International Frisbee Association

You gotta love the slackers, they come up with all kinds of cool sports. Dudes out on the "quad" flinging frisbees at each other, hacky sackin, and skate boarding. If it rolls, flies, or bounces...a slacker will turn it into a sport. That's why this IFA packet from the late '60s gave me a chuckle. It's pretty serious business.

The Frisbee has several origins, but the most likely history starts with New England college students tossing pie plates from the "Frisbie Pie Company" back and forth for fun. Later we had the Pluto Platter, then the Wham-O Frisbee we all know and love.

Now, I'm a slacker, but in the late '60s I was still kinda young, so the only thing I was tossing was my cookies (yes, I mean exactly what you think). I'd never heard of the International Frisbee Association until I found this. It went pretty deep with a card for your wallet, some proficiency books, a proficiency card, and various sales sheets with "approved" discs. Even a newsletter "IFA News", about things going on in the world of Frisbee...it kinda takes the slack right out of it. It's pretty cool in retrospect though, I dig the pictures of all the Greg Brady guys playing Frisbee, and also the color ad for the "Moonlighter" glow Frisbee.

I have an old packaged Frisbee, so I'll stick this packet next to it in my collection. I think I'll give the ol "Fris" more respect from now on.

Check out Vincent Price getting in on the act. I guess we all have a little slacker in us.

The Circle

"Goodbye Old Me!" It was time for a make-over to my whole thing I do (which I'm not even sure what that is sometimes). So I came up with the concept of an all inclusive "umbrella" to cover everything, the collectibles, the antique mall spot, the auctions...me, Retrodrome. I secured the .com, the Facebook name, have worked on this blog for several months, and soon my Ebay auction template will match too. I'm sure the look will change over time, and I'll add a real website at some point making this blog a branch off of that, but change keeps things fresh. I know building a singular presence will take some time, but that's ok (I've got nothing but time...). I'll have other side blogs (like my pee-chee-art one now) , and business cards made up...the whole thing. The circle will close, and it'll all be Retrodrome. Nothing earth shattering, just that.

Cool Find: June 12-13

"It's Whee-Lo, it's Whee-Lo...for fun it's a wonderful toy!!" Wait, that's the Slinky song. Nevertheless, the Whee-Lo falls into that same category of frivolous time waste toys. Like Silly Putty, Slinky, Etch-a-Sketch...the Whee-Lo was meant to occupy while you watched TV, rode in the car, or were busy not doing your homework. I used to get it whippin, the sound is unmistakable. I didn't have a boxed one in my collection until this weekend. Hey, what am I doing writing!? I gots me a Whee-Lo!

Cool Find: June 5-6

I pulled this from under a table at an estate sale on Saturday. There were actually two of them, I'm keeping one and selling one (in my current auctions). It's a mail-away Ralston Chex Cereal premium from the '50s "Space Patrol". There was a specific episode which had these Martian Totem Heads in it. The art and wording on the envelope are pretty cool, it has a Freaky-Tiki Mars thing going on...spiffy.

Check out the inside... ...and this:
Thanks to Captain Bijou

Keen on Pee-Chee

The teacher is going on and on about some boring subject, you shuffle in your desk chair, curse the clock, look down and there it is, the answer to your boredom. A trusted orange/yellow friend full of characters that you've gotten to know school year after school year, the humble, predictable, Pee-Chee folder. Those basketball players, that tennis girl...I think I'll doodle!

The Pee-Chee has gone away, it's actually been gone since the '90s, but most people don't even realize it. You mean I can't go down and buy a classic Pee-Chee? No, you can't. That's surprising, considering how much an icon of upper grade school days it was. It started in 1943, changed very little over the years (the art changed some), and is instantly recognizable to most Americans over a certain age. It was a simple idea, a card stock folder, side pockets (to keep papers from falling out), and an art design that didn't really change, it didn't need to. It was a Pee-Chee and the look was what made it that. The All-Season Portfolio depicted all the stuff I wasn't doing back in school, sports on the outside, learning on the inside. That's not to say it didn't help my with my education...quite the contrary.

It wasn't that I was bored in school...but I was bored stiff in school. The Pee-Chee offered me an outlet, doodles...but structured doodles. Every new Pee-Chee was a fresh canvas, but partially done. The challenge was to finish what the Pee-Chee design artist had started. Those aren't football players, they're two superheroes struggling on the ground for a Playboy magazine...at least they were when I was done with them.

I'm making another blog to celebrate Pee-Chee art. I'll show some of my classics, I did some themes over and over. I'll also have the non-doodled Pee-Chee designs that you can print and doodle yourself. In this age of photoshop and computer art...Pee-Chee art is literally old-school. It's all about the "Chee" and how it helped me get through school. Check out Pee-Chee-Art.blogspot.com.

On a side-note: I never knew the Pee-Chee "girl on ski lift" was actually taken from a real photo, and not only that, it's Timberline Lodge's (Mt Hood OR) Magic Mile lift...Pee-Chee Keen.