The Dadant & Sons beekeeping supply company has been in business since 1863.
They supply all the necessary equipment for maintaining honey bees and harvesting the honey.

One popular piece of equipment is the ‘smoker.’
It’s used to help calm the bees before the beekeeper opens the hive.

I keep bees, but I must confess I don’t use a smoker.
However, I came upon this vintage one at a flea market recently and liked the design of it, so I bought it.
Dadant still makes them in a near identical style.

The “King of Beers” introduced a new can design last month — the Budweiser bowtie-shaped can!

Anheuser-Busch says the new Bud can contains 8.5 fewer calories, which really means the can is smaller and holds less beer.
How’s that for a marketing strategy!

In any case, the Bud brand is iconic.

This week’s My Vintage Video is a look back a 1970s commercial when the jingle was “When You Say Bud.”

OBJECT: To be the first player to race from Cherry Tree Lane to the Park.

BEFORE PLAYING: Assemble the merry-go-round selector.
All players place their playing pieces on Cherry Tree Lane ready to start.

PLAY: Each player “asks Mary” for his instructions by using the merry-go-round selector. The instructions Mary points to are then followed.

Winner is the first player to reach the park.

Board to Mary Poppins 1964 Game

This week’s My Vintage Video is a tribute to the swimmer/actress Esther Williams.

The Million Dollar Mermaid died yesterday at the age of 91.

Today, some comic characters from the 1910s to 1940s are not widely known.
Uncle Wiggily is one of them.

The elderly rabbit hero first appeared in a comic in 1910 in the daily Newark News.
Uncle Wiggily appeared in this and other newspapers around the country for almost four decades.

By the time his creator (Howard R. Garis) retired in 1947, Uncle Wiggily had appeared in more than 15,000 stories!
Animal Comics adapted many of theses stories into into comic book form.

This week’s My Vintage Video (actually it’s a slideshow) is a tribute to puppeteer Jane Henson who died last month at the age of 78.

She was married to the late Jim Henson.

Jane and Jim worked together on early prototypes of characters who eventually became The Muppets.

Summer has unofficially begun.
Memorial Day weekend kicked off the season off and I’m sure many of you had the chance to take a quick getaway.

But if you didn’t, perhaps road trip plans are in store once summer really heats up.
If you’re planning on making the trip from New York to Florida, then you can start planning your route with this 1950 road map.
It’s the scenic route that takes you along the Atlantic coast.

The Ocean Highway pre-dated the Interstate Highway System.
Many highways and byways from Florida to New York still carry the name.

To discover the Ocean Highway in North Carolina click here.

If Jim Morrison was the voice of The Doors, then Ray Manzarek was its sound.
Ray’s riffs on the organ made the group’s sound unique and instantly recognizable.

Manzarek was my fave Door.
Check out this performance (minus the Lizard King) with Manzarek on vocals.

Liberty magazine was a weekly magazine printed between 1924 and 1950.
It was one of the most popular magazines during its print run with a circulation of 3 million.

Some of the more collectible issues include serials by Dashiell Hammett (Woman in the Dark, 1933), Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan and the Lion Man, 1933/4) and P.G. Woodhouse stories.

A 1939 issue (Sept. 30) is noteworthy for its article on Alcoholics Anonymous, which was the first time the organization gained national coverage.

Regular issues (like the one above) with no noteworthy articles or covers are not as collectible.

If you’re a Star Trek fan (or Trekkie), then you’re thrilled there’s a new movie out — Star Trek Into Darkness.

And if you’re a fan of the original 1966 TV series, then you may be more psyched to see this rare interview with William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy.

Enjoy this week’s My Vintage Video.