Pickled Punks And Accessories

Schiffer Publishing has just released two titles that the fans of the strange and bizarre and Barbie dolls are sure to cherish.

First up is ‘Pickled Punks & Girlie Shows: A Life Spent On The Midways Of America’.

As a kid one of the biggest thrills of my life is when I got to go to a fair or carnival. Booths were packed with gaudy, glittery goodies that I may or I not have won (the games were always stacked in favor of the booth owner) and I could eat my fill of deep fried food like corndogs and sugar packed snacks such as cotton candy.


The rides consisted of rickety roller coasters, and the like, and the side shows featured anything from genetic freaks to famous vehicles such as Hitler’s car.


‘Pickled Punks & Girlie Shows’ written by 50+ year veteran midway showman Rick West, takes readers behind-the-scenes of carnies and sideshows to show what really goes on.


From fabricated mutated monsters to giant animals, exotic dancers, freaks of nature, bottled babies and mermaids Rick takes you on a once-in-a-lifetime tour of carnie life. Loaded with photos from the past and present the book is like holding a midway in your hands with each page a different act. Take a trip on the weird side. Who knows, they may need an extra hand.


‘It’s All About The Accessories For The World’s Most Fashionable Dolls: 1959-1972’ by Hillary Shilkitus James is unique in that it doesn’t concentrate on Barbie dolls but on the accessories that came with them.

Any vintage doll collector knows, be it Barbie or G.I. Joe dolls or others, that the most difficult and sometimes the most expensive thing about collecting the dolls is finding all of the original accessories. I’ve seen accessories actually cost more than the dolls themselves because of rarity.

In ‘It’s All About The Accessories’ Barbie collectors get to see the accessories available for Barbie dolls from 1959 to 1972, along with interesting information about each piece and what you can expect to pay for each. Everything from fashion items to incidental pieces are listed, shown and priced. This is a ‘must have’ book for any serious Barbie doll collector.