Thrift Stuff

A few items we picked up at the thrift yesterday.

 Mirro Cooky and Pastry Press

I already have a cookie press so why pick up another? Because it has attachments to make lady fingers, eclairs, and cream puffs! It also came with a handy wooden organizing rack!

Family Affair Fun Box

My scope of interest does not include much 1970's, so when I first saw this Family Affair Fun Box I was just excited by the cute graphics and intrigued by the cardboard stitching card sporting a creepy granny doll wearing glasses. I didn't really put it together that it was a television show until looking through the included coloring book.  I have never seen the show so I am going to pretend that the doll, "Mrs. Beasley", comes to life every episode and kills people, leaving the "Family Affair" being to cover the tracks of her murderous exploits. 

Scotch Kooler Ice Chest and Thermos

I was really excited when I came across this ice chest!  I have seen it many times in vintage cookbooks with happy families gathered around admiring it's chilling capabilities!  This one came with the clear plastic tray insert as seen below in the ad. The thermos is from 1971.  I like the spoon and fork modern graphic, more of a 1960's inspiration.  The brown and yellow color is an introduction of more to come from the 1970's. 

The underside of the kooler lid:

Here are a few vintage ads featuring the Kooler in action:

Even Bob Hope approves!

Here is a bit of history about the kooler. I love when a thrift store trip turns into a learning experience:

 In 1951, Hamilton Metal Products hired New York designer Petra Cabot to create a cylindrical cooler and launch a line of products that rolled out of Hamilton until 1970.

From 1938 until 1950, Cabot had worked for the designer Russel Wright, who helped bring modernist design to mass-produced home products. She also gained some fame as a painter and part of a vibrant arts scene in Woodstock, N.Y.

With a distinctive red, black and yellow plaid -- based on the traditional tartan of the Bodie clan -- the Skotch Kooler and related products were indispensable items for several generations of picnickers.

"I decided to make the best-looking bucket anybody ever saw," Cabot once said, according to her New York Times obituary.

The container held four gallons and had three layers of insulation: one of fiberglass, one of inert air and a heat-reflecting outer surface. Knockoff versions without the signature were made as far away as Thailand, and Hamilton Metal Products created variations on the structure but without the distinctive plaid.

Long before the era of celebrity designers, part of Cabot's deal with Hamilton Metal Products was that her name would appear on every item, which eventually included charcoal grills, insulated drink jugs, reusable ice cans and other leisure items.

Cabot died on Oct. 13, 2006 at her home in Woodstock, N.Y., at age 99.

But her design lives on, a cool icon of mid-century America.