The inside scoop on KookyKitsch.com!
Some nuggets of info about the creators of this site:
Hi. My name is Jessica Lindsey and I’m what some might call a collectiholic*
(and aKitschionado )* and multiple (193 but who’s counting?) winner of certificates of authenkitschity
How, you might ask, does one define collectiholic? Well, thanks for asking. First and foremost, what I do is collect, what others do may or may not be hoarding but, that’s not me, obviously.
It all started rather innocently enough, in college, when I sent away for a McGruff the Crime Dog hand puppet. You might know him for his “catchy” or extremely annoying motto "help take a bite out of crime.”
Originally I had ordered it for entertainment purposes - to irritate my roommate who had a distinct dislike (hate is such a strong word) for all things McGruff. Yes, I've got other issues besides my passion for collecting but that’s not important right now. So, as it turned out, I grew rather fond of my Cuddly Crime Dog and decided to keep it for myself. Then, as things tend to do, it escalated. Like the Fixx song, one thing leads to another. Consequently, I’ve got a house full of all kinds of interesting finds from flea markets, garage, rummage, estate sales, swap meets and miscellaneous treasures collected from curbs. My general rule for kitschy finds is: if it's not too expensive, makes me laugh and is most likely in bad taste I'll buy it!
It’s only fair to warn you kitsch kollecting is highly addictive. My husband, Mel Waldorf, tentatively came along with me the first few times, (ah, naïve newlywed bliss) thinking I was a little um, how do we politely say...nuts... which is not entirely off base, and, of course, has little to do with my hobby but now he's hooked and (thanks to the Cornelius Brothers and, of course, Sister Rose, too) it’s too late to turn back now.
As a result, Mel created this website for me. His initial hopes were that I'd be so busy with it that I'd have no time left to acquire even more items with which to decorate our home (1960s ranch style with deep-pile shag carpeting, of course). Poor deluded guy.
Now, our daughter, Sasha, provides another excuse, I mean reason, to buy toys, games, dolls and other fun stuff that I had when I was a kid.
So, you may well ask, what are my favorite things?
These are some of my many interests: Kitsch (obviously), Tchotchkes, The 80's, Pop Tarts, Tiki Bars, Zany antics, TV, Toot-a-loop radios, Alameda, Park Street Antiques and Collectibles, The Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature (SPELL), Lawn Gnomes, GREAT DEALS!!! Bat Boy, Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, Schlock, Spray Butter, non sequiturs, TAB and Fresca Soda, swap meets, Punctuality, Punctuation! Cereal, Roadside attractions, vintage collectibles, Quirkiness, The Brady Bunch, caesuras, K-Tel and Ronco Records, Wink Martindale, Avocado Green, Vegelicious Vegetarian Food, bamboo, Hawaii, thrift stores, Pop Art, Pong, Proper Etiquette, Glockenspiels, onomatopoeia, After School Specials, Cats in costumes, Fluffernutter, Mr. Microphone, Monchichi, Men at Work, Men without Hats, mummenschanz, AMC Pacers, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and much much more!
I particularly enjoy advertising premium dolls, especially the really unusual ones like the Foley's Catheter Doll or the Fleet Ene-man, mid-Century furnishings and art in questionable taste. This includes Keanes and other Big-Eyed styles, gravel art, velvet and paint by numbers. I also collect vintage TVs, mugs that say "I Heart ----," (NY, Being Jewish, My Cat, etc.), W&R Berries statuettes from the 70s with clever things like "I tingle when we mingle," or "There's a word for a person like you - terrific," and food items from foreign countries, especially with packaging in broken "Engrish."
Um, what is "kitsch" anyway?
According to my dictionary, kitsch is "professionally produced art in bad taste." A more detailed definition is "cheap, tawdry, tasteless things, pretentious, junky, but popular. "The word is originally Yiddish, meaning "trash," especially "gaudy trash." While certainly not everything on this site falls into this strict definition of kitsch, it's all kitschy, at least in spirit! So, feel free to e-mail me with your comments (but only if they're good) or suggestions (ditto) Also, if you'd like to rid yourself of any unwanted stuff, that may or may not be kitsch, please let me know and we can talk.
Happy Hunting!
Jessica
*aKitschionados »
http://www.alleewillis.com/museumofkitsch/
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