"Magic Shoes and the Rocket Kids" (1962)

Magic Shoe Adventure book was a 1962 give-away comic by the makers of "P.F. Flyers" tennis shoes, B.F. Goodrich. This particular one had adventures on the Moon, adventures with an escaped lion, and saving an indian girl from a waterfall.

P.F. Flyers were advertised (as you can see from the story below) to have a "magic wedge" that made you run faster.

I remember when you went to the shoe store in the early 1960s there were often premiums that were given away with certain shoes. These were incentives to nag Mom for a particular brand.

 Moon rockets and tennis shoes! (aren't they a little close to the launch pad?)

 Do you like the swooping approach to the Moon? That is one sharp pilot!

 I miss bubble space helmets with scuba tanks. The heck with jetpacks where are the cool space helmets?

 The magic shoes! (Although it seems like socks on the Moon would just be common sense)

 Hooray for robot to the rescue!

Sugar Jets "Major Jet FilmoVision" (1954)

 A short one today, from a 1954 Sugar Jets cereal box. Sugar Jets was not only the space age cereal of the early 1950s but its mascot was Major Jet! 

"JET UP AND GO!"

 Maybe this is not space age enough for you, however I find these adventures pretty cool.

As you can see FilmoVision was cardboard strips that you could pretend to watch an adventure with.

I like the space age "television."  It is well worthy of our space hero. And the adventures below speak for themselves. Who doesn't like Jet Helicopters and Amphibious Jets!

 

Here is an undated photo I found on the internet of  Major Jet in person.

 

Bear in Space (1970)

Bear in Space has an unusual premise for a children's book. It is the fictional story of a bear who shares film of his vacation to the Moon with his animal friends, but that is not the unusual part.

Bear in Space. Russia 48 p. 1970

 Going to the Moon

 Scenery on the way

 Checking out the secret Russian moonbase.

 Fooling around on the way home. If this photograph doesn't convince you that a bear can go to space I don't know what will. And the return to Earth (who needs those complicated re-entry plans)

The twist is (like we all know) he never really went to the Moon but faked it with camera special effects!

The idea of how film or photographs can be faked seems unique to me as the topic of a children's book. Most of the illustrations in the book are devoted to how he created the realistic looking photographs. Science fiction special effects for kids.

 In some ways this book is really about how we can be fooled by accepting what we see.

 This illustration in particular was a special effect that I only learned about when I read about the filming of 2001. This is pretty good technology for a Russian bear, no wonder they beat us to space.

The book ends with the animals fooling around with the filming equipment and making their own photographs.

If a headless space mouse doesn't make your day, like it does for me, then you have lost your sense of wonder. Keep dreaming of space.

4 years of Dreams of Space!

Just a quick post recognizing that I am starting my 5th year of posting books and other cool space stuff to Dreams of Space.  This blog started officially Feb 2, 2009.  I continue to enjoy posting my thoughts about what I have found but I apologize for the decline in posting rate.

Looking back I set much too high a standard initially with my first month, with 17 posts in one month.  I am now aiming for 4-6 per month and may begin, as I have mentioned, going back to older posts and fleshing them out with additional pictures and commentary.

Here are some teasers for what is upcoming:

Rocket to the Moon (1950s?)

This is a single page from a comic story. Not sure when this was published. Probably drawn and written by Walter (Wally) Robertson (1896-1975) and appeared in a British Children's annual sometime between 1951 and 1957.

I am even unsure of the title of this strip so corrections are welcome. It has Rocket to the Moon written in faint pencil at the top,

For all that uncertainty, it represents an archetype of children's comics and stories about space.The story of: mad scientist/father/uncle invents a spaceship/rocket fuel and invites children to participate in a trip to the moon. This is not only the plot of countless comic stories but also of Heinlein's  Rocket Ship Galileo .

The whole page looks like this:

As you can see the page is filled edge to edge with art so to show this panel by panel I had to scan it in a variety of shapes.  Images like these were part of my imagination about what a trip into space would be like for me. It also reinforced the idea that children SHOULD go to the moon rather than boring adults who would not appreciate it. Let me outline the lessons this story gives us.

It will take new technologies to get to the moon. Probably some new innovation in increasing the power of the rocket or reducing the weight of the rocket.

 When the technology is understood spaceflight will be "as safe as in your bed"

There in no gravity in space so you will need to find ways and technologies to adjust to a new environment.

The Earth will look smaller from space as you leave it. Also at the time they are not sure why the Moon looks as it does, there were still discussion whether craters were caused by meteors or vulcanism

What would the Earth look like from the Moon? Are meteors still a danger when we travel in space?

 You will need a space suit to visit the moon and a source of oxygen.

We may use robots to help us explore the Moon.

Spaceport U.S.A. (1953) :The art

For those of you who aren’t interested in collector’s stories just regard this as a rerun.  Back in 2010 I posted some scans of Spaceport U.S.A. (1953). It was an early punch-out book from Whitman and had a nice space theme.  I had not seen a copy for sale before so I was thrilled to find the damaged and used copy.  Copies of this in nicer condition seem to sell for hundreds of dollars so it made sense to me that it was pretty obscure.

http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2010/10/spaceport-usa-1953.html

One of the interesting things about collecting that I have learned (but others will tell you) is that you are always learning as you collect.  By seeing (and shopping) you learn what is rare, what is common, and what is obscure.  You develop an ability to recognize something that seems different or better yet mislabeled J

So this is a brag about an unexpected item I got myself for Xmas, the original art (at least some of) to Spaceport U.S.A.

I do look for inexpensive space art in the different auction houses.  Most of the time I can’t come close to affording it but it is nice to see and as I said you are always learning.  From my blog you can tell that what I really would like to find is the art from some of the children’s books I have. I blogged about some of the pieces I have found but they have been few and far between.

These images were advertised “Space Exploration Paper Doll Book Illustration Original Art Group (undated).” So I knew where they were from and when they were published. Since this was an obscure book it was possible that I was the only person bidding who knew what they were.  That is probably why my bid for these originals won for less than the cost of buying a copy of the original punch-out book!

It is also possible that they seemed too unattractive for anyone to frame but I had them up on my wall within hours of opening them on Xmas day.  There is something about an original surviving for 60 years that carries it own special sense of history. These delicate watercolors were done by someone who had barely seen rockets take off or even imaged if a Moon base would ever be real. Beautiful hidden history. I am not sure if having the original art changes how much I enjoy these images but it does remind me what an artist faces every time they have a blank sheet of white and try to imagine how they could fill it with something no one has ever seen.