Superheroes and Celebrities making 70's Mall Appearances

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After posting the Marvel Superheroes : Live and in Person brochure on the site, I recieved a generous amount of contributions from folks across the web sharing their childhood mall appearances. The one above was provided by Kelly from Project Absurd it's her fiance and his brother at the 1979 New York World's Fair.

Carman sent in this wonderful clip of the Marvel Superheroes at Six Flags circa 1979, joy!

Here is a snapshot from that day as well.

JD who sent in that great Spider-Man picture from last week also sent this awesome Darth Vader appearance from 1980 at the Parmatown Mall, also in the Cleveland area. The store was either Higbees or May Company, he can't remember. Just in case you don't see it, there is something that sets this apart from other mall shots:

JD sent in this great vintage shot of a Spider-Man appearance in Cleveland 1978 although he can't quite remember the store it looks like Spider-Man is in the Office Supplies section.

If that didn't rock enough, JD also submitted this uber cool shot of what the "Free Spider-Man Button" looked like from last week's ad. Very cool!

Another gem courtesy of Lou, here are the villains from "Bugs Bunny Meets the Superheroes". That Joker is creepy!

Continuing our series of flashbacks thanks to my friend Lou's vintage negatives we have a shot of what is the Bugs Bunny portion of the show (click on it for a larger look), a whole stage full of Looney Toons characters. It looks odd now but must have been something to see then

Scott W sent me this tres cool shot from a 1975 Long Island store appearance by Cornelius from Planet of the Apes. This sort of thing was put together by Mego and we were richer for it.

TJ sent in this terrific shot of Spider-Man at the Canadian National Exposition (We call it the CNE) in 1979, I love Spider-Man's medallion!.

Many thanks to Chaz Rose for this killer pic, Chaz tells me he brought a Mego Spiderman and asked him "Is this You?" How awesome is that?

Paul Rigsby sent in this picture of him at Spider-Man at the Gateway mall in Jacksonville Florida in 1979. Paul wanted to point out his red plaid outfit is not on purpose, he had no idea Spidey was going to be there, he was, as he puts it "A poster boy for bad 70s fashion".

Dave aka Kinostadt at the MegoMuseum Forums sent in these awesome additions to the Superhero Mall Appearance Gallery. This is Spiderman from a 1979 mall appearance in Minnesota. Dave is holding a piece of paper top get Spidey to sign.

Erick Bognar supplied this great photo of Cap and Spider-Man at the Chapel Hill Mall in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio sometime in the mid 70's. According to him, Spider-Man and Cap handed out pins. Check out Erick's terrific Blog here

Wes Booth sent in Captain America at the Eastgate Mall, Indianapolis around 1979. Wes makes a great observation that he didn't normally roll around in a jacket and turtleneck and slacks, his mother made him dress up to meet America's greatest hero.

Here's the shot that makes me crazy jealous, Wes holding Cap's shield. It doesn't get cooler than this! Expect more shots from Wes all this month, he's a real treasure trove.

Here's Ron Peritore in the early 80's in Long Island meeting the Incredible Hulk, the same one from the Marvel Superheroes Live and In Person Catalog. Notice the 12" Mego Hulk dolls behind Ron, so awesome...

Carlin Trammel (of the great blog Nerd Lunch ) sent in this early 80's Hulk appearance in Charleston, SC. He kind of looks scared....

Mark sent in this wild Incredible Hulk Appearance at the 1979 Philadelphia Car Show, also in attendance were Eric Estrada and Scott Baio, hopefully he can find those pictures.

This 1980 Marvel promotional photo shows kids treating Spider-Man not unlike the Beatles in 1965, I love the kid hugging Spider-Man with his eyes closed.

Erick also provided this Darth Vader and Jawa Appearance from the late 70's at the Summit Mall in Akron.

Chris sent in the wicked shot of him and Chewbacca at the Albany Mall in GA. in the summer of 1980.

I'd have been all over that Jawa!

Paul Novak sent in these amazing shots from Chicago in 1975. As superhero appearances go, this is the top of the food chain. Adam West and Burt Ward live and in costume as Batman and Robin. Even though both mean still tour, you'll never see them in their bat duds again.

Chris Curely sent in this picture of Adam West in the bat suit circa 1985, he looks great for a man in his fiftes but then again, Adam West still looks good

Jason Lenzi sent in these awesome additions to the Superhero Mall Appearance Gallery This was at the B Dalton's in the Maplewood Mall, in St. Paul, MN, November of 1977. This is pretty early for a Star Wars appearance.

I love the Sign in the background and look at the crowd!

Jason proudly displays his signed Star Wars calendar and mentions he bragged to his friends that he shook Vader's hand and how strong his grip was. You may recognize Jason's company Bif Bang Pow! nowadays, they make some of the coolest collector toys out there.

A Mego fan sent in this rare shot of a Planet of the Apes store appearance in the mid seventies, note the Mego Apes Play sets and the Addar model kits in the foreground.

Erik sent in this great early 80's Vader appearance, I love that Iron On Empire shirt! Only as a kid was it cool to wear the shirt of the band you're going to see..

Thomas Berry sent me this wonderful flashback. It's the Lord of the Sith himself at Joe Romania Cherolet Dealership in Eugene, Oregon back in October 1978. Thomas also mentions a Jawa but he seems to be camera shy.

After a year of accumulating other people's encounters with Spider-Man and Darth Vader, it never dawned upon me that I had anything to add until I found this. This is probably around 1980 and at the Metro Zoo, who used to use 70s super celebrity Bigfoot quite extensively in their marketing (you can still see the painted footprints there) I have no idea who the picture wrecking kid in front is but I do remember wanting to leave the zoo early because it was "Planet of the Apes Week" on City TV. Yes, I was always this way.....

Come with me human child and let me show you some high quality Mattel toys, dig the entire wall of BSG figures in there

Doug Knoth sent in pics of an appearance of Spider-man and Acroyear from the Micronauts at his local Korvettes in the Masapequa mall ciurca 1977. Note the giant display of Mego Biotrons in the background, I'll take ten!

Doug shaking hands with Acroyear, seems to be a Spiderman dish set behind Acroyear.

That's a whole display of carded Mego Superheroes in the far left folks....

New to the site is this image of Lou and Spider-Man from days past, stay tuned for more input from Lou in the future. You can check out his Jaws Page here.

Lou also sent in this picture of him with Batman and Robin, this is from a "Meet the DC Superheroes" review show I've blogged about in the past. Lou promises more pictures so stay tuned

James Powell sent in this great mid seventies shot of him and his sister meeting Spidey in Orlando,in case the shirts weren't a big enough giveaway.

Darryl Heine sent in these great shots of the Macy's thanksgiving parade cira 1984, lots of super people evident including Mighty Mouse.

The Man of Helium.

Down in Front! This picture is just about the only time I've seen a public appearance of Hawkman, however it's not surprising considering he was part of the Superpowers line up..

My pal Bill (aka Wee67) from the Megomuseum forums sent over this grooving shot of him meeting the caped crusader in what looks like a shoe department, cool shirt Bill!.

Daniel Preston sent in this fantastic pic of Darth Vader at the Mac Dade Mall Woolco in PA, Vader choked that Imperial officer when his marker ran dry.

Chuck sent in this picture of him and brother Chris with R2D2 in front a wonderful Star Wars painting. This was at a HyVee grocery store around 79-80. Chuck remembers Chewie and Vader also being at this store (he would not go near Vader and cried because he was a bad guy) and promises more shots in the future. Thanks Chuck!

Charles Howell sent in the ultimate collectible, Darth Vader's autograph, Lord Vader rarely signed and of course, died in the "Ewok incident".

Chris Franklin sent in this awesome flyer for a couple of appearances at Hills stores, Captain America and Rom: Space Knight at one and Spider-Man Goblin at the other. Chris saw the Spider-Man Goblin fight, good choice.

Here is a great memento, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin's autograph, Chris tells me that you should not hand Spider-Man a Batman pen to sign with, sound advice.

Charles also sent scans of a promotional comic given out for an appearance by Spider-Man and the Hulk. This is done for the Foley's chain of department stores. He says you can still find these in local comic stores.

Mego was the king of store promotions in the seventies and often gave kids little momentos such as this Spider-Man autograph, similiar items exist for Planet of the Apes and Wizard of Oz.

Courtesy of Mike Jimenez we have a news clipping of a Mego store appearance to promote the Planet of the Apes line, behind "Doctor Cornelius" is a mego collector's dream.

Much better than a man in a suit, we have the real Lee Majors making an appearance no doubt to promote the Six Million Dollar Man toys he wasn't alone, William Shatner and Lenard Nimoy also conducted similiar tours to promote the Mego Star Trek toys. If anyone has pics, please contact us!.

These are from a stage show that toured the US and UK. I hope to have pictures someday, that Wonder Woman is gorgeous!

Do you have pictures of a Superheroes appearance from the 70's or early 80's, please drop us a line here and we'll send you a Plaidstallions prize pack, chock full of 70's goodness.

1976 was a big year for Captain America Appearances

Check out the Superheroes at Sea World Page

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