Thursday, February 18, 2021

New Dukes Stuff - Feb. 18, 2021 - Jessica Simpson Vinyl Records, Underoos, WB Premiere Invitations, Foreign DVDs & Video Games and More


More new Dukes additions to the collection.  This blog has mostly modern age stuff with a few golden era items thrown in.  Follow me!


I love foreign variations.  Here are three different versions of the Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home game for the PC.  You can read all about this game in a post I did about the Dukes video games. 
 

First is a kind of boring PC CD-Rom clamshell case.  This seems to be a greatest hits type of package.  It says "Ubisoft Exclusive" on top.  


The game was originally released in the US in 1999.  The PC version came out in 2000.  This version came out a year later in 2001.  It hails from the United Kingdom and has three languages on the box.  There is a British flag with the description in English, an Italian flag with the description in Italian, and a flag from the Netherlands with the description in Dutch.  The Dukes are loved worldwide. 


The disk is pink as opposed to the American version that has a grey disk. 


Next up is another British version of the PC game.  I noticed neither of these have the "Racing For Home" subtitle under the Dukes logo.  This is a large box similar to the US version.  


This version of the game has even more languages on the back.  Underneath the English description there is German, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish!  The back has more images than the above version and the US version.  I'm guessing this was the first release in Europe and came out before the one above.  


The descriptions are the same on the back of the two versions.


The box is pretty big and empty.  Inside is a standard size cd case with the two game discs.  


The third version of the game comes from Israel! The whole world loves the Dukes.  This one is sealed.  It doesn't have the "Racing For Home" subtitle under the Dukes logo, but it does say "The Race Home" in Hebrew on the bottom.  


Google Translate helped me here.  The Race Home is very similar to Racing For Home.  Racing For Home sure seemed like a silly subtitle.  The sequels "Daisy Dukes It Out" and "Return of the General Lee" were much better. 


This version of the game was released by BUG Multisystem LTD.  Google tells me they are a software and hardware distributor based in Israel.  They license everything from games to computers to drones cell phones.  I'm glad they included the Dukes to their multitude of products.  


The back of the game has the same imagery as the UK version. 


The box is slightly larger than the UK version.  We can add Hebrew to the expanding list of languages that this "Climb behind the wheel of the General Lee..." description comes in.  I've mentioned often how I love foreign Dukes items and finding this in Hebrew is incredible!  


Next up, we are back stateside with a Warner Bros add-on pack of the DVD Game Scene It?  This add-on was released in 2005 and features the General Lee front and center (slightly off center) on the front of the box.  Other shows featured on the cover of this game include The West Wing, one of my mom's favorites, Wonder Woman, Dallas, Friends, one of my sister's favorites, and she actually attended a taping on the WB backlot, and the O.C. which was a great show.  


The General Lee is mid jump on the cover.  There are two different versions of this add-on pack and the other one features the Dukes panel in the "curl" of the film reel and is only partially visible.  I'll probably end up getting that version too, but wanted to start out with this one.  President Bartlet approves.  


The O.C. was really huge at the time.  The logo is included on the back as well and the example questions include one from Friends and one from the O.C. Other logos include Gilligan's Island, Night Court, One Tree Hill, and ER.  One Tree Hill, of course, features our very own Jeffrey McClelland as an extra and ER is my sister's all time favorite show.  I bet we would do really well playing this game.  I went with a sealed version, though, and have no intention of opening it up.  We have the original Scene It? game and I remember the first time I played it I got a video puzzle and an image of Daisy Dukes was revealed.  I was a fan of the game from that moment on.  Obscure additions to the collection like this are always fun. 


Similar to the visors in my last post, I think someone found a bunch of these golden era patches recently because they've been on ebay a lot.  Another set popped up right after I bought mine, so the seller seems to have several.  There are two "I love Bo" patches, one "I love Luke" and a General Lee in front of the Hazzard Sheriff badge, which is an odd choice for a design.  They appear to be unused.  I dig them. 


Here's a trio of Dukes of Hazzard postcards.


First up is super unique.  This is an image of Boss Hogg from the famed Black Gold Festival in Hazard, KY.  


Hazard, KY took a liking to the Dukes right away, and for good reason.  The town of Hazard took symbolic ownership of Hazzard County and the Dukes shared the love.  There is fun video online of several cast members attending the Black Gold festival over the years in Hazard and this image of Boss Hogg as the grand marshal of the Black Gold Parade was so popular that the town put it on a postcard.  I got this perfect example of the Hazard (it's tough to spell it that way, I keep wanting to add and other Z) postcard from a friend and I am super excited about it.  


The second post card features an early photo of Luke, Daisy, and Bo with their pre-pilot cowboy hats on.  I'm really glad they ditched the hats before the cameras rolled.  I bet this General Lee didn't have the 01s on it yet.  


It seems this postcard was manufactured in the UK.  I just stumbled across this card within my collection when I was looking through a magazine.  I have no idea when I bought it or where I got it from.  Since I had a couple of other postcards ready for this blog post, I included this one.  So it's the one "not new" Dukes item in this bunch. 


The third postcard comes all the way from Argentina.  This postcard advertises that Dukes being shown on the television network Uniseries Retro TV.  It was produced in 2005.  It was definitely produced "in-house" as it doesn't follow any particular themes that we are used to.  It features the General Lee on the front along with our cousins on top.  Eagle-eye fans will notice this is actually the movie logo because of the underline Z below the logo.  


The back is all kind of crazy.  It seems like someone pulled some images from the internet and applied all sorts of photoshop techniques.  There is a barely visible image of Luke and Daisy jumping in the Gen'ral along with Boss Hogg in front.  Slightly more visible is a connect-the-dots image of Bo, Luke and Daisy.  These graphics are taken directly from one of the golden era coloring books.  Below that is an 01 that doens't fit anywhere along with another movie logo. 


Below all that it gets really interesting.  The General Lee in front appears to be a 1/25 diecast that has mostly been "cartoonized" meaning the edges were softened and the colors were blurred together.  Behind that is the CustomShop American Muscle 1/25 diecast kit where it has a big grey circle that says "diecast" a yellow "retro" circle was added.  There's also a line from the theme song, a long ye-haw, and "YES!" for some reason.  The bottom says something similar to "the only place for retro classics."  It seems you can also cut out the lower portion of the card.  There is a lot going on on the card.  


Looks like the postcard was made by Via Postal.  Sadly their website is no long active.  


Moving along we have some Underoos from the golden era.  Underoos are always tough to find.  This is the Thermal Underwear Dukes of Hazzard set for boys and the girls yellow Bo and Luke Duke Underwear set.  It's interesting how different the box designs are.  The purple girls package has "from the Dukes of Hazzard" on it so small I barely saw it.  The image on the girls set is very artistic and appears to be unique to this set.  


The thermal set is opened but complete.  The girls set is sealed.  The tag line "underwear that's fun to wear" was adjusted for the thermal set with "thermal underwear that's warm to wear.  I think I have five different sets of Underoos now.  


Seems like the girls set came from the Pacific northwest because it was originally sold at Bi-Mart which is only in that area.  This particular set was marked down a few times from $4.87 down to 89¢.  Let's just say I paid a tad bit more.  


I also picked up a couple British DVDs.  This is a two volume set similar to a VHS box set I bought in 2012.  I thought it was just the DVD version of that set, but it has the same design theme but different images and episodes.  The VHS has three tapes each with three episodes and a theme.  There's the General Lee collection, the Rosco P. Coltrane collection, and the Daisy Duke collection.  These DVDs also have three episodes each, but no theme.  The VHS tapes came with a box to put the three DVD cases in it.  The DVDs don't have a box like that. 


Two of the nine episodes from the VHS set are included within the six episodes on these DVDs.  It's sort of a best of set of sorts.  Pretty interesting set.  I wonder what the "Moonshine Merchandise" special feature is along with the General Lee: Slot Car is all about.  These are region two, which means I can't easily watch them.  


The set was released in 2003.


Most American videos say for either rental or resale.  This British one says for rental or resale.  Interesting.  


The last items in this post all center around the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie.  If this is your time here on DukesCollector, you might be conflicted about the movie and wonder what my take is.  I love the movie.  I was in the movie.  And I was a guest at the premiere of the movie.  I still get excited when I'm channel surfing and find it on TV, these days IFC plays it pretty often.  If you'd like to read all about my exploits leading up to the movie, on set, and at the premiere, I wrote one of my favorite blog posts a few years ago.  Check it out here.  These first movie-centric items are incredibly rare and I'm very excited to add them to the collection.  These are invitations to media pre-screenings.  These we given to reviewers as the movie was shown before it opened.  I search for these sort of items all the time and this is the first time I've seen anything like this in over fifteen years since the movie came out.  The really odd part is these two separate invitations were posted for sale within days of each other from sellers in opposite parts of the country.  I'm so glad I got them both.  Let's take a better look at each.  


The first ticket is for a screening that took place on Wednesday August 3.  That's only two days before the movie was released across the country and six days after I saw it at the Hollywood premiere.  This screening took place at the Mann Bruin Theater which is now called the Regency Village Theater near the campus of UCLA.  It's a historic theater that hosts many Hollywood premieres.   The theater was featured in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.  The front features the movie poster as well as the WB logo repeated on the lower half.


The back of the invitation features the underline Z logo along with all the legal statements about not using recording devices and no admittance after the movie begins.  I would imagine these were collected from the attendees and most likely destroyed.  


The second ticket has the poster image in black and white on the front.  It's from a media screening in Miami.  It took place Tuesday, August 2.  It was provided by radio stations and newspapers in the area.  These types of screenings are also sometimes used for winners of contests or simply given away.  In my area, I've attended several media and early screenings of movies.  There are usually a few seats reserved for journalists and the rest of the theater is filled so the reviewers can also gauge the reaction of the crowd.  Usually the tickets are given out to movie goers that sign up for these types of screenings in advance.  Everything is through email these days so these types of awesome tickets probably aren't used anymore.  I'm just a random movie goer, so maybe the media still get these fancy tickets.   


The back of this ticket is full color and has the beautiful Warner Bros. Pictures logo on it floating in the clouds.  I am so excited about these two tickets.  They are super unique and I can't imagine there are too many out there.  What are the chances they both showed up on ebay the same week?  I love these tickets.  


Somehow I missed the fact that Jessica Simpson's song from the Dukes of Hazzard movie, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin," was released on vinyl when the soundtrack was released.  The entire soundtrack album was only released on CD but the single got a full size record album.  


Along with the regular version of the song, the record includes remixes.  Side A includes Gomi & Escape's Club Mix and Gomi & Escape's Dub Mix.  


Side B includes the Scott Storch Remix, E-Smoove Vocal Mix, and the Bimbo Jones Remix Vocal.  The album isn't very Dukes forward and only has a small reference to the Dukes and the old dukesofhazzard.com website.  The record was released by Sony BMG Music Entertainment in 2005.  The standard release comes in a very plain sleeve.  It's pretty boring.


Luckily, there's a special edition that has a much less boring sleeve.   This full size record has an image of Jessica as Daisy in the outfit she wore in the Boots music video that featured the General Lee.  The single CD featured this same image of Jessica with the Gen'ral in the background (and Jessica's head,) For this album, they removed the General and the upper third of Jessica for some reason.  I guess they are highlighting the boots and Daisy Dukes.  


This album design doesn't have much Dukes to it.  The back is bunch of stars.  


This version only has the Bimbo Jones and Scott Storch remixes.  This one does not mention Dukes of Hazzard at all.


The sticker on the front mentions who remixes the song and labels this as a limited red vinyl.  I take issue with this.  


It's almost red, but c'mon, that's orange.  Just like Cooter said in "Happy Birthday General Lee" it's a nice reddish orange!  The intention here was clearly to release an album that was General Lee colored, but someone at the studio printed the wrong word on the little sticker.  This is a limited edition orange vinyl and you will never change my mind on that.  


The copy I bought was not sealed and I'm kind of glad it wasn't.  The actual artwork on the record has the image of Jessica complete with her head.  I'm not sure how I missed these records over the last sixteen years.  While writing this I searched ebay again and found a standard radio promotional "not for sale" record single of the song as well.  It actually mentions the Dukes more that either of these versions.  It will be here pretty soon, but will come in a generic sleeve and just has text on the label.  I'll include it in a future post.  Of course writing about these records makes me want get back to the plan of writing a whole post about Dukes of Hazzard music releases.  I sure got a lot!  I'll have to get that put together soon.  

Thursday, February 11, 2021

New Dukes Stuff - 2/11/2021 - Doodle Craft Kit, Visors, Gordy Pinball Game, John Schneider Belt Buckle and More


My most recent haul of new Dukes of Hazzard goodness is chock full of unique, rare, and hard to find items.  I'm really excited about these bad boys.  I love adding these collectibles to the collection, and I love sharing them with all of you blog readers.  Let's take a look.  


Sometimes items that are super rare lose their scarcity.  I've been chasing these visors for years. I got one last year that was a little beat up and I was happy.  I knew there were different versions but I was content to just have one.  Then, all of a sudden, almost like new ones started showing up on ebay.  The first few went for big money, just like the one I bought last year.  Then they just kept showing up.  I contacted the seller and he told me that magical story about discovering an unopened pallet from the golden era.  I would love to find unopened Dukes stuff by the crate, but I've made some pretty amazing discoveries over the years, so I'm not complaining.  I was able to get my hands on all four varieties of the visor in perfect condition.  As you can see there are two basic styles and two different colors, Bo and Luke in red and blue and General Lee in red and blue.  The tops are all a little crimped, but that came from the forty years of storage. 
 


The designs are nice.  The General Lee graphic is used on many items and the Bo and Luke image is taken from a popular photo.  The visors were made by Universal Industries from New Bedford Massachusetts.  
 


They even have original price tags on them.  The red ones were seventy cents more than the blue ones.  These are still on ebay and the price has come down considerably.  It's the age old concept of supply and demand.  It doesn't make me love them any less.  I'm so happy I have all four now.  Maybe I'll wear the beat up one to a poker game.  


Next up is another rare item.  This is a third pair of Toastee Sox by Dawnelle.   I have a couple still packaged and now three pairs out of the package.  


I first added some of these to the collection way back in the early days of the blog in 2013.  The original owners of those two pairs had bigger feet.  This new pair has two General Lees on each sock.  I wish they made Dukes slipper socks like this for feet my size.  But we all know I wouldn't actually wear them, just collect them.  


It's always exciting when I get to add new Gordy items to the collection.  A few years ago, Dave DeWitt and I put together a list of what we believe to be every Dukes of Hazzard Gordy item produced.  There are a few items neither of us have, and Dave has quite a few more items checked off his list than I do.  I love getting the opportunity to add more checks to my list.  Check check check.  
 

The first of the three is the compass and binocular set.  It's pretty standard fare for early '80s cheap toys.  There is a standalone compass in the Gordy Dukes line that is a little more substantial than this cheap little compass.  I've had that one for a while.  I'm guessing the Dukes Boys couldn't use these binoculars to spot Boss's goons using the abandoned coffin works as a hide out, but you could pretend they work just fine.  


Next up is a peculiar combination toy.  It's called the Whistle Flash and is basically a flashlight with a whistle on the end.  Funny how big the word "flash" is on the package and they didn't include a picture of the Dukes character with the name Flash!  Come on Gordy, you could have even included a dog whistle mention.  Missed opportunity there.  The flashlight has batteries included!  This was uncommon in the '80s.  So uncommon that the phrase "batteries not included" became a sort of jingle within toy commercials.  

I sort of wish the battery wasn't included because the forty year old little double A is corroding inside my rare, hard to find, unopened package.  In another forty years is might damage Boss Hogg's pretty face.  
 

There is already a noticeable discoloration on the back of the package.  Not good.  Not good at all.  
 

The final Gordy item in today's blog is a beast.  This is probably the rarest Gordy Dukes item there is.  It's not in the package, but it's so big and colorful, I'm still checking it off the list because I can't remember the last time I saw one in the package for sale.  This bad boy popped up on ebay with a moderate buy it now and I couldn't hit the button fast enough.  I thought someone else beat me too it for a second, but I just had my address screwed up on my ebay profile.  I'm sure glad it wasn't shipped to the UK by mistake.  This is the Gordy Dukes of Hazzard Pinball Game and I love it!


I had a few games like this when I was a wee'n (Derry Girls speak) but never the Dukes version.  Way before Gameboys, DSs, and of course cell phones, kids had handheld games with actual moving parts.  Games like this and those fun little water filled games with the rings and air bubbles were everywhere.  Gordy was slapping the Dukes license on everything they could so you know a pinball game had to make the cut.  The game is as big as most Gordy packages.  The top has an autoscore multiplier.  The concept that it had anything "auto" is funny.  You basically had to multiply this number by where the little ball landed to get your score.  I guess this is an educational math toy.  


Only a certain few Gordy Dukes toys have the "other Duke Boys" Coy and Vance.  This is one of them.  It sure must have been awkward for Byron and Chris, and for all the regular stars of the show.  But they did get their face plastered on a bunch of toys for only appearing on less than a season of the show.  
 

The back of the game is blank.  I'm so excited that I actually found this toy.  I can't wait to display all the Gordy items together.  And I keep adding checks to the list.  I'm catching up, Dave!
  
 
This is a fun, rare item that I didn't know existed until not long ago.  This is the General Lee Bump' N Go from Precision.  It looks just like the less rare Radio Controlled General Lee that Precision released, except it doesn't have the antenna hole in the hood.  The wheels are spot on, it just didn't come with a push-bar.  


This is a very good plastic replica of our favorite car.  


The "bump'n'go" feature makes the car roll around randomly until it bumps into something and goes in another direction.  I remember having a larger non-Dukes police car that had the similar feature when I was a kid.  It wasn't really that much of a fun toy, and had a horrible siren feature.  But, honestly, the Precision RC General Lee isn't all that much fun either.  It could only go forward or backward and not fast at all.  But I sure am glad to have the Bump' N Go in the collection.  


I've never seen a Bump' N Go for sale in the box.  This is only the second one I've ever seen, box or no box.  The box is similar to the RC boxes, just smaller.  Here are the two different Precision RC Gen'rals with their new BNG cousin.  


The next addition to the collection sure is a fun one.  You may remember that I had the great fortune to add the season 1 cast and crew belt buckle mold to the collection a few years ago.  This is one of the buckles that was made by that mold.  But not just any season 1 cast and crew belt buckle...


These buckles are numbered in a series of 200.  Where this one should have a number, it reads "AP" which stands for artist proof.  So this is one of the first to be created using my mold.  Not only is it an un-numbered early creation...


it just so happened to be dedicated to a cast and crew member named John.  One specific crew member named John immediately comes to mind.  Of course I'm talking about Bo Duke himself, John Schneider.  The very nice person I got this buckle from, Verna, told me a story about her relative that worked with John during filming of the Dukes.  She said that John gave him this buckle as a gift.  I bought the buckle knowing that the story had the possibility of being true, but buying it didn't depend on it.  


Unlike my proof that is still attached to the rod created when the metal was poured into to mold, this artist proof has the additional hardware added that attaches to the belt. 

 
Here is the "John" buckle on the left, the first proof with the attached rod that came with the mold in the middle, and the first buckle I added to the collection, the "Don" buckle that's number 186 and attached to a leather belt.  Below the buckles is the mold. 


The "John" buckle is a slightly different color than the other ones I have.  It's more gold in color.  Perhaps the buckle maker, or bucklist as I like to say, was experimenting with different colors before he landed on the the right one he used for the numbered 200 he produced.  Maybe that's why this one is marked AP and not a number, perhaps it's a reject.  Nevertheless, it was dedicated to a John.  Do I believe the John in question is actually John Schneider?  I know it is.  I spoke with John about it after I received the buckle.  


Turns out Verna's relative was named Gary.  She told me his last name.  John told me that Gary was his partner in a business venture called John Schneider's Celebrity Machine in Burbank, CA.  Doing some research I found out that John's exotic car shop was right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios where the Dukes was filmed and John opened the shop in 1982 when he and Tom left the show.  John confirmed the belt buckle was once his and he gave it to Gary.  It was really great of John to talk about the buckle with me.  And Verna is ecstatic that what she always believed turned out to be true.  This is a great addition and I'm very grateful to Verna and John!  


Back to the new Dukes stuff.  Speaking of John and Tom's time off the show, here's another Coy and Vance item.  This is a Canadian puzzle that's pretty hard to find.  


If I were Bo and Luke, I'd be pretty mad at Coy for sitting on the roof of the Gen'ral!





It's open and in average condition.  The box is bi-lingual in English and French.  The puzzle was made by Whitman Golden LTD.


I like checklists on items.  I got to figure out if I have any other Canadian Whitman puzzles.  Got to have all four!


The final piece in this blog post is something I've been after for a long time.  This is the Dukes of Hazzard Doodle Craft Kit.  It's also Canadian.  Canada loves the Dukes!


There are no indications of who made this set.  The top lists the contents in English.  The set includes eight posters, six felt pens, and six Dukes stickers.  That's a good bit of Dukes goodness for one package.  


The front poster is a beauty.  It's a coloring book like image of Luke and Bo jumping into the General.  Rosco is about to be in hot pursuit in the back.  I wonder what images the other seven posters include.
  

Two of the six stickers are visible.  Boss Hogg is at the podium in the Hazzard Square gazebo and the Dukes cousins are posing in front of the Gen'ral.  Again, I wonder what the other four stickers are.  The downside of having a super rare piece that's sealed is you can't see what else is in there without opening it.   


The bottom on the box has the title in French.  "Ensemble De Doodles Des Dukes De Hazzard."  Usually the Dukes items from France have the title Sherif Fais-Moi Peur.  I've never seen anything in French with Dukes De Hazzard.  That's a very literal translation.  


The six pens, or markers, say Super Doodles on them.  I'm guessing the orange one would run out before the rest.  


There's an image on the side of the front featuring the Dukes family as well as Boss and Rosco in the background.  This is a familiar image as it's used on the Mego toys packages.  I'm surprised to see it on this toy.  I thought it was Mego exclusive artwork.  



The sides of the box have the title in French and English. 


Along with the title, there is a doodle of Luke, Daisy, and Bo.  It's a rough sketch and gives me some real Growing Pains vibes.  Remember the drawings during the opening credits sequence?  It also reminds me of the most recent episode of WandaVision, the Avengers show on Disney+, whose opening sequence is a parody of the Growing Pains opening.


The back of this package is beautiful.  It's a great image of the General Lee jumping over some greenery.  I've seen this image at Cooter's Place in Nashville and never knew what the item was.  It's on display in an area that I can't get all that close to and I always wondered what was inside this box.  Even when I bought this Doodle Set, I didn't see any pictures of the back.  I was pleasantly surprised when I received the package and solved the mystery of the unknown Dukes item at Cooter's Place.  

This is quite a haul of Dukes goodness.  I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoy sharing it.  Keep it between the ditches.