Funny Faces

Back in the 1960's and 1970's there were candy dispensers known as Funny Faces.  These competed against PEZ in the marketplace and dispensed Smarties candies.  Below is a photo showing four Funny Face dispensers for auction on eBay now.  I enjoy the primitive looking graphics on the face and molded pocket and arms/hands on the stem.  These don't appear on eBay very often, so I was surprised to see them.  We'll see how the auction ends, but right now the bids range from $20 to $76.

UPDATE (11/30):  Two people did all the bidding and snatched up the Funny Face dispensers, with one person getting all but the Cherry dispenser.  The Egg dispenser went for $78.66, the Cherry dispenser went for $55.88, and the Lemon and Lime dispensers sold for $20 each.

Left-to-Right: Egg, Cherry, Lemon, and Lime

Presidential Series: Volumes 6 and 7, Stem Colors, and Vol. 9 Release Date

Just released this November are Vol. 6 and Vol. 7 of the Presidents of the United States PEZ series.  Below are photos showing the sets from PEZ.com.  I really like the detailed packaging with the continuing trend of alternating blue and red boxes.  The odd numbers in the series are blue and even numbers are red.

U.S. Presidents volume VI: 1909-1933 (L-R) William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding.

U.S. Presidents volume VII: 1933-1969 (L-R) Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Something I was curious about was whether the PEZ stem color matched the party of the President or whether the color choice was random.  As we know, the expected color scheme is Red for Republican and Blue for Democrat.  So with the help of Wikipedia's List of Presidents of the United States I created the table below showing the party of each President and the PEZ stem color.

The bottom line is that the stem color does not appear to be random.  Out of the 35 Presidents released so far as PEZ, there are only 5 that conflict with Red for Republican and Blue for Democratic.  Specifically, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William Taft were all Republican Presidents, but their stem colors are Blue.  The 5th conflict is James Madison (Vol. 1) who was a Democratic-Republican, but the stem color is Blue.  

Democratic-Republican can be thought of as Republican, per the Wikipedia page: "Most contemporaries called it the Republican Party. Today, political scientists typically use the hyphenated version while historians usually call it the Jeffersonian Republicans, to distinguish it from the modern Republican Party, which was founded in 1854 and named after Jefferson's party."

The Whig party seems fair to be colored Red for Republican.  Each of the 4 Whig Presidents has a Red stem color.  Per the Wikipedia page: "The northern [Whig] voter base mostly joined the new Republican Party.  Most of the founders of the Whig party had supported Jeffersonian democracy and the Democratic-Republican Party.  Most remaining Northern Whigs, like Lincoln, joined the new Republican Party.  Succeeded by Republican Party."

The Federalist party seems fair to be colored Blue for Democratic, since at the time the Democratic-Republican party opposed the Federalists, similar to the situation of the modern Democratic party.  Per the Wikipedia page:  "The Federalist Party was the first American political party.  The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams.  Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, denounced most of the Federalist policies."

Our first President, George Washington, was an Independent, so the stem color could have gone either way in my opinion.  Red was the chosen color.

We'll see how the stem colors will turn out in volumes 8 and 9, but I'm guessing the Red for Republican and Blue for Democratic trend will (mostly) be followed.  :-)
 

	President	Stem Color	Party
1	George Wahington	Red	Independent
2	John Adams	Blue	Federalist
3	Thomas Jefferson	Red	Democratic-Republican
4	James Madison	Blue	Democratic-Republican
5	James Monroe	Red	Democratic-Republican
6	John Quincy Adams	Red	Democratic-Republican
7	Andrew Jackson	Blue	Democratic
8	Martin Van Buren	Blue	Democratic
9	William Henry Harrison	Red	Whig
10	John Tyler	Red	Whig / Independent
11	James Polk	Blue	Democratic
12	Zachary Taylor	Red	Whig
13	Millard Fillmore	Red	Whig
14	Franklin Pierce	Blue	Democratic
15	James Buchanan	Blue	Democratic
16	Abraham Lincoln	Red	Republican
17	Andrew Johnson	Blue	Democratic
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Red	Republican
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Blue	Republican
20	James A. Garfield	Blue	Republican
21	Chester Arthur	Red	Republican
22	Grover Clevland	Blue	Democratic
23	Benjamin Harrison	Blue	Republican
24	William McKinley	Red	Republican
25	Theodore Roosevelt	Red	Republican
26	William Taft	Blue	Republican
27	Woodrow Wilson	Blue	Democratic
28	Warren G. Harding	Red	Republican
29	Calvin Coolidge	Red	Republican
30	Herbert Hoover	Red	Republican
31	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Blue	Democratic
32	Harry S. Truman	Blue	Democratic
33	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Red	Republican
34	John F. Kennedy	Blue	Democratic
35	Lyndon B. Johnson	Blue	Democratic

There are 9 total volumes planned with vols. 8 and 9 in Nov. 2015, per the release schedule at PEZ.com
 

Since the next U.S. Presidential election doesn't happen until Nov. 2016 and there are only 8 U.S. Presidents left to be made into PEZ dispensers, will vols. 8 and 9 each have only 4 Presidents?

Clear Test Stems

Up for auction on eBay is a unique set of PEZ dispensers I've never seen before.  A set of five crystal Halloween PEZ with clear stems!  Very cool looking set.  The clear crystal heads and clear stems look amazing together.

Below is info from the listing:
"Clear stems have never been mass produced or been available for sale to the public. These purpose built stems are designed to allow a close inspection of the molding process and verify the integrity of the mold and spring assemblies."

Interested in owning these?  Well, you've got some competition because there currently are 10 bids and the price is $325.  Auction ends this Monday 11/24.

Gruss vom Krampez

Gruss vom Krampez or Greetings from Krampez!

Krampus is the counterpart to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus.  Where St. Nicholas rewards good children with presents, Krampus scares naughty children, leaves them coal or birch sticks (ruten), or even carries them off in a basket!  Although mostly known in Europe, Krampus has been gaining popularity in American cities such as Los Angeles and was even featured in the TV show Grimm last December.

Christmas cards featuring Krampus are known as Krampuskarten and reportedly go back to the 1800s.  There are tons of variations of Krampus as you can see in this huge gallery of Krampuskarten.  Most often Krampus is depicted covered in black fur with horns, long tongue, and holding a bunch of sticks.

After learning about Krampus last year, I'd been thinking about creating a custom Krampus PEZ.  Something tells me the PEZ company will never create one. ;-)  After some trial and error, below are photos of what I came up with.  Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda seemed like the perfect starting point.

In Austria, birthplace of PEZ, on the night of December 5th, Krampusnacht is celebrated each year.  On this night before St. Nicholas day, boots or shoes are left out and the next morning children find them filled with treats left by St. Nicholas, if they are good, or filled with coal or switches left by Krampus, if they are bad.

The Krampez Challenge:
Are you a veterean fantasy PEZ creator?  Or even a novice at making fantasy PEZ (like me)?  Interested in making your own version of Krampez?  Great, because I'd enjoy seeing it and featuring photos of your work here for others to see.  Just email me photos of your Krampez by November 30th.  Then on the night of December 5th I'll feature all the sumbitted photos in a new post, KramPEZnacht.