1950's - 1960's TOY COMMERCIALS

It's a Wham-O Wednesday in The Dungeon, and what I've got for you tonight are some shots from toy commercials from the 1950's and 60's! 

 The Wham-O Company was started in 1948 by Rich Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, selling slingshots by mail order! They called it Wham-O, because that's the sound the slingshot made! It's hard to believe that the same company that would bring the world the Frisbee, the Hula Hoop, the Slip 'N Slide, the Super Ball, and Silly String would sell in 1982 for a mere 12 million dollars. That's gotta be worth at least 97 gazillion dollars these days!

 Train sets used to be THE big thing! Santa brought me a set one year that looked an awful lot like a set my older cousin used to have. I used to use the tracks for marble races! Model train societies still exist today! You might be surprised, there's probably one in your town!

The Halloween/Christmas crossover produced toys like this!

 Think big kids! From the modest beginnings of things like Creepy Crawlers, the Mattel Company is worth somewhere around 8.5 Billion today!

 On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season, breaking Babe Ruth's record set in 1927!!

Hell Yeah you're gonna wanna play his game!!

 

 Or you could get an authentic Steve Canyon Jet Helmet for $2.98!

This is kind of deceiving, since you'd have to buy 4 Mr. Machines to get this whole effect!

The chemistry sets were never as cool as they seemed like they were gonna be, although I did like making the little crystals from sodium silicate!

And then there were the guns! I'm not pro or anti gun, but I did grow up with gun toys, and I've yet to kill anybody! The war had just gotten over, it was a different time and a different attitude!

The Roy Rogers "Quick Shooter Hat" was right out of a James Bond movie!

The whole concept of a toy gun is pretty bizarre if you stare it right in the face, but what are you gonna do? That's just the way it was!

The fact of the matter is that if kids don't have toy guns, they'll find a stick and use it as a fake gun, and if they can't find a stick, they use their hands and fingers! It's really just up to the parents to keep their kid's heads screwed on straight!

The Skyhawk was a gas-powered model airplane! Pretty cool!

I never thought about it until right now, but it does really seem like these eras of toys were dominated by boy's interests! If it wasn't dolls, girls got lots of clothes, jacks, and fingernail polish!

 Mixed messages no doubt!

 So you could either have three bombshell Barbies, or one spoiled Shirley Temple for the same price! I know which way the boys would go, but unfortunately, that wasn't the marketplace !

Today's kids would not be impressed by this concept!

 

Silly Putty, now that was the kind of toy that both boys and girls could enjoy! That stuff was awesome! I always liked the "press it on a newspaper and pull off the ink image trick" the best!

 Batteries not included?
What kind of a rip-off is that? I'm glad that's an idea that's not as prevalent as it used to be!

PREHISTORIC WOMEN / Seven Arts Productions, Hammer Films - 1967

Here's a little tale about David, a jungle guide that's kidnapped by a tribe of natives who want to sacrifice him to their white rhino god. Just as he's about to be killed he's thrown back in time to a kingdom of brunette women who have blonde slaves! David rejects the advances of Queen Kari and sides with the blondes, which leads to him being imprisoned.

This thing stars Martine (DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE) Beswick as Queen Kari, Edina (THE BLACK TORMENT) Ronay as Saria and Michael (HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR) Latimer as David.

David is out exploring an area he's not familiar with and comes across this carving of a white rhino on the ground! But, what does it mean, George?!..

It's not long before some natives show up and David becomes their prisoner, now what?!

He's taken into a cave where he's ready to face death. Inside, he notices a large carved white stone rhino confronting him.

David's ass is saved when Queen Kari shows up and claims him for herself! She's especially attracted to him because of his dark hair, I'd say!

Kari gets first place with this move in the yearly Cave Girl Dance Off spectacular!

But, wouldn't you know it, David falls for blonde slave girl, Saria! So, what do you think might happen if Kari discovered the love triangle?.. Exac-tik-takily!!

We're sick of being freakin' slave girls!!

Anyway, the girls get to ride the white rhino, but, will David get back to the modern world, or, will he end up trapped in the past? Watch the movie to find out...

Last thing up is a lobby card from the original movie with that title, this one's from 1951 and was filmed in vibrant Cinecolor! Tune in tomorrow for more cool junk for your measly soul...

I SAW WHAT YOU DID - "I Know Who You Are" (1965)

Probably should have saved this flick for a Saturday Night Special, but planning things ain't really my forte! It works for a Wacky Wednesday just the same, because it looks like a 60's TV sitcom, it's mean and brutal, and has music that sounds like it came from a cartoon! What more could you want from a movie?

Tonight's feature film is called "I Saw What You Did," a William Castle film from 1964!  Here's a link to all of Bill's films we've covered so far, and a fine array of titles it is, and this one is right up there with the the best of the rest! Follow that link, and you can catch our take on "13 Ghosts," "The Tingler," "13 Frightened Girls," "Mr. Sardonicus," "House On Haunted Hill," "Straight-Jacket," "Macabre," "The Night Walker," and more.

Here are the main two little missies who start all the trouble! It was all innocent enough, just some silly phone pranks gone horribly bad! Besides this film, Andi was in four episodes of "Wild, Wild, West," and one episode of "Black Sheep Squadron" before hanging it up forever! Sarah went on to act in 105 episodes of "The Virginian," something called "Schoolgirls In Chains," and two Billy Jack movies! "I Saw What You Did" was both girls first appearance in film or TV!

Just in case you missed it, William Castle was responsible for an assortment of movies that affected movie makers everywhere! Gizmos, gadgets, and ghosts, Bill liked to use them all, and........He was really good at it! As far as I can tell, this is the only movie produced by William Castle that we haven't written about, except for his last movie in 1969, "Riot!" I obviously need to try and track a copy of that sucker down!

The parents are going out of town for the evening, and the babysitter has ironically called and said she couldn't make it, so they reluctantly agree to leave! Sharyl Locke is the little sister Tess! Sharyl only has a couple more acting credits, one being a character named Jenny McGillicuddy in a "Bonanza" episode! The parents are Leif (Invaders From Mars) Erickson and Patricia (Homicidal) Breslin!

Libby and Tess show their blonde friend Kit who has come to spending the evening how they like to make prank phone calls, but instead of calling a bar and asking them if they have mouse knuckles, their regular act when somebody answers the phone is to say "I know who you are, and I know what you did!" and then they usually just hang up, but not this night...........

The name the kids find in the phone book is Steve Marak played by John Ireland, but it's Steve's wife who answers the phone as she's packing her bags to leave! The girls don't do the title line, but just ask for Steve, who is in the shower! His wife decides to take things into her own hands, but fails miserably!

Steve ends up stabbing his wife viciously and throwing her through the glass shower door, and then his neighbor/lover shows up and it starts getting complicated William Castle style very quickly! That necklace is just too much!!

The kids have been on hold the whole time, but haven't really heard anything of importance! The dog is very well trained!

Probably not a good ideal to listen in on other people's phone calls unless you can run real fast! Joan Crawford got top billing just for her name, but this wasn't the end of the line for Joan, she went on to be in "Berserk," and "Trog!"

Libby's got her learner's permit, and it's only about 20 miles to the madman's house, so she gets all gussied up, and they head out on a road trip in the middle of the night to see what this guy looks like! (Stoopid Kids!)

You'd probably have to be at least in your 50's to remember when it was commonplace to have your car registration wrapped around the column of the steering wheel for easy access in case you got stopped!

Here's a good shot of Joan Crawford, not exactly smiling, but at least smirking!

I had so many good shots I wanted to show you, but I just couldn't resist going with these three peeper scenes instead, because they just kind of say it all!

John Ireland puts in a very credible performance as a murderous madman! I laughed out loud when he finally tracks down the kids via the car registration with full intent to kill them and after hearing Libby's innocent explanation, he tells her, "I should really tell your parents about this," and she responds that he doesn't know what a mess she would be in, if they found out! (Without realizing how huge of a mess she is already in!)

I do love this simple shot!

Leave it to Bill to have an end with a double meaning!

This has got to be one of the strangest posters I've ever seen!

All through the 40's and most of the 50's William Castle directed mostly western movies, but it was in 1958 that he hit his stride as Producer/Director with "Macabre," and a string of cool movies that will never be duplicated! If there's not a shrine to this man somewhere, there sure should be!