By Chris on March 9th, 2010 | Comments

For those of you who saw the posts about the Disneyland home movies taken in 1956, only a year after the park opened will most likely appreciate that the author of those videos have found another treasure from his grandparents home movie archive, San Francisco in 1958. The movie guides us around a few urban scenes, trolley cars and the Golden Gate bridge among many other things. The scene from inside the trolley car reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's movie Vertigo made in the same year. Let's hope that he next time finds a home movie from New York around the same period. Mad Men anyone?

By Chris on March 3rd, 2010 | Comments

Various television commercials for cars, shaving products, food and everything else that made this decade great! What are your favorite commercials from this period?

By Chris on February 16th, 2010 | Comments

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a movie at a drive-in theater in the US back in its heydays, knows that seeing the movie was just one part of the enjoyment. Families made the drive-in a weekend adventure, filled with food, laughter and goodies that dad picked up from the concession stand during the intermission. These intermissions were mainly a product of a Chicago based company called Filmack Studios, that has been in business since 1919 and are still alive today.

Often they debranded the beverages and treats seen in the short films so no manufacturer was favored over another, it also made production cheaper and in a way timeless, seeing that many of these intermission rolls were seen up until the late 1970s in many theaters. Animation was usually preferred for these clips and many of them were designed by Rocky & Bullwinkle creator Jay Ward. The intermission ran on a 5 or 10 minute reel and with every minute it would remind its patrons how long until the feature movie starts. Above is a example on one of these 10 minute intermissions circa 1960, styled to make it look like more authentic. Which was your favorite intermission movie?

By Chris on February 10th, 2010 | Comments

This short promotional film, produced in the early 1970s gives us a insight into how the classical compact Polaroid SX-70 camera functions.

The SX-70 included many sophisticated design elements. A collapsible SLR required a complex light path, with many mirrors (including one Fresnel reflector) of unusual, aspheric shapes and at odd angles. The film pack contained a flat, 6-volt "PolaPulse" battery to power the camera electronics, drive motor and flash. The original flash system, a disposable "Flash Bar" of 10 bulbs from General Electric, used logic circuits to detect and fire the next unused flash.

By Chris on February 3rd, 2010 | Comments

412 philco PC 520x346 Retro Inspired Personal Computer

The '50s are back and making its way into the design of everyday gadgetry. If you are a fan of Apple's personal computers I bet you will dig this concept for a home computer. The "Philco PC" takes its inspiration from the 1954 design classic Philco Predicta, as well as an eclectic mixture of modern minimalism, the steampunk movement, and antiques. Sadly this is still just a concept and the images you see are 3D rendered, but Shultze Works who are the creator of this little time piece, hope that a electronics company will pick it up and start to manufacture it in a near future. What do you think? Would you like to have the "Philco PC" in your mid century inspired designer home and how much would you pay for it? Continue reading to see more images and a video of the PC.

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By Chris on February 1st, 2010 | Comments

section daydreaming Italian Giallo Love Scene

Love scene between Analía Gadé and Jean Sorel. Italian 1970s Giallo cinema at its best with very tasty music from the great Piero Piccioni. Taken from La volpe dalla coda di velluto. What do you daydream about today?

By Chris on January 26th, 2010 | Comments

What a great song to play this year. From British 1960s pop group Tinkerbells Fairydust. You can find this song and many other psychedelic and sunshine pop songs on my compilation Beatniks & Hipsters '71.

By Chris on January 14th, 2010 | Comments

The latest haute couture from Paris, Milan, Rome, London and New York for the ladies out there. If you like the videos, be sure to stop by French sexy lounge girl thejackieo1966 on YouTube.

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