Thompson Family-Life

Designer Crush: David Klein

Every once in a while in life you stumble onto something or someone that just totally and completely inspires you from the inside out. I came across David Klein this week while searching for the perfect print for our guest bath. A hop, skip and a jump later, while browsing vintage posters on Ebay, I decided to look up vintage air travel posters just to see what I'd find. That is when I saw one of Mr. Klein's vintage TWA posters. I kept jumping from one poster to the next, there were SO many! I realized they all had a similar style and sure enough, they were indeed designed by the same artist. 

So I googled to see if those in charge of his estate (he died in 2005) had created a website about him, or if there was a fansite. I found this, and while it's a bit awkward to navigate, I'm so thankful that they took the time to scan/photograph so much of Mr. Klein's work that we otherwise wouldn't get to see! Some images are even of original paintings, drawings and alternate versions of his travel posters that have never seen the light of day until the site. (Although, the image-quality-OCD in me cringes at the poor quality of the photos. It's obvious they used a camera flash as evidenced by the white glow in the center of many of the images! Although, shame on me, beggers can't be choosers.. I just think his work deserves more.)

While David Klein was primarily known for the travel posters he designed for TWA and Orbitz in the 50's and 60's, he also designed window cards for Broadway shows and a little community theater in Brooklyn called The Heights Players, as well as childrens book illustrations (the Alice in Wonderland illustrations are my F A V O R I T E.) 

You know what my 3 Christmas wishes are this year? a) that there be prints available of more of his work b) to have a gallery to visit that is full of his original work and posters so that we can see it in person! and c) find a book that is filled to the brim with his catalog of work. What a dream that would be. Luckily you can find reproductions and originals of his travel poster art on Ebay. And I will hold out hope that those other wishes come true one day. (hey, it doesn't hurt to email the contact person on his website to beg for more - I did ; ) 

I feel really lucky to have stumbled onto David Klein's work this week. It was total serendipity! I don't think I've found an artist that completely encompasses all of the elements I love about these wonderful decades. What a talent he was.

Illustrated: A Rocket Trip to the Moon Vintage Kid's Book

I stumbled onto a couple of really cool vintage kids books over the past month or two, both for a few dollars, one at a thrift and one at an antique mall in Memphis over Thanksgiving. It's called "A Rocket Trip to the Moon" by Geraldine Russell with pictures by Shiba Productions. I had never seen anything like this book! The puppets are pretty amazing. After doing some googling, I realized the photo illustrations were created by the same people that made these amazing books (one of which I found at the thrift store! The Little Mermaid.. that's coming).

Although these puppets look different than a lot of the Shiba Production puppets, that is why I didn't make the connection. These look a bit less kitschy (well, less kitschy is relative.. ha!). I'm not sure how these puppets were contructed, but the faces look like they were possibly made of wood or clay, where as the Fairytale books look like they might be cloth pose dolls, not sure. But the faces are definitely different! These reminded me of Disney for some reason.. or maybe Epcot. ; ) I LOVE the space theme.

Also after googling, I found this post over at Modern Kiddo about the same book with more details if you'd like to read!

 I wonder where these dolls are now? They would be amazing to see in person.

For the love of puppets. And Muppets.

I found these plush Muppet dolls at a thrift a few weeks ago. I just couldn't pass them up. Rather, the Muppets-loving-70's-80's-child that I am couldn't pass them up. They were in perfectly faded colors. I of course immediately washed them once I got home. Plush anything from the thrift is always a bit scary. But they didn't smell to begin with so I think we're safe.

I wasn't sure if the boys would be into them and they were so cheap I could always re-donate them, but they got pretty excited when they saw them. They've never really been into Sesame Street (sadly) but did see the new Muppet Movie and loved it. I really want to watch some of the old Muppet Show episdodes with them. That has been on our to-do list for a while. (note to self: buy the DVD asap!)

Not long after I found the dolls, I thrifted this book. It doesn't get much better than Sesame Street Muppets, don't you think?

We also watched the amazing documentary Being Elmo last month on recommendation from one of Ethan's work friends. Admittedly, we've never been fans of Elmo, but I guarantee you, once you see this film you might change your mind. It's such an incredibly beautiful and inspiring story. A must see.

And speaking of puppets, did you know it's National Day of Puppetry this Saturday? Well it is! I have to brag because we have the amazing Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta. We've been seeing puppet shows there even before we had kids (they have shows for adults as well!) We've actually been puppet fans ever since our first trip to Prague, Czech Republic many, many years ago. They have a rich puppet history there. We have a little marionette collection of our own that we've accumulated over the years and have seen some incredible puppet shows (more like grand performances!) around the world including places like Prague and Salzburg, Austria (at the Salzburg Marionette Theater).

Our Center for Puppetry Arts serves as the American headquarters for UNIMA-USA, the American branch of the international puppetry organization Union International de la Marionnette, the oldest theater organization in the world.

If you're ever in Atlanta, I highly recommend this center. Your kids will LOVE it (and so will you). They have an incredible museum that features long-term exhibitions centered around none other than puppet genius himself, Jim Henson. For me, it never gets old seeing actual puppets from some of my favs like Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock. Many puppets that Jim performed and created including Ernie, Rowlf the Dog, the La Choy Dragon, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef are on display.

(puppet from Labyrinth, photo source)

Gotta love those Fraggles.

They have all kinds of performances you can see and classes you can take. Such an inspiring place.

Are your kids (or you) into puppets? Be sure to check around your city to see if anyone's having a special event for National Day of Puppetry this Saturday. You might be surprised what's happening in your own town!

Illustrated: Busy People & How They Do Their Work, 1968, Continued

A continuation of this book. Today we have Doris Doctor, Zeke Zookeeper, Perry Postman, Carlo Clown & Irma Installer. Enjoy!

Illustrated: Busy People & How They Do Their Work

I found this book on my thrifting trip last week. It was originally printed in 1968 and illustrated by Joe Kaufman. It's awesome! It's a pretty large book and the illustrations are fantastic. This is definitely the best vintage kid's book I've found in a while. I could see scanning some of these pages and enlarging into prints for the wall (... of which I did here. I love using vintage illustrations for wall art!) Having a playroom for the boys is definitely on our wish list for our next home and I think having a big collection of these illustrations hanging together would look so great for a playroom.

This book is so big and I'll be sharing about 60% of it, so I'm going to split it up into a few posts. First up, out of the very "Busy People" Joe teaches us about is Fred Fireman, Peter Policeman and Trudy Teacher...

I'll share more tomorrow! Do any of you have this book?