Anti-Bullying Message from 1949

Looking at the headlines since the election of President-elect Trump, the message is sadly every bit as relevant today as it was in 1949.

"Money" Big Jim Buchanan (1954)

The Love Song of The 1%

"Big Jim" Buchanan was an alter ego of Paul Frees, a legendary voice over actor, best known for his voices in several unforgettable Rankin-Bass cartoon and stop-animation holiday specials of the 1960s and '70s.

A Child's Garden Of Grass: A Pre-Legalization Comedy (Elektra, 1971)

Enjoy!

The Ohio Art Mighty Tiny Record Player

Is it just me or does the girl on the box of the Ohio Art Mighty Tiny Record Player bear an eerie resemblance to comic strip character Nancy? 

In 1970, Ohio Art (famous for the Etch-A-Sketch) invented a new toy phonograph, named the Mighty Tiny Record Player, hailed as the "World's Smallest Record Player".

The Mighty Tiny used tiny 2" inch records custom recorded and manufactured for the Ohio Art Company specifically for the Mighty Tiny. The records had a playing time of a few seconds each.

The records were so small, there was no room for printed or etched information on the discs. There was only a number on them and you had to match them to a corresponding number on the disc's sleeve.

The playing system was essentially a steel needle attached to a thin steel bar, which vibrated against a thin inverted plastic dome, which acted as the diaphragm/speaker. There was no volume control. Power was activated when the record placed on the turntable and the lid was closed. Playing acoustically with no electronic amplification, there was no earphone jack.

The unit came with three randomly selected records.

The turntable was powered by one 'AA' battery and had an adjustable speed control. But the actual speed of the cheap motor was unknown (it's believed somewhere around 100 RPM!) and it was never constant and 'fluttered'. But hey, it was a cheap toy for little kids. Not a Bang & Olufsen audiophile turntable.

Another model of the Mighty Tiny was called the Stereoper, which resembled a console stereo. Contrary to what the name may insinuate, it did not reproduce "stereo" sound. There were also little storage cases for your Mighty Tiny record collection. 

The recordings themselves sold in packs of four. I believe there were somewhere around 60 titles (though the actual number is unknown.) None of these recordings have ever appeared in any other conventional format.