Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Mail Order 1950's style

As I was flipping through some of my vintage magazines tonight, I started really looking at all the mail order stuff in the back pages. Check out these interesting gadgets and concepts of yesteryear:

Safe Ride? hmmmmm...I'm not biting that one!



Now I know where granny got all those plastic slip covers that always stick to the backs of my legs...


who needs a man anymore?


I would buy this...well no, not really, but I would talk my mom into it so I could borrow it. She loves the gadgets!


I have a feeling that the results weren't as startling as they claim.


Mail order tombstones for gifts! At least that's my idea...that would be a great joke to have one made and sent to someone. They open it up and get freaked out to see their name on it then pat themselves down and say: "hey, I ain't dead yet!" well... i thought to would be funny.


very clever...get it? hear rings....sheesh.


I WANT THIS!!!! FOR ME!!! I am soo not kidding, dear readers. I love cool novelty toothbrushes! Someone may remember my Tiny Toons Hampton Pig one that I had ...while I was in college.

17 comments:

Jennifer W. said...

We don't even let our kids play with toy guns anymore, but this ad of yesteryear encourages them to stick 'em in their mouths!

The "color" TV ad had me rolling...

You should start a Flickr group with these, if there isn't one already...

majamom said...

These are just too fun! You MUST come by and see the stuff i posted yesterday =)

Handmade Girl said...

There is something a bit disturbing about anything involving the barrel of a gun in a child's mouth. For adults as a "novelty", ok... What were people thinking back then?

Lori said...

These are awesome!!! I love old ads. The car safety one cracks me up... I do remember doing something similar when I was a kid though. I will be passing these along to the spouse.
Lori

Anonymous said...

the mail order tombstones just totally slay me!!!! Why can't mail order be that cool in this MODERN age???? And how can i live another MINUTE without those SWANK slipcovers??? Loving' that sweaty butt sensation! LOL!

Rachel said...

I saw that toothbrush on display at the Museum of Dentistry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/progoddess/sets/72057594066447204/

Monica said...

I HAD THAT TOOTHBRUSH GUN GROWING UP!!! We each had one in my family :)

Thriftin' Gal @ Junk In My Trunk said...

I love those old ads!

I found the toothbrush gun on Ebay, it is Item number: 6050690944. Only bad thing is that it has been used.

Anonymous said...

My dad brought home one of those things that makes your tv color once. it was pretty lame really; graduated colours giving you a blue sky, green grass, etc. especially considering we already HAD a color tv by then :-)

LouAnne said...

OKAY! I just got back from sunny AZ to Rainy California and NOW I'm having flashbacks, girl! If you are aghast at that Kar Kot, you'd reel if you saw what we actually put our babies in back in the 50's and 60's.

My uncle had that "color" thing for his tv and we all got a good laugh. Made for outdoor scenery, people with blue hair, beige faces and green chins created rolling on the floor laugh fests!

If my brother had had a gun-shaped toothbrush he would have wanted it to squirt the toothpaste onto the brush - and he's still lazy!

But it made me remember the space gun I just had to have that shot poofs of baking soda and made me feel like I was helping Flash Gordon save the world from aliens!

elizabeth said...

that car cot is a riot!!!

i like the zipper pull thing though :)

Jess Hutch said...

Ha! These are so great! I love old ads. The top one reminds me of my youth... I used to lay down in the back of the station wagon when we went on road trips. Don't tell the authorities I told you that!

andrea said...

I am so loving these.

Gina said...

That stuff is wild! Wow.

Suesjoy said...

This stuff is great! You have the coolest blog on the block. :)

Anonymous said...

Love it. We want more! We want more!

Carol Maltby said...

In the late fifties when we were little, my dad would put a piece of plywood he'd cut to the exact shape needed to fit the back of the car, and lay it on the back seat. There was a crib mattress that went on top of that. My sister and I would ride back there on long trips. We'd crawl around pretending we were animals, and eventually just fall asleep curled up there. There was something really blissful and soothing about travelling that way.