175. GRACE KELLY Coloring Book

Grace Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was a true Hollywood royalty as she became a princess in real life. She bcame an actress at age 20 and won an Academy Award for "The Country Girl". This very desirable 1954 coloring book of her, made by Whitman, was printed at the peak of her career and designed to appeal to starstruck kids. At age 26, she met and married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and retired from her movie career to fulfill her duties as Princess Grace. The royal couple had three children: Caroline, Albert, and Stéphanie. She also retained her American roots, maintaining dual US and Monégasque citizenships. On September 14, 1982, she lost control of her automobile, crashed and died after suffering a stroke. Daughter Stéphanie, who was in the car with her, survived the accident. In June 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her #13 in their list of top female stars of American cinema.

174. Seeing Stars: 1951 SONG-MOVIE MAGS

Then and now, weekly entertainment magazines enjoyed wide readership among movie and radio fans, who avidly read the latest activities about their favorite actors. These well-thumbed copies from the early 50s--Literary SONG-MOVIE Magazine--gave the reader updates on the latest movies-in-the-making, happenings in the lives of stars like Efren Reyes, Tita Duran, Lilia Dizon, Rogelio de la Rosa, Lota Delgado and Cesar Ramirez via chatty columns and interviews all for 40 centavos. Colored full-page close-ups of the glamor stars were included in these magazines for collecting and scrapbooking.


Today of course, you can learn about any star's shenanigans not just through printed magazines but also through Twitter, google and facebook. You can watch their sex videos, read about their escapades, illicit affairs and vices with just a click of the mouse. Why, you can even stalk them online! Times may have changed but not our preoccupation with the life and times (and dirt) of popular movie stars.

173. Hey, hey it's: THE MONKEEMOBILE

"Hey, hey we're the Monkees!"
In 1967, the American-assembled boy band, THE MONKEES, was launched on TV and took the teen world by storm. Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mark Nesmith and the diminutive Davy Jones became instant bubblegum celebrities and their songs and music became known worldwide--from "Last Train to Clarksville", "Daydream Believer" and "I Wanna Be Free" (which we used to sing to death in our high school songfest).

Aside from their hit records, there were Monkees lunchboxes, Monkees puppets, Monkees books, Monkees Viewmaster---and Monkeemobiles-- toy replicas of their funky tour car. The more common ones were the small diecast Corgi toys made in 1966, but rarer still is this 1968
tin batter- operated and friction 1968 Pontiac GTO Monkeemobile car made by ASC of Japan.
Unfortunately, this Monkeemobile--found in a Cubao junk shop, has lots of missing parts. Of the band members, only the vinyl body of the driver remains. The car used to have a plastic windshield and comes with soft rubber tires with chrome hubcaps. There also used to be a battery operated sound box, which when switched, plays the TV show theme song. One example of this rare Monkeembolie in pristine condition and with box intact sold for a whopping $1, 191.78 in an auction! Why, I can buy a real, driveable car with stereo for that amount!