Looning in decades gone by

[SRider]

Dear community,
I have always wondered what it was like to be a looner in the pre-internet days, from the 1960s up until the 1990s, but since Google searches pertaining to the history of balloons return very few results, I figured I might ask here, since I know from reading old posts that at least a couple of our members remember these times. I am especially interested in the types of balloons that were available back then, including ones that have since been discontinued; if you started looning before 2000, what kinds of balloons did you use, and has the variety of balloons that interest you gotten better or worse since you started out?
I would also appreciate anecdotes pertaining to your early experiences as a looner as well as links to old catalogues of balloon companies.
Thank you,
SRider.

[craggy2012]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

It’s was all Polariods (those instant photo things) back then so you didn’t have to take your film into a chemist or photo processing shop for their staff to see (unless you did your own processing obviously).

As for a community though I think there was a mail correspondence group from the seventies if you were in the US which is still going today known as Balloonbuddies but other than that unless you knew another looner in person it was pretty much a solo endeavour.

The ‘dots’ started to join up together though possibly back in the early 80’s with Bulletin Boards (BBS) usually found at academic institutions as precursor to the internet we know today. Images could be sent in a crude form as .GIF format files between peers. But other than that it was I’d say it was a pretty niche scene.

[BalloonBoyUK]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Craggy is correct. Pre the internet. being a looner was a isolationist experience. Unless you happen to have a relatioship with someone else who tolerated your fetish, then basically it was a niche and rare experience just dealing with things on your own.

Softcore porn magazines/video tapes might include a photo/clip featuring balloons, either as background details or which the model would use to cover themselves up with, but otherwise there wasn't much out there.

[craggy2012]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Hence I loved ‘finding’ those gents magazines back in the 1980’s....... Those bright colours courtesy of Kodachrome 25 or 50 ASA film further saturated with a CL- polariser filter, models in bright neon swimwear, a pool and often posing with large pool floats n inflatable toys as props. I never once thought of it as porn per say, more a form of art (though it was) but it was perusing over these magazines back then in my early teens (ahem during the 80’s that actually got me following my father into the field of photography.

[PBK]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Basically until I discovered the old Champagne and Balloons forum in 1997, I really thought I was alone. As much as I enjoyed "looning" I was seriously concerned that it was some kind of mental disorder and considered seeking help. In my family and geographical region such a thing would have been considered shameful and deviant. Same with a person "coming out" back then.
I had very few balloons when I lived at home with my parents as a teen in the early 90's (I'm a Gen-X'er). I had a couple of 48" Tilcos and a couple of 36" Qualatex's and a handful of punchballs that I would re-use and would blow to tremendous sizes after multiple re-inflations. Only what was available from the party store in the nearest city. Sneaking to the party store away from my parents and without their notice so that I could purchase these precious treasures was a real adventure and a thrill. Buying off the internet wasn't even an option. Especially when I lived at home. My balloons were well hidden and I would sneak them out long after I was sure my parents were asleep for some "fun". There was no leaving them blown up after play.
I remember sneaking on to the family computer late at night or when the folks were at work, dialing on to the local ISP, using a search engine like AltaVista or Lycos to search for pictures of giant balloons and those rare and amazing pictures of women with giant balloons. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest didn't even exist back then. I discovered C & B and BalloonBuddies and followed C&B like a fanatic. Through C&B I discovered RisqueRenee, RBP Studios, BalloonBabi, Balloongirls and a few other commercial sites that catered to us.

I think the biggest change between then and now is availability of brands. Right up until about 2005, a brand that was common, available everywhere and made in Canada was a now long defunct brand called Tilco/Prestige. I LOVED Tilco. I really loved the smell and feel of them. Found their giants to be durable and strong. Through some research I found out that those dark green 4 foot tall doll balloons we shot at when I was in Basic Training ("Boot Camp") 300m rifle qualification were Tilco and made in Quebec. The Canadian Forces phased them out when Tilco went belly-up rather than find a replacement.
Tilly was another brand from days gone by that I used to love to buy. Tilly was more of a mail order brand for me, as local stores didn't really carry Tilly balloons. I loved the 20" Tilly. They were soft, necked really well and had a great, classic shape to them.
In 2000 or so, before I joined the Army but when I was out and on my own, I remember Kaboom Balloons listing their balloons on eBay. From Paula at KBI I bought exotic brands totally unavailable locally like Swan, Rifco, Everts and Gummiwerks. All those brands are long gone from Kaboom Balloons' catalog. I remember what a thrill it was getting that parcel and opening it up and savoring the look, feel and smell of those exotic, sexy and foreign balloons. There was a fellow in Tennessee that I bought balloons from, too. He ran an online shop but he went defunct in the early 2000's. I can't remember what the name of his store was. He had a great selection of balloons, too. I never did order from Balloon Lovers Corner. I was always kind of intrigued by their selection but found the way they were to people on C&B and all their drama was kind of off-putting so I just stuck with Kaboom and a couple of other mail order businesses.
The other long gone brand I really miss is Blue Bird. Blue Bird made the classic punchball that most Gen-X'ers and older grew up with and had as kids. Thick, strong with a distinct feel and smell, the Blue Bird punchballs didn't have a "lip" on their neck and were difficult to tie. They were designed to be sealed by rolling the neck into the balloon. I remember local toy and department stores having Blue Bird punchballs loose and in a bin with an inflated one hanging from the bin on display. Qualatex bought out Blue Bird and still produces their style of punchball, but they aren't the same in quality or feel as the originals from the 90's and before.
Anyway, I'm not sure if this answers your question. It brings back fond memories for me. I am quite a bit older now and could go on for hours more about how times have changed since I was a teen.

[Harley]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

It's really interesting to hear about actual balloon experiences from back then - my phobia meant I never was into the more hands-on experience, though I sure enjoyed visual sightings. Watching from a safe distance, as it were.
All those brands just names to me, but thoroughly known through forum discussions and photo set/video descriptions. Seems to me the producers had a much wider range to choose from in the early 2000's, but I'm not at all up to speed with what's available today.

What I CAN describe is being a video collector pre-internet. Material was very scarce and hearing of balloon action in a TV show or movie was always exciting, as was the actual hunt for the scenes in question. With only a VCR to capture stuff it was a fairly difficult task.
I originally started my "Blowing Females" site to help collect such sightings, but I'm afraid time has passed it by somewhat. With all the balloon stuff readily available online these days it feels more than a little archaic, especially since copyright issues and server space/bandwidth prevents me from sharing the actual clips.
Still, I keep it up as a starting point for fellow collectors and actually add new stuff now and then (lo and behold, there WILL be another update very soon) but since I seem to have located almost all older scenes I've been told about I'm relegated to waiting for new sightings...which is far slower.

I can't say I miss the frustration of the older days, when you KNEW certain movies had interesting stuff but had no way of aquiring them. Even if the hunting is much easier these days, I much prefer it that way.

[craggy2012]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Nice point there Harley.

I loved all the content I discovered back in the mid to late nineties when I first got myself online in my twenties. Right, I know and understand the issue of copyright and unlicensed distribution ect, but there was some amazing balloon and inflatable related content available back then that just had this natural, almost candid, intimate charm to it all that (I don’t know if it’s just me or not) just can’t be replicated today. The fun back then though for me was identifying the owning site and I’d subscribe to the website to complete the set of images so to speak.

It funny how tastes change too. I love to look at an image, but nowadays everyone what’s video clips ect. It’s like reading a book, or watching the film. The film is portraying what the director thinks on things. Reading a book though, allows your mind to just run wild. You make your own, individual interpretation of what’s presented before you. And the same kind of applies to a photograph. After all a photo speaks a thousand words

[SRider]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Very interesting, Craggy2012 and Harley. It seems like a lot of people who grew up before the internet really thought they were alone until much later, and I can certainly see why - I, on the other hand, grew up with the internet and actually found out about the balloon fetish before I "got" it. As a kid, I liked to read Wikipedia articles a lot, and just so happened to stumble across the one about the balloon fetish whilst looking up balloons out of curiosity. Once I went through puberty and the hormones kicked in, I was like "Ahh, that's what that is!" the first time I got the desire to play with inflatables.

[LoonerPlanet]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

I would second the comments about feeling isolated in the pre-internet days. I was always embarrassed by my feelings toward balloons and thinking there was something wrong with me.

However, there is one positive to those earlier days--balloons were much more present in everyday life than they are today. Lots of zoos actually sold good sized helium balloons, possibly 18 or 20 inch. Imagine teens walking around with those balloons. Helium was also cheaper and balloons were often well inflated. In fact, some helium balloons were all helium, not the air-helium mix used now.

Balloon vendors also sold uninflated balloons on the streets, which is why Tilly developed the 8 foot worker balloons and the slim Jim. The vendor would hold a worker (usually under inflated) and sell slim jims to customers. I also remember that Woolworths sold huge balloons, including a fabled 40" Qualatex.

Fairs often sold helium balloons, including balloons within balloons. And events and stores would often give away helium or uninflated balloons. I remember my father's company held an employee picnic and gave every kid an envelope with several of what I believe were 16" inch balloons. As a kid, I could always keep a small stash of balloons hidden away to experiment with.

Some time in the 1980's, people started to open small, independent balloons stores. These morphed into party stores. Occasionally, you could find some interesting balloons in these stores. I remember one that sold 16 and 20 inch balloons, as well as the 12 inches. Eventually, Party City and other chains came along and killed most of those stores.

While I wish that I could still get some of those "old time" balloons, I have to say that it is much better to have the internet and feel like you are not alone. It is even better to order amazing balloons online, which is why I now own way too many balloons. LOL

[npratt]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

PBK: The fellow in Tennessee was "Merlin's Balloons" I seem to remember his wife's bookstore was his "front" so all parcels were addressed from there. He did exit in the early naughts and Paula at KBI took up the slack.
Yeah I too remember in '96 or '97 or so doing a AltaVista or Yahoo search and pointing to a website named "Vanbrinkerhoff" or similar with amazing (to me at the time) pictures of women and balloons. Still have some of them archived. Took hours over dialup to download!

[PBK]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

YES! That's right! Merlin's Balloons! I remember ordering a whole bunch of "Carnival Assortment" Tilco 17's off of him after watching an attractive Hispanic lady BTP a green one on one of the paysites (The only paysite I ever subscribed to).

[Seasider]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

I remember having feelings for balloons as young as 6 or 7 which was the mid to late eighties and my overriding memory growing up in southern England was how easy it was to get balloons from all sorts of places as freebies. By my early teens before I really knew what a fetish was I would get balloons discreetly and experiment with the in my room. As others have said the balloons seemed bigger and I remember we used to go to a local beefeater which always had massively overinflated helium balloons which my sister always used to get (I never wanted to be seen near balloons). I always rescued them from the rubbish and stashed them and I remember one time even locking myself in the downstairs toilet to play with one.

Tv programs seemed to have them a lot more too, I used to tune into live and kicking because every week they had a game where a celebrity used to be in a cage of balloons and they also used to do a balloon drop over celebrities and I always used to watch avidly in my bedroom to see who interacted with them which always gave me a nice feeling!

[PBK]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

I remember in the 80's as a kid when convenience stores had those cardboard stands at the till with an assortment of balloons hanging from them. Sometimes you could get a giant zeppelin or even a nice giant round if you were lucky.

[Orzel]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Dear community,
I have always wondered what it was like to be a looner in the pre-internet days, from the 1960s up until the 1990s, but since Google searches pertaining to the history of balloons return very few results, I figured I might ask here, since I know from reading old posts that at least a couple of our members remember these times. I am especially interested in the types of balloons that were available back then, including ones that have since been discontinued; if you started looning before 2000, what kinds of balloons did you use, and has the variety of balloons that interest you gotten better or worse since you started out?
I would also appreciate anecdotes pertaining to your early experiences as a looner as well as links to old catalogues of balloon companies.
Thank you,
SRider.

Ever seen the movie L'uomo dei cinque palloni? (Break Up)

[BalloonBoyUK]

Re: Looning in decades gone by

Ever seen the movie L'uomo dei cinque palloni? (Break Up)

I have two versions of it: the original short 25-minute edit (which formed one of a trilogy of tales, in the original version of OGGI, DOMANI, DOPPODOMANI) and the uncut, full-length version, that runs to about 85-minutes as the film, under the title you mention.

They're amazing. I'm hoping that the recent 4K restoration of it, with English Subtitles, will eventually make its way onto Blu-Ray from someone, somewhere, so I can finally own a legit version of the longer edition. It's a must-see film if you are a Looner!