Where was I? Sorry for the false start. This is harder than I thought. As I figure out what the future holds in blogland I do know one weekly feature I will be doing:
WWRBT – Why Would Richard Buy This?
I’ve been collecting stuff since I was a child. I remember going antiquing in Connecticut with my Mom. She always took her gay little son because she knew I had better taste than her. I say this lovingly because she agreed. This was proven true the day my Mom went to buy a couch without me. She came home with a maroon and gold crushed velvet couch.
It looked like it belonged in a brothel. I could envision nervous, horny men waiting for their “date” to come down the stairs. Making sure they didn’t sit on a questionable stain. (Some guys just couldn’t wait). It only made it worse when my parent’s dog (Adolph 2) would pee on it. You may ask yourself who would name their dog Adolph 2? Well me. I came up with Adolph for our first family dog. I have no idea why. I was six so I don’t think Hitler was involved but he was a dachshund. So, when my parents got a second dog of course he would be Adolph 2. They also named their second Cat Mew 2. I named the first one Mew.
As an adult I love things that make you wonder why they would make this and who would buy this? America is full of crap. Not politically but tshatshke-ally. I have scoured garage sales, flea markets, estate sales and dumpsters. New York City is great for dumpster diving. Especially on the upper east side. I furnished my Greenwich Village apartment with many items that had been discarded by the wealthy. Nothing says wealth like over consuming.
Then came Ebay. Ebay changed my entire life. Not sure for the best. No longer would I need to leave my house in search of my next incredible find. No. Now I could just search online. Needless to say this is dangerous for a shopaholic. It’s like gambling. I type in vintage clowns (yes I collect clowns – more on that later) and a selection comes up that would make me cry with delight.
One of my first online purchases was a ceramic dog holding an upside-down top hat. It was to hold toothpicks. My husband bought me the first one. Little did he know what was to come. It had all the elements needed for my “why would someone buy this?” criteria. Ugly and weird. I go on Ebay for my first search for a vintage ceramic dog with top hat (you always add vintage to your search) and I was stunned. Who would have thought this was a thing in the 50s and 60s. I almost had a coronary when I saw so many to choose from. I feel sorry for the far-right one in this picture but it is also my favorite. It’s the ugliest, weirdest and the creepiest. It looks like they bred a dog with a clown.
If I didn’t know better, I would think they modelled it after my dog Speck.
So, I hope you can wait for the next installment of WWRBT.
Coming up next will be about my singing telegram days. You haven’t lived until put on gorilla costume when you’re on a NYC sidewalk in winter.
dick'sblog 