Cinzano?

Who could say no to M. Jean Marais?

Beach Volleyball...

Do you like volleyball? Look at the folks in this Bacardi advert- from 1979. They've given up on the volleyball and are about to succumb to alcoholism. If you've ever spent an hour in 40 degree heat trying to batter an old football over a saggy net, spending most of the time falling on your ass blinded by sweat and chewing sand you'll understand the temptation to reach for the bottle.
When in 1895 William G. Morgan of Holyoke (Mas.) YMCA devised Mintonette as an indoor game to rival basketball, it was rather devoid of glamour. Beach volleyball evolved in the 1920's amongst the surfers of Hawaii, soon spreading to California. (For more on the history of beach volleyball...)

This picture shows an early beach volleyball gathering in Hawaii:

Here we see actress and model Greta Thyssen with Gene Selznick and Bernie Holtzman, winners of the 1957 state beach open, Santa Monica, California.

Impromptu games resembling volleyball were a feature of Kartoshka family vacations back in the day.

In the above pic are a very young Pa Kartoshka, Maria - Bethania, one of Uncle Carlos' innumerable 'step children', and the man himself- Carlos Alberto Dos Santos, aka Uncle Carlos.
These days of course, the beach volleyball is notable for the way in which male fans turn out in large numbers purely to show their appreciation for the athletic prowess of the female competitors:

Advice to girls...

This reminds me of Uncle Carlos- he said his third wife left him when he complained that her stockings were wrinkled. How was I to know she wasn't wearing stockings? he mused...

Summer...

Well, here in the northern hemisphere summer is well and truly upon us. João is brushing down his summer wardrobe ready for the pleasures of the months ahead...

I'll hopefully get enough time away from my desk to catch some rays poolside with Mrs K.

The only problem with these snappy shorts- where do you keep your pipe? And what's the appeal of the poolboy?

Seriously though, It would be nice to see a return to the age of elegance in swimwear.

Is Wisconsin the flattest state in the Union?

Fiat 500

Designed by Dante Giacosa , The Fiat 500 (cinquecento)was launched as the Nuova 500 in July 1957. Measuring only 3 meters in length, and powered by a 479 cc two-cylinder, air-cooled engine, the 500 is considered one of the first city cars.

In 2007 Fiat launched a similar looking, retro-styled car, the Fiat Nuova 500.

Mrs Kartoshka's birthday is coming soon- all contributions in US dollars please...

Stowaway...

The blue-and-silver Walkman TPS-L2 (the first commercially available Walkman) went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979.

This magazine ad comes from June 1980 (in the UK the Walkman was known as The Stowaway).It was not cheap (around £100, with a second set of headphones costing around £15 extra- the average weekly wage in the UK in 1980 was £110)

Курите Сигареты

Good advice for the people of The Soviet Union! Smoke Cigarettes suggests the poster.

ЗАЗ-968 A

The ЗАЗ-968 Zaporozhets was produced from 1972 to 1980. Here is the charming ЗАЗ-968A, featuring a smaller engine and intended, it would seem, for the female driver.
Note: Since I wrote the above Mrs Kartoshka has informed me that the ЗАЗ-968 A was usually the car of older people, and that women drivers in the Soviet Union were not a common sight outside of Moscow and Leningrad.

Малыш...

Fondly remebered in the former Soviet Union as a 'peoples' car' the ЗАЗ-966 was produced from 1966-1974 in Soviet Ukraine at Запорізький автомобілебудівельний завод(Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant).

Closely resembling the Hillman Imp and the NSU Prinz 4, the rear mounted engine gave rise to many jokes:

The factory that produces Zaporozhets has started to produce Televisions. The TV's are fine, work like normal ones, but the screens are at the back...

Cowboys # 2

The second in our series was an actual real life cowboy, Mr Clarence Hailey Long, Jr (1910-1978). C.H. Long tasted fame in 1949, when LIFE magazine published a series of Leonard McCombe photographs on ranching in the American West.
The series inspired the folks at Philip Morris & Co., who were looking for a new image for their Marlboro cigarettes, originally intrioduced in 1924 as a womens' brand. The masculine image of the ruggedly handsome cowboy was seen as being the ideal way to appeal to male smokers.
In 1955 Mr. Long was offered a $20,000 annual contract to advertise beer. He gained the admiration of his friends in the Baptist Church by declining the deal.
It is worth noting that Mr Long, like most cowboys, smoked hand rolled cigarettes.

Advice to girls...

Moderation!

Auto seat covers...

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment.

Mark Twain.

But look at these seat covers!

I would buy a car merely to be able to have these seat covers.
Can you imagine how matted and stained they would get? I would think that they would moult, leaving staticky fibres clinging to your clothes, before they eventually became threadbare and smooth...

Winter...

Here in the northern hemisphere winter is creeping up on us. When I feel that chill in the air and notice that it's still dark when the old alarm clock rings there is one thing that consoles me. I know that Mrs Kartoshka will soon be reaching for her kniting needles...

Cassettes...

What a world that was.
Warbling, fuzzy music, flimsy cases.
Joao Kartoshka has lost count of the number of ‘tapes’ that he has had over the years- all lost now, of course, gradually consigned to the garbage as they turned up in drawers or in the backs of cupboards. A record- now you’d never throw a record in the trash, would you? Regardless of how damaged it was it always seemed to retain some inherent worth as an object- but a cassette. Even the pre recorded ones seemed destined for a short life- the ghastly miniscule sleeve art, unreadable text, the discouraging loose shuck of the spools in the casing and the very fragility of the ribbon of magnetic tape itself. When I form a mental picture of a cassette it is unlabelled, lying discarded on the floor of a dirty car.
And of course the cassette players, from these early surreal toothy pianos to the silver ghetto blasters of the nineties, always with their promises of superior sound. It is tempting to condemn the cassette as ultimately being music packaged for people who did not have much space in their lives for music, whose tastes were fleetingly transient, and who just didn’t care about quality…
On the other hand cassettes might be viewed as the great populist format, giving us our first entree into music piracy- home taping, large collections created at low cost, mass production and distribution of material, easily portable. For sharing. And of course, a means of recording demos without access to a studio. In other words, despite their failings when it came to quality and durability, indispensible.

Travelling...

I'm not going to post any holiday snaps here, but just take a look at this elegant gentleman:


Joao Kartoshka wishes that he could say that he had cut such a figure as he dragged himself sweatily through airports and railway stations.
If wishes were horses we would all be riders, my friends...

Sun Glasses...

More than 50% of adults in the USA wear glasses. Apparently in some countries the % is higher- South Korea= 80%! Joao Kartoshka wears glasses. the only time this bothers him is during the summer, when the sunglasses come out.

The problem with contact lenses is that you just can't sleep whenever you want to, and there's nothing as good as falling asleep in the afternoon. So Joao sticks with the spectacles. Of course, the best bet is to get light sensitive lenses- otherwise the only option is prescription sunglasses and you have to carry a pair of plan spectacles as well, for when you go indoors (unless you want to look like Roy Orbison).

In fantasy world Joao would have 20:20 vision and just pop on a pair of sun glasses whenever the fancy took him.Look at this Ray Ban ad from 1979- they reckon everybody needs six differebnt types of 'sunglass'... well, they would, wouldn't they?

Remember Richard Davalos in Cool Hand Luke? Loved those glasses.

Car Stereo...

Remarkable, the Chrysler Corporation introduce a record player for the car!
I found a list of the curious discs that were produced especially for this gadget, and a good write up on this and similar innovations.
I have no idea how well this hi-fi phonograph would have performed on the dirt tracks of yore.
Maybe someone out there remembers listening to a Highway ?

Home entertainment...

All that was once directly lived has become mere representation- Guy Debord.



I want that radiogram, I want the record that they are listening to, I want my girlfriend to look this happy.
Maybe she is dreaming of a life away from this sterile home, away from her radiogram obsessed boyfriend and his difficult jazz?
She wants the wind in her hair, the sand between her toes and Yeh Yeh music…
Perhaps she is dreaming of Kartoshka?

Mood Hat...

Joao Kartoshka likes a hat.
You know that business about JFK killing off hat wearing? It’s an urban myth. JFK’s hatlessness merely reflected a trend– and he did wear the traditional topper to his inauguration.
But look at this ad:



Joao Kartoshka is intrigued by the notion of shaping one’s hat to fit one’s mood! Imagine giving your old fellow a wide berth just because you notice where the creases are in his hat? What about sufferers of affective disorders? Surely their Dobb’s Double Life would wear out in no time!

Home entertainment...

Do you remember those lengthy instructions that were printed on the inner sleeves of certain 'gramaphone records'? Store vertically, away from light and heat, always return the record to its sleeve... Looks like the owners of this gorgeous Motorola have disregarded all the advice about care of their records...