January 16, 2003
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Nostalgia time. I was reading some comments about the old Johnson Smith Catalog. It is still published, but the new one is a far cry from, say, the fabled 1936 edition, in which you could purchase firearms (but no ammo) and alcohol. The issue I remember was in the late 50′s. I scraped up some money, bought a money order at the post office–feeling very grown-up indeed–and ordered some truely cool stuff.
I had to get the x-ray specs. Remember them? You were supposed to be able to see the bones in your hand, through clothing, that sort of thing. It didn’t work, but it was fun. Now the fake gold tooth worked fine, but it wasn’t much fun. This was a brass temporary crown affair that you would sort of jam over a regular tooth to make it look like a gold tooth. Why one would want to do this is quite beyond me, but I imagine it seemed like a good idea at the time. The luminous paint was lots of fun. It was expensive–a buck for maybe half an ounce. Come to think of it, now that I recall how brightly the stuff glowed, it might have been radioactive. Maybe it’s just as well I never had kids.
The best thing of all, though, was their selection of little booklets, like the Book of Forbidden Knowledge. I think it had stuff like the Cabala and maybe some astrology. I also got a book on hypnotism, and hypnotized a kid at Boy Scout camp, much to the consternation of one of the councilors. Poor kid. I think he’s the same one I beat at chess by cheating. Actually, it was a draw. But I digress.
The site with the Johnson Smith stuff also had some stuff about Captain Midnight. Boy did I love that show! I sent in the seal from Ovaltine and got the membership card and decoder badge and everything. I would use it on sunny days to try to flash Morse Code messages to pilots in planes going by overhead. Ah yes, Captain Midnight. And if you’ve come this far, maybe you remember what a Tut Special was, and why it really wasn’t special at all.
Comments (4)
i always wanted one of them potato guns!
Can’t remember the Tut special. Can only imagine it was the precursor to the Tut-tut special. You WILL leave us wondering, won’t you!?
I had that book: Hypnotism Self-Taught. I also sent for The Art of Kissing. heehee
Sounds like the same ads which were in the back of comic books when I was a kid. Oh how I drooled over those things, but was never allowed to buy anything. Mother said it was junk, but I bet it was fun junk.