You may remember a blog entry from a month or so ago about a series of adverts placed in comics during the 70's and 80's offering all manner of fun through the unusual mail order items delivered directly to your door. I used to be fascinated by them and although I never sent off for any I did have a fondness for their descriptive text and simple line drawn graphics, it really did leave a barb in a child's imagination. Who could resist foaming sugar, monster neck bolts, revolting rubber feet and of course the daddy of them all the swoon inducing X-Ray goggles.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on which end you look at it from I was within walking distance of a great joke shop that sold most of these items so I did get to see a lot of them for what they were. It didn't stop me buying them of course, I was a kid, what else was I going to do with 10p other than buy a tube of North Pole Freezing Liquid; put some of this on a seat and they won't sit there for long! So I ended up with many a gag but still the adverts intrigued me as half of the items defied explanation, especially for the price. Just how do you get a Go-Go Skeleton that glows in the dark, that dances to music and moves to your command for only 65p? Or even better a millionaires wallet complete with bank notes, driving and flying license, wine club, yacht club and business cards all for the pittance that is 40p?
These adverts seduced me into thinking that for a few weeks of pocket money I could upgrade my life with these enhancing products, it was powerful stuff, the claims were unbelievable but there was always the question, was it too good to be true?
So this week to my utter delight I got to find out all those dirty secrets behind the childhood adverts when I accidentally stumbled upon this book, Mail-Order Mysteries by Kirk Demarais. I don't know how I found it, but as soon as I was aware of its existence I had to have it.
So today I sat and read the whole thing through twice, learning all the secrets behind many of the products. Some, like the X-Ray Specs I had already discovered after dissecting my own pair only to find its all done with real feathers, still, it was nice to see it was the opener for the book and not only described the product but also the childhood expectations and the more often than not below average reality when it arrived.
A glorious book if you are into this kind of thing and I was even more pleased when I found the entry for one particular product that I only remembered from an old BBC television show called 'Thats Life' with Esther Rantzen. They included a letter from a disgruntled buyer of the seven foot life sized ghost, essentially a balloon, a white trash bag and a plastic collar to hold it all together, controlled using a fishing line. The last I saw of this item the 'That's Life' team had purchased the ghost and made it float eerily through some ruins, cementing this little item in my memory until I was unsure, as with most things at my age, that I even remembered it correctly at all.
A delightful book of insights that I would recommend, even if it is just for the chance to see the reality of ordering a pack of seven, four foot gigantic dinosaurs.
www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals
No comments:
Post a Comment