It's amazing the effect string can have.
As a kid I loved the purple thread that shot out of Callisto's ray gun. Callisto as you'll recall was the green brained stablemate of Mattel's Man in Space, Major Matt.
The string shot out as a result of squeezing a set of small alien bellows. The effect was to lash adversaries about the body with a toxic whip. I'm unsure if Major Matt was Callisto's adversary or not so it may have been Scorpio the ball wizard who was whipped. I wonder if Callisto could lash one of his balls in mid-air like a clay pigeon?
I was reminded of this stringy technology last weekend on a visit to Dinsdales joke shop in Hull. The proprietor greeted Missus Moonbase and I with a look at his squeezy ketchup bottle on the counter. Out shot what appeared to be a stream of tomato sauce! Or so we thought! It was simply red string shot out by the bellow effect of the plastic Bottle! Classic fun!
He had performed this very joke on two famous politicians who had visited his shop that very morning! Ha ha.
There will be more on Dinsdales to come.
Did you have any string toys and jokes as kids readers?
Looking forward to reading more about Dinsdales, Woodsy! Our local joke shop disappeared like an old magic trick around the early 80s. In its day it was a regular Saturday afternoon haunt. I particularly loved the rubber monster masks, fake blood, the nail though bandaged finger, and of course those immortal plastic vampire fangs :)=
ReplyDeleteYep, Dinsdales was brill Tone. Ken Dodd had been in touch with the owner too! Did you ever buy anything from Ellisdons Mail Oder?
DeleteI know you've mentioned Ellisdons Mail Oder in a previous post, Woodsy, but to be honest I don't remember it at all? Certainly sounds like I missed out there!
DeleteIt was great fun sending off my postal orders for gags and tricks Tone. You can get a really cool 60's repro Ellisdons catalogue like the one I had in a pack of 60's repro leaflets and stuff here. I have one and all the bits in there are really well done: action man, batman and loads more
Deletehttp://www.mempackcompany.com/product/1960s-childhood-memorabilia-pack/
That's an interesting link. Thanks Woodsy, I'll check it out :)
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