CARVEL ICE CREAM

As my 3 daughter's birthdays past by, I happened to notice something on the corner of an empty ice cream cake box. The name "Carvel"; and seeing that opened up a river of memories. 

Though I never even tasted Carvel ice cream when I was a kid, I was bombarded with their TV commercials. My local TV stations like WPHL-17 and Philly 57 played the ads constantly, leaving a lasting impression in my memory, without me even having to taste the product!

Some of the Carvel commercials were like soft core 80's porn. They showed the ice cream in a sexy way, surrounded by Dry Ice steam. It felt like that ice cream was so good that it was sinful. If that wasn't luring enough, I was soon shown how they also had character cakes!

 

Even though I thought the characters were really neat and looked Delicious, I could never make heads or tails out of what Cookie Puss was. I still have no idea. He kind of looks like an upside down lightbulb.

Apparently, Cookie Puss could talk in a annoying alien voice and also had irish pal named, Cookie O' Puss. At least the Cookie O' Puss is polite...he wishes us a good day at the end of that ad. I think Cookie Puss was changed for each holiday, like you see in this Carvel ad for Valentine's day, where Cookie Puss has "love" in his eyes. (He is a HE, isn't HE?) Oh wait, technically that's "Cupid Puss."

The song is a bit creepy, but I would have expected nothing less from Carvel. I mean, Cookie Puss himself is even little creepy. But, not as much as Dumpy the Pumpkin, Carvel's Halloween Cake. 

Oh and we can't forget about Wicky the Witch! Hey, did anyone else ever realize how a lot of these cakes all have the shape as Cookie Puss? 

 Some of the other cakes resemble the shape of Fudgie the Whale also.

<---Fudgie

Um, Santa whale?

TOM CARVEL

Whether they were all the same basic shapes or not, Carvel, you have to admit was pretty awesome. Even the groggy like voice of Tom Carvel and the cheapness of the advertisements you had to love. Even though Carvel is still around, it's different...I guess because I grew up, and everything changed. Even though Tom Carvel moved on to that big Ice Cream paradise in the sky, Cookie Puss is still with us, at least so it says in Carvel's website. http://www.carvel.com/products

IT'S RAINING RETRO!

Since I'm in the middle of a nice little rain storm right now, I decided that should be the theme for today!

Can't have a rain storm with out an umbrella..in this case an eraser one!

Or some might find other means for an umbrella, like Grouchy Smurf right here.













The rain clouds may pass over my town by tomorrow, but this one will always be on Grumpy Bear's stomach.




Kids on a plastic charm even have their umbrella!

Prince, (now known as that symbol we can't pronounce..), knows what color the rain is..

HORROR MOVIE POSTERS FROM THE 80'S

In a recent post, I commented on a Movie Rental store, "Movies to Go", that was in my Hammonton Neighborhood as I grew up. Well, today I'm going to remember some of my favorite horror movie posters that not only were hung up in that store, but movie rental stores everywhere back then. I don't necessarily like all these films, or even seen all of them....these are just the movie posters that I either really liked to look at or that creeped me out when I was a kid. 

"MONKEY
SHINES" 1988-
Most of the posters I seen online for this, have the monkey holding those clapping cymbals...
unfortunately
for me the only poster I seen for this movie was the monkey holding a bloodly blade. Being a kid and seeing that killer monkey on the wall was just like Chris Griffin's fear of his evil monkey. I feel your pain Chris...

These 2 pretty much go together since they look so much the same. I used to love both of these movies as well as the posters, just because I thought the little monsters were so cute! I wanted one as a pet even and had a spot reserved for them in our house. 

"Mother's Day" 1980-
Never seen this one either but the poster made me curious to know what kind of mother she was.

"April Fools Day" 1986-
I liked how everyone in the picture is all happy, having no idea that their hostess is ready to stab them to death.It's funny how I never noticed the noose hair until now. (Mine is long enough to try to do this now too!)

Yup, I managed it.
(Of course, it looks a lot better when the killer hostess isn't fat & pregnant with a baby bouncer in front of her!)

BABIES IN THE 80'S

Who remembers being a baby in the 80's? Me neither. But, I do remember having babies around me when I was a kid, so here's some of the main baby items I remember being around back then.

Disney Poppin Pals:

I remember thinking that Pluto's dial was like my mom's telephone dialer.

Big Mouth Singers:

NO, it's not Steven Tyler., they were made by Hasbro. I had one of these, since I was born in 79.

Hasbro Noah's Ark Bath Toy: I loved this thing, but it disappeared by the time I turned 5 or so. The hippo was my favorite.

F.P Xylo Drum

F.P Roly Poly Chime Ball: I still have mine.....(somewhere?)

Sesame Street Babies

F.P Little Snoopy:  

This was a late 70's thing, but I had one & stretched the spring tail out to twice it's size.

F.P Busy Bath

F.P Camera:

I was more amused with the little flash block on top.

REMEMBERING MRS. DELAURENTIS-(AKA MRS. D)

Well, I was saddened today to find out that someone else from my childhood has past over to the next life.

 Mrs. D, (as we used to call her), and her husband owned a Camp that me and my brother used to go to every summer throughout our childhood. A lot of my greatest childhood memories came from going to that camp so it's no surprise that I ended up sending my kids there also. Mrs. D was the nurse at the Camp and when I turned older, found out that she was the school nurse at my middle school. During that time, I think she got sick of seeing me, especially at school. During Camp, only once in a while I felt like being home in the air conditioner watching Philly 57 instead of being out in the heat so I would go see Mrs. D and fake an illness so I could get sent home.  Her little first aid room at Camp kind of smelled like that medicine that you spray on cuts. She never would send me home though and knew pretty much that I was never sick. One time she pacified me by letting me go upstairs to their 3rd floor, and let me lay down in their bedroom and watch TV...until I felt better. (They lived at the Camp.) The 3rd floor was off limits to us,(after all it was their bedroom and personal space), therefore making it this magical forbidden place in our minds. I still remember the excitement of walking up those steps, knowing that the mystery room would now be seen by my eyes. It just turned out to be a regular nice bedroom but I was still the envy of my  camp friends later that day when I got to rub it in their faces that I was allowed to enter that 3rd floor. Now I think about it, I would have done the same thing to get an annoying hypochondriac kid out of my face. Still, it was a cool thing of her to let me do. 

Camp Tuscaloosa back in the early 80's

When I entered Middle School, I was a complete, emotional wreck. I was thee easiest target to be made fun of back then.(Which is probably why now I'm prone to rip somebody's face off for even glancing at me wrong.) Back then though, whenever I was made fun of, I would remain quiet and try to escape school somehow. And because I knew that it would be impossible for me to climb out a classroom window and run, I did the next logical thing and would go to the nurse's office with a pretend illness. Mrs. D, being the middle school nurse then, pretty much saw me on a regular basis then; sometimes more than twice a day. She usually would just give me a chewable lemon flavored Maalox which I hated and would take my temperature. The first time she took my temperature at school, she came out with these plastic thermometers, that are called "Tempa-Dots."

 I remember looking at those evil little dots on that thing, wondering how the hell I would be able to fake a temperature with that thing. No matter how hard I would suck on that thing, trying to get it hotter, it always came out normal, which I knew it would be from the lack of blue dots on it. If I came back to the nurse's office more than once Mrs. D would make me lay down on a cushioned cot and would send me back to class eventually. I really became so desperate that I taught myself to throw up on my own so I could get sent home. She did send me home at times but I think that she sent me either back to the classroom or back outside so I wouldn't be such a wimp. I can't image what I've would have been like if she had sent me home every time I came to her claiming I was sick again. Maybe I would still be a wimp, scared to speak up for myself. I like to think that because Mrs. D forced me to go back to class, (which she never knew how bad I was ridiculed since I was too ashamed to tell anyone),  that I learned eventually not to let anyone walk all over me and not to take people's judgement comments to heart. Even though I had to learn the street way to defend myself, having kids and teaching them the right way to stick up for yourself thankfully gave me the balance to still stand up for myself and not get a disorderly persons/assault charge in the process. 
Anyway, as I read of Mrs. Dee's passing in the paper today, I remembered her and what a nice lady she was. Even though I hadn't seen her in many years, she had always remained in my childhood memories and always will.
Rest in peace Mrs. D~

OLD PHOTOS OF HAMMONTON/SOUTH JERSEY NEEDED!

Okay, so I'm desperate! I've searched high and low for old pictures of my town and surrounding areas that I want for my own personal memorabilia. It's a real long shot that anyone would have photos of these places, but maybe I'll get lucky and
somebody can help satisfy the love of my childhood I have. (Prepare yourself, there's lots of places listed here, & unless you're familiar with Hammonton NJ &/or South Jersey, all this will just be meaningless.)
*The Old Jamesway In Hammonton: -this was where the Shoprite is now. I think the Jamesway closed around 1993.

*The Old Acme In Hammonton:- this is also in the same plaza,(Peach tree plaza), as Jamesway, on the White Horse Pike. The Acme closed in the late 90's & the building is now split and became 2 seperate businesses: Advance Auto & The Jumbo Buffet.

Now, if it were the 80's and you turned around facing the other side of the street, you would see...
*Ponderosa in Hammonton:- I have such fond memories of eating here. I would love to have a photo of the outside & inside. The Ponderosa, also on the WHP,(white horse pike), is now the Brand Jewelers.

To the left of the this building, was the..
*Old Wendy's in Hammonton:- Yes, there is a Wendy's there now but the one I'm talking about was here:

Where KFC was, but recently closed down.








Matter of fact, I would LOVE to have a picture of the White Horse Pike before Walmart & all those other stores were built. I have some of the Mcdonald's before the 90's, but I'd love to have some more. Here's one of me in the early 80's inside the Hammonton Mcdonald's, at one of my B-day Parties.

 *Old Taco Bell In Hammonton: was on route 30.
At Blueberry Crossing in Hammonton, I'm looking for pictures of:
*Thrift Drug: which is now a Dollar Giant.
*The Old Superfresh:-which is now Goodwill/Canal's.
Really, any pics of Hammonton back in the 1980's I would love to have but here's some of the other main places from there that I always search for:
*Sacco's/Cold Cuts Deli: was on corner of Messina Ave. & 12th Street.(I used 2 ride my bike there everyday!)
*Cumberland Farms: My dad used to work there. It's now a liquor store.
*Abandoned Buildings on West End Ave: there used 2 be 2 little abandoned shacks on West End Avenue.
*Belleuve Avenue: any old pics of it!
*The Red,White, & Blueberry Festival: way back when it used to be held at the old Hammonton Middle School.
Hammonton Park: back in the 80's.
Lady of Mt. Carmel Carnival: back in the 80's. 
*Drake's Cakes: some kind of office is there now. 













*Movies to Go: it was a video rental place & we loved it there! It's some kind of electronic store now.
















*Tony's Custard:on Route 54
Hammonton Elementary School: from 1980-1991.


Here's some other places outside of Hammonton that I've been looking for:
*Mcdonaldland In Berlin,NJ: it was an indoor Mcdonaldland playground on the White horse pike.
*Frank's Custard Stand in Winslow: not sure if this was the name of it or not. My dad was friend's with the owner Frank. It was later named "Custard's last Stand" shortly after. It was on the White Horse Pike in Winslow. I believe this is what it looks like today:

*Sprayed Painted Xmas Trees In Winslow:-
This was on the White Horse Pike and in the late 90's. The rows of cedars are still out there in the field, however years ago there was a red, blue, & yellow cedar that was painted in the back of the row.

*Inside The Hamilton Mall:- around the time it opened. Especially of the Kaybee & Fluff N' Stuff stores.
*The Echelon Mall: The 3rd floor where a restaurant was hidden away.
*The Dairy Queen in Somers Point: on Shore Road. It looks like the building has changed now.

*Circle Pizza In Somers Point:It was somewhere around Circle Liquors.
These are basically the pics I'm going nuts looking for. I'm going to try the local library but this was worth a try too. 
If you have any pics of the above or any of South Jersey in the 80's/early 90's, contact me at: sugarrrsmack@comcast.net or
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1209896832
You'll have good karma for doing something kind for somebody. :)

80'S HAMMONTON SCHOOL FIELD DAYS

  

                  As we come close to the end of another
                  school year, my 2 youngest daughters 

                 recently got to experience their 1st field day, while I was reminded of mine.

Field day was so great not just because we

got to be out of the classroom for entire

day, but because we knew summer was right 

around the corner and the school year was 

about over. So, this is some of what I 

remember doing at my field days,(1986-1990)

at Hammonton Elementary School.

Back then before the school added on, we had

a huge field behind our school where field

day would occur. I can't really remember now if 

all the grades were out there or not. I do

recall having to sit on the grass in a line, 

with a row of orange cones lined up ahead of us.

The gym teachers would basically explain each

race before that whistle blew. 

The first races seemed pretty boring to me.

I would laugh with my friends, daydream, and 

doing cool things with the grass, like try to get

it to make that whistle noise. Some of the first

races were things like regular running races, running backwards, crab walks, kicking a soccer ball around the cones, and pushing a plastic ball around the cones

with one of those old wooden hockey sticks,

that always had some kind of disgusting tape

peeling off of it.           

I really hated those races because it was 

always really hot, and I would have to get

up from that nice cool grass. It's also 

annoying when it's your turn and everyone's

watching you and demanding you to "Go!GO!"

Even the teachers seemed to be like these 

little field day nazis....like it was such a big

accomplishment for their class to win a 

backwards running race. Field day wasn't all

boring to me though. Mid way through is when

we would have the really fun races, like

the 3-legged race. Although, I think I always

used to get dragged away when I was tied to

the most athletic kids in my class. I can't 

remember if we were actually tied up together

or if we shared a potato sack. I know though we did have single potato sack races, which I never really fell! 

(which is 

surprising since I was/am a klutz.) What 

wasn't real fun was those itchy potato sacks

scratching up against my sweaty legs.Then 

there was this beaded jump ropes which we 

would have to jump rope across the field and

back.