I like to play with mine...how 'bout you?

[Menard]

You ever get in one of those moments when you look through an old comic book or magazine, see a novelty ad or sales page for Johnson Smith company, and recall some of the novelty items you may have had as a kid?

One of the things that I wonder is how, with all of the technological advances, that kids today respond to some of the items we grew up with.

Silly Putty, anyone? Was it really that cool to put it on a newspaper comic strip to make a copy of it? Would a kid today be likely to reply "why don't you just copy it with the scanner; it'll look better"?

How about a Slinky? Or is it just a spring today?

Venus Fly Trap? A miracle, or curiosity, of nature; not technology. How many have you killed trying to shove hamburger into its traps?

I remember when calculators were so cool; damn expensive at that time too. I had one, a Unisonic model, that had a built in Blackjack game. That was just so awesome back then. Now, I think it requires an animated dealer and players to be considered acceptable.

Whatever became of the novelty spypen? It was in the Johnson Smith catalog and was basically a large pen with a built in crystal radio. Being a crystal radio, it did not require batteries. It had a wire with an alligator clip you could attach to some metal object to use as an antenna, and it used an earphone (single, monaural) for listening.

Etch-a-Sketch? Did this seem magical as a kid? Draw on it, then shake it up and the drawing disappears. This novelty does work with adults as I would do this with a pentablet computer. If you use the word program and write the word, it automatically converts the word to smaller print. I would write a word in large letters, shake the pentablet, then show others an empty screen; seemingly empty.

What were some of the novelties for you as a kid?

Still have any?

Of course, for someone Trekgeezer's age, fire was considered a novelty.

[trekgeezer]

Of course, for someone Trekgeezer's age, fire was considered a novelty.

Laugh now, but you just wait 'til that patent applications come through!

[Scott]

Loved all the great ads in the old magazines. One that I actually purchased was Charles Atlas Body Building Program from a Magazine through the mail. I followed it faithfully for 2 years. The push-ups actually do develop the chest quite nicely. It was the most dynamic of the exercises of the program. Once I was a skinny kid and now look at me. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAoGK3n_dOc&NR=1
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Mexican Jumping Beans were one of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX3VrkATqzY&feature=related
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Sea Monkeys was another that we purchased.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5haJvmYyv4
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Ant Farms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pb7MYA1Go8
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Pet Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjZGrthV3tU&feature=related
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Chia Pets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzY7qQFij_M
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[AndyC]

Combining modern technology with an old favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtYXgo2OnAM
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[Trevor]

In South Africa when I came down for holidays with my folks to see my mom's family, the ads in the back of the Richie Rich and other comics always fascinated me, such as

1. Sea monkeys
2. X ray glasses
3. Invisible ink
4. Itchee powder
5. Charles Atlas ads: I remember the cartoon that had the line "Wham! Now it's your turn to dry up and blow away!" 

and my favourite: the machine that allowed you to put in a $ bill and "print money" 

[Jack]

The Lite Brite:



Erector set:

[trekgeezer]

Hey men , Charles Atlas is still around.    http://www.charlesatlas.com/

[Patient7]

How about Ball in a Cup!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OoUly6OoS7M
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Sorry I couldn't get the original video, nobody put it up so this is as close as I could get.

[Terf]

How about Ball in a Cup!

Heh, Family Guy moment for me. *Suddenly has video come up on his modem-controlled browser* Wow! What a coincidence! 

I'm 20, but I remember playing children's games on Win95 (I don't suppose anybody's ever heard of Pajama Sam ) and thinking how incredibly cool they were. (Never owned a game system of any sort and still don't.) Then I got into side-scrollers and thought they were even cooler. Many of those games I still own, but whenever I go back and play them, they seem pretty boring in this GTA-induced mind.

Oh, yes, and Legos (r) - they had their hey-day in the '90s. Those were awesome. I also remember the "arch-nemesis" of Legos, Mega-Blocks (r). Those sucked.

I think we still own an Etch-A-Sketch. Nice, quiet toy for my mom.

I also believe my dad owned a pet rock, back in the early '60s or something.

Oh, and when I saw the words "Charles Atlas" I remembered that Monty Python clip I saw on YouTube. XD

Now I know what they mean when you can't go back. Good times, though.

[all saints day]

I'm 20, but I remember playing children's games on Win95 (I don't suppose anybody's ever heard of Pajama Sam ) and thinking how incredibly cool they were. (Never owned a game system of any sort and still don't.) Then I got into side-scrollers and thought they were even cooler. Many of those games I still own, but whenever I go back and play them, they seem pretty boring in this GTA-induced mind.

Oh, yes, and Legos (r) - they had their hey-day in the '90s. Those were awesome. I also remember the "arch-nemesis" of Legos, Mega-Blocks (r). Those sucked.
...I also believe my dad owned a pet rock, back in the early '60s or something.
...

Legos had their heyday in the 1960s, and the Pet Rock phenomenon was from the '70s...

[Raffine]

My favorite toy was my Thing Maker Fright Factory and Creepy Crawlies sets. The Thing Maker was a real survivalist's toy: basically a small hot plate that plugged into the wall, just like grown-up toys. The Thing Maker got red hot so it'd cook your Plasti-goop until it was nice and firm.

Electric football was fun, but, upon reflection, ultimately pointless. It was fun to sneak and turn the control to HIGH and watch both teams have fits and bounce right off the field.

Those were the days! 

[AndyC]

My favorite toy was my Thing Maker Fright Factory and Creepy Crawlies sets. The Thing Maker was a real survivalist's toy: basically a small hot plate that plugged into the wall, just like grown-up toys. The Thing Maker got red hot so it'd cook your Plasti-goop until it was nice and firm.

The old Creepy Crawlers Thing Maker I had was different. It was a plastic cauldron with a light bulb inside that heated up the bottles to melt the goop for casting in the little plastic mold trays. After using up the whole supply making little plastic bugs, my parents were too cheap to buy more goop. I had to chop up the rejects, sort the colours and put them back in the bottles for reuse.

Hmmmm, just for a moment there, I could almost remember the smell of that stuff.

Anybody else remember the old Creepy Crawlers TV commercial with Jackie Coogan?

[Menard]

I never had the Thing Maker, though I do remember the commercials for it.

I did once get a set of Shrinky Dinks. Just color them in, pop 'em in the over, and out comes keychains and other such useless trinkets for kids.

Anybody ever have Magic Rocks? (keep the minds out of the gutter )

Those were cool. Reminiscent of The Monolith Monsters.

[AndyC]

Here we go. This is what sold me on that particular toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHWjANaEtnw
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[Raffine]

Sigh. I remember the wimpification of the Thing Maker.

Mine was literally an open metal hot plate you could fry your finger on or set your long hippy hair on fire without thinking twice about it.

 

The molds were not plastic, but made out of cast iron. When casting your giant raoches or zombie lips the mold became hot enough to brand you for life. they were heavy enough so that when thrown they made quite a dent in your mom's hardwood floor or your neighbor's forehead.


The Shunken Head was next to impossible to make, the bastards.