Halloween, 1969

Here’s a great photo & memory from Mr. Nathan J. Foulds of Franklin, N.J.

My Mom always hand-made theme-based costumes for my brothers and I to march in the annual Halloween parade in Packanack Lake, a close knit lake community that is part of Wayne Township, N.J. It had population then of about 45,000.

This one was Halloween 1969 and won for best original costume. I was also a horse, a Gerald Ford ‘WIN’ (Whip Inflation Now) button, the Michelin (Tire) Man, Cousin IT (The Adamm’s Family), a flagpole w/American flag (she even asked for and got permission to hand-make the American flag).

Thanks Mr. Foulds!

The Great Reddy Kilowatt

Lots of great old images in this Creativepro.com article from earlier this year.

Electricity once had a perky little mascot, Reddy Kilowatt, with a light bulb nose, plugs for ears, and a body made of lightning bolts…

It’s hard to imagine when people didn’t take electricity for granted, yet in the beginning electricity was restricted primarily to lighting. And as a utility, it was not well understood. People could wrap their heads around the concept of gas, but electricity remained a mystery.

Reddy the Park Ranger?

Wow, look at this hand-painted Reddy all decked out in park ranger clothes talking about absolutely nothing to do with electricity. Weird.

Remember this guy? I found him at Sooner Lake in northern Oklahoma on my way to Kansas. Sooner Lake is a power plant lake for Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s coal fired power plant. He looks a little different though with the clothes and a badge. He still has the light bulb nose, electric plug ears, and those strange shoes.

Thanks Yogi’s Den!