In the early 50’s famed artist George Petty drew and airbrushed the pin-up girls for Ridgid Tools popular calendars. According to the ASIFA Animation Hollywood Animation website:

George Petty was one of the top “cheesecake” illustrators of the 30s and 40s. He began his career with a series of cartoons featuring beautiful girls and their far from handsome beaus. His work coined the term “Petty Girls” to describe the carefully airbrushed girls with brilliant smiles and sexy poses. He left Esquire, to be replaced by Alberto Vargas who we will be featuring here soon, and became a freelance commercial artist. His girls soon ended up gracing magazine ads and calendars for such unlikely products as Tung-Sol Radio Tubes and the aptly named, Ridgid Tools.

Being a huge fan of nostalgia and retro stuff, I love this calendar art and so will you. An interesting note about the artist… He grew up working in his dad’s photography studio where airbrushing was common in the business, but not at all in illustration – until he applied the medium to drawings like these making Petty the pioneer of the technique for illustrators who followed.

Scroll down and check ‘em out…just gorgeous stuff!

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!

Tell us who happens to be your favorite RIDGID chick from years back. While March 1953 is incredibly suggestive for it’s day, I think November 1952 would have threaded my pipe with the most precision!

- Zman

By Izzy Jaecks

For those of you guys who love the loaf but don’t cook, Izzy Jaecks brings us a recipe that even a primate could make…

Because everything’s better with bacon, a recipe to put a smile on that grizzly face…

I don’t cook beyond heating things.  I don’t even have a grill (or anywhere to use one) so if something is easy enough to ME to make, it’s easy enough for just about anyone to make.  There is almost no measuring to this, and I came up with the recipe just walking around the grocery store trying to think what would be good in meatloaf…. I call it “whole meal” because adding spinach and oatmeal make this a pretty balanced meal all in itself (I like one dish meals).  So I present my Stupid-Proof, Whole Meal Meatloaf:

2 lbs ground beef

1 can chopped tomatoes, mostly drained

8 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped

10 oz package of frozen spinach (thawed…)

3 raw eggs

1 packet soup mix

2 cups “old fashioned” oatmeal

And of course, the very best part of all… one entire package of delicious bacony flavored bacon!

The proportions are what you can find pre-packaged, and even the oatmeal you can just toss in a couple handfuls instead of measuring exactly. Mix it all together in no particular order, stuff it into a bread pan, weave bacon strips across the top and bake it for about an hour and a half at 375.  If there is any leftover mix that didn’t fit into the bread pan, just fry it up like a burger patty.

Variations:   use different kinds of ground meat – turkey, veal, pork… add cheese…

Trust me, you won’t need ketchup, it’s awesome all by itself—and DAMN it’s great as leftovers and sandwiches with some melted cheddar. After I make it I cut it up, chuck it into the freezer, and take pieces to work for lunch. Hey, I’d share some with your guys, but the Zman just devoured the whole pan full!

- Izzy

Some of you may think that Jason Vorhees of Friday the Thirteenth fame, was the orginator of the hockey mask. Well, puck breath, that ain’t quite right. You see, it was actually a French Canadian by the name of Jacques Plante, who first donned a goaltenders face mask on November 1, 1959. And this Sunday marks the 50th anniversary since Plante debuted his facial ware – and quite the coincidence, it was exactly one day after Halloween.

Goalies didn’t wear masks back in that time, but the man they referred to as Jake the Snake , was about to change NHL history. Just three minutes into a game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Plante’s face was sliced open with an Andy Bathgate wristshot, delaying the game for 21 minutes as the Habs netminder lay on the ice in a pool of his own blood. After a trip to the locker room and a bunch of gnarly stitches, he returned to the ice, astonishing both fans and the players. And even more astonishing, the goaltender finished the game with a 3-1 victory over the Rangers.

It’s simply amazing that goalies of that era who faced beasts like Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull didn’t wear face and head protection. Plante and other names like Terry Sawchuck, Johnny Bower,  Glenn Hall, Eddie Johnston, and Gump Worsley may just have been the toughest and most fearless sons of bitches in all of sport.

Back in the 60’s, goalies started to slowly adopt the idea of a mask as a part of their equipment, even though they were crude fiberglass plates with eye holes and straps. Today’s masks are made of carbon fiber space-age material designed by engineers, with the sole purpose of stopping a cruise missile. And with guys Alex Ovetchkin on the ice, that just may be a really good idea.

Read some truly great stuff about the late Jacques Plante and this historic anniversary in sport at the NHL’s official website.

CLICK HERE>NHL.com/Jacques Plante

- ZMAN

By Izzy Jaecks

It’s a fact that All REAL guys love sports cars. Well, here’s some proof that a fast set of wheels can tune up the human engine…

I don’t need to be a plastic surgeon to appreciate a naked woman, and I don’t need to be a mechanic to appreciate the power of my car.

I love my car.  It’s not the newest, and right now it’s not at its shiniest, but at nearly 200,000 miles it’s still fast… really fast.  Brand new and stock, it clocked 0-60 in 6.7 seconds with a top speed of 143 mph.  I’ve not tested it 0-60, but I have taken it up to 110 mph… under controlled conditions of course… and I’m sticking to THAT story… I also like to amuse my mechanic by coming up to the service desk before being called, not because I can see that they are done with my car but because I can HEAR that they are done with my car because I recognize the sound instantaneously.

When price is not a factor, if given a choice between fast-and-shiny and moderate-and-modest, your average guy is going to go for the fast and shiny every time. And now, science agrees.

Researchers at Canada’s John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal tested testosterone levels in 39 men, first after they drove an old Toyota Camry and then after driving a Porsche 911, and shock of all shocks, every single one of them had a dramatic increase in testosterone while driving the Porsche.  To further prove it was the car and not just perceptions of the car, each driver and each car was tested after driving up and down an empty street and up and down a street filled with women. Studies didn’t say if the women were hot, but the testosterone levels were not affected by whether or not the men were being watched while driving.

You would need a significantly larger and more diverse test group than a mere 39 college-aged men to be considered “truly” scientific, but when a test this size is unanimous, it’s a damned good start towards being considered “fact”. I don’t know if it matters that the school shares its name with a mainstream Canadian beer though… would it be less scientific if it were conducted by an American school named “Bud”?  Hard to say… but whether or not science like this will win Nobel prizes, the results are not even remotely surprising.

Psychology would probably say that this has something to do with looking good and impressing the women-folk, but I think this has more to do with satisfying the latent, primeval hunter in all guys.  Looking good might attract the chicks, but speed and strength brings home the steaks… and I don’t care how much you like sex, but you can live a lot longer without sex than you can without food (no matter how hard that is to believe…)

So, now you can argue that it is good for the both of you for you to own a fast car… it’s Viagra on wheels!  And science backs it up…

Now, if only science could find—and eliminate – the gene that makes women want to buy shoes…

- IZZY

Football and cigars are indeed, a very manly combination.

Cigar loving Washington Redskins fans can now enjoy the ultimate smoking experience while watching their favorite team at the elegant new Montecristo Club, which recently opened at Fed Ex Field. The Montecristo Club is Washington DC’s largest cigar lounge and the only one in America to be located in a football stadium.

Located on Fed Ex Field’s exclusive Club Level, the lounge accommodates over 1,000 guests. Spacious and warmly welcoming, the beautiful Montecristo Club features plush leather chairs, a full bar, flat panel TV’s for
football viewing and a stellar selection of Altadis U.S.A. premium cigars including Montecristo, H. Upmann,
Romeo y Julieta, Trinidad, and many more.

The Montecristo Club is the only place where smoking is permitted in the stadium. It was created to offer
enthusiasts a smoker-friendly, luxury destination for enjoying their favorite cigars while watching the game.
The Montecristo Club will also accommodate tailgaters in the Fed Ex Field parking lot where Montecristo girls
will be on hand in golf carts selling Altadis U.S.A. cigars.

Publishers Note: I hope there’s a lot of mirrors in that gorgeous club… ’cause the Red Skins are gonna need that and some smoke to win a few games this season. But at least they have the good people of Altadis to thank for saving their season.

For more information, contact Janelle Rosenfeld at (954) 938-7837 or jrosenfeld@altadisusa.com
www.altadisusa.

The lifestyle reserved for the elite of the cigar world is now available to everyone! For 5-days and 4-nights the Los Blancos Cigars “Roll’n’Smoke Tour” will open the doors of the world’s top cigar factories in Nicaragua and Honduras as you follow the making of a cigar from field to box. Drink morning coffee fresh from the plantation and world-class rum all night in a tropical climate where cigar smoking is not only allowed, it’s encouraged. Whether you’re a connoisseur or just enjoy an occasional cigar, this tour is a celebration of the good life!

Los Blancos Cigars and Worth Living Tours are offering the “Roll’n’Smoke Tour,” a full-access cigar tour of Nicaragua and Honduras open to the general public. In five days, clients will tour tobacco farms and curing barns, three top cigar factories, the largest tobacco processing facility in Central America, and even a cigar box factory, all while enjoying $175 worth of fine Los Blancos cigars. The tour includes all ground transfers, four nights accommodations, seven meals, English speaking guide from Los Blancos Cigars, a custom blended cigar, and a rum and cigar pairing evening. Because the tour goes through working factories, the group size is limited to only 10 people per tour, once a month.

With the motto “A band for every man”, the “Roll’n’Smoke Tour” offers something for everyone. The cigar connoisseur will enjoy the in-depth, hands-on access to every step of the cigar making process. The occasional smoker will get to experience a wide selection of cigars while learning how they’re made, increasing their palate and appreciation for their variety and complexity. The infrequent cigar smoker will enjoy a week of good food, good drink, good cigars, and good friends on a unique and memorable tour that’s a perfect vacation for any celebration.

This level of access has always been reserved for suppliers, buyers, and select journalists. “I’ve been taking people from inside the cigar industry on this program for years, we’re excited that everyone can now experience this,” says David Blanco of Los Blancos Cigars. “And we’ve been trying to set up a cigar tour for over a year,” says Ted Reinhard of Worth Living Tours, “but it’s impossible to open the doors of a cigar factory to clients when we couldn’t get as much as a foot in.” Even with the assistance of the Honduran and Nicaraguan governments, the factories and facilities remained impenetrable fortresses. Everything changed with a fortunate meeting at a local cigar shop. “Los Blancos Cigars has a great reputation for quality, they’re a US company so they care about the US market, and they’ve got roots that run deep in the cigar industry,” Reinhard says.

The Blanco family and their cousins, the Plasencia family, can trace their roots in the tobacco industry back to Cuba’s western-most province of Pinar del Rio. Today the Plasencias are one of the preeminent tobacco families in the industry, running farming and manufacturing operations in Danlí, Honduras and Estelí, Nicaragua. According to David Blanco, “Teaming up with Ted’s operation was just the opportunity we’ve been looking for to really open up the industry to the cigar smoker and beyond.” With an A+ reliability rating from the Better Business Bureau and over a decade of experience in operating tours in North Africa, Eastern Europe, and South America, Worth Living Tours (and its parent company Intrepid Global) are known for crafting new and unique programs. “With all the places I’ve traveled while setting up new programs, this trip was one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever had. I’m proud to be working with Los Blancos Cigars and very excited about sharing this with others,” says Reinhard.

Contact: Ted Reinhard • Worth Living Tours

www.WorthLivingTours.com . cigars@worthlivingtours.com

837-A N. Keene Rd . Clearwater, FL 33755

Phone (800) 536-1411 . Fax (727) 443-7595