Introducing: Columbo Clothes and Laughs Blog!

 I have found a new hobby and it is Columbo. 

 

 

 

To support this obsession, I have started a new blog: Columbo Clothes and Laughs. 

 

There we will discuss the vintage fashion and humor of the Columbo television show.

 

 

For episodes where there are more than three excellent outfits, there will be a poll for everyone to pick their favorite. 

 

 

New posts every Wednesday, just as the original episodes aired!

 

 Thank you very much, Lieutenant!

COLUMBO CLOTHES AND LAUGHS BLOG

 

 

 

Keeping it fresh, 20 years on

It's bugged me for the last decade once I realized after the Vintage Vantage website went dark that half the photos and all the links in my RIP Vintage Vantage post also went dead and blank. 

In honor of the 20 year anniversary of when I joined VV, I went through and fixed all the photos and links and now it's back fresh and functional as the day the post was born in July 2010! Thank you, Wayback Machine! 

Without further ado: RIP Vintage Vantage (2001 - 2010) now with working links and photos!

Behind the T-shirt: Coke Adds Life to Super Tennis Week

(via Indianapolis Recorder) - Tucson Arizona, July 1, 1978 -

This balmy, scenic, southwestern city went Hollywood when luminaries of the film and sportsworlds converged on the desert for the fourth annual Celebrity Invitational Tennis Classic sponsored by American Airlines and Jet Newsweekly magazine last month. 

The two-day event at the Racquet Club Ranch was part of the “Super Tennis Week" here, for the benefit of the United Negro College Fund. The results were thousands of dollars for UNCF’s 41 member schools. 

 

 
A glimpse at celebrities from fans filled the excitement shared by participants of the event. Former Cleveland Brown “romper" and now star actor/producer Jim Brown bested Earl (the Pearl) Monroe of the New York Knicks, to capture the men’s single title. Brown tasted defeat, however, when he challenged any “woman tennis player in the audience.” Amateur Andrea Whitmore*, a 23-year-old Los Angeles resident, accepted, and downed Brown 5-3. 

 

The women’s singles trophy was won by actress Myra Waters, who defeated Jeanie Bell. Defending champion Gail Fisher, picked up an award for winning the most games in the “women’s celebrity division." Gladys Knight of the Pips, and Floyd Caldwell, a marketing executive with Kodak-one of the tournament sponsors--took the mixed doubles championships. Gladys’ husband, Barry Hankerson, and her brother. Bubba Knight, claimed the men’s doubles event.

 

 

*True crime aficionados may recognize the name Andrea Whitmore (Buchanan), the volunteer who trounced Jim Brown. She was murdered 3 years after Super Tennis Week. Per wikipedia:

Born in Los Angeles, Andrea Buchanan went to Dorsey High School and turned professional in 1978. She was one of only several African American players competing on tour. Her best grand slam performances came at the 1981 Wimbledon Championships, where she beat Barbara Hallquist before falling in the third round to second-seed Hana Mandlíková. In what would be her last grand slam appearance she won a first round match against Eva Pfaff at 1981 US Open.

On the morning of January 28, 1982, Buchanan was found mortally wounded on the floor of a Los Angeles fish market, where she was working part time as a cashier. She was rushed to Brotman Memorial Hospital in Culver City with multiple bullet wounds to her upper body, but never regained consciousness. Her boss, 57-year old Nathanial Brown, was pronounced dead at the scene. The case remains unsolved. Police ruled out robbery as a motive and believe that, unknown to Buchanan, Brown had been involved with dealing illicit substances.

 

 RIP Andrea Whitmore Buchanan.

Check out the 70s Coke Adds Life to Super Tennis Week t-shirt at Skippy Haha Vintage Etsy!