The PopCulteer
June 21, 2024
Last weekend saw your humble blogger head to Wheeling for The 2024 Marx Toy Show at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum. A wonderful time was had by all, and today I have the first batch of photos to prove it.
I have to warn you, I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I usually do. I wanted to take a year and enjoy the show as a civilian, but I do have plenty of pics for a photo essay today, and one to accompany the video I’m working on for the event on Sunday. Our local heat wave factored a bit in my smaller selection of photos, too.
The guest of honor this year was Jay Horowitz, the toy executive and author who is the custodian of the Marx Toy molds (among many others). That’s him at the right, beginning his discussion of how he came to own so many incredible toy assets.
There will indeed be a fast-paced video in PopCult this Sunday, so you can get a taste of how much fun this show is. I also found out on this trip that I’ll be heading back to Kruger Street next month for a special MEGO event, about which you will read in the coming weeks.
But now, it’s the Marx Toy Show, in photos…
An aerial view of the registration table, courtesy of a well-placed staircase.
Folks were pouring into the train room to check out the vintage tin-train goodness.
Johnny West collector and wheeler-dealer Dave Roth in the foreground, toy designer Greg Autore in the background.
Tom Heaton’s display after I bought one of his custom figures with custom box.
Jay Horowitz catching up with Francis Turner, the man behind the (late, lamented) Marx Toy Musuem
Jay and Francis posing for the camera (I need to email this photo to those guys).
Part of Jay’s table, filled with product samples and vintage glossies.
A closer look at those glossies.
Jay during the Q&A following his very entertaining talk about how he acquired the Marx molds.
Mark Hegeman had this amazing one-of-a-kind item, the actual sculpted figures from which the molds were struck.
More cool Marx items were lurking in the lobby upstairs.
There were cool playsets everywhere you turned.
I’m not kidding about the playsets.
A small herd of Pancho ponies.
Even more playset coolness.
At the risk of repeating myself…
A wide shot of the “Johnny Room.”
Not only horses, but also some doggies got along.
We will have a few more photos plus video from the Marx show Sunday, so prepare for more fun.
Melting MIRRORBALL And Revisiting A Milestone On The AIR
Friday afternoon Mel Larch returns with a brand-new MIRRORBALL! You can hear this and more cool music Friday on The AIR. The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.
Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, inspired by this week’s weather, Mel Larch devotes her hour of Disco to songs and artists who start out hot, but then cool down, way down, by the end of the show.
It’s a cool(ing) collection of Disco goodies, to get MIRRORBALL’s listeners moving, grooving and staying out of the heat .
Check out the playlist…
MIRRORBALL 102
Bill Summer & Summers Heat “Straight to The Bank”
JB’s “Hot Pants Road”
Mary Wilson “Red Hot”
Jimmy “Bo” Horne “You Get Me Hot”
Johnny & Michael Hill “Too Hot To Stop”
SOFTTOUCH “She’s Hot (Cool Cat)”
Frankie Knuckles “It’s A Cold World”
Boney M “Daddy Cool”
Jerry Butler “(I’m Just Thinking About) Cooling Out”
Earth Wind & Fire “Snow”
Black Ice “Shakedown”
You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM
At 3 PM, it’s encore time on the Big Electric Cat time as Sydney Fileen revisits her 100th episode from a year-and-a-half ago.
After opening show with her namesake song, Adrian Belew’s “Big Electric Cat,” Sydney assembles a playlist of “Quintessential New Wave Music” for her listeners.
As Sydney explains, “Some of these songs were major hits that defined the era, while others are deep album cuts by the artists who defined the genre. Either way, it’s going to be very New Wave-y here.”
Sydney don’t lie, as you can see from this playlist…
BEC 100
Adrian Belew “Big Electric Cat”
Toyah “Good Morning Universe”
XTC “Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)”
The Police “Spirits In The Material World”
Madness “Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day)”
Eurythmics “Right By Your Side”
Bronski Beat “Hit That Perfect Beat (12” Mix)”
Thompson Twins “Sister of Mercy”
Elvis Costello “Busy Bodies”
DEVO “Girl U Want”
Lene Lovich “Angels”
Klaus Nomi “Total Eclipse”
Mike Batt “Love Makes You Crazy”
Hazel O’Connor “Decadent Days”
The B-52s “Party Out Of Bounds”
Joe Jackson “Steppin’ Out”
Kate Bush “Army Dreamers”
ABC “Poison Arrow”
Ultravox “We Stand Alone”
Nina Hagen “Blood In The Streets”
Adam & The Ants “Killer In The House”
Pretenders “Birds of Paradise”
New Musik “Science”
Missing Persons “Tears”
Split Enz “I Got You”
Siouxsie and The Banshees “Take Me Back”
The Clash “Death Or Glory”
The Stranglers “Mean To Me”
Gary Numan “Music For Chameleons”
Blondie “Living In The Real World”
The Art of Noise “Close To The Edit”
Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday morning at 10 AM.
That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day and be sure to check us out Sunday for the Marx Toy Show video and more photos.
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