Crown Cork Bottle Opener

We take many things for granted but everything had to be invented by someone at some point in the past. Drinking a can of Guinness yesterday gave me pause for thought. Ring pulls stay connected to the can once pulled these days. Not that many years ago the ring pulls came off the cans when pulled and for many years caused loads of unnecessary litter. The Ring Pull was invented as recently as 1959 by Ermal Fraze and didn’t become affixed to the cans until 1990.

Before beer came in cans it came in bottles. Before supermarkets cornered the beer and wine market and we all decided to stay at home in the evenings drinking and not driving there were pubs everywhere. And there used to be a thriving Off-License on every street corner. They did a roaring trade in cigarettes and bottles of beer from the turn of the century until the 1970s as they were the only shops open in the evenings in those days. Bottled beer originally used corks until William Painter’s (1838 -1906) wonderful invention of the bottle cap (and it’s specialised opener). He called this The Crown Cork Bottle Cap and his company in Baltimore USA became The Crown Cork and Seal Company. The beer bottle cap is likely the first really successful disposable product ever invented. If you are careful you can put a cap back on to keep the beer fresh, but it is unlikely to still be a liquid-tight seal. The design works so well on bottles it is still used unchanged today.

I don’t own any valuable family heirlooms but this bottle opener has survived a few generations and has been retired to the back of the cutlery drawer at Magic Robot Towers. It is probably 100 years old and as it has no moving parts it still works! And you can still buy these antiques on eBay for £5 or less. There are loads for sale. Countless millions must have been manufactured.

How Many??

There are a few comics that have racked up impressive numbers over the years. The Beano has been published weekly (mostly) since 1938 and reached its 4000th issue five years ago. DCT’s Commando began in 1961 but thanks to a schedule of 8 issues a month is now well past No 5700. In the US both Detective and Action Comics have exceeded No 1000. Surprisingly, Super Team Family is heading towards No 2000.

I’ve spent the last year or so adding my comic collection into the Whakoom database. Most titles I will never complete full runs having neither the time, money or interest in doing so. I do appear to have every Doom Patrol comic and every She-Hulk comic and many others that feature those characters on the covers. I don’t intend to collect the full run of Super Team Family but there are a few copies I’m currently looking for.

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Nuff Said 99

Sensationell!

Here is another comic from 25 years ago from Panini Deutchland that ought to be but isn’t extra dickes. The original annual had the main story plus ten (count ’em) shorter sf/fantasy reprints. This comic only has just the main story within its 28 pages including the covers, but it does squeeze in a middle page pinup and an interesting 6 page text article.

To paraphrase the first paragraph which says:-

“You have just read a very special story. The Strange Tales Annual 2 that it comes from appeared in July 1963 at the same time as Amazing Spider-Man No 3 so it is the 4th or 5th ever appearance of Spider-Man. Even among die-hard Marvel fans there are only a few who are aware of this extremely rare, hardly ever reprinted issue. But you know all about it now, you lucky ones.”

Which I suppose would be true for die-hard Marvel fans living in Germany. We often forget what an international phenomenon Marvel characters already were even before those 33 and counting movies that have been released worldwide over the last twenty years or so.

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

All I want in life’s a little bit of love
To take the pain away
Getting strong today
A giant step each day
All I want in life’s a little bit of love
To take the pain away
Getting strong today
A giant step each day
I’ve been told
Only fools rush in
Only fools rush in
But I don’t believe
I don’t believe
I could still fall in love with you

I will love you till I die
And I will love you all the time
So please put your sweet hand in mine
And float in space and drift in time
All the time until I die
We’ll float in space, just you and I
And I will love you till I die
And I will love you all the time
So please put your sweet hand in mine
And float in space and drift in time
All the time until I die
We’ll float in space, just you and I

Baby I love you today
I guess that’s what you want
And I don’t know where we are all going
Life don’t get stranger than this
It is what it is
And I don’t know where we are all going

I will love you till I die
And I will love you all the time
Everything happens today
And we’re out here in space
And I don’t know where we are all going
Baby I love you today
I guess that’s what you want
And I don’t know where we are all going

Incredible…Amazing…Unbelievable!

The UK comic Buster began in 1960. So in 1985 they decided to celebrate 25 years by sellotaping a free gift to the front covers.

Did the envelope really contain deadly snake eggs? Were the kids confronted with this dangerous free gift really meant to place these snake eggs in the fridge to prevent them hatching??? Surely, everyone would be curious enough to tear open the envelope to see what was inside?? Here is a (lucky for me) empty envelope.

Incredible…Amazing…Unbelievable! part two

So there were no deadly snake eggs in the envelope. I believe Rattlesnakes incubate their eggs internally and give birth to live young. The instructions explain how to play a trick on your friends or relatives.

Actually it is quite clever despite being so basic. A bit of red plastic that just about looks like a snake and two elastic bands wrapped around a metal washer. When anyone attempted to open the envelope the washer would spin round as the elastic bands unwound. Although there aren’t any deadly snake eggs in the envelope I am still going to keep my envelope in the fridge as instructed. You can’t be too careful!

Nuff Said 98

Talented Kirbys

Recently, someone elsewhere on the Interweb re-discovered the forgotten fact that back in the 1960s Jack Kirby’s daughter was part of a pop group right here in the UK. Proof was provided by a small article found within Petticoat magazine. The group was called She Trinity. Despite the group’s name the three americans/canadians were soon joined by one or two english girls. Susan Kirby played rhythm guitar and wrote at least one song. Either they were short of material or the song was good as it featured on the “b” side of two consecutive singles. Mickie Most is listed as Producer and that was a period when much of the music he was involved with did well. She Trinity existed/toured from 1966 until 1970. Susan Kirby appears to have left the group in 1967 and a variety of others came and went too. At one point the gorgeous Beryl Marsden was their lead singer. Alas, despite her talent, she had no more chart success with this band than she did as a solo singer.

So the “novelty” title of one of their singles was “The man who took the valise off the floor of the Grand Central Station at noon”. Not something you can easily forget. In fact I thought I may well own a copy! All my singles have been relegated to three large boxes, never to be played again. But the boxes were accessible so after an hour of nostalgically flicking through hundreds I eventually found Columbia DB7959. Sure enough, the “B” side was “Wild Flower” credited to (Kirby).

So here are two UK items produced by the talented Kirbys meeting each other for perhaps the first time?!?

Climb that Tree

She Trinity released this freakbeat monster of a tune as a “B” side. Sue Kirby wasn’t in this lineup.

Time It’s Time

Nobody knows how long
Rustling leaves unrhyme
Lullaby breeze unsung
Babel of dreams unwinds in memory
As bad, as bad becomes
It’s not a part of you
And love is only sleeping
Wrapped in neglect
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live through the pain
Time it’s time to live, now that it’s all over
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live through the pain
Now that it’s over, now that it’s over
Kissing a gray garden
Shadow and shade
Sunlight treads softly
As bad as bad becomes
It’s not a part of you
Contempt is ever breeding
Trapped in itself
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live through the pain
Time it’s time to live, now that it’s all over
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live through the pain
Now that it’s over, now that it’s over, now that it’s over
As bad as bad becomes
It’s not a part of you
The wicked and the weeping
Ramble or run
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live for living
Time it’s time to live, now that it’s all over
Time it’s time to live
Time it’s time to live for living
Time it’s time to live, now that it’s all over
Now that it’s over, now that it’s over
Now that it’s over, now that it’s over
Rest your head

Nuff Said 97