Philadelphia, PA – I didn’t have to travel far for this weeks road trip. In fact, I didn’t even need to start my car up (which happens to be further from where I live than this week’s destination). Just a few blocks from my house is the Mummers Museum (not to be confused with the Mütter Museum) and for some time now I’ve been saying I should drop down for a visit.
You may ask what a Mummer is. I’ve been asking this same question for years. Before going to the museum I could only tell you 2 things for certain about Mummers, and they were:
- Covered in feathers and sequins Mummers come out every New Years Day to parade down Philadelphia’s Broad Street.
- Don’t talk smack on Mummers to a native Philadelphian because you might as well be insulting their mother, or the Eagles. Philadelphian’s love the Mummers, even if the only thing they know about them is that they parade down Broad Street on New Years Day.
Now that I’ve been to the museum I can tell you a whole lot more!
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Indiana, PA – I’m actually not a fan of Jimmy Stewart. Pretty much if he’s not in a Hitchcock film he isn’t worth watching in my opinion. And even then I could pass, unless it’s Rear Window. I love Rear Window. It’s one of my favorite Hitchcock films, and I can overlook the casting of Stewart because it is such a great film. And who wouldn’t want to be Grace Kelly?
So , I just wanted to visit someplace (relatively) close and I figured on an hour drive to Indiana to visit the Jimmy Stewart Museum (JSM) wouldn’t be all that bad. Not that I expected much, but I have to say I was sorely disappointed. Especially since this year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. I thought there may have been some sort of interesting something or other. I was wrong, yet again.
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Moundsville, WV – When you go to visit the Official Marx Toy Museum get ready for an education. This isn’t a museum that you got to just to look at toys, it’s one where you get to learn about them. You can’t play with them, but considering some of the toys can bring in as much as $14,000 on the collectors market I guess that makes sense. So basically it’s the opposite of every principal a child holds dear. Well, at least it’s a fun education.
When you first come to the museum you’ll be met by the owner, Francis Turner. He has a whole schpeal that lasts a good half hour and includes a little ten minute video that tells you the rise and fall of the Marx empire. I happened to show up at the same time as some other visitors so we got the tour all at the same time, but something tells me he’ll give his talk to as few as one visitors. He’s an expert on the Marx toys and Louis Marx himself. And with thousands of toys that span the 60 years of Marx rule, you can understand how he could get a little attached.
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