BS: When and why...

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Don Firth
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 02:37 PM

I was a little squirt in the late 1930s when I used to listen to the full run of kids' programs between 5:00 and 6:00 each weekday afternoon.

They also ran "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" on the radio, but I was already acquainted with the comic strip. This was my all-time favorite and made me a confirmed science fiction fan for life (even taking a whack at writing the stuff myself).

This was in the Depression, and although my father was working regularly, money was tight. My sisters and I had no sense that we were "poor" or anything like that, but sometimes money for toys and such was kinda scarce. I did have pocket knife, and I usually didn't have much trouble rustling up a few pieces of wood. Scrap lumber and such. And I got pretty skilled at "whittling."

I saw an ad for a Buck Rogers XZ-38 disintegrator pistol, made by Daisy. This one: clicky.   Here's a close-up.

Much too pricey to buy outright, and although you could get one for a couple of dozen bubble-gum wrappers and a quarter, I was too impatient to chew all that bubble-gum and I didn't have a quarter. So I rummaged through my collection of scrap wood, drew forth my trusty pocket knife, and went to work. I knew exactly what the XZ-38 disintegrator pistol looked like, and between some careful carving of parts, a couple of wood screws, and a dollop or two of glue, followed by some copper-colored paint my dad had in the garage, I turned out a pretty creditable replica. It was the envy of the other kids in the neighborhood.

Getting the tri-thermal convergence unit and the sub-atomic condenser right was kinda tricky, though. Also, mine didn't produce a loud "POP!" when you pulled the trigger like the store-bought one did. My own vocalized "BRRRAAAP!" was far more convincing.

Later on, someone gave me a genuine XZ-31 rocket pistol (made by Daisy). And shortly thereafter, an XZ-44 "liquid helium" pistol (mine didn't have all the garish paint, it was plain copper or brass colored). The XZ-44 was actually a water pistol with a substantial capacity. You could drench somebody with that sucker!

As I understand it, the XZ-38 disintegrator was essentially the same as a Star Trek phaser, but with only one setting. Anything you shot with it simply vaporized. The XZ-31 rocket pistol fired tiny rocket-powered bullets that exploded when they hit something. Sort of like a miniature, hand-held bazooka. The XZ-44 liquid helium pistol never appeared in the comic strip, and although it had a very "Buck Rogers-ish" look, I think it was just some toy manufacturer's idea. Well designed, however, and one helluva squirt-gun!

I also had a whole toy-box full of space ships that I made myself, modeled after the drawings in the comic strip.

If Killer Kane and Ardala showed up, or if the Martian Tiger-Men actually did invade earth as they threatened to do, I was all ready for them.

Don Firth

P. S. We didn't have any video screens or things that made electronic beeps back then, but we had vivid imaginations. That's a powerful resource.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 07:53 PM

The think maybe the ring I collected box tops for was a "Sky King" thing; it had a little telescope stuck through a cube on top; the cube was also made so you could flash signals in the dark by pushing down on the case and exposing a phosphorescent spot.
I sent in milk bottle caps for a Cisco Kid Singing Lariet; it turned out to be a folded scrap of cardboard on the end of a string, with another piece of string to trail when you whirled it around. At least it did whine when you spun it.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 04:21 PM

"Captain Midnight," sponsored by Ovaltine, with announcer Pierre André hawking the slop and urging kids to send in a dime and the inner seal from a can of Ovaltine, for which one became a member of Captain Midnight's Flight Patrol—later, Captain Midnight's Secret Squadron—and your secret decoder badge. Once or twice a week, Pierre André would give you the code key number, then read off a string of numbers, which you would write down as you lay belly-flopped on the floor in front of the radio. Then, you'd go to some secret place (hide under your bed, perhaps), turn the dial on your decoder badge until the pointer line up with the right key number, and the letters for that particular code would appear in the tiny holes. You'd take the list of numbers and write down the letters next to them. This would give you your week's orders as a member of the Secret Squadron. Oftentimes the orders would by something like "Brush your teeth after every meal" or "Drink your Ovaltine every day" or sometimes it would even give you a hint as to what was going to happen in tomorrow's episode! Heavy stuff!!

Prior to this, Ovaltine sponsored "Little Orphan Annie," complete with her dog, Sandy (I've often wondered it they had one particular actor to say "Arf!" at appropriate times, or if one of the existing cast doubled in the role). Same announcer, Pierre André, and a similar decoder badge. Yup, 10¢ and the inner seal from a can of Ovaltine got you your decoder badge. Same drill, same kinds of messages.

I got my first actual pen and pencil set from "Tom Mix and his Straight Shooters" for a dime and a box top from a box of Ralston breakfast cereal. Mechanical pencil and a genuine fountain pen. They really worked, and I used them all through grade school. I was one of the few kids in the neighborhood who had learned to use a fountain pen, loaded with real ink, without managing to get ink on the ceiling.

In the days before television, they gave you the audio, but you made the pictures in your head. One of the advantages of this was that I secretly knew that behind his mask, the Lone Ranger looked a lot like me.

(Shhh! That's a secret!)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 03:43 PM

If your local store still stocks an edible product that ceased production 13 years ago, it's got to be pretty stale. Mom and Pop at the Genral Store didn't start making their own Beech-Nut after 1995, they just haven't sold out their inventory yet.

You might not want to put it in your mouth

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 02:12 PM

Liz,

I thought of that as I was typing. It made me go back to the kitchen twice to check my spelling.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 06:32 AM

Anyone else seeing the irony of a packet of CORN flakes having a MAZE (maize) puzzle?

Just me then....

Ho hum.

Even at her creche, Limpit was exposed to computer games and such like. I suppose if jobs of the future are going to be computer based as seems likely, it's a good way of getting them computer literate instead of spending thousands of pounds retraining us older Luddites, but it did seem to me to leave out a huge part of the creative side of childhood. I remember 'Twinkle' magazine (circa 1973) which had a cut out doll and clothes on the back cover every week. I would spend hours designing and creating new clothes for these dolls... closest we got to electronic toys was the remote for the TV which had just the two buttons, volume and channel.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 06:18 AM

Beechnut chewing gum - 'spogger', in the dialect, was awful. For an extra penny (1d UK) you could get PK chewing gum, or even Juicy Fruit.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Melissa
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 09:07 PM

I bought a box of cereal a few months ago that came with a handheld XBox game thing..packaged right in there with the cereal.
I would have preferred a Decoder Ring.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: autolycus
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 10:42 AM

Bootleggers everywhere - ck - s'pose they've got cupboards full and everything


Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 08:31 AM

I can still get BeechNut gum here, in Wyoming. Pretty sure the Vermont Country Store sells it too.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: kendall
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 07:41 AM

You had cereal? and toys? We would have killed for that stuff!

How about those boxes that say, "Prize inside, no purchase necessary"?

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 05:49 AM

Are even little kids so used to electronic games now that they wouldn't show any interest in the silly things?

Maybe not a cut and fold toy but my pack of corn flakes has a maze puzzle on the back and the Sugar Puffs box has a honeycomb word search - both totally non-electronic.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: autolycus
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 05:19 AM

I've read elsewhere online that a usual suspect, a vast corporation, Nabisco, stopped making Beech Nut chewing gum in 1995.

if I've got this right, corporations are usually run by conservatives. those are the ones who always bang on about tradition and conserving the past. Yet the same lot get rid of traditions if there's not enough money in it,innit.


My Mum once said (back in the 60s), "You know, they don't make antiques like they used to. Bless.

Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: GUEST,Appaloosa Lady
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 05:34 PM

Oops! Sorry...pressed the wrong key..

Remember when Harry sang....

"Remember when the music
Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire,
For we believed in things, and so we'd sing.

Remember when the music
Brought us all together to stand inside the rain
And as we'd join our hands, we'd meet in the refrain,
For we had dreams to live, we had hopes to give.

Remember when the music
Was the best of what we dreamed of for our children's time
And as we sang we worked, for time was just a line,
It was a gift we saved, a gift the future gave.

Remember when the music
Was a rock that we could cling to so we'd not despair,
And as we sang we knew we'd hear an echo fill the air
We'd be smiling then, we would smile again.

Oh all the times I've listened, and all the times I've heard
All the melodies I'm missing, and all the magic words,
And all those potent voices, and the choices we had then,
How I'd love to find we had that kind of choice again.

Remember when the music
Was a glow on the horizon of every newborn day
And as we sang, the sun came up to chase the dark away,
And life was good, for we knew we could.

Remember when the music
Brought the night across the valley as the day went down
And as we'd hum the melody, we'd be safe inside the sound,
And so we'd sleep, we had dreams to keep.

And I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind.
It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been,
It offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin",
I know we're needing something worth believing in.

Remember when the music
Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire,
For we believed in things, and so we'd sing." (Harry Chapin)

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 05:28 PM

Heck, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: fat B****rd
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 05:12 PM

Remember When Tiger comic first came out and you got a cardboard Tiger's head on a string and some powder? You had to put the powder on the string and make a 'roaring' sound with it. Never worked but it did cut your fingers. As I recall you got a folded cardboard triangular thingy in The Topper which when you flicked suddenly made a great cracking sound. Frightened my Auntie Rena with mine and my Dad confiscated it.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: RangerSteve
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 02:44 PM

The prizes in CrackerJacks are pretty lame these days. I remember when they had little toys that you had to put together.

Getting back to cereal boxes - the back of the box used have interesting reading material - now it's the same tired crap about the food pyramid and why you should eat cereal.

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Becca72
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 11:24 AM

I used to love Pop Rocks, especially biting down on the big hunks. I also remember getting a lot of those baking soda submarines in cereal boxes...

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 11:22 AM

Oh, we still have Space Dust/Pop Rocks! Those are fun!

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 10:56 AM

What happened to the little toys that were inside the inner bag...like plastic soldiers etc which would give the health and safety folk a fit these days? also to the Beech Nut chewing gum machines which always gave an extra packet at every fourth turn?....and Space dust which made your mouth feel like it was exploding because of the noise it made?.....

Subject: RE: BS: When and why...
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 10:45 AM

Probably, but I think there is still a prize in CrackerJacks!
If you are desperate, you can get a McDonalds Kids Meal.

Subject: BS: When and why...
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 10:04 AM

...did they stop putting cut-out-and fold toys on the back of cereal boxes? I don't remember much about any specific ones now, but I remember always waiting for the cereal to be used up so I could cut them out and fit tab A into slot A. Are even little kids so used to electronic games now that they wouldn't show any interest in the silly things?