The Wonderful World of Flea Markets
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 8:57PM By Matt Parrish
(A charming Mary Poppins board game, circa 1964, I bought for Nate)
During this time of year (winter), there isn't a whole lot to report from Southwest Missouri. The area is known for its serene outdoors, beautiful streams, clear lakes and green parks, and while those aspects of the region make this a wonderful place to live, work and raise children...there is another staple to life here that adds a bit of enjoyment for townies: the flea markets.
Flea markets might be second only to Walmart on this side of the tracks and, thus, it is my pleasure to begin a very peculiar, somewhat unique series on my findings of long-forgotten and especially rare Disney merch from the many flea markets I stumble upon.
So, with all that said...I guess I'll admit it, I'm a flea market junkie. On my days off, I peruse up and down isles of "one man's trash is another man's treasure" hoping to find something cool from my childhood that might stir up some nostalgia or a piece of forgotten Disney history I can add to my collection. I mostly stumble upon books and records from Disney publishing, but occassionally I find some really cool stuff...
(Vintage, 1940's, Donald Duck chalk figure - 18 inches)
(Vintage, 1940's, Pinocchio chalk figure - 18 inches)
(You guessed it...1940's Snow White chalk figure)
I love the three 1940's chalk figures above because it's a credit to how forward-thinking Walt and the gang were with regard to merchandising. On episode 55 of Wedway Radio, Nate and I discussed how long the Disney company had been merchandising and it dates back to the days of Walt's work on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon shorts (pre-Snow White).
There is some discrepancy about whether or not the chalk figures were actually produced by the Walt Disney Company, but for our purposes it's really cool to see how far back authentic or replicated merchandise dates.
The 1960's were years full of Disney merchandise and movies and it's safe to say that Mary Poppins probably stood out above the rest. At the beginning of the post you see the Mary Poppins board game. This is an original I found and purchased for Nate at a local flea market. The game board and game pieces are truly unique and reflect the style and artwork of that era.
(1964 Mary Poppins Game board and Bert piece)
Disney Park touring and podcasting is only a small part of the Disney life I lead. From the hum of the Rocketeer theme in my Honda to perusing eBay looking for maps and Disneyland merchandise on my iPhone, it's safe to say I have some Disney "issues," as I'm sure you can relate with.
My final picture is a set of trading cards themed from Walt Disney's Dick Tracy live-action film, released in the summer of 1990. Nate and I have a special place in our hearts for this movie because we saw it on opening night and were hoping for good things. You could also say Disney was hoping for great things, as well, based on the Dick Tracy's Crime Stoppers attraction planned for Disney-MGM Studios which never came to be To tell you the truth, I didn't realize the movie was pummeled with horrible reviews until I was older. During the summer of 1990, this movie was the biggest thing in my life.
(Dick Tracy trading cards, circa 1990)
Well...I expect you will see many cool items in this blog series. I hope you enjoyed the first installment!
-Matt
Reader Comments (2)
Cool stuff! Looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks! I find a lot of eclectic items around town so I thought this would be a cool place to share.