# Old Magazine Ad: Spider Monkeys Through The Mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855 "2003-07-25T13:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/82 "2022-03-25T16:18:01Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I was always curious about the vacuum-cleaner motor hovercraft that they advertised. A high school physics teacher had a primitive one. You had to sit really still in the center or it would tilt into the floor. And someone had to push you to go anywhere. And, of course, range is limited to the length of the power cord. I don’t think anyone learned anything that day. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/83 "2022-03-25T16:53:38Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > ever bought a monkey, but as a kid I bought a set of cars/trucks advertised in the back pages of Boy’s Life. Scouting magazine, so I must have been at least 8. Offered something ridiculous, like 10 or 20 toy vehicles for a buck. Picture showed vehicles similar to matchbox. > > What came were 20 tiny 1-piece plastic vehicles. The wheels were molded out of the same plastic as the body and didn’t turn. > > I’ve always thought that was a pretty effective cheap lesson. I bought the very similar “200 piece army men package with vehicles” with similar results. I expected a set of green army men based on the picture, but got tiny flat plastic pieces that all fit in an envelope about the size of a paperback book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/84 "2022-03-25T18:03:09Z")
I found an old webpage that finally did explain what the hell **Grog Grows Own Tail** was about The ad: > **[Grog Grows Own Tail!](https://marswillsendnomore.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/grog-grows-own-tail/)** > > Dude, a dinosaur that grows a tail you can plant and watch turn into a flowering tree. Then he grows another tail — and another — This is blowing our minds! You know all those things on… The explanation > [@](#): > > **ODDBALL Factoid** - Take a look at this advertisement for the supposedly tail-growing monster known as “[Grog](http://web.archive.org/web/20040817230528/http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/oddball_grog.shtml)”, then prepare yourself for another of my childhood reminiscences… > > When I was a kid, I ran across this same ad in one of ACG’s mystery-fantasy comics. Spying the headline of this ad - “GROG GROWS OWN TAIL” – I was hooked! Its headline read: The illustration depicted a ferocious-looking Tyrannosaurus with a long, sinuous tail that looked like it could whip the tar out of any competing dinosaur…this was Grog! I forget the exact ad copy, but it promised an intriguing gimmick; Grog’s tail was actually an exotic plant that would grow to tree-mendous lengths, approximating the tail of a T-rex! Needless to point out to any of you Oddball Comics regulars, I was absolutely queer for anything relating to dinosaurs, so I sent off my allowance and anxiously awaited for what seemed like centuries before Grog was finally delivered. Of course, my expectations had grown bigger and faster than Grog’s tail ever could have, but I couldn’t possibly have been prepared for the massive disappointment that nestled inside that plain brown wrapper! “Grog” was a crappy little plaster planter, spray-painted with shiny enamel black paint, with a thimble-sized indentation near its tail-less rump. The thing was less than six inches tall, and was not only poorly sculpted, but was also flat and featureless on one side; Grog had a metal staple affixed to its backside, apparently to mount him on a wall. Grog also came with a tiny seed that was supposed to be “planted” in the soil-filled indentation. My folks mounted Grog on an upright support of our backyard patio and I filled his teensy tail-hole with soil and planted the seed. I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Maybe I hadn’t been watering Grog’s tail enough; after all, didn’t “succulent” plants need lots of water? So, instead of the eyedropper I was using, I used a small paper cup to water the plant. It immediately overflowed the miniscule receptacle, washing all the soil and seed right out of Grog’s tail-indentation! I never **did** find that seed (it never grew out of the backyard lawn, that’s for sure) and Grog soon became another of those items buried in the garage, never to be seen again. Grog was a disaster and a rip-off, but he taught me about mail-order toys from comics, and probably discouraged me from throwing away good comic-buying allowance for such things as those “giant dinosaur balloons” and other such junk available in comic book ads. [http://web.archive.org/web/20040817230528/http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/index.cgi?date=2001-02-23](http://web.archive.org/web/20040817230528/http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/index.cgi?date=2001-02-23) ---
**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:** [March 25, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/85 "2022-03-25T18:21:13Z")
Odd phrasing. Wouldn’t it have been weird for Grog to grow someone else’s tail? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/86 "2022-03-25T18:23:49Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I don’t think anyone learned anything that day. “A fool and his money…” ---
**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:** [March 31, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/87 "2022-03-31T02:10:27Z")
Anyone know if any of the novelty catalogs that you could request are available on the internet, possibly [archive.org](http://archive.org)? Fun House Catalog doesn’t seem to be (though there is this teaser): > **[KID-CUSTOMIZED FUN HOUSE CATALOG](http://secretfunspot.blogspot.com/2011/10/kid-customized-fun-house-catalog.html?m=1)** > > When I was a kid I would have gotten along very well with Rick Nagel. When his novelty "Fun Catalog" began to fall apart due to heavy use ... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/88 "2022-04-08T22:25:52Z")
Why did it have to point out that spider monkeys like lollipops? That was odd to me. I also noticed the “12” edited in. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/89 "2022-04-30T06:00:57Z")
I got some antique magazines at an estate sale, and last night, looked through a few of them. One of them was a farming magazine from the 1920s, and its classified ads included one for FREE SHETLAND PONY! Just send a letter, and we’ll send you your very own horse! Most likely, they were pictures, if they sent anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/90 "2022-05-03T04:00:45Z")
I found a faster way to save up the comics. The local pharmacy sold five cent pieces of bazooka gum. They were considerably larger than the single pieces and their comics counted as twenty of the penny ones, IIRC. I sent in for a camera. I think it took a hundred comics. It took a long time to arrive, and when it did it was tiny. It took 120 film and was so small it made twice as many exposures as the film was labeled for- a 12 exposure film was supposed to give 24 pics with this camera. I guess the developed film would have produced 12 prints that each had two pictures. I can’t really say, I never used it. I wish I still had it, but mom never let old stuff hang around. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/91 "2022-05-03T04:09:27Z")
If I remember right woolly monkeys ,squirrel monkeys and spider monkeys with the main ones that were available. I’m thinking about the 1950s ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/92 "2022-05-03T15:19:55Z")
I had the exact same thing in the 70s. Tiny black plastic camera. The exposure button broke the first time I pressed it, so I never even got to see what kind of pictures it took. I never bothered redeeming any Bazooka Joe comics after that. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/93 "2022-05-08T05:06:22Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > What came were 20 tiny 1-piece plastic vehicles. The wheels were molded out of the same plastic as the body and didn’t turn. My brothers and I had a ton of those, but we never ordered any – we got them as “good conduct prizes” from our pediatrician after our checkups. We called them the “Air Step Cars”, since they were stored in a box which had originally held Air Step shoes. One I specifically remember was identified as a “New Prefect”" (British Ford). ---
**Author:** ![Shirleso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Shirleso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirleso)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/94 "2022-05-08T13:32:46Z")
1963, my oldest brother bought a Spider MonkeyIt was delivered in a cardboard box. I was only 6, and heard my mom shriek when she read on the box, “Live Animal”. (My brother had already left for school.) Charlie Brown started out pretty docile, but within a few months, he was terrorizing the whole family. My dad packed him up and sold him to a pet store in Omaha. Looking back, he was probably frustrated he didn’t have a mate. Yes, people could buy them, and I think he cost 5$. And yes, they belong in a zoo! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855/95 "2022-05-18T01:55:51Z")
Or better yet, they belong in the forest, with their mothers, and their troops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-magazine-ad-spider-monkeys-through-the-mail/190855.md?page=4)