Prototype Playboy Femlin

In my previous post I showed you all the set of four fabulous Femlins from the Playboy Club in 1961.  As some of you may know, Playboy created a few additional models for use on the cover of the magazine, but were never commercially available.  What I have today is a prototype of a Femlin, either for one of these cover shoots or perhaps for an unproduced commercial figure.  We may never know exactly what its intended use was, but it sure is cool to look at.

Playboy Femlins

So, yeah, it's been a hundred years since I posted anything here, but as with all else, life finds a way - in this case to derail all my various past-times.  But, fear not, I aim to post here periodically when I can, and I can think of no better topic with which to re-start than Playboy Femlins.

Full Set of Playboy Femlins - Collection of the author

The Femlin (female gremlin) was created by LeRoy Neiman and first appeared in Playboy in August 1955 on the jokes page.  She was never not in an issue after that.  These figures however appeared much later.  When Hef started the Playboy Clubs in February 1960, these figures were available in the gift shop, and later by mail order from the magazine.

Kneeling Femlin with Playboy Club Key - Collection of the author

 There appear to be two different editions of these elusive little figures, presumably because of production problems.  One variation generally tends to retain its bright white skin tone, but is very prone to crazing.  These appear to be painted wood or some other material.  The other variation is almost always found with a more ivory appearance, and these seem to be some sort of resin-like material.  These do not typically have the crazing problem the other variation has.

Prone Femlin - Collection of the author

As you might expect, fingers, toes, and heels are very fragile and are many times found repaired or missing altogether.  All except the standing figure are very stable and have no issues sitting quietly on a shelf, but the standing figure more often than not is slightly off-balance and needs a little shimming to remain stable.

Reclining Femlin - Collection of the author

These are really rare.  In the 30 years that I've been collecting I've seem probably less than 10 of each, with the standing one being by far the rarest.  The kneeling one is by far the most common, probably because that pose was the unofficial emblem of the Playboy Club and I'm sure she far out-sold the others.

Standing Femlin - Collection of the Author

In 2002 Playboy issued a commemorative Femlin figure, in her classic pose sitting in a champagne glass.  While not as whimsical as the original figures, the addition of the prop is classic Femlin.

Disneyland Hotel Room Service Fold Out Menu

The last of my menus :-(  This is a really weird one, but weird = = cool.  A Disneyland Hotel room service menu.  Now that in and of itself would not be that interesting, except for the format:  It is a penta-fold menu, folded 5 times accordion-style, making this thing huge at 15x27 fully unfolded!  I love the art of Goofy with winged feet delivering your meal.

I could probably date this better than 1960s or 1970s based on the list of other restaurants at the hotel, but I don't have any ready reference material to do it, so if anyone can date this for me, feel free!

The list of items available is quite impressive, I'd love to see bottles of Disneyland Hotel Label scotch, bourbon, gin, vodka and rum.  Bet there's no character art on those labels.

eBay listing

Disneyland Hills Brother's Coffee House Menu

This is a great vintage Disneyland menu, from the Hills Brother's Coffee House.  I don't really have any memories of this restaurant, we probably never went there when I was a kid since we stayed at the hotel and would generally have breakfast there.

Great red color on this menu, kinda like the Carnation menu from earlier, but this has a full page ad for Hills Bros coffee inside since there was nowhere near enough menu items to fill up the inside.  Again, this is a full sized menu, approximately 8x10, so larger than the Carnation menu.

It is difficult to date this menu with any accuracy, but at least we can ballpark it by the map of Disneyland on the back.  The monorail is present, but we still have old Tomorrowland, so sometime between 1959-1966 would be my guess.

eBay listing

Disneyland Carnation Ice Cream Parlor Full Size Menu 1960

Over the years I've managed to acquire a bunch of Disney menus, both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studio.  I have decided to part with them, but thought I'd post them all here over the next few days in advance of their posting to eBay.  Get 'em while they're hot!

First up is this classic Disneyland menu for the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor.  You usually find the small, postcard size menus, but this is the full size menu you'd get at table service.  The cover has a date of 1955, but inside there is a numeric code that seems to imply that this particular menu is from 1960.  I love the prices on these old menus.

If you'd like to bid on this or any others, you can find them all here.

Merry Christmas! A Vintage Foil Tree Photo

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I promise to start posting more in the new year to this blog, especially since our kitchen remodel was finally completed Wednesday!  Just in time for making a huge mess for Christmas dinner.