July 23, 2024

Galaxy Space Men and Radio Signals

Four ‘Galaxy Space Men’ 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
I was thumbing through my copy of the decorator book, Country Living’s Collection Style, when I spotted them…
a trio, of eye-catching Galaxy Syrup space men bottles,
neatly displayed upon a shelf.

Thumbing through my book,I spotted them…
a trio of Galaxy Syrup space men bottles.

 I no longer own this book, but I recently found this copy,
through my local library.

The days went on, but I could not shake the image of those cute and colorful space men bottles from my brain!  
 I wanted to know more about them, and I wanted one of my own!

So, I began to do some sleuthing about these vintage bottles.  
I found that, although, the book had identified them as “jelly jars”, that was not accurate, and their background, was actually, a whole lot more interesting!

Astroid Commander

Spacemen… from Baltimore

Although, these fellas have an outer-space vibe, they actually hail from earth;
Baltimore, Maryland USA, that is.

In 1971, a gentleman purchased a building as a manufacturing facility in Baltimore.
To his surprise, he discovered boxes, stored in the upstairs area,
that were filled with thousands of these cool and retro spacemen bottles!

It seems, that sometime in the 1950’s, Space Foods Company was preparing to launch a line of syrups called Galaxy Home Syrups. These syrups would enable consumers to prepare soda pop in the comfort of their home.
(I am guessing that the fizz factor would have been missing, however.)

Galaxy Bombardier

Ten different bottle designs, in eight different colors, would contain one of five different flavors, as printed on the lid.
And, to add to this unique product’s appeal, once the syrup had been emptied, the screw-top lid had a slit in the top, allowing the bottle to be used as a coin bank. 

Unfortunately, the Space Foods Company filed for bankruptcy before their product made it into the stores, never selling a single bottle of their space-age beverage. 

Space Commander

I am told that black is the rarest color in the Galaxy Home Syrup collection.

Since 1971, a few of these “found” bottles have been sold to collectors here and there.
I got my trio, via eBay, on my “fact-finding” mission, many years ago.
Last year, I returned to eBay, adding an orange space man to round out my set.
You can, now, buy these bottles directly from the Space Foods Company, here,
along other related merchandise.
(Thank you, Ryan, for answering my questions!)

Orbit Admiral

Last year, I bought this orange admiral to round out my set.
All four now fit into a white tray that I was lucky enough to find from
Home Goods.
(See the photo at the bottom of this post.)

Satellite Appetizer and Space Movies

With this space-age post, comes this Sputnik-inspired appetizer. My daughter and I made this creation many years ago, when she was in high school, for a team party at our home.
  It was a hit!

Cheese and Tortellini Satellite Kabobs

Items Needed

18-24 wooden skewers

Large ziplock baggie

9 x 13 pan, tray, or cookie sheet

Serving tray

Ingredients

1 Head of Cabbage

1 (8-9 ounce) package refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 (16 ounce) bottle Light Ken’s Caesar dressing

1 pkg. turkey, or regular pepperoni

1 can, or bottle of Kalamata/purple olives, drained

1/4 pound Swiss, or Pepper Jack cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes,
or slices

1/4 pound Cheddar cheese,
cut into 1/2 inch cubes,
or slices

(1-2) bottles, or cans of button mushrooms

Directions: 

Cook tortellini according to package directions (Go on to next step while cooking); drain.
Cool.

Meanwhile, as the tortellini is cooking and cooling,
place Italian dressing, tortellini, olives and mushrooms in large plastic food baggie.
Tightly seal baggie.

Coat everything in baggie; place baggie flat in 13×9-inch pan.
Refrigerate, turning over baggie occasionally, for 2 to 3 hours; drain.

Tear off the outer unclean leaves of the head of cabbage.
Place on serving tray;
flatten bottom of cabbage head, if necessary to steady “satellite”.

Drain marinated items from baggie after 2-3 hours.
Thread marinated items onto skewers in the following order…

Tortellini

Pepperoni (folded in two)

Cheese cube, or folded slice

Olive

Cheese cube, or folded slice

Mushroom

Makes approximately 18-24 skewers.

Space Movies

Need a movie, or tv show, to go with this retro appetizer? Here are a few of my favorites.

I Love Lucy 
“Lucy is Envious” 
Season 3, Episode 23
1954

Lucy and Ethel pose as the Women from Mars atop the Empire State Building,
 as a publicity stunt for a movie.

The Reluctant Astronaut
Don Knotts
1967

Don Knotts stars as an astronaut, who has an extreme fear of heights, in this family fun comedy.

Galaxy Quest
Tim Allen
1999

Tim Allen plays a type-cast actor who can not shake his image from starring in an earlier  sci-fi television series. (Think William Shatner and Star Trek.) His life takes on new meaning, however, when aliens require his, and his tv crew’s, assistance against an evil foe.
An entertaining comedy, and rated PG for the whole family.

Forbidden Planet
Leslie Nielsen
1956

A well-done sci-fi classic of a more serious nature, Forbidden Planet immerses the audience in this 23rd century mystery.  Filled with adventure, and complete with a robot, and Disney sound effects.

The beautiful metal sign, above, is by artist Marty Mummert.  
Read more about his work, here, in a previous blog post.

Radio Signals

I am excited to share with you some fun news!  
For the past ten months, I have been part of a radio team at a low powered station,
WSJF 92.7. The low power meant that if you lived outside the confines of our radio signal, that you, just, could not listen.
But, WSJF is now streaming!
And, thanks to streaming, now everyone, everywhere, can listen!
So….I invite you to “tune in”! :o)

I am part of the radio station team at,
WSJF 92.7.

The program that I host is called, A Song and A Prayer.  The program times, and how to listen are below.

A Song and A Prayer

T and Th 8:30 pm
Fridays 10 pm
Sat 8:30 am
Sun 3:30 pm

Eastern Standard Time

Use the app Live 365,
or go to their website.
https://live365.com/station/WSJF-LP-a06008 

Thank you for reading I’m Annette!
May your days be blessed, and your taste buds happy!

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Four ‘Galaxy Spacemen’ Keep Watch Over My Kitchen