Kurt Leucht’s Blog

My 7 year old came to me a couple days ago with an idea.  He wants to raise some money so he can buy something he saw on a TV commercial.  It’s probably that Aqua Sand stuff or maybe some sort of remote controlled flying device or whatever is being shown to kids watching Phineas and Ferb these days.  He has quite a bit of money already, but for some reason he wants to save that money and raise some new money just for this purpose.  The kid has himself on a budget already!  I’m so proud! 

So the idea that he came up with was to draw a comic strip, scan it in, print out multiple copies of it, and then hit the street and sell them to passers by.  Not a bad plan, I thought.  The only wrinkle is that our quiet little neighborhood doesn’t have a lot of passers by.  Both boys hit the streets anyway right away this morning (in their pajamas, even) and after about an hour had sold exactly one comic.  That’s not counting the few that they had sold earlier in the morning to my wife and to myself. 

So I suggested that we advertise this product to all our friends and family using the Internet.  If you’re interested in buying one of these comic strip “reproductions”, just click on the PayPal button below.  You don’t actually need a PayPal account to make a payment.  It’s super fast and super easy to send us a dollar using PayPal.

So for every one of you that sends us a dollar using PayPal, I’m going to dig into my wallet and hand one dollar directly to my seven year old.  Then I’m going to mail you one of these comic strips!  I’ll eat the PayPal fees and the cost of the stamp and envelope.  So 100% of your “donation” is going straight to my 7 year old for this purchase that he wants to make.  Also, after he makes this purchase I will email every donor a photo (or a video) of him enjoying whatever he decided to purchase with the money that you have so graciously donated to the cause!  That way you’ll all get to enjoy the fruits of your donation!

Thanks in advance for your donation to this worthy cause! 

Kurt

In case anyone out there collects Baskin-Robbins memorabilia … here is a lot of 10 Baskin-Robbins 31st birthday placemat posters from 1976. Wow, I was only 6 years old when these were made. They are in good condition without any rips or tears.

Here is a link to the Ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190321801221

Why would a family website like leucht.com open up an online store? Well, I’m sort of a geek if you hadn’t figured that out already. What kind of merchandise is offered at this online store? I have a whole suite of Dee Mack Class of 1988 related merchandise, including the famous 20 year reunion DVD and various refrigerator magnets and photo prints.

I also have a DVD full of old silent movies that my grandfather, Kurt William Leucht, and the Peoria Cinema Club created back in the 1950′s. Then there are a whole bunch of different types of items with my almost famous lemon blossom photo emblazoned on them.

Then there are some books that we have written and have decided to share. And lastly but not leastly, we have some really cool t-shirts that proudly advertise for this fine family website. I make very little profit, if at all, from the sales of this merchandise. It’s mostly just for fun. Enjoy! Here is a link to the leucht.com online store.

Kurt

A few years ago my dad transferred some of my grandfather’s old silent films that he and his friends from the Peoria Cinema Club had made from the original edited films onto VHS format. I recently transferred them onto DVD and then stumbled across a website called CreateSpace where you can publish and sell your own DVDs. They do a nice job of printing the packaging and also printing onto the DVD itself, and they also set you up a store to sell your DVD. They even let you upload a 30 second trailer that they stream to potential customers. That’s a nice touch.

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So if you’re interested in watching some historic 1950′s Peoria Cinema Club films, just go to the below link and order yourself a copy. It will only cost you $9.50 plus shipping. What a bargain! https://www.createspace.com/243975

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2/17/2008 Addendum: As if CreateSpace wasn’t cool enough, they are also affiliated with Amazon, one of the largest online stores in the world! So you can buy this 1950′s Peoria Cinema Club DVD from either the CreateSpace store linked above or you can purchase it from Amazon.com! (http://www.amazon.com/1950s-Peoria-Cinema-Club-Films/dp/B0013TPGE2/)

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I was cleaning house today and came across this old Life Magazine from 1962. I hate to throw away old stuff, so I was gazing at it trying to figure out what to do with it when I noticed the feature article on “Romney of Rambler” the “new star in politics”. I’m not super crazy about politics, but the Romney name did sound very familiar.

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Turns out the article is about George W. Romney, president of American Motors at the time and who later became the Governor of Michigan and also was a presidential candidate in 1968. On page 34 is a family photo of the Romneys that includes a young Mitt Romney who is currently running for president.

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Huh. This might be worth something to someone somewhere, no? I put it on eBay today for 7 bucks. I found quite a few other copies of the same edition starting at 10 bucks, so I think 7 is reasonable for a collector’s item that may increase in value. The value could actually go way up if Mitt Romney does well in the elections. Here’s the link to the eBay auction if you are interested: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190188207688

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