FOTOSHOP FUN!

Oh those people at Adobe think they're so clever, so ahead of their time. I don't think so! A company called Fotoshop, in 1963, sold a handheld movie viewer manufactured by Argus. The Argus Action Movie Viewer.

Click on image to see the action soooo much larger!

Oh sure, to kids these days this looks like a piece of junk, but back then this was high tech for the home. A kids dream! Watch cartoons anytime you want. No batteries. No bulbs to burn out. It was even suggested to send one to grandma so she could enjoy the home movies of the little ones. Or you could always send her a Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.

Just think, none of the tiresome copying and emailing your digital files. Just make a home movie with your 8mm camera, take it in for processing, ask them to dupe it, package it up, drive to the post office, and oh, don't forget to get an Argus Viewer for grandma. Easy peasy! And then if grandma could afford the long distance phone call she might call and say, "What am I supposed to with this?" Then again she might just send a nice thank you note that smelled like Cashmere Bouquet.

Only $4.95 plus 25 cents shipping. What a bargain! Think of the memories you'll share. Think of watching the Three Stooges in the backseat of the car on long trips. No more having to watch reality. You can be watching the Flintstones as you drive around Mt. Rushmore!

Mail your check today! Offer good until midnight September 1963.

TASK FORCE! Today only! ONE DOLLAR! Helen has gone Cuhhhhhhraaaaaaaaaaazy!

You heard me right folks. Helen of Toy is CUHHHHHHRAAAAAZY! She has lowered the cost of TASK FORCE to $1.00! That's one dollar for all the fine items you see below.

Click on that spewing hot lava protruding from the tank to see it larger!

16 tanks. Count 'em. 16 TANKS! You can't get much cuhhhhhhraaaazier than that. 24 PLANES! 8 LANDING BARGES! And for those of you in your later years of life...24 PILL BOXES! Yes, you heard me right. 24 PILL BOXES. Enough to share with everyone in the retirement home. Or keep them all yourself and have 24 days of your meds organized.

(What? What do you mean? Uh huh. Uh huh. Okay, sorry.)

Like I said 24 Pill Boxes, that's a bunker boys and girls. So maybe Helen should have said that upfront, buy hey, I'm only an employee. I don't write this stuff.

"Tension runs high as a big full scale battle looms with all elements participating on land, sea and air. The team best able to strategically place his forces and direct his firing will be the only battle survivor!

There is no imagination necessary here!! You get the equipment, the battlefield and the rules on how to Locate, Occupy and Destroy the enemy.

It is actually played and tremendously enjoyed by members of our real Armed Forces."

Can you get a better guarantee that that? I don't think so!

So rush your dollar in by the end of today, October 1963, to Helen of Toy. Slightly higher in Canada, England, and Australia.

Don't believe me? Well read this review right here and you'll be convinced that the 1963 Helen of Toy Company is completely on the up and up.

YOU'LL MAKE A MILLION kid

I liked "wish catalogues" as a kid. I'm talking about the Christmas editions of the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogues. Loved going through the toy sections and dreaming of all the junk I wanted. I still remember a Flintstone Bedrock Village that I desperately wanted. Didn't get it no matter how many hints I left. 

Comic books were another source for wishing. A lot of the comics had ads placed on the back cover and sporadically throughout the issue. Two that I most remember were like wish books. A full page of toys. All you had to do was sell something for some company and you'd collect points towards one of the items. I never sent in to become a big time sales person for either company, but a neighbor girl did. She sold stationary door-to-door. I don't know if she ever sold enough boxes to get anything, but I did buy a box. Still have it with a few sheets of paper left inside. It was very fancy and nice stationary. However, I don't recall her riding a new "Lightweight English Bicycle" so I'm thinking she was lucky if she got the sleeping bag.

This first ad from 1963 is for the American Youth Sales Club out of White Plains, New York. I believe this is the one my neighbor sold for. I can't find out anything online about the company.

Click on image to see it larger.

This second ad from 1963 is for the Wilson Chemical Company located in Tyrone, PA. Apparently you sold a salve called White Cloverine door-to-door and the company only recently went out of business. You can read more about the company at the Tyrone Historical Society. Okay, I'm thinking I'd have gone for the deep fryer. Definitely the deep fryer. Oh wait, Roy Rogers Flash Camera! Yeah, that's it. How much salve did you have to sell to get "Yessiree, a real live pony for your very own!" I imagine you'd have to camp outside the office of a skin doctor for about 20 years to sell enough salve to get that little sucker.

Click on image to see it larger.

Is there anyone out there who sold for either company? Anybody get any of the big ticket items? Let me know. Personally I was always saving up for the sea monkeys.