Posts Tagged ‘nyc history’

The History of Bazooka Joe! Thursday June 10 at 8 pm

The History of Bazooka Joe

Thursday, June 10 – Presentation at 8 – Doors at 7

$7 General Admission – Free for City Reliquary Members (tickets required)

The City Reliquary is proud to present a very special event celebrating America’s favorite eyepatched rascal Bazooka Joe! A distinguished panel of candy and comics experts will discuss the history of the iconic character and his lasting impact on marketing and design.

Our guests include:

Ira Friedman has spent his career on the merchandising side of pop culture. Since his early days at Starlog and Fangoria magazines, to a stint at Lucasfilm during the original release of The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ira landed at Topps in 1988 as the director of new product development. Since that time, Ira has been a fixture at the famed bubble gum and trading card company involved in hundreds of different projects, publishing, and confectionery products – ‘homegrown’ and licensed.

Charles Kochman is the Editorial Director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the #1 bestselling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. For thirty-five years, Kochman has edited several hundred books for all age groups, including award-winning picture books, middle-grade novels, retrospectives, monographs, graphic novels, and art book collections published by Abrams, DC Comics, MAD magazine, Bantam Books, and Putnam. He is a recipient of the Inkpot Award, presented by Comic-Con International for achievement in comics.

Jason Liebig is regarded as one of the nation’s foremost experts on candy and snack food brand history and is considered an arbiter of candy as pop culture and nostalgia.  As such, he has written hundreds of articles on the subject matter and has served as a brand consultant as well as period television consultant for shows such as Stranger Things, Young Sheldon, Mad Men, and more.  His unique perspective and expert knowledge have led him to become an occasional television host and frequent guest, sharing his love of the candy and snack worlds he loves.  Blog: http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/

R. Sikoryak is a cartoonist and author of the graphic novels Constitution Illustrated, The Unquotable Trump, Masterpiece Comics, and Terms and Conditions (Drawn & Quarterly). His comics and illustrations have appeared in The New YorkerThe New York Times Book ReviewThe NationThe Onion, and more. Sikoryak presents his live comics performance series, Carousel, around the U.S. and Canada. 

Special guest appearance by M. Sweeney Lawless, writer of ill repute. Twitter: @Specky4Eyes

Bazooka Joe and his Gang appeared in mini-comics on Bazooka bubble gum wrappers starting in 1954. The comic concept was the brainchild of Woody Gelman and Ben Solomon, heads of product development at Topps, and the original comic artist was Wesley Morse. Topps, the king of trading card companies, has been based in NYC since 1947.

Admission to the Museum and The Call of Candy exhibit included – come early to check out vintage Topps and Bazooka Joe ephemera as well as that of other NYC candy manufacturers from the 1800s to today!

POSTPONED: The 13th Annual Panorama Challenge

2019 winning team hosting the Panorama Challenge trophy
2019 Panorama Pro winners, the Dutch Killers!

The Panorama Challenge is postponed in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. We hope to reschedule this event later in the year when we can once again safely gather to celebrate our love of New York City, and we hope to see you there. We’ll announce a new date when we have more information.

The 13th Annual Panorama Challenge
Friday, April 17, 2020: Doors 5 PM, Open Museum Galleries 5-7pm, Game 7 PM
Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

General Admission: $15 advance/$20 day of game

City Reliquary & Queens Museum members: $12 advance/$15 day of game

SEEKING KNOW‐IT‐ALL NEW YORKERS AND LOVERS OF NYC! 

It’s almost time for the 13th Annual Panorama Challenge! Once again, The City Reliquary, Queens Museum, & The Levys’ Unique New York! have partnered for an exciting evening of trivia with the whole city at your feet. Meet us at the world’s largest architectural scale model – The Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum!

On the occasion of this year’s Panorama Challenge the Queens Museum’s galleries will be open after hours from 5 – 7pm, so that participants can visit the newly opened exhibition season, which features a wide range of perspectives and explorations of the city of New York.  Exhibitions on view include After the Plaster Foundation, a show on artists’ experiences with home, displacement and real estate in the city, Ridgewood Reservoir for the 21st Century (Community Partnership Exhibition in the Watershed Gallery), and Bruce Davidson: People in Public Places. Make sure to visit the exhibitions and expect a few related questions in the Challenge!

Panorama Challenge quizzes players on all things NYC. MC Gary Dennis reads questions while our judges highlight clues on the Panorama using lasers (well, laser pointers). Players in teams of 10 (or so) use those clues ​to determine the correct answer.

Quizmaster Jonathan Turer returns for his ninth year with another fresh batch of questions. This year, categories may include: ‘Women in Song’ (audio clues), ‘Brush Up on Your Shakespeare’ and ‘Bruce (Davidson) in NYC’ which will focus on works from the photographer’s exhibit at the Museum. And, to celebrate the 13th Challenge: ‘Unlucky’. Start building your teams accordingly!

Teams may organize as Panorama Challengers or Panorama Pros. Challengers are first‐timers or casual trivia fans. Their questions will be easier!  Pros are returning contestants and dedicated enthusiasts of our city’s hidden corners. They answer twice as many questions per round (60 total!) Friendly tour guides from The Levys’ Unique New York! will help match contestants to teams.

The winning Pro team will join the ranks of legendary past winners when its name is etched on the Panorama Challenge Trophy housed at the Queens Museum!

A new prize will be awarded this year in honor of the late Lee Gelber, long-time Panorama Challenge judge and ‘Dean of New York Guides’. To commemorate his love of jokes and puns, the team with the funniest or cleverest name will be added to “The Dean’s List”, a trophy that will live at the museum along with the ‘big prize’. 

Food and beverages will be available by suggested donation. A free shuttle, generously provided by DaVinci Limo & Tours, will travel between the Queens Museum and under the Mets‐Willets Point 7 stop from 5:30-7 pm and 9-10 pm.

Famous Cats of Brooklyn! A Talk With Author Peggy Gavan on December 5

Thursday, December 5 at 7 pm – Admission by Donation

RSVP on Facebook

As we know, the internet loves a good cat story. 19th century readers were no different in their appreciation for exceptional felines – stories of stray cats with unusual adopted homes and singular talents captivated the public and were widely featured in the news.

Author and animal blogger Peggy Gavan has researched notable cats and their human companions and gathered the most fascinating tales in her recently released book The Cat Men of Gotham: Tales of Feline Friendships in Old New York. On Thursday, December 5 at 7 pm, she’ll share select stories of famous cats of old Brooklyn (with photos, of course!) at the City Reliquary! These stories will take us through the streets of Brooklyn from the Navy Yard to a Bushwick firehouse, and illuminate life in a bygone era as well as celebrating fascinating men and their captivating cats.

Peggy’s book will be available for purchase and signing – perhaps a holiday gift for the city history buff or cat fancier in your life?

Discover Barren Island with Author Miriam Sicherman on November 21!

On a now-vanished island in Jamaica Bay, a community of new immigrants and African-Americans transformed the city’s waste into industrial products and built a neighborhood from scratch. In her book Brooklyn’s Barren Island: A Forgotten History, author Miriam Sicherman (of Closet Archaeology fame) traces the development of this oft-forgotten community from the 1850s to 1936, when they were evicted to create New York City’s first municipal airport.

We will celebrate the release of Brooklyn’s Barren Island with a talk and book signing by Miriam Sicherman at the City Reliquary Museum on Thursday, November 21 at 7 pm! Join us to learn more about this fascinating fragment of NYC history.

RSVP on Facebook!