# Culture artifacts that ...maybe not ONLY you remember....but its getting close. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633 "2018-08-15T03:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/61 "2018-08-15T17:54:44Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > A few weeks ago I was at a kid’s birthday party and he got a [Sit-'n-Spin](https://www.amazon.com/Playskool-34451-Sit-And-Spin/dp/B0050Q3PXS/), and no one else in the house – at least a dozen adults, ranging in age from early 20s to mid-70s – remembered them from ~40 years ago! When it was unwrapped I exclaimed “oh, I loved that when I was a kid!” and all I got were blank stares. I loved mine when I was a kid too! I remember when my brother and I received them, my grandfather admonished us not to “get sick”. We didn’t understand and thought he was joking. Now that I’m old, I know I would totally be sick if I spun around on that thing for a while. How about [Colorforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorforms)? I had a Peanuts themed set with dozens of little pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/62 "2018-08-15T18:00:46Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Made me think of Water Wiggles. A cone placed on the top of a garden hose and the hose flies around and…wacks kids in the head resulting in lawsuits and the toy being banned. Along with clik-claks. I’m sure tons of people remember those though. Had one of those as a kid, but you’re the only other person I know of who has also heard of them. For anyone not clear on the concept, [here’s a vintage commercial.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY1cKq5b9R4) ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/63 "2018-08-15T18:00:54Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You mean Samwise’s dad? > by > (Bolding mine) > > Same company as Marine Boy, Speed Racer and Astro Boy? Well, they’re all Japanese imports… Kimba and Astro Boy were both Mushi Productions shows. Mushi Productions was started by manga artist Osamu Tezuka to create animated versions of his manga. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/64 "2018-08-15T19:04:14Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > I would think his most famous role was Gomez Addams. 🙂 He’s the one! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/65 "2018-08-15T19:10:15Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I loved mine when I was a kid too! I remember when my brother and I received them, my grandfather admonished us not to “get sick”. We didn’t understand and thought he was joking. Now that I’m old, I know I would totally be sick if I spun around on that thing for a while. > > How about [Colorforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorforms)? I had a Peanuts themed set with dozens of little pieces. I had tons of Colorforms! Talk about a distinct smell. I remember being really anal about putting the pieces \* exactly\*within the outlines on the black shiny cardboard. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/66 "2018-08-15T19:19:07Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Andy Devine had a kids show in the late 50s called Andy’s Gang. I believe it had a live child audience for the live bits. I think much of the actual entertainment came from cartoons, but the live bits were uniquely creepy. > > One of the featured characters was Froggy the Gremlin. And Andy’s inimitable introduction of him, “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!” at which Froggy would appear in a puff of smoke. You just don’t see kids shows like that these days. I once saw a clip of this show, in which a parrot (I think) was plunking out “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know ('Cause the Bible Tells Me So)” on a toy piano while Andy sang along. “Plunk your twanger” was (I think) one of the lines on the \*\*\*Rainbow \*\*\*Christmas special produced for internal BBC consumption. If you’ve never seen this, it is hilarious! (Whether it’s still on the Internet, I don’t know.) _“Stick it in there!” “It won’t fit!” “Well, you got it in last night!”_ and _“Here comes Jane. She has lovely maracas!” “Yes, Jane. Shake your maracas for us!”_ Or words to that effect. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/67 "2018-08-15T19:24:19Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Also excellent for putting in the pool during the college swim meet. 😉 Before or after consumption? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/68 "2018-08-15T19:29:46Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Kimba is pretty well-known, if only for the controversy over the similarities between Kimba and Disney’s The Jungle King. > > Even outside of that, Kimba made a more lasting impression than several other Japanese imports from that time period: Prince Planet, > Marine Boy, Tobor the 8th Man, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, etc. Well-known in \*\*your \*\*experience, perhaps, but hardly anyone **I** know/meet remembers it. 🙂 > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > How about [Colorforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorforms)? I had a Peanuts themed set with dozens of little pieces. OMG yes!! Wow! I loved those; had a few different sets, I think. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I remember being really anal about putting the pieces \* exactly\*within the outlines on the black shiny cardboard. Me, too! LOL! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/69 "2018-08-15T19:30:24Z")
I played around a lot with electronics as a kid. Lots of forgotten lore there. I liked to have at least one crystal radio around. Usually came in the shape of a rocket. Piezo earphone, a wire with a clip for an antenna, a sliding rod to tune stations. Portable and no batteries! When I was dragged to someone’s house for a long boring afternoon I’d clip it to the finger stop of a rotary phone and see what stations I could pick up. Old tube radios were marketed based on how many tubes they had. The base models usually had 5. 12 was a deluxe model. So when transistor radios came out the number of transistors they had were similarly highlighted in the ads. When was the last time you tried to count how many transistors a device you owned had? The ultimate in old-timey radio was the [magic eye tube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_eye_tube). I never owned one but have a cousin that owned one. It was amazing to watch the wedge expand and shrink as you changed the frequency. Back then it seemed like pure …, well, magic. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/70 "2018-08-15T20:55:41Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > How about [Colorforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorforms)? I had a Peanuts themed set with dozens of little pieces. That just jogged my memory about [Shrinky Dinks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinky_Dinks), plastic sheets you colored on then put in the oven to shrink into… key chains or something. I never remember doing anything with them after they shrunk. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/71 "2018-08-15T21:02:52Z")
Not a toy or a candy, but I guess this would be considered a cultural artifact: In my elementary school some of the classrooms still had old-fashioned desks, the wooden ones with the cast iron frame bolted to the floor, and the front of one desk was the back seat of the desk in front of it. They also had inkwells, and the amount of graffiti carved into the desktops was mind-boggling (they were already ancient in the early 1960s). I like to think I remember them not so much because I’m really old, but rather that my school district was kinda poor and couldn’t afford more modern furniture. Yeah, that’s it. Did anyone else have desks like that? I hope I’m not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/72 "2018-08-15T21:06:01Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I remember those. They were called black snakes, I believe. My mother always hated them, because they left a black carbon residue on the driveway that was almost impossible to clean away. We learned to do them well away from our own property. 🙂 My girls played with those when they were young. 2005 or thereabouts. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/73 "2018-08-15T21:13:17Z")
[Lite Brite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lite-Brite) I still have one of these. Rather I have the board. Years ago I put a plastic bag of the pegs…somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/74 "2018-08-15T21:16:24Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Andy Devine had a kids show in the late 50s called Andy’s Gang. I believe it had a live child audience for the live bits. I think much of the actual entertainment came from cartoons, but the live bits were uniquely creepy. > > One of the featured characters was Froggy the Gremlin. And Andy’s inimitable introduction of him, “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!” at which Froggy would appear in a puff of smoke. You just don’t see kids shows like that these days. One of my favorite shows. Froggy was quite subversive. Andy would bring on a guest to tell the kids about something, and[Froggy would disrupt and mock them](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFpzTaICKQU) until they became enraged. I once read an article claiming that Froggy’s disrespect for authority figures may have helped prompt the disruptive youth of the 1960s (probably tongue in cheek). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/75 "2018-08-15T21:43:26Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Andy Devine had a kids show in the late 50s called Andy’s Gang. I believe it had a live child audience for the live bits. I think much of the actual entertainment came from cartoons, but the live bits were uniquely creepy. > > One of the featured characters was Froggy the Gremlin. And Andy’s inimitable introduction of him, “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!” at which Froggy would appear in a puff of smoke. You just don’t see kids shows like that these days. I never heard of this before but I had to Google it. I found a clip with Froggy. What I don’t get is how a 50s show was in color. Maybe it’s been colorized? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/L9pPFCjRPvM/hqdefault.jpg "Froggy the Gremlin") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9pPFCjRPvM) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/76 "2018-08-15T21:47:54Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Kimba is pretty well-known, if only for the controversy over the similarities between Kimba and Disney’s The Jungle King. > > Even outside of that, Kimba made a more lasting impression than several other Japanese imports from that time period: Prince Planet, > Marine Boy, Tobor the 8th Man, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, etc. I remember Tobor. As I recall, he was a cyborg (Tobor is robot backwards). He smoked special cigarettes to literally recharge his batteries. Can you imagine that in a cartoon today? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/77 "2018-08-15T21:48:51Z")
Black snake fireworks are hardly antiquated. They are still sold at firework stands and often are included with variety firework packs. You can get them [online](https://www.onlinefireworks.com/snakes.aspx). Anyway: here’s my oooold firework snakes story. I was like 3 or so. A sibling set one off on the brick patio. I really thought it was an actual snake coming out of the ground. It was set off in the “hole” of one of those semi-hollow bricks. So I avoided that area of the patio for a long time thinking that maybe another snake was going to crawl out of it. So, old memories, but new memories are possible. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/78 "2018-08-15T21:48:55Z")
Are there a ton of childless adults here? Colorforms, Shrinky Dinks and Lite Brite are very much not in the category of “artifact.” I’ve gotten all of them for my kids at one point or another within the last five years. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/79 "2018-08-15T21:56:51Z")
Johnny Socko and His Robot is regularly shown on a cable channel here…I remember seeing Astro Boy WAY long time ago, and it was so unusual and so…eerie. I was probably in my young teens, but I was mesmerized, and I learned to love anime from those early shows…Colorforms: I had a set, loved playing with them, but the set was so small, with so few shapes to use, it was always disappointing. Took 5 minutes or less, and then…done. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/80 "2018-08-15T22:11:29Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Does anyone else in the known universe remember the breakfast cereal (and TV commercials for) **[Clackers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRa_7UYXbb4)**? Yes, it tastes like Graham Crackers–if GCs were made out of corrugated cardboard. Heck, I thought you were talking about [Clackers the toy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHftISLNHE) Which were fun to play with until about the 15th “clack” when the balls shattered into 1,000 pieces. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=5)