Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Fun House

Here is another vintage comic book, again from 1980. Man, I loved this ad, it was almost as good as the comic I was usually reading. This is for Super Gifts & Gimmicks from Palisades Park, NJ's Fun Factory.

I always loved a good practical joke and I had ordered some gags from ads similar to this in my youth. I was always a big fan of the Whoopee Cushion, Disappearing Ink, Snappers and the classic Snake In A Can. My grandma Vicky always loved the cackling of the Bag of Laughs and I was always intrigued by the supposed power of the Hypno Coin, Throw Your Voice instructions manual and the classic X-ray Vision Specs ("X-Ray Vision Can Be Yours!" it boldly proclaimed).

This ad boasts some awesome little comic illustrations for the items: the Pocket Spy Scope dude looking at a bathing beauty, the Joy Buzzer actually shocking someone and the muscle man trying, to no avail, to open the No Tear Sugar packet.

Other highlights include:

  • The before mentioned, small, hard-to-read blotchy type.

  • The fantastic statement of "Offer valid until March 1988"- an ad with prices good for 8 years!

  • The warning statement of "Some Adult Supervision Needed"- probably for the Silent Dog Whistle- you don't want 20 neighborhood dogs to come running at cha after emitting the silent call! Or the Giant Evil Snake- could scare your mom!

A classic for all- click here to see it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What are the chances that my Kid just got a whoopee cushion at the street fair the other day?

I had to explain what it was, which just sounded...stupid. He thinks it's a balloon. That farts.