# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/101 "2018-08-16T02:06:35Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > [Creepy Crawlers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creepy_Crawlers) I had those, also “Incredible Edibles” which was a similar concept but nasty tasting gummi candy stuff instead of plastic. Funny story–when we lived in Japan my dad saw an enormous (like 6-8 inches long) centipede outside my door. Bright red head, brown body and bright yellow legs and he thought it was one of my creepy crawlies that I’d left on the floor. So he bent down to pick it up and it scrambled away, whereupon he stomped that sucker flat (and why in hell did he have his shoes on in our Japanese house? We’d have gotten a spanking for that!) and left the entire mess right outside my door–about five million wriggling yellow legs that didn’t stop wriggling for a long time and a smooshed body all set off against the deep purple carpet. Of course dad left it for the housekeeper to clean up and I had an awful time getting out of my room since the door was inset into the hallway by about three feet and there wasn’t an inch of carpet not covered in bug yuck. I ended up leaping over it just to get out of my damned room. In fact, I jumped over that spot for about six months straight, I just could NOT put my foot down for fear there might be a couple wiggly legs left behind. Guh! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/102 "2018-08-16T02:12:24Z")
Early Comedy Central shows and hosts, like “Higgins Boys and Gruber,” Allan Havey, Patsy Roxborough … Johnny West and the Best of the West action figure series Big Jim and the P.A.C.K. action figures The Shogun Warriors action figures … Gaiking, Dragun, and Great Mazinga … and Godzilla? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/103 "2018-08-16T02:34:02Z")
Grandpa Goes to Washington … a sitcom in which Jack Albertson gets elected to Congress. Larry Linville late of MASH is his dopey son. Eleven episodes. Never syndicated. Never released on video. I loved the theme song. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/104 "2018-08-16T02:37:33Z")
Tenspeed and Brownshoe … Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum are an odd couple private eye duo … 14 episodes. I was 10 and I thought they were hilarious. I’ve been a Jeff Goldblum fan ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/105 "2018-08-16T02:41:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Tenspeed and Brownshoe … Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum are an odd couple private eye duo … 14 episodes. I was 10 and I thought they were hilarious. That makes two of us! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/106 "2018-08-16T02:50:48Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > 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. There must be a saying about this in the style of “every generation thinks that they invented sex.”–“Every older generation thinks that their childhood toys have been forgotten?” One more to add to the list of “neither gone nor forgotten” is Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. Still as far as I know sold on the party supplies aisle of big box stores and sometimes the toy section of shelf in grocery stores. If not there, [online](https://www.amazon.com/PARTY-ELASTIC-BUBBLE-PLASTIC-RETAIL/dp/B0784PVLW8). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/107 "2018-08-16T02:52:57Z")
Ok, I was just going to ask the Teeming Millions, but my google of “interactive tv series toy” nailed what I was thinking of in the first hit: Captain Power Anyone remember this? 1987/8. There was some sci-fi Saturday morning TV series that I completely forget the plot of, but you can buy these toy spaceships that were interactive with the series, such that you could “play along” with the action sequences and score points using some light-gun type interface to shoot at the screen at appropriate times. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/108 "2018-08-16T02:54:06Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Hardly any of my friends realize that the original jingle for Rice-a-Roni is lying, because the preparation instructions specifically CALL for bringing the San Francisco treat to boiling before reducing to a simmer. > > Because hardly any of them know the original jingle. > > and because I don’t have that many friends…☹ Here is the oldest I can find. Note the woman wearing long gloves? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/109 "2018-08-16T02:57:59Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Another piece of home playground equipment we had as kids but never saw another one–circa probably '64-66. I have no idea what it’s called so I’m going to have to describe it! It was made of tubular metal and stood on four splayed legs. The top was cross shaped, with four seats facing the middle, one at the end of each arm. Each seat had a handle and pedal (they worked as a pushme/pullyou sort of arrangement) that attached in the middle. As you’d push and pull the handle/pedal, the thing would start to rotate and when you got four kids on that thing going full guns it would go around like gangbusters–and those handle/pedals did not idle, they’d keep pumping back and forth as long as the thing was going. You had to have at least two kids sitting opposite to make it work, and if you did things juuuust right you could get the entire assembly rocking and bringing its legs off the ground as it swung around. What the hell was that thing? > > We had a lot of really dodgy and probably dangerous stuff like that–I suspect my dad was not that invested in fatherhood since he kept buying and bringing these things home. Was it [this](https://goo.gl/images/8UM8jL)? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/110 "2018-08-16T02:59:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Tenspeed and Brownshoe … Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum are an odd couple private eye duo … 14 episodes. I was 10 and I thought they were hilarious. I’ve been a Jeff Goldblum fan ever since. > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > That makes two of us! Three of us. I liked that show and what an amazing cast. I also liked Free Spirit, it was Bewitched meets the Nanny and the Professor. Starred [Corinne Bohrer](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001959/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm) and a teen [Alyson Hannigan](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004989/?ref_=tt_cl_t4)but not as a witch this time. Speaking of the Nanny and the Professor that was a nice little sitcom from 1970 that is largely forgotten but available on Hulu at least. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/111 "2018-08-16T03:06:20Z")
The Original Flubber toy: [http://progresscityusa.com/2011/09/06/the-fatal-flubber-fiasco-of-63/comment-page-1/](http://progresscityusa.com/2011/09/06/the-fatal-flubber-fiasco-of-63/comment-page-1/) JOHNNY SEVEN Toy gun. Davy Crockett "coonskin" caps. McKeever and the Colonel . No one else remembers this… Dobie Gillis. “You Rang?” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/112 "2018-08-16T03:10:29Z")
[Mattel’s Strange Change Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Change_Machine): you would take the plastic colored block, toss it in the (hot plate) chamber and it would expand into a dinosaur or a mummy or an I-don’t-remember-what-else. Fun’s done, you put the creature back in the chamber until it got soft then stuffed it into the press and crank it down back into its block shape (while screaming your head off for the poor creature going through such Poe-ish torture). Fun for twenty minutes, tops. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/113 "2018-08-16T03:10:54Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > 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. I still have a set of those from the 1970s. Never broke. Also used to have a plastic [Jacob’s Ladder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_ladder_(toy)) from the 1970s, though I don’t know if it was a fad item. Unfortunately that one did break. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/114 "2018-08-16T03:11:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Was it [this](https://goo.gl/images/8UM8jL)? That’s the one, well done! Good gods, it’s a wonder we survived to adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/115 "2018-08-16T03:15:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Original Flubber toy: > [The Fatal Flubber Fiasco of ’63 « Progress City, U.S.A.](http://progresscityusa.com/2011/09/06/the-fatal-flubber-fiasco-of-63/comment-page-1/) > JOHNNY SEVEN Toy gun. > > Davy Crockett "coonskin" caps. > > McKeever and the Colonel . No one else remembers this… > > Dobie Gillis. “You Rang?” Excuse me? It’s the “Johnny Seven O.M.A.” (One Man Army). Incredible piece of death-dealing hardware. I had one. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/116 "2018-08-16T03:18:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I still have a set of those from the 1970s. Never broke. Also used to have a plastic [Jacob’s Ladder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_ladder_(toy)) from the 1970s, though I don’t know if it was a fad item. Unfortunately that one did break. The Clackers made perfectly round and gorgeous bruises on your fore-arm. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/117 "2018-08-16T03:19:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There was another thing we played with back in the '50s, but I don’t remember what they were called—snakes or worms or something like that. They were small pellets that looked like charcoal and smelled like sulfur. If they were exposed to heat, they’d fizzle and spit and expand into long, gnarly strips, hence the name (snakes or worms). We used to put them on the sidewalk and focus sunlight onto them with a magnifying glass until they were hot enough to ignite. > > There was also a kind of plastic that came in a tube (like toothpaste) that you could put on the end of a straw and blow into as though you were blowing glass. The stuff had a strong solvent smell like airplane glue and probably made a lot of kids high. > > And then there were Fizzies, soft drink tablets that bubbled like Alka-Seltzer. My favorite was root beer. Anybody remember those? They were almost as good as soda fountain phosphates (my favorites were cherry and lime). Haven’t had one of those since the early '80s. You can still get snakes, especially around the 4th of July. I remember them being purchased as a small black pellet that looked like charcoal, and when ignited, it would look like it was growing out of the ground. More than one parent told me that their small children were terrified of them. 😃 The plastic that came in a tube was called “Super Elastic Bubble Plastic” and my brother and I both played with it. And then our parents would find stinky booger-like things all over the house after the resulting balloons dried up and deflated. ETA: That smell was probably acetone; I’ve never been a big nail polish fan, but yeah, if that’s what it was, it would have taken it right off. Don’t remember Fizzies, but I do remember candy cigarettes, and you can still get those at specialty candy stores, especially the kind that cater to adults. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/118 "2018-08-16T03:19:20Z")
And were responsible for at least one greenstick fracture of the arm as well as a couple broken teeth. I was scared shitless of those things after seeing what they could do to a kid. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/119 "2018-08-16T03:19:35Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Excuse me? It’s the “Johnny Seven O.M.A.” (One Man Army). Incredible piece of death-dealing hardware. I had one. So did I. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/120 "2018-08-16T03:21:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > I remember that in the 80s, there was a fad for stickers. Girls at school would have sticker books, there were mall kiosks that sold only stickers, and there was a ridiculous variety. Scratch and sniff, textured, puffy, liquid filled, even color changing liquid crystal “mood stickers”. Funny how it just seemed to disappear overnight. Stickers are still a big thing, although nowadays, they’re marketed at scrapbookers of all ages. Anyone remember Wacky Packages? Man, did our teachers and my parents hate those things! (Maybe they’ve been mentioned; I haven’t read the entire thread.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=7)