Rafflecopter picked a winner for me in the ceramic horse giveaway, and that lucky person is Trish Rucker! I have you emailed you, Trish, so please check your messages!
Thank you to everyone who entered and shared this giveaway! It received over 120 entries and I'd definitely like to do more in the future. Maybe we can get Dana to part with a partridge or kitty cat for the next one.
It's time for a long overdue giveaway, Go Retro readers! Several weeks ago I showed you the pair of mid-century modern style ceramic cats that I ordered from an Etsy shop called Making Clay Memories. The proprietor, Dana, has a collection of ceramics molds from the '50s and '60s that she uses to make charming animal figurines. Well, I loved my cats so much and Dana was so accommodating when the order took a little longer than expected that I offered to host a giveaway of one of her items on Go Retro and hopefully drive some new customers to her in the process.
Long story short, we're giving away one of Dana's Bitossi-style ceramic horses, in aqua blue, to one lucky Go Retro reader! This cute little fellow measures 6 1/4" tall by 6 1/4" long by 2 1/2" wide -- just the right size to keep a coffee table or nightstand company (there's also something about him that reminds me of the horse statue on The Brady Bunch...he definitely gives off a '60s/'70s vibe.) He's been lovingly set and glazed by Dana and retails for $48 on her site.
I'm running the giveaway until this Friday, October 28 and will choose and announce the winner by noon EST on that day. How to enter for a chance to win him? Use the Rafflecopter app below...you can also earn bonus entries by following Go Retro on Twitter and/or Facebook, and following Making Clay Memories' Twitter handle! Please note this giveaway is only open to those with a U.S. address to ship it to (sorry to my Canadian and overseas readers, but the shipping costs and taxes can be punishing when sending items outside of the U.S.)
Good luck! And be sure to check out Dana's stunning shop on Etsy for more wonderful MCM items such as this horse.
Facebook drives me crazy, and not just because this time of year my newsfeed is clogged with content pertaining to politics and the election. I've also noticed that in recent months, engagement has truly tanked on the Go Retro Facebook page -- despite the fact that the number of followers has nearly doubled compared to a year ago.
I know it's because Facebook changes its algorithms and newsfeed preferences constantly, and this has affected the page of a company I freelance for as well. They want you to throw money at their advertising program and "boost" your individual posts so that they'll be seen by more of your fans. Well, I don't think that's right. As one of the characters on Poldark says, "T'int right, t'int fair, t'int fit, t'int proper!" But what can you do.
To give you some perspective, the other day someone liked a photo of John Travolta I posted over two years ago. The photo attracted 24 likes, four comments, and two shares. By contrast in the past few weeks I've been lucky if I get four or fives likes and one comment. And believe me, I'm not looking for accolades, but I think something smells rotten in Facebookland.
So for those of you that follow the Go Retro Facebook page, may I ask a favor? Could you please like or comment on something on it to let me (and Facebook) know that you're still following it? I swear I don't post that often on the page for it to become a nuisance in people's feeds -- two or three times a day at the most. I post a lot of photos, trivia, videos, and other fun stuff that isn't on this page. You'll forever be known as a good doobie in my book if you do!
Halloween is right around the corner, and the other day while watching clips of my favorite horror movie, The Shining (because it's the feel-good movie of the season, as you know), I started to wonder what became of the kid that played Danny, Danny Lloyd. That little bugger sure could act. It seemed to come so naturally for him, speaking to his imaginary friend Tony in a creaky, creepy voice. Surely he must have gone on to have a successful career in Hollywood, right? If not as an actor, then perhaps he is working behind the scenes as a writer, producer, or director.
The first logical step was to go on the Internet Movie Database, or IMDB.com. To my surprise, Lloyd only worked in one more acting role after The Shining -- a 1982 TV movie based on the life of G. Gordon Liddy (he played Liddy as a child.) From there I looked at the message boards. That's when I discovered that Liddy left the business altogether and became a pig farmer and biology teacher in Louisville, Illinois, his home state. Lloyd -- who goes by Dan now -- is also a married father of six.
Dan Lloyd today. Photo credit: TONY TAAFE/COLEMAN-RAYNER/MUST READ - ANTHONY TAAFE/COLEMAN
According to a 2013 interview that Lloyd gave to the NY Daily News, he pursued acting into his teens but just didn't have any luck obtaining roles. Hard to fantom, given the performance he turned in alongside Jack Nicholson. Lloyd was six years old during the filming of The Shining and was chosen because director Stanley Kubrick was impressed with his ability to concentrate for long periods of time, something practically unheard of with kids around that age. He didn't even see the movie until he was a teenager, and has never considered it a scary film because he was working on it from behind the scenes.
He told the NY Daily News that what he remembers most about making the movie was playing with the two British girls that played Delbert Grady's dead twin daughters, eating peanut butter sandwiches, and getting to ride his tricycle on the set. On the day that the infamous "Heeeeere's Johnny" scene was filmed, Lloyd remembers Jack Nicholson joking with him and pretending to be a Native American while brandishing the axe like a tomahawk in between takes.
As for his dried-up acting career, Lloyd has no regrets, telling the paper, "A Hollywood life probably wouldn’t have been for me, anyway. I’m proud to come from the Midwest and that’s where I’m comfortable at.”
It's nice to hear he's doing well and is quite centered and happy.
By the way, Stephen King resurrected the Danny Lloyd character as an adult with psychic powers in his 2013 novel, Doctor Sleep.
Even today, I'm still blown away by Lloyd's role in The Shining. Just in case you need a reminder:
As much as I wouldn't give up my ionic hair dryer and flat iron for the small-barreled curling iron I owned in the '80s, I must admit I have some longing for nostalgia when looking at advertisements and images of hair drying and styling products from before I was born. The other day I was honestly longing for my mother's old bonnet hair dryer that I remember using as a pre-teen...you'd roll your damp hair up in curlers, put the bonnet on, and after 20 minutes or so of blowing warm air later, voila! Your hair is ready.
(Believe it or not, Conair still makes a bonnet hairdryer, as does another brand I never heard of that one reviewer on Amazon called "a piece of junk.")
I really admire the selection of colors and styles that were available for drying one's crowning glory. Let's take a look back at some vintage hair dryer and accessories ads from days of old. Back in the day, it wasn't just the ladies that put all of that effort into making their hair look good.
"If I only had a heart..."
Words will never convey how much I want THIS Beautybug dryer. I believe it came out in '67 or '68 and if you're lucky, you can score one on eBay.
Maintaining that Anchorman look is a lot of work.
This German dryer looks pretty cool.
And this ad's just plain bizarre; have seen it crop up from time to time and it's just creepy.
I had one of these...in the hot pink, I think...and I remember I hated it because it blasted the air out of such a tiny, concentrated nozzle which made styling your hair difficult. But it was the '80s, and it looked cool.
Rad! I still have my '80s Benders and last time I checked, they still worked. Maybe I should do a video blog post tutorial trying them out again just for kicks?
What I admire most about this ad is the beautiful illustration. You just don't see artwork like this much today ion advertising and done without a computer, no less.
And this is just plain scary.
She looks like she's having a truly orgasmic experience drying her hair.
Now we know how she got that famous Farrah flip -- and it looks like an awful lot of work.
I'm intrigued by the paddle shaped dryer.
You gotta love this commercial. Just imagine how convenient it was for housewives to multi-task...cook and clean your home while your hair dries!
OK, that last one wasn't an ad, obviously, but a scary collection of really bad men's hairstyles from the '70s. And nearly all of these dudes look like serial killers. Maybe it's a good thing we're living in 2016.
From straight out of the '90s comes this unintentionally funny and contrived PSA about road crossing safety (all of things) from the National Safety Council. It features an animated floating whistle with a lisp. There's really not too much to say about it except they should have chosen a hotter guy to play the cop, I really don't get why the African American boy is named Woody, and what's with the purple and yellow gloves to understand the difference between left and right? Oh, and there's some really rad special effects!
If the modus operandi in the States is to look left, right, left, then do British children look right, left, right?
Enjoy the bad acting. By the way, I accidentally stumbled upon this video while doing a search for Willy Whistle. I do NOT recommend doing a Google images search for this name! I wasn't looking for what you think; it was the name of a clown on TV years ago and I was doing research for another upcoming blog post.
