Spiegel Catalog Valentine's Day Special

Note: Please see the poll on the right side of the blog.  You can vote for your favorite pic of this week's post.  I plan on doing this every week.  This will give me feedback on what you guys want to see more of, and at the end of the year we can have contest to see which was the favorite pic of the year!

Last Week, Pic 1 - Peasant Cuties won.
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In a previous post a made a comment that the Big Book mail order catalogs often didn't use a lot of props in their photos.  Then I came across an old Spiegel catalog, and boy was I ever wrong! They put on full fledged productions for their photo shoots.  And a good thing too (for me).  I selected a few that fit in with a Valentine's Day theme (sort of).  Here we go......

I Think I Love You, but isn't that what life is made of..... Kathy and Karen channel their inner Partridge Family (1) at the True Love Letter Post Office.  Check out those classic ruffled blouses - perfect for all those Partridge Family fans (or for pirate costumes).  Karen has got a whole lot of tartan going on (a Scottish pirate perhaps?).  If you look closely at the prop, you'll see a little wedding chapel and a message from Cupid.  Ahhh, how sweet, perfect for Valentine's Day!

Here Kathy and Karen dazzle in front of some kind of prop that says "I Dare You".  Kind of weird if you ask me.   Dare us to do what exactly?  Kathy and Karen certainly don't appear to be too threatening.  Not many gals can pull off wearing a man's style tie, but Kathy can and does here.

Karen and Kathy try out a love note machine that gives you a saying on a card (kind of like you used to find at old traveling carnivals).  Kathy apparently isn't too thrilled with what her card said, but being a good sport, she still flashes her big smile. Meanwhile Karen does the triple tartan trick with tartan skirt, belt and collars.  Whoops, make that a quadruple tartan runaway with the tartan sleeves!

Okay, Kathy tried again and now seems to be much happier with her result (I guess you can keep trying until you get what you want, kind of like a horoscope!)  Karen is kicking up her heels with joy as she pushes the heart button.  She apparently traded in the quadruple tartan outfit for an American red, white, and blue motif.

Finally, I had to throw in this pic in as a bonus.  Kathy isn't in it, and it has nothing to do with Valentine's Day.

Yep it's a goat.  Why put a goat in a catalog, I have no idea.  Perhaps this is to evoke an image of the Trapp family crossing the Swiss Alps or something.  I can just hear the production crew "Clean up on Set 3.  It's the goat again".  And no, the goat picture is not an option in the poll. 


Footnotes: (here we go again with those!)

(1) Susan Dey of The Partridge Family fame did appear in some of the old mail order catalogs of the late 60s and early 70s.  Perhaps I'll do a post in the future.