreme Book For Girls and dreamt of a pre-marriage career as exciting Beryl (now there's a name that's fallen out of favour) the air hostess.

As always, don't forget to click to view large-size readable versions.

Ah you're back.

It's a no nonsense story, nicely handed by Beryl and happily concluded at the end of 16 frames with absolutely no appearance of anyone shouting Allahu Akbar or the intervention of an armed sky marshal.

But perhaps the woman in today's Daily Mail op-ed columns might have felt more comfortable in the above scenario if the hostie handling the problem was more like bloke instead of a mere slip of a girl.

Drive Time

2008-01-05T11:03:00.000+10:00

The rains have stopped. For now.

Nick and Nora are planning to take a drive around the Gold Coast Hinterland to see the effects of the tropical low which has crossed the coast in northern New South Wales.

Since we're driving we'll pack a bottle of lime and soda for the journey (we'll save adding the gin until we get home).

One place we will get to see is Canyon Lookout at Springbrook going via the Numinbah Valley.

The last drive Nick and Nora undertook after similar weather conditions turned the normally dry rocky escarpment below the tree line into a spectacular ribbon of waterfalls.

Magnificent.

One can drive to the lookout via the picturesque hamlet of Springbrook which is part of the world renowned Springbrook Plateau. Canyon Lookout views across to at least three waterfalls and has two quite accessible walking trails. One perfect for a short stroll, the other much longer.

At right is the only significant building in the Numinbah district - the ubiquitous small town landmark, one that is uniquely Australian, called the 'School of Arts' Hall which, depending on its need, becomes a town hall, dance and entertainment venue, exhibition centre, school or emergency services HQ.

UPDATE: Nick and Nora have just returned from their Hinterland drive not getting as far as they had hoped.

Energex crews were working to restore electricity and road crews desperately busy clearing landslips and trying to repair washed away roads.

Everything was sodden. Ground that was drought parched and cement hard just few months earlier had so much water that its excess oozed out of the ground with every step. Where it could, water answered the raucous call drawing itself closer to the Nerang Creek.

The creek is generally a genial, bubbly mild-mannered thing, hidden mostly by tall trees, thick shrubs and grasses. Today it was a gang of soccer hooligans pressed shoulder to shoulder to take all of its natural path and then some, cutting an 80 metre swathe in some places. Wholesale bulldozing would have be hardly less devastating.

It was shortly before Natural Bridge, around 1.30pm, when were were turned away. A grizzled and weary looking man wearing his high visibility yellow rain jacket walked up to the car.

You could tell he'd been answering the same question for what seemed like hours. Perhaps it had been.

"So, what's the answer to the question you've undoubtedly been asked for the 72th time this hour?" asked Nicky.

The man smiled wanly.

"Landslips, road washed away, water over the road. You'll have to turn around."

"How long have you been out here?"

"Since six this morning. Yeah, my boss phoned me and I said to him I'm on my weekend off. He said, 'c'mon, it'll only take a couple of hours'. On top of that it's my birthday."

We wished him a happy birthday and asked him if he would like a slice of the cake we had brought for the picnic.

He declined and we turn around.

By the time we'd reached the turn-off up to Springbrook, Main Roads had erected barriers barring any further traffic in.

We ended up at the Canyon Lookout and discovered a sign that we'd passed many times but had never really noticed.

The date at the bottom of the plaque reads:

Queensland Forestry Service
Warrie National Park
Springbrook
Dedicated 11th March 1937

This might give a clue to the date of the pin dish above.

So what was the view like today? Well certainly nothing like you see in the souvenir. You could barely see to the other side of the canyon but as the cloud drifted through you could see several spectacular falls.

As always click on the images for larger versions.

Packed Full o' Memories

2008-01-04T10:53:00.000+10:00

Nora's grandmother pulled a hinged lid cardboard box from the cupboard.

It was known by family that's where tinsel and other paper Christmas decorations were kept.

It had been for years.

But this year Nora's grandmother decided to only put up a small fibre optic tree which she found much more convenient.

"Would you like to take the decorations home?" she asked. "You can throw away the box, it's a bit tatty now."

The feisty 82-year-old Irish woman was somewhat surprised when Nora replied, "Thank you, but to tell you the truth I'm actually much more interested in the box."

"Why on earth are you interested in an old box?"

"Well, it's virtually an heirloom."

The older woman eyed Nora skeptically.

"You're serious."

Nora nodded slowly.

What's not to love? (click images for a larger view).

It dates from the late 1960s or very early 1970s based on fashions of our happy families and the unit of weight (Australia was just about fully metric in 1974).

If you click on the larger image, you'll also find that it was bought at Coles. Check out the price. It's in decimal currency so it's post-1966.

Nora always associates the box with Christmas decorations, not recalling ever having sampled the original product.

Despite its condition there's plenty to love - even zombie mom:

Each side had a charming domestic scene - from the woodland family picnic on the lid to the poolside:

The backyard barbecue:

And the tennis courts. Check out the composition of the happy biscuit munching couples. Nora suspects blondie in the right of the image played matchmaker to the couple in the foreground.

Look at her expression, just the right amount of effected nonchalance as she keeps an eye on her charges:

See Fred, I told you they'd like each other.

Lastly there is relaxing with a bikkie or two with a cup of coffee while watching TV.

Take a look at the coffee set, it's a popular pot design of the period. Nora managed to find one similar in orange in an op-shop along with a sugar bowl and four cups. She purchased the lot for $5.

"I don't know why you'd want that thing," said the woman behind the counter. "It's awful."

It's Noritake and Nick and Nora love (and use) it.

Websters main factory was established in an old tannery works in Kedron and there was another at Woollongabba which David Webster later sold to former employee and business protegee Clement Lewin who founded Lewin's Confectionery in 1919.

Nora doesn't think Webster's Biscuits still exists and can find little reference to the company on the Internet. Likely it was taken over at some point by a larger manufacturer such as Arnotts.

Here's an earlier incarnation of the very same picnic pack concept. This one is possibly 1930s and features paper labels stuck over tin. Described as 'aged' in condition, it's for sale for $30.

Million Dollar Couple

2008-01-03T16:22:00.000+10:00

One becomes inured to seeing news about the latest celebrity couple.

Women's magazines gush over the romance, ooh and ahh over how beautiful, how much in love, how perfect they are.

Then they're divorced within five years.

Oh, l'amour, l'amour! toujour l'amour

Described as 'the most popular couple the world has ever known', Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were certainly Brangelina of their day but doing a whole lot more than looking pretty and collecting bairns in the same way other people collect souvenir spoons.

Fairbanks and Pickford were heavily involved behind the scenes of the fledgling film industry as actors and then later as direct/producers and founders of United Artists.

Although married to other people at the time the Pickfairs (okay, bit of a stretch but that is what they named their mansion) started a torrid five year affair and were wed a few scant days after Pickford's divorce to Owen Moore in March 1920.

From their they began a 16 year love affair with the movie going public as cinematic royalty but the seeds of the end were sown just nine years into the marriage. This from IMDB:

Douglas Fairbanks' and Mary Pickford's marriage had deteriorated so badly by the time they made this film that many onlookers said that Fairbanks exaggerated Petruchio's harsh treatment towards Katharina in order to take out his own frustrations on Pickford.

Oh dear.

Hhmmmm, reminds me of another Shrew-playing couple... now, what were they called?

BurTaylor??

Elizaburton???

Never mind. Just watch Fairbanks buckle his swash in the 1922 version of Robin Hood:

Design Classics

2008-01-03T09:09:00.000+10:00

We've showcased some interior design horrors on Nifty Knick Knacks but this isn't one of them.

Lovely furniture with simple lines that also does double duty (note the drawers in the table and the daybed which has storage below).

It certainly wouldn't be out of place in a small apartment or a family room today, yet is more than half a century old.

The room is described in the 1952 edition of Interior Decorating For You:

Specially woven monotone Indian wool rug for a man's bed-sittingroom. A complete modern touch is the bulletin board over the bed for mementos destined to a short life.

A Real Page Turner

2008-01-02T21:58:00.000+10:00

Look what Nora found in her Christmas stocking!

This from 1963

And this from 1970

And the more interesting back view

The first published for British and Commonwealth children by publishers such as the likes of Dean And Son, these annuals were a summer school holiday treat.

Sadly they fell by the wayside during the 1980s and 1990s but these books of a fashion could well be making a comeback with Miriam Peskowitz and Andrea Buchanan's The Daring Book For Girls.

Don't worry, they're treasured here at the Charles household.

More to come on these beauties as we mine for gems of a bygone age.

Does Dean and Son still exist?

Not sure, a quick google would suggest not, although the University of North Texas has a short but charming history of Dean and Son Publications right here.

Into The Sunset

2008-01-02T17:20:00.000+10:00

For all the actors who complain about typecasting there are those who embrace their iconic roles with relish.

Adam West and Clayton Moore spring instantly to mind and in more recent times Mark Hamill pops up from time to time to either play up or play down his Luke Skywalker character.

The one who out did them all was William Boyd - better known to generations of film and TV viewers as Hopalong Cassidy.

Groomed in this studio portrait as a matinee idol in the making (doesn't he look a little like Leonardo di Caprio?) Boyd was cast as the romantic lead in Cecil B De Mille's The Volga Boatman and was earning $100,000 a year.

By the start of the talkies era his film roles dried up and the situation become dire after a newspaper mistakenly identified him instead of stage actor William Stage Boyd as being up on liquor and gambling charges.

He got his return to the big screen break as Hopalong Cassidy whom he transformed from a rough gunslinger into the wholesome family-friendly character which became the model for the likes of Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey.

Boyd made 66 films and then turned his hand to television where he made original series as well as cut the feature films into TV length.

After being nearly broke in the late 1920s, early 1930s Boyd ensured that he had the rights to Hopalong Cassidy and on this he made a considerable fortune. Not only in rights and residuals but also on merchandising deals including the first licenced branded lunchbox.

There's an amusing juxtaposition in these two images.

As the non-smoking, teetotal, gunslinging lawman he may not have approved of the cigarette card, today do-gooders would frown on Hoppy's endorsement of a preservative filled, sugar charged, teeth rotting, obesity causing Cola.

Surf's Up

2008-01-02T15:40:00.000+10:00

Nick and Nora were hoping to spend their Christmas-New Year break photographing the Gold Coast's hidden historical gems but the weather has been somewhat cyclonic.

Really.

So instead we return to the city's souvenirs to uncover one of the most picturesque beachside villages in the city - Kirra.

Long famed for its surf, Kirra is just a few hundred metres north of Coolangatta and as its landmarks has two delightful historic buildings still in active use today - the Kirra Beach Hotel - completely unchanged from this picture - and the adjacent Kirra Beach Pavilion.

The first Surf Life Saving carnival was held on the beach in 1928.

There's been a pavilion along with accommodation on the site since the 1920s.

At left is a photograph taken of what appears to be the local surf life saving club members with the pavilion in the background. It's an entirely wooden series of structures the hug the point which sweeps south to Coolangatta. It's difficult to see from the picture but one would imagine the road behind it to be little more than graded gravel or a thin ribbon of tarmac.

Taken from roughly the same location is this beautifully hand coloured and remarkably detailed transfer print looking along the beach. Clearly visible is the club pennant and the iconic lifesaving reels.

The porcelain pin dish is an incongruously stylised maple leaf made in Czechoslovakia.

One cannot be certain what happened to the original building but it's not too much of a stretch to think that it may have succumbed to cyclonic conditions.

The new low-rise Kirra Beach Pavilion was officially opened in 1935.

At left is a sepia transfer on a cup, saucer and plate trio of a view taken from Kirra Hill. The view sweeps north to the seaside villages of Bilinga and Tugun. Don't forget to click on any of these images for a larger view.

At right appears to be the photograph on which the transfer print was based. The new pavilion was finished in the Spanish-inspired stucco that appears to be quite popular at the time. But unlike those Pavilions, Kirra was the biggest and housed not only the amenities but also had room for the surf club and restaurant.

But the new structure and faced its most serious test a year later when a cyclone threatened to wash the building into the sea.

The cyclone that struck in May 1936 may have spared the Kirra Beach Pavilion but it took out the Surf Life Saving Club to the north at Main Beach.

Now the issue isn't too little sand but too much.

Oh well, maybe another cyclone will change that.

Hiatus Hernia

2008-01-02T15:28:00.001+10:00

Ah yes.

Nifty Knick Knacks.

::Blows off the dust::

::Coughs::

To anyone who is still reading, a thousand apologies for the lack of posting. The blog archive numbers look at us accusingly.

It's certainly not for the want of trying, nor for the want of anything to post about but Nick and Nora have been diverted by the mysteries of human behaviour, work and other real life.

We've apologised before but we're still no less sincere.

Dependent on other commitments, the Charles' faithfully will try to keep up the blogging schedule of six new things a week.

Honest.

The Boys Of Summer

2007-11-16T19:02:00.000+10:00

To the thousands of Schoolies descending on the Gold Coast to 'party' over the next two weeks, Nick and Nora dedicate this comic book story to you.

Enjoy:
(Don't forget to click on the images they're bigger than a schoolie's hangover!)

But how could he - KISS AND TELL?!
Because he was rambling like an idiot to all of his mates after the booze he consumed. And between puking up a lung.

So sitting on the beach, risking skin cancer, our naive little beach bunny strikes up a conversation with a total stranger.

Ummm isn't he a little old looking to be a school leaver. Aren't you concerned that me might be a... Toolie?

Well, to be completely fair, our Romeo wasn't the only one tanked to the gills.

After a six pack of Vodka Cruisers our Schoolie girl would have been ready to snog anyone with lips.

Good job she's been able to snag the free condoms that they're handing out like Bindeez.

Doris and I didn't get to the beach until rather late the next morning and that's when it began...

Yep of all the things our girls packed, I bet Berocca and aspirin weren't in the kit.

Gosh! What makes you so popular all of a sudden?

Could it be her brains? Her straight As at school? Her rapier wit and insightful grasp of international politics?

Ricky told me all about you, honey -- said you could kiss like you were the one who invented kissing!

Hmmm, guess not.

Y-You - You went up and down the beach - bragging about kissing me last night - didn't you.

Like you were going to remember sister.

Besides what do you expect playing tonsil hockey with a guy you've known less than a day?

Try and date her! She's great!

Our poor heroine discovers that being an enthusiastic advocate of two wheeled public transport has taken the friendly out of environmentally friendly.

But who's now knocking at the door?

...But it wasn't they way you think! I wasn't bragging about last night, Rosemarie - !

Yeah. Right.

But all's well that ends well. Ricky's just declared his undying love after knowing Rosemary for exactly 48 hours.

What's the bet that undying love will last exactly the length of Schoolies 2008?

See kiddies, there's nothing is new under the sun.

-- Art from the early 1970s romance comic Man and Woman

Caravan Of Courage

2007-11-15T19:49:00.000+10:00

One wonders if Grey Nomads eagerly pored over their dad's copy of Saturday Evening Post (or the Australian equivalent) looking at advertisements like these thinking: "Gosh when I'm in my twilight years I'm going to get a huge caravan like this and travel all around Australia holding up traffic for miles and miles along the nation's highways and descend like locusts on small country towns."

No. Didn't think so.

But the allure of the caravan cannot be under estimated. Australia Post just dedicated a stamp issue to caravaning over the past 50 years.

Somehow one gets the impression that after seeing this advertisement, the reality of 1950s caravanning would come somewhat as a disappointment.

Disclosure: Nick and Nora bought the first day stamp cover but draw the line at the caravan.

Rapt In Plastic

2007-11-15T18:47:00.000+10:00

Hey Asta!

Tell Nick and Nora that their grocery delivery will be a little late today!

Seriously, can we ever imagine a time without cellophane? Made by those lovely people at Du Pont whose products we have in such familarity they've become generic nouns neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar and Lycra.

Saturday Evening Post, February 21, 1948.

Fake But Accurate

2007-11-14T19:55:00.000+10:00

Gee, in this day and age where 'all natural' is the soft drink marketer's crie-de-coeur, it seems impossible to ever recall a time when 'artificially coloured' was seen as a promotable virtue.

Bitter Past Forgotten

2007-11-14T19:26:00.000+10:00

There's no Burnley Ale and no Silverstream Manufacturing co - even the phone numbers have been changed to all numeric but there is a 492 Swan Street, Burnley and here it is right in the heart of Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.

Just take a note of the text - that's not just unfiltered sludge in the bottom of your bottle, that's yeast - and it has health giving properties.

An easy sell for a nation brought up on Vegemite, one supposes.

Today the ale of choice down in the southern city is Victoria Bitter, of which much is known, including this rather cute commercial:

Laughing At Danger

2007-11-14T18:25:00.000+10:00

That sharp look silver screen silent starlet is giving your way is Betty Compson, a silent screen diva who turned her hand to producing after her run in front of the camera ended.

Her career is perhaps best summed up by La Compson herself:

"My wickedness has kept me going. I wouldn't have lasted more than five years, possibly not that long, as an ingenue. Yet you cannot call my girl a stereotyped vamp. She has a business, a 'racket' of some sort, whereas the vamp's only occupation consists of breaking up homes. My girl, unless moved by jealously, doesn't stoop to such petty tricks. She never does dirty work just to be mean. She has no yellow streaks. Often she is a victim of circumstances. She is morally 'bad' through love, or she is placed among crooks and knows no better life."

Such was life during The Depression one supposes.

But just to bring a smile to your face Betty sings and dances her way, along with a panoply of Hollywood stars in this clip from the film The Show Of Shows.

Life of a Waxworks

2007-11-14T18:04:00.000+10:00

While Greta Garbo is the best recognised of Hollywood's Swedish imports, it could be argues that Anna Q Nilsson opened the door.

Almost forgotten except for silent film buffs, Nilsson starred in some of the most popular of the early 20th Century films with her first film, Molly Pitcher, released in 1911.

In the talkie era, Nilsson ended up playing bit parts in memorable movies including Sunset Boulevard, Showboat and An American in Paris.

The title is, of course, a reference to Nilsson's appearance, along with Buster Keaton as Sunset Boulevard's Nora Desmond's bridge companions.

Hiatus Over

2007-11-14T18:01:00.000+10:00

Real life has played havoc with Nick and Nora's Knifty Knick Knack posting for which we are sorry.

So for anyone still checking this site, regular posting will resume in ernest.

Paradise Lost

2007-10-31T18:04:00.001+10:00

The Surfers Paradise Hotel is long gone and one supposes that the equivalent iconic building on the Gold Coast today is the Q1.

As attractive as it is, it's certainly not the same.

This artwork takes a look west from the beach end of Cavill Avenue to the hotel and painted by noted artist Elaine Haxton.

Image reproduced from the 1954 Courier Mail Queensland Annual.

Savour The Flavour

2007-10-31T17:53:00.000+10:00

Nick and Nora are going camping this weekend.

What does this have to do with this label? Particularly since we're not camping Yackandandah.

Not much except that the place preferred by the Charles' is in Queensland pineapple growing country.

Date of this label?

No idea. Possibly 1940s?

High and Dizzy

2007-10-31T17:35:00.000+10:00

We all need to smile and one man guaranteed to bring it to us is Harold Lloyd.

Charlie Chaplin may have had the market corners on charming tramps but Lloyd had the cute bespectacled dork down pat - a look later replicated by Thomas Dolby.

Often starring with Bebe Daniels Lloyd's physical comedy in films such as Safety Last has been much replicated.

Below is a scene from the 1917 film The Flirt. It's probably how he charmed the ladies to get starlets to pose for cheesecake shots.

Coffee, Roasted

2007-10-30T18:37:00.000+10:00

For a country that seems to have been brought up as a coffee swilling culture, Americans seem to have a particular problem dealing with the effects of caffeine.

This ad is from the the February 21, 1948 edition of the Saturday Evening Post but it's a trend which pre-dates the 1940s.

Boo.

Fresh Faced

2007-10-30T17:51:00.000+10:00

Was personal grooming and hygiene an alien concept in 1948?

What other conclusion could come to judging by the ad for the Colgate Palmolive brand in this February 21 edition of Saturday Evening Post?

Maybe it was all for Lulu. She's the red head permanently cast to play the side-kick to the perky brunette.

A Velma to the Daphne if you will.

Forever destined to be paired with the goofy, slightly dorky best friend of the school quarterback the one who's dating the brunette. Natch.

The full page ad is an absolute gem - take a look at the hairstyles and clothing and the avatars supposedly representing the young misses who have benefited from the 'Palmolive 14 day plan'.

And the Colgate story is no less entertaining. Unloved Lulu is off the hot list but after consulting faithful family doctor and brushing her teeth, she's oozing sex appeal.

Priceless.

Hello Sailor!

2007-10-28T15:02:00.000+10:00

Struggling with your nicotine addiction? Tried giving up and nothing works?

The here is the person to blame.

No not the two jolly guys in the ad, but the bloke on the packet. It's Sir Walter Raleigh, favourite of Queen Lizzy the First.

Yes, yes, he did noble things like put his cloak in a puddle to save her highness' Manolo Blahnik's from the mud, but he also brought back tobacco from the New World and introduced the old world to the joys of portable foliage for the burning and inhaling thereof.

From the August 1979 edition of Mechanix Illustrated.