Dick Tracy Wrist Radio (1947)

The Dick Tracy Wrist Radio was a crystal radio, powered by nothing by AM radio waves, an aerial and grounding wire connected to a grounded piece of metal (like a radiator pipe.) And a kid's imagination.

You could even talk to a friend with the radio by connecting the aerial wires to your friend's Dick Tracy wrist radio. And it worked primarily because you were in actual speaking distance from your friend.

It wasn't very loud. In fact, it was hardly audible and you had to have your ear right against it to hear it. And even then, it only picked up the strongest local AM radio broadcast signals (in spite of this ad copy hype, crystal radios have no superheterodyne tuning, which made AM radio signals squeal, distort and drift.)

$3.98 sounds like a average price for a disposable piece of junk (unless you were a hardcore Dick Tracy fan. And how dare I call it 'junk'.) But bear in mind $3.98 in 1947 had the same purchasing power as $48.21 in 2021. To put into perspective, most parents had better things to do with that kind of money. Besides, they knew you could put together an even better working crystal radio for much, much less than that and even from parts already around the house (many built radios for themselves and their families in the Depression, as many kids did since money for new radios was so scarce, it was cheaper for mom and dad to just learn the science and do it themselves.)

A battery powered transistorized version later came on the market in 1958 (hopefully better working.)

Kellogg's Kream Krunch Cereal

Ad copy above reads  "Now - Ice Cream in a nourishing cereal. Crisp chunks of real ice cream (freeze-dried) right in with the good grain. The kids won't believe it. (Maybe you won't either!) But thanks to freeze-drying, we've taken the cold out of ice cream, made it crisp and crunch, so it keeps without refrigeration right in a package of cereal. And what a cereal! A crisp, nourishing blend of hearty corn, wheat and oats that's a treat by itself. With the ice cream it's... well taste it see for yourself. At your grocer's now."

It really seemed like a good idea.

If anything gets the kids bugging their parents to the point of insanity in the cereal aisle, it's a cereal that contains something they really like. Raisins? Yuk. What kid really liked raisins in anything?

And all kids love ice cream. Especially that then-new freeze-dried space ice cream the astronauts get to eat that everyone on TV was talking about back then.

Soooooo, Kellogg's executives thought they had a winner in their new cereal, Kream Krunch. It was a Cheerios type cereal with bits of freeze dried ice cream in Strawberry, Vanilla and Orange flavours (though surprisingly, Kream Krunch didn't have a chocolate flavour.)

But ice cream for breakfast...Was America an awesome place in 1965 or what?

And it really did sound good.....But that's as far as Kream Krunch got. The flipside was the freeze-dried ice cream melted into a super gross, sticky goo after sitting in milk for a few minutes, so you had to eat it fast or without milk. (I eat my cereal dry with a glass of milk on the side to wash it down - That's how passionately I hate soggy cereal.)

Parents complained to Kellogg's, demanding refunds because when the freeze dried ice cream melted, kids would stop eating the cereal. And soon, they wouldn't touch the box at all and it would have to be thrown out. Kream Krunch was discontinued in 1966. And Kellogg's (or any other cereal company) never attempted another freeze-dried ice cream cereal.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Before They Were Stars: Carly Simon

You know Carly Simon as a legendary singer/songwriter of the '70s. But not many people outside of her most devoted fans know her recording career began several years before her signing with Elektra and her massive pop hits like "You're So Vain", "Anticipation" and "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be". A streak what would continue well into the 1980s

The Simon Sisters were Carly Simon and her lesser known sister Lucy. They were regulars in the New England folk circuit in the early 1960s and caught the attention of Kapp Records, then one of the larger independent labels in the US.

Meet The Simon Sisters (later retitled Winkin' Blinkin' and Nod after the first single from the LP which became a minor hit.) (Kapp, 1964)

Listen Here.

This LP was followed up later that year with Cuddlebug.

Listen Here

This would be the last Simon Sisters LP until 1969. But the folk scene of that time was beginning to change with more challenging, socially conscious lyrics and Kapp Records had been sold to MCA. They returned in 1969 with an LP for Columbia; The Simon Sisters Sing The Lobster Quadrille and Other Songs for Children.

But the sisters brand of traditional and kid friendly folk was being overshadowed by harder edge acts. Their 1969 Columbia LP was reissued in 1973 as Carly & Lucy Simon Sing Songs for Children shortly after Carly Simon had her breakthrough hit "You're So Vain". (it was retitled to avoid confusion with Simon's pop albums.)

These LPs would remain without a reissue for over three decades until 2006 when the Kapp LPs were reissued for the first time on a single CD. Followed in 2008 by the reissue of Carly & Lucy Simon Sing Songs for Children.

The Lunch Man and Lunch Tunes Lunch Boxes (1986)

The Lunch Man and Lunch Tunes lunch boxes were basic kids lunch boxes with one striking difference; They had built-in radios and headphones.

Unfortunately, they were AM radios at a time when Top 40 radio in the US had largely moved to FM. (They still had several AM Top 40s in Canada until the early 1990s.)

And it's doubtful many teachers or school lunch ladies thought these were a good idea either...

"Dear Mr. Jesus" Sharon Batts & PowerSource (1986)

Listen here.

Oh no, it's another one of those damn child singer records. But on a more serious subject.

PowerSource were a Texas based Christian pop group. Like many acts in this genre, they were/are largely unknown outside these circles. And "Dear Mr. Jesus" is unquestionably a Christian themed song about child abuse, sung from the perspective of a 6 year old girl writing a letter to Jesus after seeing a TV news report of "a little girl beaten black and blue". Not only that, she confesses at the the end "Please don't tell my daddy, but my mommy hits me too."

Six year old Sharon Batts, the lead vocal on this song, wasn't the designated lead singer of the group. Just on this particular song. And thankfully, she wasn't physically abused.

This song almost became a Top 40 hit in 1987. CHR, Adult Contemporary, Country and of course, Christian radio stations were playing this in December of 1987 shortly after the track was added to the playlist of New York City's influential Z-100 and the song broke. A distribution deal was quickly secured, leading to a nationwide re-release of the song.

It was also timely, as the story of a little New York City girl named Lisa Steinberg made national headlines then after she died after being beaten by her adoptive father while he was under the influence of crack cocaine.

The song made #61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the charts for seven weeks.

More From The History's Dumpster Bookshelf...

Also see The History's Dumpster Bookshelf and Read Any Good Books?

 

Source: Regrettable Reads

KOMO-TV's Boomerang

1977 KOMO-TV TV Guide ad for Boomerang. Image: Puget Sound Radio

Boomerang was a kids TV program that aired on Seattle's KOMO-TV 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was an exclusive program of KOMO-TV although it has been syndicated to certain cable TV channels.

(The Boomerang Theme Song......Just TRY and get this out of your head...)

B…Boo…Boom
B…Boo…Boom
Bees keep on flying 'round the room.
M..Me…Mer
M..Me…Mer
Mother will help me if I ask her.
R..Ra…Ran
R..Ra…Ran
I will run faster than they can.
Ra..Ran…Rang
Ra..Ran…Rang
Put them together it’s Boomerang
Bing, Bong, Bang
Bing, Bong, Bang
It’s Boomerang!
Bing, Bong, Bang
Bing, Bong, Bang
It’s Boomerang!

(A KOMO produced 45 RPM record of the Boomerang theme song was released in the Seattle area around 1978 or '79.)

The show's host was Marni Nixon, a movie playback singer, Broadway actress and opera singer and mother of the late 1970s pop star Andrew Gold, best known for his hits "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You For Being A Friend", which became the theme song for the 1980s NBC sitcom The Golden Girls.

On the show, she regularly taught lessons to preschoolers using three child puppets, a mischievous, green nosed yellow male puppet named Norbert (who bears a suspicious resemblance to Bert of Sesame Street), a red haired, freckled pink female puppet named Melinda and a short dreadlocked, dark brown female puppet named Libby. A blue male puppet named Rookie was added shortly before the program was canceled.

The show covered 'wide-ranging and serious' topics, such as the death of a gerbil, and 'selling out your principals'.

In one episode, Marni is asked to do a commercial for silver polish, but after trying the polish and finding that it doesn't work, she decides not to do the commercial.

The show's budget was so low, Marni Nixon wasn't able to do rehearsals. It was a challenge, but Marni Nixon was able to handle whatever came her way.

Boomerang won over 2 dozen Emmy Awards during its long run on-air, which included over 150 episodes.

Contrary to the Seattle local urban legend, the original 'Norbert' puppet from KOMO-TV's Boomerang show was NOT sold at a West Seattle yard sale. It (as well as the Melinda, Libby and Rookie puppets) have been donated to the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)

The show ran until 1981 when it was canceled. The early 1980s were the sunset years of the locally produced children's TV show. Mostly due to deregulation that put less emphasis on children's programming. Many TV stations across the nation would drop their locally produced kids shows in favour of expanded news programming, an extra syndicated program. Or replaced them with an informercial. A few perennial favourites in some areas lingered into the '90s, but the vast majority disappeared by 1985.

Boomerang links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boomerang-Childrens-70s-80s-TV-Show
http://www.junkyardclubhouse.com/2007/04/06/bing-bong-bang-its-boomerang/ 

Plastic Easter Grass

 

Like the similar shiny silver plastic tinsel for Christmas trees....

THIS evil crap (Luckily metal tinsel was replaced by shiny plastic in the 1970s.)

Plastic easter grass (and tinsel) are indisputably the worst holiday decorating products EVER.

Namely because by April, you're STILL picking out the strands of Christmas tinsel that shedded off the tree and now gums up the roller of your vacuum cleaner.

But plastic Easter grass is much worse. Because that stuff doesn't stay in one general area. If you have little kids, they throw that stuff everywhere. And just as you're trimming the Christmas tree once again, out of the corner of your eye in an overlooked edge of the wall, you see a shiny strand of green transparent plastic that gets your blood pressure up.....

Today however, biodegradable paper is often preferred (one ugly side effect of plastic grass is pets eat them. And plastic doesn't digest.) or even edible candy Easter grass.  

The Ohio Art Mighty Tiny Record Player

Is it just me or does the girl on the box of the Ohio Art Mighty Tiny Record Player bear an eerie resemblance to comic strip character Nancy? 

In 1970, Ohio Art (famous for the Etch-A-Sketch) invented a new toy phonograph, named the Mighty Tiny Record Player, hailed as the "World's Smallest Record Player".

The Mighty Tiny used tiny 2" inch records custom recorded and manufactured for the Ohio Art Company specifically for the Mighty Tiny. The records had a playing time of a few seconds each.

The records were so small, there was no room for printed or etched information on the discs. There was only a number on them and you had to match them to a corresponding number on the disc's sleeve.

The playing system was essentially a steel needle attached to a thin steel bar, which vibrated against a thin inverted plastic dome, which acted as the diaphragm/speaker. There was no volume control. Power was activated when the record placed on the turntable and the lid was closed. Playing acoustically with no electronic amplification, there was no earphone jack.

The unit came with three randomly selected records.

The turntable was powered by one 'AA' battery and had an adjustable speed control. But the actual speed of the cheap motor was unknown (it's believed somewhere around 100 RPM!) and it was never constant and 'fluttered'. But hey, it was a cheap toy for little kids. Not a Bang & Olufsen audiophile turntable.

Another model of the Mighty Tiny was called the Stereoper, which resembled a console stereo. Contrary to what the name may insinuate, it did not reproduce "stereo" sound. There were also little storage cases for your Mighty Tiny record collection. 

The recordings themselves sold in packs of four. I believe there were somewhere around 60 titles (though the actual number is unknown.) None of these recordings have ever appeared in any other conventional format.