Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

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Shoe Dick
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Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:14 am

I thought I'd start a thread where I can post some pictures of my Married... With Children memorabilia. At the moment I don't have a whole lot in my collection, but I've decided it's time for me to start collecting a little bit more seriously than I have in the past, and will therefore also post my most recent buys in this thread. I'll try to include a little review or some info on all the things I will post from my collection.

I will update this thread every now and then, posting everything at once would make it a pretty short-lived thread. Feel free to post any comments or questions about any of the stuff that I will post here.
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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:44 pm

First up is my recently completed collection of the Swedish Married... With Children comics, or Våra Värsta År (Our Wost Years) as we call the show. There were only five of these released between the years 1992 and 1993. Four issues were released in 1992 and the last one in 1993. These are pretty rare in Sweden, which is why it took me so long to complete the collection. They pop up every once in a while on the Swedish version of Ebay, but always just one here, one there, never the complete set and there's always a bidder.

Here is a picture of all of them:

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As you can see, we followed the tradition that America set by putting Christina Applegate on a lot of the covers :) You'll also notice that none of the covers are identical to the US ones. Here are separate pictures of the magazines, I scanned them for those of you who'd like to keep them, so the files are very large:

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There were supposed to be ten issues released per year of this comic. However, after three issues they announced in the fourth issue of 1992 that they were only going to release six issues per year. It still says so on the very last comic, that six issues would be released per year. So we were never notified in the fifth and ultimately final comic that it would actully be the last one, meaning it most likely got a very unexpected cancellation.
Image

R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Daniel » Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:11 pm

I never knew that there was a Swedish edition of the mwc comics!
I'm looking forward to see what other stuff you already have :)

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Shoe Dick
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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Thu Sep 02, 2010 9:48 pm

Daniel (f.k.a. admin) wrote:I never knew that there was a Swedish edition of the mwc comics!
Indeed we did! :wink: Were there any MWC comics released in Germany/Austria? You'd think it would since it was so popular there.
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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Daniel » Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:10 pm

As far as I know there has been released a lot of stuff - but I'm not sure it comics have been released...
But all the things I know I own already *gg* (books, trading cards,...).

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Tue Sep 07, 2010 4:38 pm

Next part of my collection are the two Married… With Children – The Most Outrageous Episodes! DVD’s that were released in 2003. I own the Swedish versions which slightly differ from the ones released in USA. The Volume 1 DVD is identical to the US release, except for the text being in Swedish, naturally. The Swedish Volume 2 has a totally different cover than the US one though, while the back cover is, much like the first one, identical to the US version. Here are the covers compared to each other:

Volume 1:

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Volume 2:

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What makes the Swedish release even more different than the US one is that these two volumes were also sold together in a box set, called “Best of Bundy.” Here is a picture of the front and back of the box set:

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I find that the choice of picture for the cover of the box set is very interesting, since there are no NO MA’AM-oriented episodes in any of the ten episodes from the two volumes. As far as I know, the only countries that got the Best of Bundy box set are Sweden and Germany.

The episodes in each of the two volumes are as follows:

Volume 1:

A Dump of my Own - Season 3, episode 5
I'll See You in Court - Season 3, episode 8
You Better Shop Around (part 1) - Season 5, episode 19
You Better Shop Around (part 2) - Season 5, episode 20
No Chicken, No Check - Season 8, episode 6

Volume 2:

A Man's Castle - Season 5, episode 15
Raingirl - Season 4, episode 19
Have You Driven a Ford Lately - Season 1, episode 5
If Al Had a Hammer - Season 6, episode 3
Who'll Stop the Rain? - Season 4, episode 11

I’ll end this post with scanned pictures of the front and back covers of the box set and actual DVD's. Just click on them to get the full-sized versions:

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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:04 pm

Next item in my collection is this issue of The Hollywood Reporter:

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This special issue of The Hollywood Reporter from 1995 salutes Married... With Children on its 200th episode being aired. The whole magazine is 56 pages long where 25 of them are solely dedicated to the celebrations of the milestone Married… With Children set with its 200th episode, at that time being the longest running sitcom still on the air. Among the 25 pages there are different articles on the show's history, the creators, the actors etc, as well as full-page ads where people in the business have sent their personal congratulations to the cast and crew of the show.

It's a really good read with some facts you may or may not have known about the show before. The whole cast was interviewed for this issue, so there are several quotes from the actors themselves on how they feel about the show, its success, the characters they play and so on.

A couple of pictures from inside the magazine (click to enlarge):

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One article I took extra notice to is one called “Bringing Down the Haus – ‘Married’ finds syndication success in Germany.” Since there are a lot of German speaking MWC fans on this forum, I thought the article was interesting enough to the people on this board that I decided to write it down for you, word for word. It follows:

- ”He gives us fans the feeling that there are other lost souls who are as doofus as we are. Al Bundy is God!”
So says Stefan Mohnen, the head of one of the five “Married… With Children” fan clubs that meet regularly in Hamburg, Germany. The German fans decorate the walls with socks in honor of their heroes, stage Peg Bundy look-alike contests and dance all night to Frank Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage.”

“Married” is sold in over 60 markets around the world, from Thailand to Trinidad. It’s usually Columbia TriStar TV’s top foreign seller. The show does particularly well in Australia and Northern Europe, but in Germany, the saga of the Bundy brood is an absolute smash. “Married” premiered on the German network “RTL” as a weekday late-night strip in November 1992 under the title “Eine Schrecklich Nette Familie,” which translates as “A Badly Nice Family.” “The show immediately developed a cult-following,” says Rachel Wells, a marketing vp for Columbia TriStar International Television. “When RTL saw how crazy the fans were about the show, they moved it to a 5:30 slot in the afternoon in January of ’93. Then the whole thing really took off.”

How popular are the Bundy’s in Germany? By May of ’93, “Married” was pulling a 23 audience share of the German market for its time slot. It’s since settled in to average about a 19 share, according to Wells. Dr Ursula Maister, a humanities professor at the University of Munich, was asked why the Germans are so rabid about the show. “We Germans are programmed to be orderly, to never deviate from the norm. When one does that, the society comes down on him or her very harshly,” says Maister. “The Bundy’s, however, are just totally off the wall. They are the antitheses of what a German is brought up to be,” she adds. “That’s why the Germans love them!”

But why do the fan clubbers decorate the walls with socks? (The same fetid socks that lured aliens to the Bundy household in one episode? Socks that are provided vital fuel for a spaceship that saved millions from a cometary collision? Socks that have made Al Bundy a mythical hero in some parts of the galaxy?) It seems that the Al Bundy character is known in Germany as a “stinksteifel,” which translates literally to “stinky shoe” (and is an idiom for a man who’s a mess). However, fan-club honcho Mohnen was very disappointed with the socks that were hung for a recent club gathering. “The socks were freshly washed,” laments Mohnen. “Peg Bundy would never wash the socks in her house!”


I hope you enjoyed the article. Lastly, here are scans of the front and back cover of the issue:

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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by AlFan » Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:51 pm

Great writing and really cool collection, you rarely see some of the stuff you have
displayed. Thanks for sharing and hope that your collection keeps growing.
In the Netherlands there were also some special editions printed which dont
come often for sale on the market.

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Shoe Dick
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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Mon Sep 27, 2010 2:29 am

AlFan wrote:Great writing and really cool collection, you rarely see some of the stuff you have
displayed. Thanks for sharing and hope that your collection keeps growing.
In the Netherlands there were also some special editions printed which dont
come often for sale on the market.
Thanks man. More stuff from my collection will be posted, so stay tuned :wink:
Image

R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:08 am

This Calendar, made in 1990, was produced by a company called Landmark Calendars. The calendar was for the year of 1991:

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The calendar is still sealed and in very good condition. As you can see, only eleven pictures is showed in the back, while the twelfth is illustrating the actual calendar. So I don't know what the twelfth picture looks like, as I don't want to open the calendar when it's in such a good condition. You'll notice that Jefferson D'Arcy is not on any of the pictures, he simply isn't because when this calendar was printed, his character hadn't appeared on the show yet. There are several pictures of Steve Rhoades though.

Here are the scanned pictures of the calendar, where you'll see a line crossing on both of the pictures. The actual calendar doesn't look like that though, the scanned pictures looks that way because the calendar was too small to fit in the scanner. So I had to scan each side twice on different ends.

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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Shoe Dick
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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Fri Nov 26, 2010 10:40 am

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for me to present what I feel is one of the ultimate collectables anyone can have in their Married… With Children collection; an actual screen-worn Polk High jacket made especially for the show:

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I obtained this after an epic bidding war on Ebay from the infamous Married… With Children memorabilia seller mwcfan1. The bidding war ended with me being victorious. The price? 565 dollars. I was ready to go higher for this to be a part of my collection. I’ve always, always wanted one of these Polk High jackets. I think they look absolutely wonderful, and the fact that it’s actually made for the show and was used in it really sealed the deal for me. Not many of these were made for and worn the show, probably only 8-10 if my math isn’t off. We’ll probably never see one being sold on Ebay after this. Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity that I'm glad I didn't let go by me.

The jacket has been distressed by the wardrobe department to look old, mainly the sleeves which you can see on the photos. The jacket was made by Rennoc and is a size large, luckily the same size that I wear. The sleeves are made of leather. The jacket is in great shape and looks great on me, if I may say so myself. If it wasn’t a rare, treasured and expensive part of my collection, I’d wear it often. I’ll only wear it on special occasions. It will spend most of its time hanging proudly above the rest of my collection:

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Let’s move on to the question who wore this jacket on the show. Well, I’m sorry to say I’m not 100% sure who. I can, however, tell you who didn’t. I’m pretty sure one of the characters in the tenth episode of season nine entitled “Dud Bowl” wore it. By watching the jacket I own closely and compare it to the jackets the characters in the show wore , I can say that these people did not wear it:

Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) – His jacket had “Al” embroidered on his jacket.
Aaron (Hill Harper) – His jacket was slightly different than the rest, the P had a different font and it said “Polk High” on the back of the jacket.
Bob Rooney (E.E. Bell) – The P on his jacket is higher up than the P on mine.
Rodent (Dean Norris) – Same thing there, the P is placed higher up.

I don’t know this characters name in the episode, so I’ll show you a picture of him crossed out instead. The same thing that eliminated the last two on the list eliminates him as well:

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This strongly narrows it down to perhaps three more characters that wore the jacket on the show, whose names I’m not sure was ever mentioned in the show. Maybe after a few more viewings, I can say who wore it. I’ll let you all know if I ever do.

I usually attend a sci-fi convention in Sweden about once or twice a year where some of the attendees dress up as characters from films and TV. I’ve decided that next time I go to one, I’ll go dressed as Al Bundy. I’ll wear this jacket, a distressed Polk High t-shirt underneath and a pair of either brown or grey pants that Al usually wore, with a matching belt. I’ll also carry with me a football that I’ll pose with. It’ll be a lot of fun, I’m sure, and I’m looking forward to it already.

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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Dr. Shoe » Sat Nov 27, 2010 4:34 am

That is really impressive Shoe Dick. $565 for a Polk High jacket! You aren't married are you. :) I had that calendar when I was a young NO MA'AMer. Didn't think to hang on to it at the time. Yeah keep posting when you get stuff. I'd love to have something that was actually from the show. If I won the lottery I'd have a little museum built.

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Sat Nov 27, 2010 10:05 am

Dr. Shoe wrote:That is really impressive Shoe Dick. $565 for a Polk High jacket! You aren't married are you. :) I had that calendar when I was a young NO MA'AMer. Didn't think to hang on to it at the time. Yeah keep posting when you get stuff. I'd love to have something that was actually from the show. If I won the lottery I'd have a little museum built.
Thanks! And no, I'm not married :) But I do live with my significant other and she's actually really cool about these things. I buy a lot of stuff, so I guess she has to :lol:
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R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Daniel » Sun Nov 28, 2010 2:25 pm

Shoe Dick... you're realy a BIG fan :)
I've spent also a lot of money on MWC stuff - but over 500$ - WOW.
I think my wife would kill me :roll:

I always wanted a prop of the show - maybe some day I'll buy one.

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Re: Shoe Dick's collection of Married With Children memorabilia

Post by Shoe Dick » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:17 pm

Daniel (f.k.a. admin) wrote:Shoe Dick... you're realy a BIG fan :)
I've spent also a lot of money on MWC stuff - but over 500$ - WOW.
I think my wife would kill me :roll:

I always wanted a prop of the show - maybe some day I'll buy one.
Why don't you guys just shut the door to wherever your wives are, sneak back to the computer and type what Al told Jefferson in the episode Hood in the Boyz:

What I do is none of her damn business! :)

I'd definitely recommend buying a prop from the show at some point, it's a very exclusive part of anyone's collection that no one else can say that they have. A must for us collectors.
Image

R.I.P. Ron Leavitt
1947-2008


Check out my Married... With Children collection and read about my meeting with David Faustino: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3398

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