328. Boxed: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

Little House on the Prairie was a popular U.S. western drama TV series, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. Adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books, the regular series was preceded by the two-hour pilot movie, aired on March 30, 1974. The series began on the NBC network on September 11, 1974, and ended on May 10, 1982

Part of the merchandise generated by this highly-rated show was this metal lunchbox, produced in 1978, which shows great graphic portraits of the cast.

327. Rock of Ages: ROCK HUDSON PAPER DOLLS

Rock Hudson was a hunky 6’4” romantic star who rose to fame in the 50s and 60s, while squiring top leading ladies like Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Liz Taylor, Susan St. James. But his death from AIDS in the 80s revealed his true self. Well, even if Hudson was not totally “out of the closet”, we could still a glimpse of what was inside with this “Rock Hudson Cut-Outs” published by Whitman in 1956.

The book features 2 cardboard cut-outs of the star and several pages of his wardrobe, some of which have been cut. The wardrobe features sports outfits, formal/leisure wear, casuals and even cowboy clothes. This was picked from ebay, for under 400 pesos.

Movie celebrity paper dolls—especially those unused and uncut—are very desirable collectibles, chased by collectors of Hollywood memorabilia, paper dolls, ephemera and Hudson fans.

326. TV-BASED BOOKS: If You Can’t Watch ‘Em, Read ‘Em!

 My favorite bookstore isn’t one of those established but expensive bookshops with fancy book titles, but an unpretentious used-book sale chain that goes by the name—Book Sale. I tell you, everything with a ‘sale’ in its name has got to be my favorite. For in this messy jumble of books, one can find unexpected collectible titles—and my nifty collection of TV-base books is proof of that. Whenever I can’t get enough of my fave TV series, I buy their book counterparts, so I can read the story at my own pace; no commercials too!

 My treasure trove of pop culture books include those based on 60s spythriller “The Man from U.N.C.L.E. that had Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Russian partner Ilya Kuryakin (David MacCallum) using gimmicky weapons against the evil THRUSH network. Also from the 60s is “Garrison’s Gorrilas”, a war drama about 4 convicts recruited to be commandos by Lt. Greg Garrison. Two favorite sci-fi series are: “Land of the Giants”, which features the story of survival of the Spindthrift spaceship that crashed in a planet full of giants; and “Space 1999”, that starred husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.

Jack Lord’s “Hawaii 5-O” initially got my interest with its catchy theme song, but I was not a big fan; I got the book anyway. Sonny and Cher had a TV show of the same name, so I got Cher’s book bio too. I could certainly relate to “James at 15” starring Lance Kerwin as I was still in my teens when the show aired. The plots revolved around teen angst, mostly, and James aged in the series, the title updated to “James at 16” on the next season. Last time I saw Kerwin, he was on the horror flick, Salem’s Lot. The last book is all about boy bands from the 60s—Monkees, Bee Gees and raiders. I can’t help but smile at the now-archaic buzz words that every teen spewed out in the 60s, like “outasite”, “groovy”, “freaky”, and “dig it!”

 Next time you’re in Book Sale, scrounge around and look for these classic TV-based books from the 60s and 70s. You can still enjoy them not just thru TV replays, but thru book reprints!