I have only seen a lot of these ads in the back of comic books and other magazines but never really got the nerve to buy any of them because a lot of them seemed incredibly cheesey!
We actually bought the toy soldiers out of curiosity and found them hilarious. We also had the Cayman which we kept in a baby pool outside but it died from the cold.
I had the Frontier Cabin. It looked pretty much like a plastic bag over a table with an outline of logs. Even as a 4 year old, I saw it and thought , "This sucks." My parents promptly threw it away.
My dad too! I had no idea it was something he might have sent away for in his own youth but I recognized that cannon immediately from my own childhood. And, yes, we too still fire it on 4th of July!
After much begging, my father finally let me order the toy soldiers when I was about 8 years old. Upon arrival I was initially disappointed but after a while I came to love those cheap little things. There were so many of them. There was a constant war going on in my room from 73-75. They disappeared when we moved. :(
Timmeh Jay my brother and i ordered those, along with the warships and airplane sets. I still remember scrounging around to find enough change to purchase them. We really enjoyed them! Good memories!
Being a Aussie kid in the 70s I read lots of comics from the US and always wondered what most of these items for sale were. The ads said US only and I had no idea what a zip code was. I never had any money anyway so it didn’t matter.
American kid who was born after they stoped doing these here; I wonder that too, one I saw was real cobra eggs, and considering they sent actual monkeys, I now really wonder if they sent actual cobra eggs.
I was the same. I grew up in Australia and I was always frustrated that I could not have these items. Now I realise that I was lucky that I was not duped into buying this junk (with the exception of the cast iron cannon).
I am guilty of buying the 1000 piece army set that came in a "Foot Locker." I waited for what felt like forever and a day for that HUGE "Foot Locker" to arrive. The day my mom handed me a tiny box with paper-thin army men in it was the day I learned that objects in the mirror may not be as close as they appear to be. I'm pretty sure I used them as "Puny Soldiers" to attack my Mego Hulk. So at least I played with them.
I ordered that too. Same thing, I waited forever, and was expecting a large box. I wanted most of the junk on those pages, but that's the one thing I did order.
@@maddogziggy Yeah, as soon as I saw those army men in the video with the Fred Flintstone noses, I had a flashback. I could feel the rage I felt way back then trying to play with those pieces of shit tipping over :P
When I was around 6 or 7, I bugged my parents to let me order the 100 Toy Soldiers, which I think was about $1.50. My father finally gave in and said yes, but that I would be disappointed. When they came in, my father laughed and said, "see, I told you", BUT I loved them. I didn't play much with them at home, but when we would go visit relatives or my parents friends, I would take them with me and have a blast sitting at a coffee table playing war with them. Years later, my mother said they were the best buy made, since they kept me busy while on visits, and kept me from complaining about having nothing to do! LOL
Im 64 years old. Thanks for posting theses videos. They bring back alot of memories of my childhood. Some of the ads I remember, some I don't. Please keep posting.
For those not old enough to remember, $1.00 was a *LOT* of money, in those days. You could buy a hamburger, fries and a soda at McDonalds & get 15 cents change back! (They used to have a commercial about it.) Chocolate bars were a nickel, a loaf of bread was a dime, gasoline cost around 25 - 35 cents a gallon, yadda-yadda-yadda. So $1, then, had the equivalent buying power of $10-$20 today. I remember, as a kid, that it was a treat to have a nickel or even a penny to spend; and such occasions were few and far between. Having a whole DOLLAR to spend, all at one time, was unusual and infrequent - maybe once a year, maybe less. I can remember saving my allowence for more than 6 months just to afford one Revel plastic Tiger Tank model kit that cost about $2. This is why so many comments say, "I never bought one myself, I couldn't afford it, but ..." Kids (where I lived, Houston TX) in the Age of Comic Books typically bought one, two, or three comic books, for 10-15-25 cents, once a month, because that was what they could afford. Saving up to $1 was like saving up to buy a house, if you had any cents left at the end of the month to save, that is. Even 10 cent comic books were "too expensive" to buy more than 2-3 of them a month. I can remember many times, coordinating comic book purchases with friends, so no two people bought the same issue. Instead of buying every issue - which no one could afford anyway - we'd all buy different titles, and then get together on weekends, holidays, and after school to share & read each others' comics. Even then, there was always some of the more "exotic" titles (Atom, Aquaman, What if?) that no one had money to buy (after making their monthly obligatory purchase), so you still didn't get to see everything that was out there.
In the fifties my parents would give us kids a quarter to go to the movies. That quarter would buy us a box of popcorn, a soda and the movies. Good times.
As a kid the cardboard tanks and planes where pretty cool, I used to live behind an appliance store and when ever they threw out a refrigerator box it was like Christmas would spend all day playing in it. A couple of crayons and draw what ever it was supposed to be on the sides, lol
When we were kids, my little brother really wanted a set of those army men & machines that included the footlocker. I helped him send away for it and he was so excited! Needless to say, he was a bit disappointed when it arrived. Still, we made the most of it because we were among the many children back then who only received new toys two times a year, that being our birthdays and Christmas. We ended up having a lot of fun with them regardless, as I recall. But we never ordered anything from the back of a comic book again! 😀
OH!The mighty Johnson Smith catalog! I bought the hand buzzer and a "Real 8 foot Flying Saucer!" The hand buzzer broke after second use, the "Real Flying Saucer!" turned out to be what I learned later was called a "Chinese sky lantern" : a box of tissue paper, a metal, spring-shaped thing I was supposed to glue the tissue paper to. I could then attach something like a Sterno can to the spring thing, THEN set that alight to sail over the brush-fire plagued hills of Southern California, I never built the thing (thank god) and can only imagine my first 15 minutes of fame on KTLA as the "Child arsonist who destroyed the Laguna Hills." OH! The humanity!
OMG, I forgot all about the Johnson Smith Co.! They were gimmicky junk sellers extraordinaire. As a kid growing up in Florida I to ordered from them. Of all companies that were the biggest rip offs they were what I call the "grand ripper of the rippiest!"
Chad Sanborn Nope- paper, like those Chinese fire lanterns. This was WAY back in the 1960s, when stuff like Mylar was probably a DARPA black project, and even mentioning it would mean being visited by stern, well groomed white guys who AREN’T Mormon elders.
@@michaelpalmieri7335 No. "stern, well-groomed" would emphatically NOT describe that particular variety of sociopath. I'm talking about the sort of "Men in black" version of the 1960s FBI.
I got the 7-foot monster. Before ordering I asked my mother what 'polyethylene' was. She said it was a kind of plastic, so of course I imagined a 7-foot tall plastic statue of sorts. My brother suggested that it would probably take two mailmen to carry. "Yeah," I agreed, excitedly. It arrived in a manila envelope. When I opened it my reaction was like a robot from Star Trek when hearing an illogical statement. "Does not compute. Does not compute." I quickly reasoned that the company must be sending this a preview of what was to come. The real monster must take a long time being as big and heavy as it was. My mother said, chuckling, "No, I think that's it."
In the 80s I worked at a local hobby shop and we sold a ton of the Conestoga Big Bang cannons to this day Conestoga is still selling them! Probably the only comic book item still produced today!
I sent away for a little pocket knife from Boy's Life when I was in grade school without my parents knowledge. As soon as I got my hands on it, I took it school to show it off. I ended getting suspended from school over it.
Lucky the girls dodge the bullet by not getting these trouble making items and I mean actually getting into trouble that could put you in jail or killed.
I remember that page as well... But as soon as i started to comment,it must be a flashback... What was the name comic about an alien invasion that was a continuing story in boys life? Do you remember that?...... God,i feel old....😄
I actually had the sea monkeys. Your description of what you REALLY received was spot on! A little disappointed that I couldn't train them and that not all of the eggs hatched, but it was still cool to see them swim around.
I was a kid in the 1960's and remember all of these. The only products I ever bought were probably the most-advertised products of all: X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys!
I had the soldiers back in the 70's. When you're 8 years old, quantity is better than quality. The soldiers were awesome, many hours of fun playtime. Really, the only good toy in the comic books.
I got a cardboard tank for Christmas one year. It was great! The toys back then were designed to capture a child's imagination. Good times. We feared nothing, and had nothing to worry about, except nuclear annihilation of course. lol
I am retired from x-ray service. On April fools day at one of my accounts someone had a poster board with a pair of the comic book x-ray glasses taped to it and detailed instructions on how to use them with a candle incase of power outage! It was absolutely hilarious!
They're looking for as many ways to save money in the NHS as they possibly can. Do you mind if I pass that on as a possible alternative to _watt_ must be at least 10kW X-Ray machinery in use at my local hospital? 💡🃏🙃
I own the freon powered BB machine gun! let me tell you about this little gem: First off everyone within 100 feet needs safety glasses because of the mass amount of ricochets, It holds 3000 steel BB;s which need to be mixed with a little graphite powder and shoots 3000 BB's per minute; That's 50 per second!!! It cost about $5 per minute to fire the thing but it's well worth it. After I burned a hole in the Ozone above my house I got the compressed air adapter for it, It's not super powerful but it will turn a phone book into confetti at its maximum Effect of range which is About 60 feet at 80PSI (If you go above 80 it blows the screws out of the plastic Threads. There's no sights on the thing but you don't need them because you can't miss; it would be like missing with a garden hose. The one I own has serial numbers on it and I was told that at the time of purchase they send the information along with my name and address to the local authorities. Gee I can't imagine why! I think I purchased this thing in the late 70s after finding the ad in the back of a biker magazine. I think it was about $30 at the time. I think It still functions to this day since there's only one moving part; the air valve trigger although it's been 10 years since we've shot it. Nowadays it Just sits In its original box and my 60 year old friends come by and Marvel at it. It was a much better purchase than the sea monkeys!
We had a store in our local Mall ( which was a big thing back in the early 70's ) called " World Imports ". It had a Novelty section that sold many of these items. It was where I bought my Genuine " X-Ray Specs " . And yes, I bought them so I could see through lady's clothing. Hey, I'm a guy.
I bought two chameleons (anoles) from a Batman comic when I was a kid. They were actually really good pets and would sit on my shoulder for hours just hanging out. They only lived for two years though 😔
We moved to Southwest Florida when I was 9. ...Imagine my excitement when I realized those 'Chameleons' Ran Wild Down There!!🤩 At least one on every tree! We would split the end of a reed of grass, and tie a slipknot out of thin fishing line to snare them by the neck. My friends and I would spend the whole day seeing who could catch the most.
As a child growing up in the late 50's, early 60s, I wanted everything in these ads. I did get the crystal radio kit. It was small and shaped like a rocket. I did work poorly, but I was very fascinated. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
When I was about 8 years old, the teenage boy that lived next to my grandmother's house ordered a live monkey from an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I don't know why his parents put up with it. It was a live squirrel monkey, but it was not domesticated at all. It threw feces at you, it tried to bite, and it had a stinky musk that always filled the entire house. This was in a north eastern part of the country, so leaving it outside was impossible, even if they had a garage. The few times it was let out of its cage it ran amok, and destroyed half the house. It was never a pet, it never bonded with them in any way.. All it did was eat and sh!t, scream like a banshee, and try to grab something it could bite and rip apart. My natural envy and lust to buy my own monkey was rightfully dashed every time I was in their house.
Today that monkey would be given an iPhone, a $15k debit card, free health and school services, put up for 2 years in a luxury hotel in Manhattan, as long as it agreed to vote Democrat.
Old enough to remember these ads before the coming of the zip code. I have not seen my carbide cannon in 60 years. Could still be in the basement. Thanks for the visit to the classic ads.
My parents bought me one (not from a magazine) and it was a lot of fun. You will fill a scoop, insert it into the breach and then turn it. It would dump the calcium carbide into a water reservoir and then you would ignite it with a flint strike piece. The clip they show doesn't do it justice, it was much louder and no real smoke. The barrel was designed as an inverted cone to prevent the use of projectiles.
As a kid I got a bundle of vintage comics from the 80's-90's and I always wanted the items in those adds! Cap pistol books, spy gadgets, code rings.... kid-me was so jealous of the kids who could order those items! I even considered mailing the order form's in, just in case they still made the items! haha
Those kryptonite rocks are just rocks painted green. What a rip off. I'll just go over to the Superman Museum in Metropolis and buy kryptonite from them.
I had the Ram-Jet engine that you can barely see above the Carbide Cannon ad. Took months to arrive! I also had the Laser pistol plans. What a great era to be a kid!
I got the remote control ghost. I learned a lot about advertising trickery and being a savvy shopper after that. But it still didn’t stop me from buying the bald wig, spy pen radio or fake hand. Loved that catalog.
I remember seeing these ads frequently in the comics me and my siblings read during the 60s and 70s. We never bought them since our family didn't have much money for such stuff back then. I have that book, and in retrospect the fact that we were poor probably saved us a whole lot of money :) Also, you should do an article on all the hokey "martial arts" crap ads from those same comic books. "Yubiwaza", the art of self-defense with one finger? "Count Dante"? Hoo boy!
The ad where Atlas muscle man kicks sand in the wimp’s face, so wimp orders the “miracle system” and steals his girl. Shouldn’t have smashed my sand castle, jerk.
I would say this and part one are some of the greatest vids I've seen on youtube..I have no idea how you hit the home run of nostalgia..I could feel memories I thought were gone. True.
I was overjoyed the day my sea monkeys arrived! I had almost forgotten about them cause I had left for summer camp. They died. I later found out they were only brine shrimp.
I bought a few of these comic book treasures back in the 60s when I was a kid. I had the submarine, which was a lot like the tank you've shown here. Basically a large cardboard box with some details printed on the outside. It came with a plastic "periscope" and a little light that was supposed to go on the "dashboard" inside the sub next to the cardboard steering wheel. It lasted about a week before my mom demanded that it leave the living room. I also bought the X-Ray specs. Who didn't buy those at some point. I also remember buying the Magic Snakes, which were little black "pills" about a half inch tall. You held a match to the top and after a few seconds they erupted into a long carbon "snake" while giving off a dense, noxious cloud. I lit the first one on the kitchen floor and the house smelled like a burnt electrical outlet for a week. I didn't waste a penny. Good memories!
A friend of mine when I was a kid got the sea monkeys and the dollar bill printer from the back of a comic book. Needless to say, he was disappointed with what arrived. There are stories of the hilarity of the hypnotist glasses and fake Xray specs everywhere. Those ads must have made a small fortune on the glasses alone.
Loved this video, takes me back to my youth. There were two parts of excitement when going down to my local Five And Dime store with the weekly allowance I earned, fist part was the comic and the second part was going through the multiple back pages of "fantastic" things you could order. Could never afford any of them because all of my allowance was spent on the comics. Advertising companies got wise to the limited allowances of kids and started with the purchase coupons that I fell prey to. While getting my weekly comic I saw a box of gound Mexican chocolate that had a picture of flying saucer advertised for FREE! All you had to do is buy 6 boxes, cut out the coupon on the side and mail them in. Needless to say, one box could last 6 months to a year for most families but I had to be the coolest kid on the block and the only one with a real flying saucer. I took on a lot of neighborhood chores over 8 months to buy all 6 boxes and to finally mail in the coupons for my real flying saucer. A few weeks passed and one day the post man delivered a box the size of a ream of paper, It was the biggest let down to open the box and find what looked like two frisbee dish put together with paper thin plastic, not even painted or embossed markings, the sun could shine through it was so thin. And the "real" "flying" part was you throwing it which broke on it's first (throw) voyage. I cried like so many kids who dreamed of owning one of those fantastic products before truth in advertising came along. To this day I still remember this experience and like most boys second guessing myself that I probably would of been happier if I got the Big D[€√ instead 😅.
I remember how excited I was in the '80s to get plans for the air-cushion hovercraft. I did eventually build it, but that required me to find a vacuum cleaner I could tear apart and cannibalize it's motor. And, of course, it did float you, but had not method of actually moving anywhere. But, you couldn't go far anyway, since it had to be plugged in to power the motor.
Welcome home! It's a triumphant return, too. I grew up seeing Dracula dirt pendants in old back issue comics, and as an adult I was able to buy one on Ebay, complete with COA, for just about the original price, adjusted for inflation. No regrets! I own a piece of Transylvania! I haven't experienced any supernatural effects, but I have felt a strange urge to eat it.
When I was much younger if you were in the Boy Scouts you received a monthly magazine called Boy's Life and the same kind of ads appeared in the back of them. I once bought a pet chameleon from one of the ads. It did come and was alive but not for long, I think it lived for about a week. I really didn't have the proper place to keep it.
I once won a "treasure chest of games" from a Cocoa Pebbles cereal box. I sent away for it (had to pay shipping and handing to claim my major award) and the drawing on the box was of a wooden treasure chest chock full of amazing games. What I got was a cheap large piece of paper that had game boards printed on both sides and cheap plastic pieces so you could play various games depending on how you turned the paper. It sucked. I tell you, I did not value that as a kid. But I wish I still had it now.
I remember that contest. My sister and I were delighted that we won 25 board games (I believe that was the number). What arrived in the mail was... anticlimactic. Just cheap cardboard and plastic you had to break away into individual game pieces like you described. Not long after this, Post Cereal sent out a mass mailing to explain and apologize for that because so many consumers complained that they thought they were getting a more substantial prize than what was delivered. Part of the explanation was that they opted to ensure a lot of more winners by going cheap (as they did here) rather giving out fewer but higher quality prizes. They promised future promotions would make up for that. Don't recall if that came to fruition as by this point I stopped eating kiddie cereals.
Holy cow, I must have had good parents. I think I only asked them about these ads once, and they said it would be a waste of money. You can't possibly get for that price what they say you do, I was told. So, never ordered anything. I did not have money at that age anyway. Almost all the ads you show look familiar to me. Thanks for the trip to way-back times, and for showing what the people that ordered actually got. Fun video for sure! All best to you!
"Rocket Engine" for $2.00 from a DC comic book(probably Sgt. Rock). Looked like a CO2 cartridge with some attachments. You put gasoline in the cartridge and cotton balls with a few drops of gasoline in a contraption suspended under the cartridge. You lite the cotton balls then stood back, far back. From the add, I was going to buy two of the engines and use them to "Rocket" myself around the neighborhood. Obviously that did not happen. I was probably lucky I did not catch myself on fire.
I bought one and mounted it on a cart made from erector set parts. Had as much thrust as the breath from a dying hummingbird. The company DID make a model pulse jet with a 5 pound thrust, however.
If you knew what you were doing you could increase the range of those...Albeit at the cost of faster depleting batteries, and a potentially uncomfortable visit from FCC officials when they find you're operating an approved piece of equipment outside of regulatory parameters... 📻📶⚖😉
Re: the 7 foot tall monster: There were indeed two versions, three actually. The original, good version, was sold through the Captain Company, which was a fully licensed, painted Basil Gogos portrait of the Universal Frankenstein Monster and Dracula. (I think later they added a Mad Scientist.) They were beautiful portraits printed on thick semi-gloss cardstock. This was originally advertised as being 7 feet tall, which was technically accurate. In reality, the monsters were just under six feet tall with roughly six inches of negative white space at the top and bottom, making it seven feet. They came in two pieces originally, but after parents complained about the monsters not being a full seven feet tall, they lopped off a foot of white space and advertised them as being "over six feet tall." This version was one full poster instead of two smaller posters that needed to be taped together. The Captain Company was the house mail order brand for Warren Publishing (Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, etc) so they weren't advertised in mainstream comics. The ripoff version was the one found in all of the comics of the era. This was the Taiwanese tablecloth with a spooky monster printed on it. At one dollar, they were 1/5 the price of the Captain Company version, so I'm sure they sold a ton of them. Coincidentally I purchased a Halloween tablecloth from Dollar Tree several.years ago that was... you guessed it... the spooky "seven foot tall" skeleton I bought out of the back of a DC comic in the early seventies. It was exactly the same plastic crap it was 30 years earlier.
"The Captain Company was the house mail order brand for Warren Publishing (Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, etc) so they weren't advertised in mainstream comics." I was a big fan of the 1984/1994 comic books. I have the whole collection.
STAHPIIIT I am sorry for mis-understanding but I did not respond to you. I was responding to Marvin. I will try to respond in a better way. I am sorry you are right. After collecting over forty years just like to get the info right.
I purchased the "footlocker" of soldiers. Expected to have a delivery at the door or a note from postman to collect my goodies...what a dose of cold water when the yellow and black little box arrived. After making sure my Pops did not see me, (so I didn't get the "I told you so!") I emptied the contents on my bed. Big whoop. Did not even get the full 100 count. But I did use the figures as targets for my Daisy BB gun. (Figures, tanks, jeeps, ships ...the silhouettes were okay for that and worked off my DISAPPOINTMENT with aggression towards the little blameless pieces of craptacularness.) The jets were okay, 3D! But the proportions on all were so not to scale. So I ix-nayed on the Polaris sub! Ha! But now I kinda get a kick that I took the bait, like so many, and got the "you get what you pay for" lesson rubbed fully in. my face. Rite of passage for those times, I suppose. And it has saved me from more than one Nigerian royal hostage. All the best and keep up the fun! Bart
I did not buy the soldiers but a kid did down our street did. When I saw what he got I told him that he had been taken. For the remainder of the summer he kept trying to convince me of how much fun wafer thin army men could be. I got a letter once and I was informed that I was a member of the royal Nigerian monarchy! Of course money was wanted and not sent.
@@MrAZZ00 Yes - the adults who watched every dime we were allowed to spend gave cautionary advice such as "Your gonna get hosed." - "Kid they will see you coming." - "Before you mail that money kiss it goodbye." For all of that experience proved to be the best teacher.
I bought the "Civil War Soldiers," when I was a kid. The product was flat figures in brittle blue and gray plastic, most of which were broken. The cardboard box itself was crushed, as I recall. I remember being hugely disappointed. As it was, I had toys for one day before some other kid stole them.
Yeah crazy to think of the toxic stuff sold as toy items through the years. Of course even many household, beauty type products were pretty toxic as these days I see lawyer ads about the cancer fallout from all these now!
I was thinking the same thing. I wouldn't want to be in the room breeding in that stuff or have it getting my lungs or eyes. As a side note here. I am 66 and back when I was a kid, that sort of stuff was available in comic books. Get this, in stores it was not uncommon for parents to purchase chemistry sets for their children as birthday or Christmas gifts..... A....n.....d..... in these sets you could do such experiments that included honest to goodness real live radioactive uranium! What could go wrong? There was also something called "itching powder" that you could sprinkle on someones skin and it would cause them to itch. Now I wonder what was in that powder that made them itchy in that spot? Turns out it was finely ground up glass!
@@im1who84u All I ever really wanted from those comic book ads was that foot locker full of green army men, but it was always "no Canadian or foreign orders", which was really confusing when you grew up on the border and were geographically confused until about grade 1 or so.
@@im1who84u Funny as a kid in the 70s I recall some of my pals having kid chemistry sets but wow I don't think they had uranium in them but maybe other questionable things. Man we had some brutal toys as kids it makes you wonder how we survived. Now a days the toys do same lame. LOL!
The one and only time I ever bought something from one of those comic book ads, it was a little plastic submarine that was "powered" by baking soda. It turns out that "powered" means "fizzing slightly".
I got that one by sending in some cereal box tops, I think. Maybe a little money too. Anyway, I got the tiny submarine and later got the PT Boat, also powered by baking soda. Like you say, "powered" meant "fizzing slightly". And they were very small.
ACME was and still may be a real thing. Its where carnivals get all the stuffed animals or stock pieces for the games. As well as things like water hose, gloves etc. A truck would show up at each new spot be it a fair or whatever and bring the ordered stock to the game owners. And sit with the side dorrs open so people could buy stuff they needed. I was born and raised on the carnival. Also had something like oriental trader but in bulk for yhe smaller gadgets and things like hat pins, belt buckles, the old roach clip feather things etc.
Thank you Laura for this wonderful trip down memory lane. I actually got those steam-rolled army men. Everything was so small and I was disappointed in how it all looked. I had an original 12" G.I.Joe and traditional green soldiers, so I did not like what I paid for. It was the end of my comic book purchases but look back fondly to that very carefree time. Was it a better time? It certainly was easier than now. Keep up the great work my dear. 🙏😊
Scrolling down memory lane. Guilty as charged, in the late 70's, I'd got the secret book safe, a tube called liquid smoke ( used for magic tricks) and live sea monkeys..WTF was I thinking. Being 10yrs, young and naive..yet that's it. But still my childhood rocked. Oh, by the way. This showed up in my "recommend for you". Don't really know how.. RUclips overlords are at again. But I'm a fan and new sub. Great video. Keep up the good work.
We got the crappy log cabin. To a kid in the 1950's the idea of turning a plain card table into a colorful log cabin seemed like instant fun, and it was.
I had a heck of a time getting a nickel from my mother when the I cream man came by! A dime for a chocolate coated ice cream on a stick was totally out of the question. My father got my first bike out of the trash and painted it red and put white pin stripes on it. I LOVED IT!!!!
Thanks for bursting the bubble of my wild imagination about those toys.I never saw one or really wanted one,except the toy soldier sets.Some things really ARE better left to the imagination.
Thank you for saving this piece of history. 5:10 I ordered and received this set. The aircraft were the best, and most solid of the set. 6:02 I'm fairly sure I had the Civil War set also. 9:34 when you turned the crank it made a slapping sound inside to simulate live firing. You should remember this was during the cold war. All males 18 to about 35 where subject to the military draft with exceptions. Most drafted where working or middle class who could not afford college deferments. A militaristic mentality existed which the "hippies and anti-war protesters" helped to later eliminate. 1961 was the centennial of the American Civil War. Civil war toys, Civil war trading cards and I think Civil War comic books were popular. Disneyland in California sold both Confederate and Union hats and flags in Fronterland.
Random but I remember when prizes came in the cereal box when having older siblings there was always a race to get the prize frosted Flakes had the floating Tony the tiger toy good times
I was the oldest and has two brothers and only one box of cereal. So Mom made the rule of I got one, then my middle brother, and then the youngest. We got to pick the cereal. Still didn't stop the 7am brawl all the time. Lol
@@cindysue5474 those toys caused a lot of family issues lol me and my sister got punished because we were fighting over the batman piggy bank when they had the batman cereal out
I miss toy prizes in cereal boxes. The closest I've seen lately was when _The Last Jedi_ came out and some brand name had six color changing spoons to mark the occasion.
I didn’t have the cabin, but I had a diving Bell. And it went over the card table and look like a diving Bell. I also had a Kool-Aid tent that you had to string between two trees. And all it was was a big garbage bag that said Kool-Aid on it
A lot of us had those Kool Aid tents. I think they were a promo Summer Kool Aid deal and you are correct, you got a printed plastic sheet, twine and a set of wooden pegs. I do see them on e-bay in unused condition for a surprising amount of money..
I commented on the toy soldiers in part one. Thought it was funny and now you bring it up in PT.2. I've raised baby alligators before but it was a rescue mission. They even swimmed in the pool with me. I kept one about 2 years. Chomper was the one I kept the longest. Don't trip, I grew up next to a river swamp and have rescued animals my whole life. I had a nest under the carport and have watched 3 baby birds growing . Yesterday they learned to fly but the smallest one got into a mass of spider web and couldn't get 2 feet off the ground. It took a while but I was able to catch it and remove the thick webbing. It was a little frightened but was immidietly able to fly. I love helping animals. Enjoyed this video.
I actually bought a few of these things in the 1970s when I was a kid, including “Hovercraft plans” that I actually used to build a hovercraft (it had to have a really huge extension cord attached to it, and I never managed to get the fan attached to the back of it to propel it, but it did work.
I bought the "Throw Your Voice " thing for 25 cents and it was a little flat piece of leather, I think it was, with a little piece of plastic and instructions about making BIRD CALLS with it, no mention of ventriloquism.
I remember an ad at the back of a comic for "Floating Ghosts". They looked like miniature little ghosties that you could control at will. I think they were just handkerchiefs with black painted on eyes attached to "invisible" threads around your fingers that you...ahem...remotely controlled.
I got tons of stuff from my Boys Life Magazine as well as novelties from Magic Shops. Soap that turned you blue (it really did!) Hot Pepper Gum (not really hot but was gum) Snapper Gum (its like a mouse trap built into a Doublemint Gum package. It worked... sorta) a Car Whistle (it was a piece of metal that you jammed on the tail pipe of the car and it let out a loud continuous whistle when the car was on. It worked like gang busters!) Heavy Drink (you pick up your beer mug but no on else can! It was a 2 sided suction cup. it worked... sorta) and my FAV thing i bought was SMOKING PET! The ad suggested your own dog would be smoking cigs. You would literally be the coolest guy in town if your dog smoked. What you got was a small plastic dog about the size of an army man. There was a small hole drilled in the mouth. And you got a package of 'cigarettes' to put into this plastic dogs mouth. You light the 'cigs' and the dog would actually puff out smoke! The 'cigs' emitted puffs of smoke at regular intervals when you lit them. Sometimes with smoke rings! To this day I don't know what those 'cigs' were made of but I am sure it would be illegal now. Here is one i found online! www.etsy.com/listing/815706011/smokie-the-smoking-pet-vintage-novelty?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=smoking+pet&ref=sr_gallery-1-1
Thank you. I could not afford any of these it is good to see my parents were right. I had a friend order a " Real Hovercraft" Nothing ever showed up. : ( I know that most adds said "USA only " This definitely saved me from buying junk.
I actually had the TANK! It was as described and I loved it. I got as a reward for getting my tonsils removed at age 7 in the early '50s. It had a cutout in the floor so you could scoot it around like the Flintstone mobile. Being a kid then was so much better than now, except for the polio threat.
Why you gotta keep breaking down my childhood dreams of fooling/scaring my friends and family while toiling away in my super secret cabin hideout. You're post-validating my folks telling me "it's all junk". How dare you...
My brothers got Revolutionary Wars soldiers. They were not flat, but quite small. We absolutely loved them. I once got the Polaris sub. Had a blast in that thing. It lasted for quite a while. We were used to using our imaginations to enhance our toys back then. We adapted and adjusted.
I remember loving those ads in the comics! Bought a "secret spy camera" once. It took so long to come that I forgot I had even ordered it! It did work though, even though you couldn't buy film for it anywhere! Lol!
![FORTNITE CLASSICS IS BACK! Fortnite Item Shop [November 15th, 2024] (Fortnite Chapter 5)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RbQURbeFwqs/mqdefault.jpg)
Did you purchase any of these products or others? Is there anything you regret NOT buying?
My elder brother purchase some
Laura Legends “get big dick” 😂😂😂
No, Dino Momma. I'm just being neutral.
I think even at age 42, I'm still to young to have owned one of those comics, lol!
I have only seen a lot of these ads in the back of comic books and other magazines but never really got the nerve to buy any of them because a lot of them seemed incredibly cheesey!
We actually bought the toy soldiers out of curiosity and found them hilarious. We also had the Cayman which we kept in a baby pool outside but it died from the cold.
North Korean toy soldiers.
A real crock, that's incredible. I didn't know it was real back then. I've heard that the monkey was real also.
This is why I hated working in advertising. I despise liars and advertising is the art of lying.
I had the Frontier Cabin. It looked pretty much like a plastic bag over a table with an outline of logs. Even as a 4 year old, I saw it and thought , "This sucks." My parents promptly threw it away.
Those things were fire hazards !!!!! not a good place to use your wood burning kit .
🤣🤣
Me too, I knew when she handed me my log cabin in a small envelope
I bought the Frontier Cabin 50+ years ago and still live in it to this day.
I did too, until Hurricane Helene just blew it away 😢
WOW
😂
Money well spent IMO.
I think that's what Ted did.
My dad bought the Big Bang cannon for me on the Fourth of July when I was ten. It is well built and still operational. I’m in my 60’s now.
Still being made. 9" model shown sells for $100.
I had one too. It was a legit toy not like most of this other cheap stuff.
My dad too! I had no idea it was something he might have sent away for in his own youth but I recognized that cannon immediately from my own childhood. And, yes, we too still fire it on 4th of July!
We had one too. Pretty loud bang. We'd always shoot it off on July 4th.
I had the dual-wheeled 155mm howitzer
When I was a kid I wanted a pair of X-ray glasses so bad so I could look at my neighbor lady
After much begging, my father finally let me order the toy soldiers when I was about 8 years old. Upon arrival I was initially disappointed but after a while I came to love those cheap little things. There were so many of them. There was a constant war going on in my room from 73-75. They disappeared when we moved. :(
Timmeh Jay my brother and i ordered those, along with the warships and airplane sets. I still remember scrounging around to find enough change to purchase them. We really enjoyed them! Good memories!
You left your Army men behind? You know nothing of war!
@@grimjack148 LOL I was just following direct orders from General Dad
Had big collection AIRFIX soldiers, regretted years later to have thrown one day in the garbage-
Moving had the same effect on a lot of my toys... 😤😩😪
Being a Aussie kid in the 70s I read lots of comics from the US and always wondered what most of these items for sale were. The ads said US only and I had no idea what a zip code was. I never had any money anyway so it didn’t matter.
American kid who was born after they stoped doing these here; I wonder that too, one I saw was real cobra eggs, and considering they sent actual monkeys, I now really wonder if they sent actual cobra eggs.
South african here same thing.
I was the same. I grew up in Australia and I was always frustrated that I could not have these items. Now I realise that I was lucky that I was not duped into buying this junk (with the exception of the cast iron cannon).
You lucked out.
Damn, I thought these were real. Disappointed again the age of 56.😂
I am guilty of buying the 1000 piece army set that came in a "Foot Locker." I waited for what felt like forever and a day for that HUGE "Foot Locker" to arrive. The day my mom handed me a tiny box with paper-thin army men in it was the day I learned that objects in the mirror may not be as close as they appear to be. I'm pretty sure I used them as "Puny Soldiers" to attack my Mego Hulk. So at least I played with them.
I ordered that too. Same thing, I waited forever, and was expecting a large box. I wanted most of the junk on those pages, but that's the one thing I did order.
@@ricka5959 That's the only thing I ever ordered. My mom warned me too but as it was in a comic book it HAD to be real!
yeap i had the army men set as well...used them up as BB gun targets and firecracker victims
@@maddogziggy Yeah, as soon as I saw those army men in the video with the Fred Flintstone noses, I had a flashback. I could feel the rage I felt way back then trying to play with those pieces of shit tipping over :P
@@ElectraOmega My mom warned me too, she said your not gonna get all that for a buck fifty!
I keep thinking of Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" when he finally cracks the code...
be sure to drink your ovaltine! :)
When I was around 6 or 7, I bugged my parents to let me order the 100 Toy Soldiers, which I think was about $1.50. My father finally gave in and said yes, but that I would be disappointed. When they came in, my father laughed and said, "see, I told you", BUT I loved them. I didn't play much with them at home, but when we would go visit relatives or my parents friends, I would take them with me and have a blast sitting at a coffee table playing war with them. Years later, my mother said they were the best buy made, since they kept me busy while on visits, and kept me from complaining about having nothing to do! LOL
Agree, the toy soldiers look awesome. Particularly back then. I'd want all the sets.
The *Tablet* of the 60's...😵💫💻
😂
Im 64 years old. Thanks for posting theses videos. They bring back alot of memories of my childhood. Some of the ads I remember, some I don't. Please keep posting.
For those not old enough to remember, $1.00 was a *LOT* of money, in those days. You could buy a hamburger, fries and a soda at McDonalds & get 15 cents change back! (They used to have a commercial about it.) Chocolate bars were a nickel, a loaf of bread was a dime, gasoline cost around 25 - 35 cents a gallon, yadda-yadda-yadda. So $1, then, had the equivalent buying power of $10-$20 today. I remember, as a kid, that it was a treat to have a nickel or even a penny to spend; and such occasions were few and far between. Having a whole DOLLAR to spend, all at one time, was unusual and infrequent - maybe once a year, maybe less. I can remember saving my allowence for more than 6 months just to afford one Revel plastic Tiger Tank model kit that cost about $2. This is why so many comments say, "I never bought one myself, I couldn't afford it, but ..." Kids (where I lived, Houston TX) in the Age of Comic Books typically bought one, two, or three comic books, for 10-15-25 cents, once a month, because that was what they could afford. Saving up to $1 was like saving up to buy a house, if you had any cents left at the end of the month to save, that is. Even 10 cent comic books were "too expensive" to buy more than 2-3 of them a month. I can remember many times, coordinating comic book purchases with friends, so no two people bought the same issue. Instead of buying every issue - which no one could afford anyway - we'd all buy different titles, and then get together on weekends, holidays, and after school to share & read each others' comics. Even then, there was always some of the more "exotic" titles (Atom, Aquaman, What if?) that no one had money to buy (after making their monthly obligatory purchase), so you still didn't get to see everything that was out there.
Milton Bradley war games new in the box were eight dollars.
In the fifties my parents would give us kids a quarter to go to the movies. That quarter would buy us a box of popcorn, a soda and the movies. Good times.
When you got to the baby alligator one, I thought of the "Leave it to Beaver" episode...then you showed it! 😂
As a kid the cardboard tanks and planes where pretty cool, I used to live behind an appliance store and when ever they threw out a refrigerator box it was like Christmas would spend all day playing in it.
A couple of crayons and draw what ever it was supposed to be on the sides, lol
This is The Way.👍
Make America use cardboard boxes Again ✌️
The imagination of a child was a universe all its own back in the day.
@@aldousorwell3807 I like that. Well said.
Kids had imaginations back in the day. Me too! Some of my best times.😊
When we were kids, my little brother really wanted a set of those army men & machines that included the footlocker. I helped him send away for it and he was so excited! Needless to say, he was a bit disappointed when it arrived. Still, we made the most of it because we were among the many children back then who only received new toys two times a year, that being our birthdays and Christmas. We ended up having a lot of fun with them regardless, as I recall. But we never ordered anything from the back of a comic book again! 😀
OH!The mighty Johnson Smith catalog! I bought the hand buzzer and a "Real 8 foot Flying Saucer!" The hand buzzer broke after second use, the "Real Flying Saucer!" turned out to be what I learned later was called a "Chinese sky lantern" : a box of tissue paper, a metal, spring-shaped thing I was supposed to glue the tissue paper to. I could then attach something like a Sterno can to the spring thing, THEN set that alight to sail over the brush-fire plagued hills of Southern California, I never built the thing (thank god) and can only imagine my first 15 minutes of fame on KTLA as the "Child arsonist who destroyed the Laguna Hills."
OH! The humanity!
OMG, I forgot all about the Johnson Smith Co.! They were gimmicky junk sellers extraordinaire.
As a kid growing up in Florida I to ordered from them. Of all companies that were the biggest rip offs they were what I call the "grand ripper of the rippiest!"
I always wanted the flying saucer.. I bet it was a mylar balloon.
Chad Sanborn Nope- paper, like those Chinese fire lanterns. This was WAY back in the 1960s, when stuff like Mylar was probably a DARPA black project, and even mentioning it would mean being visited by stern, well groomed white guys who AREN’T Mormon elders.
@@ChrisGurin
You don't mean the Ku Klux Klan, do you?
@@michaelpalmieri7335 No. "stern, well-groomed" would emphatically NOT describe that particular variety of sociopath. I'm talking about the sort of "Men in black" version of the 1960s FBI.
The illustrations made everything look so cool, so intriguing!
I got the 7-foot monster. Before ordering I asked my mother what 'polyethylene' was. She said it was a kind of plastic, so of course I imagined a 7-foot tall plastic statue of sorts. My brother suggested that it would probably take two mailmen to carry. "Yeah," I agreed, excitedly. It arrived in a manila envelope. When I opened it my reaction was like a robot from Star Trek when hearing an illogical statement. "Does not compute. Does not compute." I quickly reasoned that the company must be sending this a preview of what was to come. The real monster must take a long time being as big and heavy as it was. My mother said, chuckling, "No, I think that's it."
Mr. Spock on Star Trek says not logical, it was Robot on Lost in space that says does not compute.
Mark, funny I thought and felt the same thing/way as you.
yeah, i had the 7-foot Frankenstein monster. Kind of a rip-off, but still a pretty good poster
I sent in my dollar and never even received even the blasted poster. 😒
Uh yeah, that's what they said🤷🏼♂️🤓😎✌🏻
In the 80s I worked at a local hobby shop and we sold a ton of the Conestoga Big Bang cannons to this day Conestoga is still selling them! Probably the only comic book item still produced today!
I loved this. The ad page was my favorite part of Boy's Life
I sent away for a little pocket knife from Boy's Life when I was in grade school without my parents knowledge. As soon as I got my hands on it, I took it school to show it off. I ended getting suspended from school over it.
Lucky the girls dodge the bullet by not getting these trouble making items and I mean actually getting into trouble that could put you in jail or killed.
I remember that page as well... But as soon as i started to comment,it must be a flashback... What was the name comic about an alien invasion that was a continuing story in boys life? Do you remember that?...... God,i feel old....😄
@Patrick Ancona I know I'm dealing with two dumbasses.
It is the only part of boy's life i remember
I actually had the sea monkeys. Your description of what you REALLY received was spot on! A little disappointed that I couldn't train them and that not all of the eggs hatched, but it was still cool to see them swim around.
I was a kid in the 1960's and remember all of these. The only products I ever bought were probably the most-advertised products of all: X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys!
I got those too. And the ventriloquist thing. Yeah. and we waited forever for stuff to show up!
I had the soldiers back in the 70's. When you're 8 years old, quantity is better than quality. The soldiers were awesome, many hours of fun playtime. Really, the only good toy in the comic books.
I got a cardboard tank for Christmas one year. It was great! The toys back then were designed to capture a child's imagination. Good times. We feared nothing, and had nothing to worry about, except nuclear annihilation of course. lol
Hehe. Cold War
I am retired from x-ray service. On April fools day at one of my accounts someone had a poster board with a pair of the comic book x-ray glasses taped to it and detailed instructions on how to use them with a candle incase of power outage! It was absolutely hilarious!
They're looking for as many ways to save money in the NHS as they possibly can. Do you mind if I pass that on as a possible alternative to _watt_ must be at least 10kW X-Ray machinery in use at my local hospital? 💡🃏🙃
I ordered the 7 foot Frankenstein. My dad laid it under the sheets on my mother's side of the bed. I can still hear her scream and my dad laughing.😂
Best use ever for that cheap piece of crap.
I got the 6 foot glow in the dark life sized skeleton with movable joints! My sister still uses it at Halloween to this day. : )
@@widetrackerinkazoo6559 niice ! 👹
Sounds like you grew up in a home that was enviously kid friendly.
Thankyou so much from the UK i remember all these adverts thankyou.
Welcome back Laura! These ads could be classified as "crafty" marketing or just shady business at its finest. I loved this list.
I own the freon powered BB machine gun! let me tell you about this little gem: First off everyone within 100 feet needs safety glasses because of the mass amount of ricochets, It holds 3000 steel BB;s which need to be mixed with a little graphite powder and shoots 3000 BB's per minute; That's 50 per second!!! It cost about $5 per minute to fire the thing but it's well worth it. After I burned a hole in the Ozone above my house I got the compressed air adapter for it, It's not super powerful but it will turn a phone book into confetti at its maximum Effect of range which is About 60 feet at 80PSI (If you go above 80 it blows the screws out of the plastic Threads. There's no sights on the thing but you don't need them because you can't miss; it would be like missing with a garden hose. The one I own has serial numbers on it and I was told that at the time of purchase they send the information along with my name and address to the local authorities. Gee I can't imagine why! I think I purchased this thing in the late 70s after finding the ad in the back of a biker magazine. I think it was about $30 at the time. I think It still functions to this day since there's only one moving part; the air valve trigger although it's been 10 years since we've shot it. Nowadays it Just sits In its original box and my 60 year old friends come by and Marvel at it. It was a much better purchase than the sea monkeys!
Still have mine .
We had a store in our local Mall ( which was a big thing back in the early 70's )
called " World Imports ". It had a Novelty section that sold many of these items.
It was where I bought my Genuine " X-Ray Specs " . And yes, I bought them so
I could see through lady's clothing. Hey, I'm a guy.
I had a pair of those X-Ray specs back in the 70's.
What did you actually see when you looked at girls and women with the X-Ray Specs?
Yes but did they actually work??? No
Yea man when I was 7 I wanted a pair of x Ray specs to see through the girls clothes. Dam
I had a pair, & I think the fun was had by seeing how people reacted when you had them on. Especially women! 😂😆😂
That " allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery " was a lifetime for a 10 yr old 😅
I bought two chameleons (anoles) from a Batman comic when I was a kid. They were actually really good pets and would sit on my shoulder for hours just hanging out. They only lived for two years though 😔
We moved to Southwest Florida when I was 9. ...Imagine my excitement when I realized those 'Chameleons' Ran Wild Down There!!🤩 At least one on every tree! We would split the end of a reed of grass, and tie a slipknot out of thin fishing line to snare them by the neck. My friends and I would spend the whole day seeing who could catch the most.
I got an anole too....and the little live seahorses that lived a day. My salt water was probably way off....I just kinda guessed....
As a child growing up in the late 50's, early 60s, I wanted everything in these ads. I did get the crystal radio kit. It was small and shaped like a rocket. I did work poorly, but I was very fascinated. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
When I was about 8 years old, the teenage boy that lived next to my grandmother's house ordered a live monkey from an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland.
I don't know why his parents put up with it.
It was a live squirrel monkey, but it was not domesticated at all.
It threw feces at you, it tried to bite, and it had a stinky musk that always filled the entire house.
This was in a north eastern part of the country, so leaving it outside was impossible, even if they had a garage.
The few times it was let out of its cage it ran amok, and destroyed half the house.
It was never a pet, it never bonded with them in any way..
All it did was eat and sh!t, scream like a banshee, and try to grab something it could bite and rip apart.
My natural envy and lust to buy my own monkey was rightfully dashed every time I was in their house.
😂That's *Hilarious!!👹🐒💩*
Yeah I've heard that about monkeys 👍. hahahaha 😂
If you had been ripped away from your family, then transported in a box to this awful and strange environment, you might act the same way.
Today that monkey would be given an iPhone, a $15k debit card, free health and school services, put up for 2 years in a luxury hotel in Manhattan, as long as it agreed to vote Democrat.
@@josephbingham1255
It is essentially kidnapping, and then possibly negligent manslaughter.
But those terms only legally apply to humans.
Old enough to remember these ads before the coming of the zip code. I have not seen my carbide cannon in 60 years. Could still be in the basement. Thanks for the visit to the classic ads.
My parents bought me one (not from a magazine) and it was a lot of fun. You will fill a scoop, insert it into the breach and then turn it. It would dump the calcium carbide into a water reservoir and then you would ignite it with a flint strike piece. The clip they show doesn't do it justice, it was much louder and no real smoke. The barrel was designed as an inverted cone to prevent the use of projectiles.
As a kid I got a bundle of vintage comics from the 80's-90's and I always wanted the items in those adds! Cap pistol books, spy gadgets, code rings.... kid-me was so jealous of the kids who could order those items! I even considered mailing the order form's in, just in case they still made the items! haha
The Johnson Smith Company sold a lot of those things. Sadly, after something like 104 years of being in business, they folded last year.
😭 @@maintoc😭
The ones I remember most were those "sell greeting cards/stationary door to door to earn your choice of the prizes seen here" ads.
You could also peddle a news sheet called "Grit".
Those kryptonite rocks are just rocks painted green. What a rip off. I'll just go over to the Superman Museum in Metropolis and buy kryptonite from them.
I bought some from metropolis back in the 70's, and I think they were driveway stones painted green.
I had the Ram-Jet engine that you can barely see above the Carbide Cannon ad. Took months to arrive!
I also had the Laser pistol plans.
What a great era to be a kid!
I got the remote control ghost. I learned a lot about advertising trickery and being a savvy shopper after that. But it still didn’t stop me from buying the bald wig, spy pen radio or fake hand. Loved that catalog.
That was the legendary Johnson-Smith catalog.
As a child in '70's Britain reading the occasional American comic I wanted one of those foot lockers full of toy soldiers.
I remember seeing these ads frequently in the comics me and my siblings read during the 60s and 70s. We never bought them since our family didn't have much money for such stuff back then. I have that book, and in retrospect the fact that we were poor probably saved us a whole lot of money :) Also, you should do an article on all the hokey "martial arts" crap ads from those same comic books.
"Yubiwaza", the art of self-defense with one finger? "Count Dante"? Hoo boy!
There's quite a back story about that "Count Dante". You'll find a few videos about him here on RUclips.
The ad where Atlas muscle man kicks sand in the wimp’s face, so wimp orders the “miracle system” and steals his girl. Shouldn’t have smashed my sand castle, jerk.
I would say this and part one are some of the greatest vids I've seen on youtube..I have no idea how you hit the home run of nostalgia..I could feel memories I thought were gone. True.
I was overjoyed the day my sea monkeys arrived! I had almost forgotten about them cause I had left for summer camp. They died. I later found out they were only brine shrimp.
I bought a few of these comic book treasures back in the 60s when I was a kid. I had the submarine, which was a lot like the tank you've shown here. Basically a large cardboard box with some details printed on the outside. It came with a plastic "periscope" and a little light that was supposed to go on the "dashboard" inside the sub next to the cardboard steering wheel. It lasted about a week before my mom demanded that it leave the living room. I also bought the X-Ray specs. Who didn't buy those at some point. I also remember buying the Magic Snakes, which were little black "pills" about a half inch tall. You held a match to the top and after a few seconds they erupted into a long carbon "snake" while giving off a dense, noxious cloud. I lit the first one on the kitchen floor and the house smelled like a burnt electrical outlet for a week. I didn't waste a penny. Good memories!
A friend of mine when I was a kid got the sea monkeys and the dollar bill printer from the back of a comic book. Needless to say, he was disappointed with what arrived. There are stories of the hilarity of the hypnotist glasses and fake Xray specs everywhere. Those ads must have made a small fortune on the glasses alone.
Loved this video, takes me back to my youth. There were two parts of excitement when going down to my local Five And Dime store with the weekly allowance I earned, fist part was the comic and the second part was going through the multiple back pages of "fantastic" things you could order. Could never afford any of them because all of my allowance was spent on the comics. Advertising companies got wise to the limited allowances of kids and started with the purchase coupons that I fell prey to. While getting my weekly comic I saw a box of gound Mexican chocolate that had a picture of flying saucer advertised for FREE! All you had to do is buy 6 boxes, cut out the coupon on the side and mail them in. Needless to say, one box could last 6 months to a year for most families but I had to be the coolest kid on the block and the only one with a real flying saucer. I took on a lot of neighborhood chores over 8 months to buy all 6 boxes and to finally mail in the coupons for my real flying saucer. A few weeks passed and one day the post man delivered a box the size of a ream of paper, It was the biggest let down to open the box and find what looked like two frisbee dish put together with paper thin plastic, not even painted or embossed markings, the sun could shine through it was so thin. And the "real" "flying" part was you throwing it which broke on it's first (throw) voyage. I cried like so many kids who dreamed of owning one of those fantastic products before truth in advertising came along. To this day I still remember this experience and like most boys second guessing myself that I probably would of been happier if I got the Big D[€√ instead 😅.
Ddnt buy any but I'm really glad you made these clips as ever since I was a kid I wanted to know what these products were actually like ..cheers 💚
See? Buyer beware scrutiny. You we're a smart shopper as a kid. :) lol
Especially the various toy soldiers!
I remember how excited I was in the '80s to get plans for the air-cushion hovercraft. I did eventually build it, but that required me to find a vacuum cleaner I could tear apart and cannibalize it's motor. And, of course, it did float you, but had not method of actually moving anywhere. But, you couldn't go far anyway, since it had to be plugged in to power the motor.
Welcome home! It's a triumphant return, too.
I grew up seeing Dracula dirt pendants in old back issue comics, and as an adult I was able to buy one on Ebay, complete with COA, for just about the original price, adjusted for inflation. No regrets! I own a piece of Transylvania! I haven't experienced any supernatural effects, but I have felt a strange urge to eat it.
When I was much younger if you were in the Boy Scouts you received a monthly magazine called Boy's Life and the same kind of ads appeared in the back of them. I once bought a pet chameleon from one of the ads. It did come and was alive but not for long, I think it lived for about a week. I really didn't have the proper place to keep it.
I once won a "treasure chest of games" from a Cocoa Pebbles cereal box. I sent away for it (had to pay shipping and handing to claim my major award) and the drawing on the box was of a wooden treasure chest chock full of amazing games.
What I got was a cheap large piece of paper that had game boards printed on both sides and cheap plastic pieces so you could play various games depending on how you turned the paper.
It sucked.
I tell you, I did not value that as a kid. But I wish I still had it now.
I remember that contest. My sister and I were delighted that we won 25 board games (I believe that was the number). What arrived in the mail was... anticlimactic. Just cheap cardboard and plastic you had to break away into individual game pieces like you described.
Not long after this, Post Cereal sent out a mass mailing to explain and apologize for that because so many consumers complained that they thought they were getting a more substantial prize than what was delivered. Part of the explanation was that they opted to ensure a lot of more winners by going cheap (as they did here) rather giving out fewer but higher quality prizes. They promised future promotions would make up for that. Don't recall if that came to fruition as by this point I stopped eating kiddie cereals.
Holy cow, I must have had good parents. I think I only asked them about these ads once, and they said it would be a waste of money. You can't possibly get for that price what they say you do, I was told. So, never ordered anything. I did not have money at that age anyway. Almost all the ads you show look familiar to me. Thanks for the trip to way-back times, and for showing what the people that ordered actually got. Fun video for sure! All best to you!
THE QUEEN IS BACK! You can’t be gone so long! Hope you are well
Those military toys were the beginning of my joy for miniature painting.
"Rocket Engine" for $2.00 from a DC comic book(probably Sgt. Rock). Looked like a CO2 cartridge with some attachments. You put gasoline in the cartridge and cotton balls with a few drops of gasoline in a contraption suspended under the cartridge. You lite the cotton balls then stood back, far back. From the add, I was going to buy two of the engines and use them to "Rocket" myself around the neighborhood. Obviously that did not happen. I was probably lucky I did not catch myself on fire.
I bought one and mounted it on a cart made from erector set parts. Had as much thrust as the breath from a dying hummingbird. The company DID make a model pulse jet with a 5 pound thrust, however.
cool❤, I'm 63yo and I remember these ads. I bought a FM radio broadcast device. It worked but it had to be one inch from the radio.
If you knew what you were doing you could increase the range of those...Albeit at the cost of faster depleting batteries, and a potentially uncomfortable visit from FCC officials when they find you're operating an approved piece of equipment outside of regulatory parameters... 📻📶⚖😉
Re: the 7 foot tall monster:
There were indeed two versions, three actually. The original, good version, was sold through the Captain Company, which was a fully licensed, painted Basil Gogos portrait of the Universal Frankenstein Monster and Dracula. (I think later they added a Mad Scientist.) They were beautiful portraits printed on thick semi-gloss cardstock.
This was originally advertised as being 7 feet tall, which was technically accurate. In reality, the monsters were just under six feet tall with roughly six inches of negative white space at the top and bottom, making it seven feet. They came in two pieces originally, but after parents complained about the monsters not being a full seven feet tall, they lopped off a foot of white space and advertised them as being "over six feet tall." This version was one full poster instead of two smaller posters that needed to be taped together.
The Captain Company was the house mail order brand for Warren Publishing (Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, etc) so they weren't advertised in mainstream comics.
The ripoff version was the one found in all of the comics of the era. This was the Taiwanese tablecloth with a spooky monster printed on it. At one dollar, they were 1/5 the price of the Captain Company version, so I'm sure they sold a ton of them.
Coincidentally I purchased a Halloween tablecloth from Dollar Tree several.years ago that was... you guessed it... the spooky "seven foot tall" skeleton I bought out of the back of a DC comic in the early seventies. It was exactly the same plastic crap it was 30 years earlier.
"The Captain Company was the house mail order brand for Warren Publishing (Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, etc) so they weren't advertised in mainstream comics."
I was a big fan of the 1984/1994 comic books. I have the whole collection.
Great supplement, thanks for sharing!
@@houseoftheunusual too bad you can't order people skills through the mail
STAHPIIIT I am sorry for mis-understanding but I did not respond to you. I was responding to Marvin. I will try to respond in a better way. I am sorry you are right. After collecting over forty years just like to get the info right.
STAHPIIIT took off the response
This reminded me that there's an 80s movie about a giant alligator that lived in the sewer that I was too young to watch. ANd it's on RUclips! Woohoo!
The movie was called Alligator. And yes you could really buy a baby gator at those places.
I purchased the "footlocker" of soldiers. Expected to have a delivery at the door or a note from postman to collect my goodies...what a dose of cold water when the yellow and black little box arrived. After making sure my Pops did not see me, (so I didn't get the "I told you so!") I emptied the contents on my bed.
Big whoop.
Did not even get the full 100 count.
But I did use the figures as targets for my Daisy BB gun.
(Figures, tanks, jeeps, ships ...the silhouettes were okay for that and worked off my DISAPPOINTMENT with aggression towards the little blameless pieces of craptacularness.)
The jets were okay, 3D!
But the proportions on all were so not to scale.
So I ix-nayed on the Polaris sub! Ha!
But now I kinda get a kick that I took the bait, like so many, and got the "you get what you pay for" lesson rubbed fully in. my face.
Rite of passage for those times, I suppose.
And it has saved me from more than one Nigerian royal hostage.
All the best and keep up the fun!
Bart
I did not buy the soldiers but a kid did down our street did. When I saw what he got I told him that he had been taken. For the remainder of the summer he kept trying to convince me of how much fun wafer thin army men could be. I got a letter once and I was informed that I was a member of the royal Nigerian monarchy! Of course money was wanted and not sent.
@@johnzeszut3170
Oh, we got sooooooooooooo
taken!😊👍
@@MrAZZ00 Yes - the adults who watched every dime we were allowed to spend gave cautionary advice such as "Your gonna get hosed." - "Kid they will see you coming." - "Before you mail that money kiss it goodbye." For all of that experience proved to be the best teacher.
I bought the "Civil War Soldiers," when I was a kid. The product was flat figures in brittle blue and gray plastic, most of which were broken. The cardboard box itself was crushed, as I recall. I remember being hugely disappointed. As it was, I had toys for one day before some other kid stole them.
Cripes, that stuff from the "snowstorm" tablet looks like asbestos.
Yeah crazy to think of the toxic stuff sold as toy items through the years. Of course even many household, beauty type products were pretty toxic as these days I see lawyer ads about the cancer fallout from all these now!
I was thinking the same thing. I wouldn't want to be in the room breeding in that stuff or have it getting my lungs or eyes.
As a side note here. I am 66 and back when I was a kid, that sort of stuff was available in comic books.
Get this, in stores it was not uncommon for parents to purchase chemistry sets for their children as birthday or Christmas gifts..... A....n.....d..... in these sets you could do such experiments that included honest to goodness real live radioactive uranium!
What could go wrong?
There was also something called "itching powder" that you could sprinkle on someones skin and it would cause them to itch. Now I wonder what was in that powder that made them itchy in that spot?
Turns out it was finely ground up glass!
@@im1who84u All I ever really wanted from those comic book ads was that foot locker full of green army men, but it was always "no Canadian or foreign orders", which was really confusing when you grew up on the border and were geographically confused until about grade 1 or so.
@@im1who84u Funny as a kid in the 70s I recall some of my pals having kid chemistry sets but wow I don't think they had uranium in them but maybe other questionable things. Man we had some brutal toys as kids it makes you wonder how we survived. Now a days the toys do same lame. LOL!
@@im1who84u Yup. I remember the chemistry sets in the late '60s/early '70s where you could actually cause little explosions.
The one and only time I ever bought something from one of those comic book ads, it was a little plastic submarine that was "powered" by baking soda. It turns out that "powered" means "fizzing slightly".
I got that one by sending in some cereal box tops, I think. Maybe a little money too. Anyway, I got the tiny submarine and later got the PT Boat, also powered by baking soda. Like you say, "powered" meant "fizzing slightly". And they were very small.
Oh yes, I had a "Big Bang" cannon. Calcium Carbide mixed with water makes acetylene gas.
I still have my Big Bang Cannon. It's gotta be at least 40yrs old now and it still works
I now think that this is where "Wiley Coyote" got his mail order stuff from!!!
Makes sense to me!
ACME was and still may be a real thing. Its where carnivals get all the stuffed animals or stock pieces for the games. As well as things like water hose, gloves etc. A truck would show up at each new spot be it a fair or whatever and bring the ordered stock to the game owners. And sit with the side dorrs open so people could buy stuff they needed. I was born and raised on the carnival. Also had something like oriental trader but in bulk for yhe smaller gadgets and things like hat pins, belt buckles, the old roach clip feather things etc.
Thank you Laura for this wonderful trip down memory lane. I actually got those steam-rolled army men. Everything was so small and I was disappointed in how it all looked. I had an original 12" G.I.Joe and traditional green soldiers, so I did not like what I paid for. It was the end of my comic book purchases but look back fondly to that very carefree time. Was it a better time? It certainly was easier than now. Keep up the great work my dear. 🙏😊
I saw these ads for many years in the 70s.....it is nice to
see what these Ads actually sent to young kids!
Scrolling down memory lane. Guilty as charged, in the late 70's, I'd got the secret book safe, a tube called liquid smoke ( used for magic tricks) and live sea monkeys..WTF was I thinking. Being 10yrs, young and naive..yet that's it. But still my childhood rocked.
Oh, by the way. This showed up in my "recommend for you". Don't really know how.. RUclips overlords are at again. But I'm a fan and new sub. Great video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for finally satisfying my curiosity about the "remote controlled ghost."
I bought the fighting ships. It came with a bunch of plastic pieces and a thin plastic ocean terrain. I liked it :)
Yes I had that and loved it. I just played with them and didn't use it as a game.
Check out what those Helen of Toy games are selling for nowadays 😮
@@sgt.hshultz7849 wow just insane. I also saw people on ebay selling those for upwards of $300
The sexual innuendo of that machine gun advert
I couldn't stop laughing
I fell for the Army Men. Didn't like the soldiers but had a lot of fun with the aircraft. The only 3-D things in the box! :)
We got the crappy log cabin. To a kid in the 1950's the idea of turning a plain card table into a colorful log cabin seemed like instant fun, and it was.
As a kid I couldn't afford any of these mail order toys in the back of my comix books!
yeah me to
Awwwwwwee
I couldn't afford the comic books
I had a heck of a time getting a nickel from my mother when the I cream man came by! A dime for a chocolate coated ice cream on a stick was totally out of the question. My father got my first bike out of the trash and painted it red and put white pin stripes on it. I LOVED IT!!!!
You're probably lucky, because according to these RUclips videos, most of those items were just worthless pieces of junk.
Thanks for bursting the bubble of my wild imagination about those toys.I never saw one or really wanted one,except the toy soldier sets.Some things really ARE better left to the imagination.
Got to admit, the 2D plastic soldiers was a cool idea. I wouldn't have minded getting some.
TBH they looked like a pretty good deal for the price, anyway.
I thought they looked awesome. Way more bang for your buck.
Thank you for saving this piece of history.
5:10 I ordered and received this set. The aircraft were the best, and most solid of the set. 6:02 I'm fairly sure I had the Civil War set also. 9:34 when you turned the crank it made a slapping sound inside to simulate live firing.
You should remember this was during the cold war. All males 18 to about 35 where subject to the military draft with exceptions. Most drafted where working or middle class who could not afford college deferments. A militaristic mentality existed which the "hippies and anti-war protesters" helped to later eliminate. 1961 was the centennial of the American Civil War. Civil war toys, Civil war trading cards and I think Civil War comic books were popular. Disneyland in California sold both Confederate and Union hats and flags in Fronterland.
Random but I remember when prizes came in the cereal box when having older siblings there was always a race to get the prize frosted Flakes had the floating Tony the tiger toy good times
I was the oldest and has two brothers and only one box of cereal. So Mom made the rule of I got one, then my middle brother, and then the youngest. We got to pick the cereal. Still didn't stop the 7am brawl all the time. Lol
That stuff caused Family fights in my house many of us were grounded because of them little toys lols.
@@cindysue5474 those toys caused a lot of family issues lol me and my sister got punished because we were fighting over the batman piggy bank when they had the batman cereal out
I miss toy prizes in cereal boxes. The closest I've seen lately was when _The Last Jedi_ came out and some brand name had six color changing spoons to mark the occasion.
I got tiny comic books in Quake and Quisp cereal.
Had the foot locker with 100 flat army men, probably got my monies worth in playability..back in the 1960’s we didn’t have such high expectations.
My daughter, who's 6, and I love your videos. She especially love how you interact with Danto and muffin. Keep on hunting and stay safe.
I didn’t have the cabin, but I had a diving Bell. And it went over the card table and look like a diving Bell. I also had a Kool-Aid tent that you had to string between two trees. And all it was was a big garbage bag that said Kool-Aid on it
A lot of us had those Kool Aid tents. I think they were a promo Summer Kool Aid deal and you are correct, you got a printed plastic sheet, twine and a set of wooden pegs. I do see them on e-bay in unused condition for a surprising amount of money..
I commented on the toy soldiers in part one. Thought it was funny and now you bring it up in PT.2. I've raised baby alligators before but it was a rescue mission. They even swimmed in the pool with me. I kept one about 2 years. Chomper was the one I kept the longest. Don't trip, I grew up next to a river swamp and have rescued animals my whole life. I had a nest under the carport and have watched 3 baby birds growing . Yesterday they learned to fly but the smallest one got into a mass of spider web and couldn't get 2 feet off the ground. It took a while but I was able to catch it and remove the thick webbing. It was a little frightened but was immidietly able to fly. I love helping animals. Enjoyed this video.
I actually bought a few of these things in the 1970s when I was a kid, including “Hovercraft plans” that I actually used to build a hovercraft (it had to have a really huge extension cord attached to it, and I never managed to get the fan attached to the back of it to propel it, but it did work.
I bought the "Throw Your Voice " thing for 25 cents and it was a little flat piece of leather, I think it was, with a little piece of plastic and instructions about making BIRD CALLS with it, no mention of ventriloquism.
Big Bertha carbide cannon! I used to stuff a rubber ball down the mussel and it was DANGEROUS! and FUN!!
The golden age of mail fraud.
🤣 Great vid as always! Can’t believe the 🐊 was a real mail away.
I can remember pestering my mom for the army men in the footlocker. She never gave in. Lol.
I remember an ad at the back of a comic for "Floating Ghosts". They looked like miniature little ghosties that you could control at will. I think they were just handkerchiefs with black painted on eyes attached to "invisible" threads around your fingers that you...ahem...remotely controlled.
I got tons of stuff from my Boys Life Magazine as well as novelties from Magic Shops. Soap that turned you blue (it really did!) Hot Pepper Gum (not really hot but was gum) Snapper Gum (its like a mouse trap built into a Doublemint Gum package. It worked... sorta) a Car Whistle (it was a piece of metal that you jammed on the tail pipe of the car and it let out a loud continuous whistle when the car was on. It worked like gang busters!) Heavy Drink (you pick up your beer mug but no on else can! It was a 2 sided suction cup. it worked... sorta) and my FAV thing i bought was SMOKING PET! The ad suggested your own dog would be smoking cigs. You would literally be the coolest guy in town if your dog smoked. What you got was a small plastic dog about the size of an army man. There was a small hole drilled in the mouth. And you got a package of 'cigarettes' to put into this plastic dogs mouth. You light the 'cigs' and the dog would actually puff out smoke! The 'cigs' emitted puffs of smoke at regular intervals when you lit them. Sometimes with smoke rings! To this day I don't know what those 'cigs' were made of but I am sure it would be illegal now.
Here is one i found online!
www.etsy.com/listing/815706011/smokie-the-smoking-pet-vintage-novelty?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=smoking+pet&ref=sr_gallery-1-1
Of course alligators didn't live long in the New York sewers. They'd be no match for the Ninja Turtles.
4:58 I admit, I bought this too. And here's another confession, I wish I still had them. 😂
Thank you. I could not afford any of these it is good to see my parents were right.
I had a friend order a " Real Hovercraft" Nothing ever showed up. : (
I know that most adds said "USA only " This definitely saved me from buying junk.
Maybe it was an invisible hover craft.
@@jimg7647 I think they had trouble getting the eels through customs.
I actually had the TANK! It was as described and I loved it. I got as a reward for getting my tonsils removed at age 7 in the early '50s. It had a cutout in the floor so you could scoot it around like the Flintstone mobile. Being a kid then was so much better than now, except for the polio threat.
Why you gotta keep breaking down my childhood dreams of fooling/scaring my friends and family while toiling away in my super secret cabin hideout. You're post-validating my folks telling me "it's all junk". How dare you...
This was the best of the best of times !
My brothers got Revolutionary Wars soldiers. They were not flat, but quite small. We absolutely loved them. I once got the Polaris sub. Had a blast in that thing. It lasted for quite a while. We were used to using our imaginations to enhance our toys back then. We adapted and adjusted.
I remember loving those ads in the comics! Bought a "secret spy camera" once. It took so long to come that I forgot I had even ordered it! It did work though, even though you couldn't buy film for it anywhere! Lol!
Had the spy camera too. You had to mail order more film and send it in to be developed.