It's time for another blog filled with Dukes of Hazzard goodness including one of the absolute hardest to find golden era items in the world.
Eddie Macon's Run was a movie John Schneider starred in that was released in 1983. It was based on a novel of the same name. Starring along side John was a little know actor named Kirk Douglas, obvious sarcasm, and it also marked the film debut of an actual little known actor at the time, John Goodman. It follows the tale of a wrongfully incarcerated man, John, and his break out from jail and run from the law, Kirk. These are some items from the movie.
First up is a lobby poster featuring a large picture of John and his leading lady, Lee Purcell, along with another shot of John and Kirk Douglas. Even though John was the star, when Kirk Douglas is in your movie, he rightfully gets top billing. The movie's tag line is "Eddie Macon is running from a nightmare... running to a dream... and running for his life." That's one heck of a tagline.
Next up is a VHS copy of the movie. I'm not sure how long after the theatrical release home videos came out back then. This tape is marked 1983, the same year the movie was released in theaters. Until Top Gun was released on VHS in 1987 for $26.95, movies cost between $80 and $100 on VHS. They were mostly sold to rental stores such as Blockbuster, and our local rental place, Videoland. So this copy had to cost a lot when it was first released.
It is in nearly perfect condition, but seems to have been a rental because it has a "please rewind tape" strip on it. Maybe it wasn't the most popular movie on the shelves, but who could resists Bo Duke and Spartacus together in one movie? The back of the tape box mentions Dukes of Hazzard!
Also included is a copy of the book the movie was based on. It is a rerelease of the novel that's described as "The breathtaking thriller now a Universal movie starring Kirk Douglas and John Schneider." It has another large picture of John on the cover. These three items make a nice package of Eddie Macon's Run items. They aren't worth that much as they aren't that sought after but make a nice little addition to the Dukes collection. I can file them with the Christmas Comes to Willow Creek items I own that include some autographs and a press release.
Lately I have been buying these Ertl 1/64 carrying cases whenever I see them for inexpensive prices. I guess I've bought a lot recently.
One even came with some Duke cars included. Hmm, what can I put inside these cases?
Oh that's right, I never stop buying Dukes 1/64s. This is my latest haul. They come from ebay, local shops, and a few come from a recent Fred Peters Auctioneers action. John Peters had an auction filled with mostly '90s toys like Spawn figures, later Star Wars stuff, and some comic books. There were a few gems hidden within like some Dukes trading cards and a few of these Ertls.
Also incuded in the "Larry lot" as John called it was this orange Charger General Lee rip off that I have never seen before. It is clearly a Gen'ral wanna be and not just an orange Charger because it has a push bar that is similar to Ertl's take on it, but the whole grill and bar are black. It has a tan interior, which the golden era Ertls did not have- they had black.
The bottom just says Dodge Charger and made in Hong Kong. I wonder who made this car. It's not a Yatming that made several different General Lee rip offs. I'm glad John found it for me. Into the Ertl carrying case it goes. I love filling those things up.
Next up is a odd item. It's an officially licensed Daisy Duke notebook straight from WBShop.com. When the new complete series DVD set came out earlier this year, I ventured to Warner Bros's official online store to see if they were selling it. I was pleasantly surprised to see not only were they selling it, they had a few more Dukes items listed. I couldn't buy them quick enough. They offer three items that are all Daisy Duke themed. First up is this notebook. I didn't take it out of its plastic wrapping.
The other two items came packaged like this. Not the most displayable items in the collection. But I decided to keep them sealed.
Luckily, WBShop has a nice picture of each item. This is the notebook.
And a Daisy Duke poster. All three items use the same (great) picture of Daisy. I have a suspicion that they are all "print to order" items. The note cards measure 3.5 by 5 inches and you get 25 of them. The poster is 10 inches by 15 inches. The notebook is 5 inches by 8 inches and has 160 pages. They are certainly weird items, but I'll take anything I can get that from WB that acknowledges the Dukes of Hazzard actually exists. If buying these items makes WB see that we want more new Dukes items, everyone should go get these pieces. Do you hear us WB?! We love the Dukes of Hazzard and want more!!!!
Speaking of getting more Dukes of Hazzard. Hampton Inn wants everyone to be reminded of the Dukes of Hazzard. I guess. This is weird. Apparently Hampton gives these coffee cup sleeves to all its guests. It seems to me whoever designed them is a Dukes fan. My guess is there are other numbered items in the room. Coffee would be number 1, maybe a pastry would be number 2, and so on meaning they want you to drink coffee as soon as you wake up... maybe. The zero in front of the one definitely makes this Dukes inspired.
Several friends have given me these lately. I love when people see Dukes-like stuff and think of me. My goal is for everyone to see Dukes of Hazzard and think of Larry Franks. One day. I have also seen many people online post pictures of these little Hampton coffee sleeves and equate them with the Dukes. Maybe Hampton Inn is trying to be the official hotel of the Dukes of Hazzard. This is a good start.
And since we're talking about giving us more Dukes of Hazzard, no one gives us as much Dukes of Hazzard as Cooter's Place. It is the center of all things Dukes. We love it. They have a few new items that I had to share with everyone. First up is this awesome General Lee jumping Rosco bobble head. I guess it's technically a bobble head because A. it bobbles, and B. it says so on the box. It does not, however, have a head that bobbles.
The package design is very nice. It features the General Lee both from the front and in the air.
The car is about in between 1/64 and 1/43 in scale. This is a very nice piece. The box mentions collect them all. I wonder what else Cooter's has up their sleeve.
Well another bobble head. This actually has a head that bobbles! This is the Cooter's Official Bobblehead Ben Jones AKA "Crazy Cooter."
This is another fine product. Cooter features his signature yellow hat and brown work shirt. The box design is really nice as well.
Both of these bobble heads are available at all three Cooter's locations as well as Cootersplace.com. They are limited though. Act fast! I like that Cooter's is moving into the collectible market. This should be fun.
Speaking of Cooter's, here is a Cooter's Garage cup full of pencils. Let's call this a pencil cup.
The pencils that are held within this cup all come from Cooter's and have great designs. There are pencils decorated with the General Lee, Daisy's Jeep, Cooter's tow truck, Boss's caddy, and more obscure cars like Lucifer, Cooter's Camaro, and the #44 stock car. There are also fun color changing pencils. These are great additions to the collection and are all readily available from Cooter's. But there is a pencil that is not readily available. There was once a pencil created during the golden era of Dukes that for some reason has become one of the most scarce Dukes items out there. I've been trying to track one down for years. I came close before, but it always slipped through my grasp. Until now!
Presenting the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil! I asked DukesCollector Cooter to put on white gloves when holding the pencil, but neither of us could find any tiny enough to fit his hands. Oh well. I am so excited to add this regular old pencil to my collection. It is so rare and so awesome.
The design is pretty simple. It features artwork of our three cousins and the General Lee wrapped around the pencil.
Bo is on top. The artwork doesn't have much detail. The white pencil uses black, blue and orange colors. This doesn't leave any room for detail on the faces.
The General is below Bo on two wheels. Below the General is Daisy. Each character has a label below them.
General Lee is jumping below Daisy and Luke is on the bottom. There are stars throughout the design.
The tiny Gen'ral has enough detail to be recognizable, but not enough to require more than the orange color. The 01 and flag are just drawn in black. It also says Dukes of Hazzard a few times on the pencil. I am sure so many students took this pencil to school in the early '80s. You weren't cool unless you took a test using the official Dukes of Hazzard pencil!
The pencil is trademarked 1982 and created by Leadworks. Those keeping score at home should recognize the name Leadworks. They made another product that is incredibly hard to track down.
I half expected sparks to fly and I think I heard angelic music when I inserted the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil into the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil cup. Both of these items are super rare. They are both marked Leadworks Inc. Cleve. OH. The artwork of the cousins is shared on both of them. Poor Boss Hogg didn't make it onto the pencil. I am very fortunate to have the pencil and the cup. These are killer pieces.
Cooter says hats off to the pencil and pencil cup. He's pretty shocked I was able to add them to the collection, and so am I.
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