# Unbelievable novelty item from the 50s **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048 "2009-03-11T07:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/1 "2009-03-11T07:13:28Z")
I had to rub my eyes in disbelief when I saw the item on [this page.](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_64jRVt1CleE/SOWO-HZmLGI/AAAAAAAADC8/ISy9LYro7Ac/s1600-h/mod08-300.jpg) (It ran in Strange Worlds #2, 1959,scanned on the wonderful [Pappy’s Golden Age of Comics.)](http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/) Here’s the blurb: > [@](#): > > HYPO-PHONY > > Looks like a genuine hypodermic, but it’s a fake. The needle disappears as though it’s penetrating the skin. Press the secret button on top - release slowly - and it will appear as though blood is being gradually drawn out or injected. Has unlimited gag possibilities. Every fun-loving person will want one. $1.49 Hey, Ma, look! I’m a ten-year old junkie! ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/2 "2009-03-11T09:28:12Z")
I had one of those as a kid in the early 1990’s. Bought it at a flea market. I kind of wish I still had it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/3 "2009-03-11T11:14:35Z")
The throwing knife looks like loads of fun for kids too. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/4 "2009-03-11T12:19:15Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Hey, Ma, look! I’m a ten-year old junkie! Why a junkie? Don’t doctors and nurses draw blood for legitimate purposes? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/5 "2009-03-11T12:35:24Z")
Those came in a medical play kit too. We just took blood samples, the candy pills were tasty though. Kids had chemistry sets back then so whats a fake syringe. The set I had included the formula for stink bombs that smelled like skunk and a smoke bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/6 "2009-03-11T12:55:25Z")
I got in trouble once for using the itching powder. Looking back, I should got off light… ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/7 "2009-03-11T13:48:08Z")
As a fifties kid, I’d just like to affirm that we were generally pretty clueless. I doubt it would have occurred to us that a “shotter” was used by anyone other than a doctor or a nurse. We knew about drunks and bums and (gasp) beatniks, but I don’t think we had much awareness of drug addiction or junkies. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/8 "2009-03-11T13:49:48Z")
I got hold of an atomic joy buzzer or a facsimile thereof at a magic shop a couple of years ago. Kids, don’t use these things on older persons. I almost gave a coupe of guys heart attacks. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/9 "2009-03-11T14:16:56Z")
I once got the hypno coin. I was going to have a blast hypnotizing my parents into raising my allowance, bullies into treating me nicely, and teachers into giving me good grades for goofing off. The coin was a cardboard disk with a spiral printed on it. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/10 "2009-03-11T14:19:08Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why a junkie? Don’t doctors and nurses draw blood for legitimate purposes? Sure they do, but they don’t often inject themselves, and that illustration looks to me like someone injecting themselves. (Doctors and nurses use both hands when they inject someone, one hand to guide, one to push the plunger). Anyway, it was a gag, it didn’t need over-analyzing. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/11 "2009-03-11T14:42:37Z")
I had a coworker once who would occasionally pretend to inject herself with the lead from a mechanical pencil for giggles. She would have had a lot of fun with something like that. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/12 "2009-03-11T14:47:35Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The throwing knife looks like loads of fun for kids too. As do the snowstorm tablets. Just stick one on the burning end of a cigarette. What could possibly go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/13 "2009-03-11T14:51:06Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > I had a coworker once who would occasionally pretend to inject herself with the lead from a mechanical pencil for giggles. She would have had a lot of fun with something like that. Kids did that and some stuck in a sewing needle. Instant retractable weapon nobody suspected until the first scream. That did get you into trouble with the adults. I didn’t do the needle bit, that was a couple bad kids that did that. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/14 "2009-03-11T15:47:00Z")
I remember getting allergy shots in the 60’s and the doctor giving me the needle to take home and play with (tip broken off of course). I wonder why they don’t do that anymore?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/15 "2009-03-11T16:20:38Z")
The OP’s item is really not all that unbelievable. They still make novelty pens designed like blood-filled syringes, that give more or less the same visual effect-- I have one myself, somewhere. Granted, they don’t sell them in comic books anymore; but then, they don’t really sell anything in comics anymore. A blood-filled hypodermic, on its own, is just a gross-out effect (or perhaps an excuse to “play doctor”). But of course, that was the 1950s. By the 1960s things had gotten a lot more overt. [Behold Hippy-Sippy!](http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/09/sixties-drug-toy-the.html) The sweet, sweet candy-filled hypodermic needle! Those wacky hippies and their needles! Comes complete with groovy counterculture button! “Hippy-Sippy says I’ll try anything!” I like the fact that there was absolutely no attempt to disguise any of this. Makers of Hippy-Sippy, you were SO HIGH. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/16 "2009-03-11T16:48:12Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > I remember getting allergy shots in the 60’s and the doctor giving me the needle to take home and play with (tip broken off of course). > > I wonder why they don’t do that anymore?:dubious: Because lawyering used to be a profession, and is now a business. (I put this to a lawyer in his 60s once. The man looked about ready to cuff me one, which clued me that I had a point.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/17 "2009-03-11T17:17:49Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The throwing knife looks like loads of fun for kids too. I got my first one at age 12. Wound up owning at least a dozen of them by age 17. “Guaranteed to stick.” Major come-on. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/18 "2009-03-11T17:18:06Z")
I had one. It scared the living s\*\*t out of all the younger kids 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/19 "2009-03-11T21:52:44Z")
We had one in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048/20 "2009-03-11T21:56:30Z")
In the 60s I had one, too. I don’t remember an ad, though. I think I just saw it in a toy store and it was cheap enough to buy with my own allowance. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelievable-novelty-item-from-the-50s/489048.md?page=2)