Names of products that you loved.

I remeber the drawing on the TV screen thing ever so vaguely. We didn't have a TV for forever, so I think I tried that at a cousins. I remember going to Nana's and watching Saturday morning cartoons: The Bug-A-Boos, HR Puffenstuff, Big Blue Marble, That's Cat (Can you find Me in this picture?), Kaptain Kangaroo, and my all time fav- Banana Splits. I even have one of those ATAX 6 wheelers they drove!

Otter Pops!

Hey, Hanford!

Zots

The lil' hard candies that had the powder, fizzie, sour stuff in the middle.

Good-n-Plenty

I remember getting stupid with my friend from San Diego once and biting the outsides off Good and Plentys, and them sticking the insides into green grapes. Dumb and not especially tasty. We had a great time. At the time.

On 2005-03-18 11:59, exotica59 wrote:
I'm not sure if this was a midwest only thing or not, but I remember some sort of platic Sheet that you could hang over your tv screen, and then you could draw on it to help out a cartoon by the name ( if think) of Winky Dink, Winky dink would be running away from a bad guy, but "oh no!" "the bridge is out Winky dink needs your help kids, draw in the bridge now." I always wondered how many kids drew directly on the tv screen.
I also remember having to watch Ray Rayner, Bozo the clown, and BJ and the Dirty Dragon show every weekday. Not products, but they all had heavy kid product commercials.

I remember this! It was called "Winky Dink and You." IICS (the International Interactive Communications Society) hails it as the first example of interactive television. So it was not just a midwest thing, we had it in California, too.

No one has mentioned Mr. Bubble? As a kid I always viewed bath time as a festive time... and Mr. Bubble was the coolest! I used to love staying in the tub until I'd shrivel... until Senor Bubble gave me a skin rash and other burning problems in the nether region. Even though, the smell of Mr. Bubble, which is no where near as strong smelling as it was when I was a kid, was just about the greatest smell in the world. I think they must have toned down the ingredients to make it easier on kids’ skin. Who remembers the boxes of Mr. Bubble powder? Must have been made with 2 ingredients…lye and fragrance. Man that shit would burn!

While I'm on a bath kick...who remembers Crazy Foam?

Some of my favorite photos of me as a kid are of my sister and I and my cousins covered in Crazy Foam in our kiddy pool in the backyard. All kinds of wacky foam antennae and horns... lots of fun but unfortunately I had to stop using Crazy Foam because of another damn rash.

Mr. Bubbles was the favorite choice to toss into the city park welcoming waterfall. Always messed it up. Yes, I remember the rash from the soap powder too!
How about the soap you got wet then watched the fuzz grow on it, or the soap that had a small trinket in the center of it. Can't remember the name of either.
Winky Dink and you! That's right! wow, so many memories coming back.

[ Edited by: exotica59 on 2005-03-18 17:35 ]

And Pustafix Bubble Bears that you squeeze and the wand rises up out of the bottle!

That foam soap...that was tops!

I also coveted a toy gun that was shaped like a pistol called "6th Finger"

KaBoom

"Pie-Oh-my" pie mix

and my sister would fight over "Slicker Lip Polish"(Yardley's of London)

Six Finger! Yeah I remember that too. It's also amazing that almost everything like that is on ebay!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19027&item=5963783613&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

"Six FInger Six Finger, man alive!
How did I ever get along with five?"

Why is it that I can remember obscure crap like that but can't remember that I have a dentist appointment today?

We can go on forever about the junky products and old toys that were marketed at baby boomers. I never had a siz finger, but I did have the Johnny Quest PF Flyer decoder ring to go with my PF Flyers. I could wear them while eating my Incredible Edibles and Cannibal Animals and drinking my Fizzies.

Sexwax
Abba Zabba
Doc Martin
(anything by) Wham-O
Silly String
Eskimo Pies
Flubber (by Hasbro)
Pop Tarts
Krazy Glue
Coppertone
Pendleton
Tonka Toy
etc.

Jiffy-Pop!

There was a pop called "Wallaby Squash". A neighbor lady loved it & her 8 kids hated it. She pronounced it "Wallaby Squarsh".

It was soon discontinued & put on sale. She bought 6 cases & put it on her back porch. Apparently it was all gone one day & we could hear her bellowing around the block, "Fer a family that don't like Wallaby Squarsh, it sure does go awful fast!!!"

I always liked those chocolate marshmallow treats.........."Moonpies". Bananas not too bad either.

I always gave away some of my best throws from Mardi Gras ........for everyone elses moonpies.

How did they come up with that name anyway.

On 2005-03-25 07:46, fijifingers wrote:
I always liked those chocolate marshmallow treats.........."Moonpies". Bananas not too bad either.

I always gave away some of my best throws from Mardi Gras ........for everyone elses moonpies.

How did they come up with that name anyway.

According to the Chattanuga Bakery (makers of Moon Pies): Supposedly, a bakery salesperson from Chattanooga, Tennessee named "Mr. Mitchell" visited a mining community in the area, asking what kind of snack food the miners would like to eat. He was told that a popular confection involved graham crackers and marshmallows, and so he asked one of the local miners how big he wanted the snack to be. The miner made a circle with his hands and outlined the moon, which had risen in the sky at that time. "As big as the moon and twice as thick," he replied. Mr. Mitchell used this as the inspiration for the "moon pie."

In the Northern US they're often called Scooter Pies, & Bostonians call'em Whoopie Pies. In Souther California you can find'em for 99 cents a box, and RC Cola for $1.09 for 2 Liters. Mmmm, RC & a Moon Pie...

thay's funny, in pennsylvania a "whoopie pie" is two pumpkin cake/cookies separated by cream filling, no chocolate coating.

The Menonites in Virginia bake two kinds of "whoopie pies". My favorite which J$ mentioned above: the pumpkin cake and marshmellow filling in between and a chocolate cake with marshmellow. I asked the bakers why they call them "whoopie pies" and they didn't know. I think of Whoopie as something Menonites would only do for procreation.

So glad I stumbled on this thread - I don't visit this neighborhood often. Now I get to show everybody how old I am...

Space Food Sticks! Supposedly eaten by astronauts.
Major Matt Mason! Peaceniks' version of GI Joe.
Mr. Potato Head with a REAL potato, and lots of sharp, pointy spikes to stick his facial features on with.

And how about cigarette commercials - who else remembers those?
"You can take Salem out of the country but you can't take the country out of Salem"."It's not how long you make it, it's how you make it long!"."Should a gentleman offer a lady a Tiparillo?"

Whoever it was who mentioned Screaming Yellow Zonkers hit the nail on the head - best damned product name of all time!

"Cool-A-Coos" The ice cream cookie sandwich covered in chocolate!

The only place I've ever found these was at one of the concession stands near the entrance of the L.A. Zoo, so I think of it as "zoo food."
There's a local version up here that they were probably trying to copy, the "It's-It" ice cream cookie sandwich, which is still available if your arteries are feeling empty.

The peanut butter flavored Space Food Sticks had a certain satisfying predictable quality about them. I'd bet if I had one today, it would be "puttin' the hurt on me."

Friends from Sydney sent us some of the Space Sticks they still make there. Not as good...

tasty-kakes:
peanut butter tandy takes and butterscotch krimpets!

drake cakes:
devil dogs & ho-ho's

On 2005-03-25 16:48, ZebraTiki wrote:

The peanut butter flavored Space Food Sticks had a certain satisfying predictable quality about them. I'd bet if I had one today, it would be "puttin' the hurt on me."

I grew up on Space Food Sticks! Which I think explains a lot. They were like ultra-soft tootsie rolls in a foil pouch. I'm sure they were the pinnacle of food-extrusion technology in the early 70s.

Mmmmm, extruded food.....

On 2005-03-25 18:04, Tiki-bot wrote:

Mmmmm, extruded food.....

Proving again, that kids and dogs will eat just about anything.

Awful thought... just how many Peanut Butter Space Food Sticks do you suppose we consumed, and at what critical brain development age? I guess it does explain something...

On 2005-03-25 18:04, Tiki-bot wrote:
They were like ultra-soft tootsie rolls in a foil pouch. I'm sure they were the pinnacle of food-extrusion technology in the early 70s.

Mmmmm, extruded food.....

I watched a food factory program that showed Tootsie Rolls being extruded. Looked exactly like what you think it would look like.
And I used to like those...

Awful thought... just how many Peanut Butter Space Food Sticks do you suppose we consumed, and at what critical brain development age? I guess it does explain something...

I fondly remember that gooey texture, the way the skin cracked when you bent them, the spongey food balls you could roll them into, the disappointment I felt when the box wasn't frash and the stick were all hard and dry. All I can picture now is the chemical factories along the Jersey Turnpike (from Fast Food Nation) cranking out ingredients for "food" items that have absolutely no actual food in them at all.

Polynesianposhboy-have the feeling that the "whoopie"portion of the name has to do with the squishy marshmallow filling-like popping packing bubbles-perhaps a gas thing-whoopie!-as in whoopie cushion? Just a tipsy guess.

Gentleman's relish.

(A brutally strong paste made of anchovies that you spread on toast - can't see why it never caught on in the US)

Trader Woody

On 2005-03-25 19:25, Trader Woody wrote:
Gentleman's relish.

(A brutally strong paste made of anchovies that you spread on toast - can't see why it never caught on in the US)

because we're Wussies (a brutally harsh term for a man who doesn't have the stones to down unsavory, nasty food (or drink) that would cause them to hurl - probably a word that never caught on in the U.K.:lol:

I've seen that Relish, but sadly didn't buy it...but I will now.

I've seen here (But never in the UK) a Brit specialty. Pickled Walnuts.

They taste mostly of vinegar.

On 2005-03-25 19:48, Shipwreckjoey wrote: hurl - probably a word that never caught on in the U.K.:lol:

But it did catch on big in Ireland, where hurling is the national sport. Hmmm.

"because we're Wussies (a brutally harsh term for a man who doesn't have the stones to down unsavory, nasty food (or drink) that would cause them to hurl - probably a word that never caught on in the U.K."

Wussies as opposed to Aussies...no doubt the explanation for why Vegemite never caught on here either!!!

"Extruded food"...I somehow missed that. Probably was too obsessed with Zingers (the lemony ones! sigh) and Ho-Hos. But it sounds like the ultimate manifestation of "playing with your food" in that the food is no longer actually food at all, just a marginally edible toy.

Eek.

I really, really miss my Squirmle. I think of him (her? it?) now and then. I loved that critter. I think my cat ate it.

Oh, I forgot PF Flyers and Red Ball Jets.

Those were great.

i enjoyed several marshmallow peeps today, which under closer analysis are somewhat between a squirmel and an extruded food.

Also on the marshmallow tip...how about the wonderfully space aged sounding Jet Puffed marshmallows. I saw a bag of them at the supermarket Friday night and had completely forgotten what a cool name they have.

On 2005-03-27 20:46, Johnny Dollar wrote:
i enjoyed several marshmallow peeps today, which under closer analysis are somewhat between a squirmel and an extruded food.

Extruded Squirmels!
Get 'em while they're hot!!

Wow, I hadn't thought of Squirmels in 30 years! Amazing what gets pushed out of your brain to make room for new stuff. Or it was all that college drinking.
Anyway, for your bemusement:

You know what I love about marshmallows?
There is not one thing "natural" about them.
Man~made sponge.

Yah. Pure Sugar. And Corn Syrup. And more sugar!!!! whew. (Is that the secret to Unga's eternal zippiness? :wink:)

Mallow Trivia: believe it or not, Martha Stewart has a recipe for pastel-colored, homemade, hand-cut marshmallows. Weird.

You all have made me wonder...what exactly IS 'jet-puffed' in marshmallow terms? What is the jet, how is the marshmallow attached/extruded/exploded, how does the puffing process proceed?!? Please help!!!

You all have made me wonder...what exactly IS 'jet-puffed' in marshmallow terms? What is the jet, how is the marshmallow attached/extruded/exploded, how does the puffing process proceed?!? Please help!!!

Perhaps this diagram will help explain it:

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: tiki-bot on 2005-04-01 10:27 ]

By far, the product that Satan's Sin has most loved is ...

... the "bikini!"

The bikini was invented in 1946 and named after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the site of atomic bomb testing. The inventors were two Frenchmen, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. Of course, Heim and Reard didn't create the idea of the bikini; drawings of bikini-like suits have been found on wall paintings dating back to 1600 B.C. The modern term "bikini" for a particular bathing suit design was first used by Heim and Reard (who were, in reality, the re-inventors of the bikini). Heim was a couturier designer from Cannes, France, who had designed a very small bathing suit called the "Atome" (french for atom). He hired a skywriting plane to advertise his design by skywriting "Atome -- the world's smallest bathing suit" Three weeks later, Reard, a mechanical engineer, had another skywriting plane write "Bikini -- smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world." (thanks, about.com)

Operation Crossroads, Test Shot "Baker," Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands ... and oddly enough, the precise same thing that goes off in my guts whenever I see one of these:

For the first and last time in the history of merchandising and marketing, a product name that contains not one ounce of hyperbole!

Helpless men attempt to mitigate the effect of the Raquel Welch Bikini Blast with expirimental Uglifier Goggles -- to no avail!

My last name used to be "Dodge". When I was a kid, there was a car commercial where a little old lady said: "Put a Dodge in your garage, honey!"

I hated it!