BS: The World of Kitsch

Subject: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:08 AM

Anyone out there getting a little bored with the old home and want to pitch out a lot of that dusty old worn stuff you've had for decades and start out fresh with furniture and art objects that will just BUST your unbelieving eyes wide open EVERY morning?

Yeah?

I thought so. Well, here's a good start at the World of Kitsch. Dig these incredible inflatable chairs:

chairs to die for!

And that's just the beginning! More incredible stuff awaits you at the World of Kitsch.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:12 AM

Oh...my....Gawd. Spaw, you have to check this out. A kitsch bathroom set fit for a king!

Sit on THIS!

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:16 AM

This is a fantastic idea for a thread, LH.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:24 AM

No coffee table or buffet would be complete without...

flamenco dolls

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:43 AM

You won't believe WHAT I FOUND, LH!!

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Emma B
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:18 AM

as seen on UK fridges -
http://www.mojolondon.co.uk/product.php?sku=93064

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:41 AM

Bobble Head Dolls

- and -

Bobble Head dashboard air freshener

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:45 AM

...and the ultimate in kitsch...

Don Cherry Bobble Head Doll!

( ...sometimes I wish there was an HTML code for plaid)

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 03:52 AM

You have to worry about a furniture site that can't spell chairs.


I'll let you have aluminium because I know Yanks can't say it properly. :)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Morticia
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 07:01 AM

I see your toilet seat and raise you:

http://www.ioffer-needlecraft.com/i/CROCHETED-TOILET-TISSUE-DOLL-COVER-RUFFLY-3878103

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: GUEST,Graham Norton
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 07:20 AM

real men eat Kitsch

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 07:42 AM

Geeeziz kat.....I'm ready to order up a kitchen table!!! What a great throwback!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe that should be "Kitschen Table"

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:37 AM

These (unlike myself) won't leave you in the dark.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 09:37 AM

I confess that I really love vinyl-and-chrome kitchen furniture. When I can finally afford my own place, my plan is to decorate the kitchen in a retro 1940's cowboy theme.

oh, yeah!


I have a serious weakness for silly, silly, vintage kitchen items:

1940's tablecloths

tea towels

kitchen stuff

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Amos
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 09:49 AM

Gawd, some of those things are so UGLY, it's enough to explain the whole 60's revolution all by itself!! I mean, if Eldridge Cleaver's mom had had better taste, the Black Panthers might never have been!! ROTFLMAO!


A

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 09:53 AM

Scoville! I shall now have to go through my linen closet! Had no idea some of the old stuff was worth so much retail!!

Spaw, thought you might like those!

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:20 AM

Are you kidding me? I just put some of my 1980's-era toys on eBay and was deluged with emails begging me to end the auctions early, offering me WAY more than I would ever have paid for the damned things.

My mother's cousin's wife collects salt-n-pepper sets that look like other household items. THe best is a pink roller-type washing machine--the body is a sugar bowl and the rollers are salt & pepper shakers. It's hilarious.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:23 AM

Well any era is also identified to some extent by the smells as well. The sixties might be captured by not only the smell of pot but THIS aroma.   AND THIS ONE was huge then too although the ad says 70's.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:47 AM

LTS - you Brits could pronounce aluminum right if you would remove the extraneous letter i before the um.
-------------------
As for kitsch, of course some of these things are laughable. But much of what is labelled kitsch today was just thought to be cute, pretty or homey when it was bought. Those were the days when people felt free to be light-hearted in their own homes.

I've been looking at books and articles on kitchen re-design lately. I'll wager that you could look at a cartload of them and not find one touch that is cute, pretty or homey. The main thrust is to spend lots of money and impress everybody with how rich and impressive you are. Never mind that the new kitchen probably was bought on credit. The appearance of wealth is everything.

I'd rather have a paid-for kitchen with plaster goldfish on the wall than one of the kitchens in those books.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:49 AM

This was the toothpaste we used back then.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: bobad
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:52 AM

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha. Here's the new Ipana with a brand new flavor, It's dandy for your te-e-e-e-eth.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Pied Piper
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:04 AM

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Pied Piper
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:10 AM

Oops.
There are some very odd Sporrans about, but this is this is by far the tackiest.

PP

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:11 AM

You had toothpaste? We had to steal cement powder to use because we were so poor.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: MMario
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:13 AM

I dunno PP - I think the black rabbit sporan with the little fluffy white tassels hanging off it is pretty kitschy; and so it the sealskin with the network of bells.

Compared to those the animal head is just "rustic"

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Pied Piper
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:17 AM

I suspect the sporrans are being used by people of "flamboyant" disposition and would not be received well in the Oban Piping Competitions.

PP

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:18 AM

What the heck is a musquash? Is that like a muskrat?

I was expecting metallic vinyl or something. That looks nice and utilitarian, although I'm always sort of creeped out by clothing with a face.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Pied Piper
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:21 AM

Maybe it's road-kill hence the squash.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:24 PM

Spaw! Forgot about Jade East! Do you remember "Trouble?" I worked in a drugstore when it came out. I have a round calendar with the tagline "I've got Trouble all day" on it and a different one for each month. Wonder how much it'd go for on ebay! I'd love to smell some Hai Karate, again!!LOL

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: frogprince
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:07 PM

Ladeeez and Gentlemennnn! presenting The Real Live Dead Mexican Frog Band

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Kaleea
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:40 PM

They sell this stuff new? I know lots of people in the midwest USA who still have their 50's chromed tables & chairs.
& they have crocheted thingies over the toilet paper one the commode--a symbol of wealth meaning you are too rich to have an outhouse!
My parents had orange & turquoise naugahyde cone shaped chairs to go with the off white naugahyde couch. Eye poppers, all!

which cologne was this? "Does your cologne get there before you do?"

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 02:22 PM

LH, I'm answering your question from the other thread here.

Bobad mentioned that he thinks the countertop stuff you were looking for the name of is "arborite". I did a Google search and saw that it looks like arborite is the name of a brand of formica. I don't recall ever hearing anything about "arborite" here in the US, and I think it might only be found in Canada. JtS says that Canada has stronger brand protection laws than the US, and he thinks it's likely that while we in the US used the word "formica" for all brands of that type of counter surface, in Canada you had different words for the different brands.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 02:28 PM

Kee-Rist!!! What tacky stuff.

Kat, thanks for finding those awful 50's dining tables! Marvelous.

And, Carol, the Don Cherry Bobble-head doll is probably the last word in its category, although Betty Boop is damn hard to beat.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Alba
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:51 PM

I will confess to owning a Flamenco Doll which I "asked" my Friend to bring me back from Spain last Year..:)

Kitsch is wonderful, some great examples already LH and Kat and Y'all.

May I add my two personal horrors...Handy Chair!
and then this perhaps...Tastless little lamp!

Just makes me want to....find the Bathroom *without the leopard skin affect lid) and shout on Rallllfff,,heehee

Best Wishes
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:34 PM

And of course, you can never go wrong with hula girls (and hula Gumbys), pink flamingos, and plastic religious figurines for the dashboard...

http://www.bobbleheadstore.net/bobble/hula.htm

http://www.bobbleboy.com/images/small_gumby_hula2.gif

http://www.komar.org/halloween/2004/halloween-flamingo.jpg

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/images/Northeast%20Travis%20County/Pink%20Flamingo%20Circle.jpg

http://www.fadtoys.com/dashboard-dazzlers/jesus-dashboard-dazzler.shtml

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 12:24 AM

Well, I bought a pair of real 50's pink flamingos and they look really "natural" among my houseplants! Scroll down!

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 12:52 AM

No thread on kitsch would be complete without mention of Vladimir T.

The only artist who sold more prints than Picasso. (And painted them all himself.)

Everyone had at least one old auntie who had one over the mantle.

John

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Purple Foxx
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 01:42 AM

I'd forgotten about him John.
I'd swear that in the seventies about 50% of all single female retirees had a print of his Balinese Dancer on display somewhere in their house.
One of my favourite quotes on the subject of kitsch was from a magazine article on Tina Turner's home in which the reporter's comment on the interior decor was "I didn't think it was possible to spend a million Dollars at Woolworths."

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 10:24 PM

Here is the ugliest lamp contest winner of 1998:

Wow...

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 10:50 PM

That's one ugly lamp. It's even vaguely disturbing.


Here's a dancing hula lamp...

http://www.wahasurfshop.com/waha.asp?territory=hula&seq=99&subseq=


More great kitsch...

http://www.buypalmtrees.com/cacti-main.php

http://www.buypalmtrees.com/classicnight-main.php


Christmas kitsch...

http://www.uglychristmaslights.com/2005_collection/juggling_monkeys.html


Kitsch for the kids...

http://www.timewarptoys.com/mrmixit.jpg


Kitsch for your pets...

http://www.petdiscounters.com/files/images/d_5379.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 11:02 PM

I don't care if it rains or freezes...Catholic kitsch...

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 12:55 AM

P. Foxx -

Actually at the Tretchikoff front page you'll find:

"What would you say was the biggest selling art print in the world...ever?

"The Mona Lisa"? "Sunflowers"? "The Scream"?

The answer is none of the above. It is in fact, the picture on the left, "The Chinese Girl" by Vladimir Tretchikoff."


An unverified claim, but quite plausible. I've heard Picasso did come in second for "most prints sold" but Tretch moved the merchandise. Some of his old $15 prints are going for $300 or so recently 'mongst the "kitsch kollectors." But even his home town won't put his stuff in their art museum(s).

Several other artists of the same era produced well known works, but hardly anyone remembers their names. Remember the "big-eyed children?"

John

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: Purple Foxx
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 01:18 AM

Yes I do remember the big eyed children John.
Also lots of creepy clowns & that one with the female nude sitting on one wing of a swan & a male nude standing on the other.
There's no accounting for taste.
Or the lack of it.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 01:28 AM

Although none of those "artists" could really be as bad as the stuff my parents bought at the store where they got our furniture (mostly "Danish Modern" knock-offs). It looked like it was painted with a palette brush and a couple of tubes of colored toothpaste applied like string on top. I have no idea who painted them, but they were definitely in the category of "furniture". And definitely kitsch.

Ironically, Picasso once said that his goal was to make the ugliest paintings in the world. Surely that could qualify him and his work as kitsch.

Subject: RE: BS: The World of Kitsch
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 01:33 AM

Correction:

It looked like it was painted with a palette knife (etc.)