Looking through old catalogs.
When the 1976 JC Penny's Catalog came out, I was five years old.
I clearly remember seeing my grandmother using items on page 278 to document my unwrapping of stuff, that Christmas. 110 Instamatic with built-in flash. No more flash cubes. Man, we were livin' in the future. No need for a jet car, for me; the Jetsons were Now.
I wish to hell I'd been given some of the fine fitness equipment available at the time-- think of what a stud I'd be today, if only my parents had had the foresight to buy me and ExcerGym.
But I probably got something like the Play Family A-Frame House, as listed on page 356. Dig how the little Play Family people precisely fit a windpipe. Awesome.
I seem to recall having gotten a Big Wheel the year before. But I still wanted a Green Machine.
I definitely remember getting a LiteBrite that Christmas. Actually, I got two. Didn't ever really jack with either one of 'em, except for one afternoon when Mom ordered me into the dining room to play. Hm. What was Mama doing in the kitchen?
If you didn't have Lincoln Logs, you sucked. Hell, my Dad had Lincoln Logs.
Ooh, I had an Evil Knievel stunt motorcycle, and it rocked. But I think it was the next year.
I KNOW I got this hook and ladder fire truck that Christmas, or maybe the year before.
Say-- why is this woman from 1946 sniffing her underwear?
Why is the 1947 Christmas Catalog calling boys who hunt "gay"?
I recall my dad later on getting an AR-7, as featured in this catalog for $69.99. Hm. They seem to be missing from this year's Sears catalog.
See more catalogs here.
Labels: crap entertainment, heh, History, memories, rampant capitalism
posted by Matt G @ 1:31 AM
10 Comments:
Ahem.
I still have my Play Family A-frame House.
I still have the Gas-n-Go Garage, as well.
It's put up until my kids won;t choke on the furniture and people.
Boy, did Jaqcues Penné ever feature some fine shootin' irons!
(Matt knows how I sound in real life when I'm being that snarky. ;) )
I wore a hole in my big wheel tire to where it wouldn't go no more.
I have no idea where to get a flash cube anymore almost renders those old instamatics useless.
I can't believe I just spent half an hour going through a 30 plus year old catalog.
I LOVED it.
*Misses her Gas n Go Garage*
Those little people toys were the greatest things ever, millions of kids played with them. I still have the castle, barn, house and garage that belonged to my brother as a child, all of my kids have played with them too and they are in great shape. How much more fun life was back then. Sigh.
Erm, the lady with the underpants was being modest to save the hapless catalog reader embarrassment. This may also have been a coy wink at the folks who saw this image before they ripped it out of the book for use in the privy out back.
As for the sons being gay and all, I think that was foreshadowing the advent of the Exer-Gym, don't you?
Caption for the exer-gym guy:
"11 more reps and I'll be ready to hit the disco!"
Call me mercenary, but I just looked at the prices. Wow!
Oh! Hammer, that 2-inch chunk missing on the front wheel made it real easy to park on a hill. ;-)
Oh, how I loved my pink Big Wheel!
That brings back some memories. I used to have that girder building set from the Lincoln Log page, and I'm cetain that someday arciologists will ponder the meaning of all the LiteBrite paes in my parent's back yard. (Twenty bucks says they'll decide that they had some sort of religious signifigance...)
Flash cubes are still around, you just need to know where to look for them (eBay).
So are AR7s, but they're a bit more expensive these days... like about four times that amount. (Henry R.A. is the current manufacturer; they list for $224.95.)
I think Big Wheels were discontinued because they were afraid that kids would get run over by motorists backing up. I always wanted one of those when I was a kid, but had to make do with my boring old tricycle...
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