Aug 06, 2008 - 10:57:10 CDT
Not long ago, I was thumbing through some old comic books from the early 1970s. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing: The past is always better when filtered through airbrushed memories and rose-colored glasses.So, you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I suggest the comic book heroes of yesteryear were a lot more fun and generally more happy than the dark, brooding graphic novel style characters of today. Yesterday’s heroes were stronger and smarter and the villains were more, well, villainous and easier to pick out in a crowd.
But all that aside, what really jumped out for me while going through the brown-edged and brittle comics were the ads — how I remember the ads: bodybuilding products and cool novelty and gag items; selling Grit newspapers and greeting cards; artist school pitches and correspondence school diplomas; little plastic soldiers and hypno-coins.
All of which got me thinking: Are any of these products, services and companies still around? Can I still get a pen spy camera and onion-flavored gum to trick my friends? Is Charles Atlas still available to help me go from a 97-pound weakling to a he-man in just seven weeks? Can I still sell Grit?
I turned to the Internet to help me find the answers.
And I did find a number of the businesses still operating and a few of the old products still available. Below are a few of the ones I found and their Web sites. I’ve also created a Web page that features scans of the old comic book ads, whether the advertiser still exists and, if so, any Web links. You can access that page at www.darnay.com/iec/comics.
Famous Artists School
www.famous-artists-school.com
"Do you have art talent worth developing?" the ad asks. "Take our free test and see." The test booklet you send for measures your ability to compose a picture, graphically recognize image elements that portray conflict, stability, rising and more. If you pass the test, you then get the privilege of enrolling in the school. Today, thanks to the Internet, you can take the test and other preliminary exams online. The tests from the comics and online are virtually identical — what’s changed is the method for taking the tests.
Grit
www.grit.com
"You can be among the thousands of boys and girls in small cities and towns all across America who earn their own spending money every week by introducing GRIT to their family, friends and neighbors," the comic ads read. You got to be the "paperboy" or "papergirl" for a long-established newspaper featuring down-homespun homilies, humor and down-to-earth, inspiring articles. The Grit newspaper of the 1970s has been replaced by the Grit magazine of the 21st century. The Web site is deep with interesting stories, references and resources. The spirit and flavor of the publication remains unchanged.
Johnson Smith Novelties
www.johnsonsmith.com
The products are legendary to almost any kid growing up with comics in the 1970s: X-Ray Specs, Vampire Blood, Garlic Gum, Hercules Wrist Band, Spy Pen Radio, Razzie Cushion, Candy Covered "Cockroaches," and more. This is the stuff of the Johnson Smith Co., a household name in novelties, gifts and collectibles since 1914. Their comic book ads were typically full page in size and usually in the inside front or back covers. The company is still around and thriving today online. Many of the old novelty items are still around, along with thousands of new ones.
Charles Atlas Bodybuilding
www.charlesatlas.com
Charles Atlas bodybuilding goes back to the late 1920s and the famous ads showing a beach bully kicking sand in the face of a skinny "97-pound weakling." After taking the Atlas course, the scrawny kid — now muscular — comes back to beat up the bully. The 1970s comic book ads featured photos of Charles Atlas and the headline, "Check the kind of body you want and I’ll show you how EASILY you can have it." Charles Atlas thrives today online selling not only the bodybuilding course but a line of vitamins, supplements, memorabilia and more.
Joe Weider Bodybuilding
www.weider.com
Joe’s ads are famous for featuring a now well known bodybuilder (a very young Arnold Schwarzenegger) holding a bikini-clad woman in one arm. What young boy could resist that appeal in the 1970s comic ads? "The strongest, most virile and admired men are built by the Wieder system — fast!" the ads proclaimed. Today, the business focuses on nutrition, fitness, wellness, vitamins and athletic apparel in addition to bodybuilding.
Plastic Soldiers/Helen Of Toy
www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/helen_of_toy/helenoftoy.html
The toy soldiers would come in a cardboard footlocker and were usually flat, plastic action figurines mounted on a base so you could stand them up, position them and then fight any battles you could imagine. The company, Helen of Toy, also sold "period collections" such as Revolutionary War sets. You also could pick up battleship collections. Helen of Toy apparently doesn’t exist anymore, but its products live on through the Michigan Toy Soldier Co. and its Web site. You can buy the comic book soldiers you remember as well as dozens of other modern toy soldier products.
Strat-O-Matic
www.strat-o-matic.com
Before there were home computers and rotisserie leagues, there was Strat-O-Matic, a detailed baseball (and other sports) simulator using cards, dice and your managerial skills. A player’s real life playing skills and odds for producing certain results were converted to dice percentages, allowing you to play games that were reasonably close to what you might expect in the real world. The computer revolution and digital age haven’t killed Strat-O-Matic - the game lives on through Web-based play, computer games and improved board game versions.
(Keith Darnay is the webmaster and designer for bismarcktribune.com. His Web site, featuring this column going back to 1995, is at www.darnay.com.iec.)
Hank Will wrote on Aug 11, 2008 7:34 PM:
Thanks for the kind words about GRIT magazine, we really appreciate them.
I am especially pleased that you mentioned the magazine because I was born in Bismarck and spent part of my childhood exploring the bluffs along the Missouri north of town. My great grandfather and namesake started a seed company and nursery in Bismarck, Dakota Territory in the late 1800s. Oscar H. Will & Company was in operation until abut 1960, I believe.
Thanks Again.
Hank
Oscar H. Will III
Editor, GRIT Magazine
hwill@GRIT.com "
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