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SIXTIES KIDS PARTY PRANKS, TRICKS AND HICKYS

Following on from yesterdays post about hand to hand combat in the schoolyard, today I thought I'd scribble about other forms of Sixties and Seventies juvenile tomfoolery done mostly but not exclusively with the hands!

1. Broken Egg Over Head

This was basically a party trick, whereby a kid was asked to sit on a chair. Another kid would then pretend to crack an imaginary chicken's egg over the sitter's noggin and replicate the running yolk by slowly sliding their hands down the sides of the sitter's head. This was usually accompanied by someone saying 'The yolks on him!'

2. Grandad's Nose Grab

Often executed by Grandad this simple illusion involved him grabbing a child's nose with thumb and index finger, which could be slightly painful owing to the sensitive nature of the infant conk. Whilst explaining that the tip of the nose had actually been removed, Grandad would then reveal that it was actually still in his hand. The grand finale was said nose being seen between his two top knuckles, which was in reality his trapped Grandad thumb! I fell for it every time!

3. Tripping Up

For some reason kids love to trip each other up. Regardless of the location - the street, the park, the school corridor [especially there] or the hospital, a juvenile leg will be seen to shoot out and send another child flying. This may just be a boy thing. It was known in my school as 'legging someone up' in the Sixties.

4. The Armpit Wet Trump

No contact is made with anyone else for this party piece but it's general impact makes it worthy of inclusion here. The wet trump sound was created by placing one hand under the opposite armpit and thereby cupping a pocket of air there. The shoulder above this armpit is then pumped over the trapped hand in a strong bellows-like motion until a moist raspberry is clearly produced. A successful arm burp may require priming with several pumps. Creating the perfect shoulder guff was a skilled job but when delivered near someone else it could be devastating, particularly if the exponent was able to walk away without being seen at a wedding reception or Aunt's party!

5. The Love Bite

The Love bite or hicky was essentially a modest crime of passion. It was generated by sucking on the skin of, in my case, a girlfriend's neck, although it had universal applicability. The result was a rather painful looking bruise, which waxed and waned through the colour spectrum as time went on: blue to purple to mucky yellow. Worn with pride by the wearer, the love bite was there for all the biter's amorous rivals to see as it loudly proclaimed 'lips off! this neck is mine!'

6. The Arm Raiser

This piece of body magic was a staple of kids' sleep-overs everywhere. Everyone could do it together, all you needed was a wall, preferably indoors. Facing the wall, both hands would be placed on it with palms facing the body. The backs of the hands would then be pressed hard against this surface for at least one minute, the harder the pushing the better. After a minute the child steps back and watches with amazement as both arms appear to rise towards the ceiling Frankenstein-style!

7. The Body Lifter

An extreme variation of number 6, the full body lift was as close to levitation as you could ever get at a tenth birthday party.  With a big LETHAL sticker slapped all over this prank, it was only ever undertaken by the most curious of juveniles. 

To deliver the body lift a volunteer would sit on a chair. A minimum of four lifters would stand around the sitter, each one placing a finger beneath the two armpits and knees respectively. A fifth person, the most important and the most dangerous, would stand behind the sitter and place both hands on the top of their head. 

At an agreed point the handler would press down on the head with considerable force for at least a minute. Again, the longer the press the better the effect. After a minute the pressing would cease and all five would then appear to lift the sitter with just one finger! 

Even Houdini would have been a agape! For an even more dramatic lift all FIVE standers would press on the sitter's head! Clearly not recommended!

I'm sure there are many more physical tricks and pranks like this readers so please feel free to tell us about yours!

THE JR21 DART PISTOL WITH PERISCOPE: A SHORT HISTORY

This is the JR21 Dart Pistol With Periscope on its original card for the American market back ine 1960's. It was a prize in the first year of the blog and here are the happy winners back then.

Despite the guy looking like Sean Connery I've often thought the toy was inspired by the Agent 21 strip in TV21 comic. Maybe a TV21 reader could answer that?

What's for sure is that the components of the toy appeared elsewhere, notably the Agent SA17 Dart Pistol with Periscope also from the 1960's I suspect. It even has a registered design number on it but I can't quite make it out [has the Jr21 version got a registered design I wonder?]. Is this the forerunner of JR21's pistol?

The design reappeared again in 1988 with this Periscope Dart Gun by Who Doneits. Who Doneits was a trademark of Jak Pak Ltd. The history of it is online here. These are still available now as old party favours at Esnarf and MJ Variety in the USA!

BILL EV'S NEW THUNDERBIRDS SHADOW AIRCRAFT

Woodsy,

This is a small die-cast model of Tanusha (Tin Tin/ Kayo) Kyranos' Thunderbird Shadow aircraft.

It's a beautiful little model, well detailed as you would expect from a Japanese construction. It's displayed next to the original Thunderbirds vehicles to give an idea of scale and a comparison too. This model is about the size of a matchbox toy and is manufactured by Takara Tomy. All five of the new Thunderbird vehicles are on sale in Japan as well as FAB 1.

These models are not directly available in the UK, due to copyright restrictions possibly... However as I legally bought them from a foreign buyer the copyright police can go spin!

Bill Ev.

UNARMED COMBAT IN THE NINETEEN SIXTIES PLAYGROUND

During my Sixties childhood unarmed combat was a fact of life. Virtually everyone wanted to pound you. Often mere play-fighting but occasionally a more serious skirmish, these are the more notable techniques used, the dirty dozen:

1. Cowbite

Deployed by Big Brothers or your worst enemies: essentially a form of lethal squeeze, whereby the tender flesh of the victim's inner thigh is clasped in a claw-like manner and pressed together. Usually ends after significant screaming. Like the Dim Mak or death hand strike of Ancient Kung Fu, the cowbite is passed down from generation to generation of bullies.

2. Snakebite

Like the Cowbite this double-handed killer is similarly truth-inducing. Again, a form of hand to hand combat, the snakebite was basically a two-handed counter twist of the skin of the victim's lower arm. Carrying out the snakebite was guaranteed to get said victim to spill the beans or make rash promises about sweets, comics and household chores!

3. Treatment

The treatment was reserved for the female of the species and in particular sisters. Performed with great aplomb by brothers, the treatment involved picking up of said sister and swiftly spinning them round above the head. This swirling action would trigger a fit of banshee-like shrieking, which usually made a Parent come out to see which cat was being strangled!

4. Nose Tig and Flick

A subtle but irritating Ninja-like move, in which the executor points to the chest of the victim and says 'Ugh, what's that?', who on looking down, receives a mild touch of the finger on the nose. For minor frays, modest annoyance and gentle aggravation, especially of siblings, rivals and Parents. A much more aggressive form is the Nose Flick, in which the aggressor unleashes a strong finger-flicking strike on the targetted nose.

5. Nose Squeeze

One of the big guns of sibling combat, the nose squeeze was devastatingly simple  and excruciatingly painful in the extreme. The victim's nose would be tightly squeezed and control could be gained over the entire body. Unreasonable deals were often made during this manouvre. An even more toxic variation was the nostril hook.

6. Ear Pull or Thick Ear

Popular amongst Mums of the Swinging Sixties, the 'thick ear' was either a rapid clip round the ear'ole with the palm of the hand or a nimble grab of the ear lobe rendering the child powerless. Often undertaken in public places, Home/ Father/Bed usually followed the thick ear.

7. Kick up the Bum [or Arse] or Slap on the Backside

Again a mild punitive strike by Parent's to encourage conformity. It featured either a kick or palm slap on one or both lobes of the young seat. For added leverage an arm would be clasped to attain maximum torque. This salvo was often done in shops.

8. Knuckle Butty

The Knuckle sandwich/ sarni or butty was most often alluded to by vexed Fathers as a deterrent to further childish miscreance, frequently whilst at Zoos, Parks or Weddings. Usually shortened to the alarming epithet 'Knuckle' and delivered in such memorable ways as 'Do that again Son and you'll get some knuckle' or 'are you gagging for some knuckle or what?'. The threats seldom need to be carried out.

9. Fat Lip/ Shiner/ Busted Nose

These are the injuries of the schoolyard: the wounds of the defeated or the trophies of a hard-won victory: fat lip is a swollen gob; shiner is a black-eye and busted nose is a bleeding hooter. They earn oodles of respect or scorn in equal measure depending on who was scrapping. Often accompanied by the tribal cry of 'scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap!' and resulting in a trip to Matron. Detention often followed.

10. Shin Kick

An exceedingly painful kick to the tender cut of the front leg. Can be delivered to either the trousered or untrousered shin and is best applied with a sturdy shoe such as a Brogue or a footy boot. A high stakes manouvre, which may be the catalyst for lethal retaliation and extended pounding.

11. The Dangling Spittle

Possibly the most uncooth of all the techniques mentioned and one reserved for the bitterest of skirmishes in the playground, the dangling spittle required the victim to be pinned down on his back by way of bicep kneeling. Rendered helpless, the assailant then produces a lengthy rope of spittle, which slowly descends towards the victim's face and for that special moment, towards the mouth. Driven to near-insanity by the descending grolly the assailant will then attempt the suck-back. This is a risky finale as the slobber may have reached a critical distance from which there is no return. This spit pie will result in a degree of wretching and gagging usually reserved for rotten meat.

12. The Face Fart

Like the Dangling Spittle, the face fart was obnoxious provocation in the extreme. More of a pungent insult than a debilitating strike, it required the victim to be kneeling or seated or in the worst-case scenario pinned down. The aggressor's rear end was then lowered next to or over their face and a select guff executed. Chemical warfare for the schoolyard or the soccer field, it was frequently known as a 'good gassing'.

TOY BLOG LEGENDS ALL

These are some of my favourite toys that have appeared on the blog over the last 8 years. All out of the ordinary, none are SWORD or SpaceX and all blog legends.

They are [top to bottom]:

1. Century 21 Submarine Aircraft Carrier

2. Hover Space Bird

3. Traffic Patrol Helicopter

4. SKY 8 SHADO Submarine [more of this to come!]

5. Telsada Rocket Firing Space Car [no decent pic of the toy!]

6. Amphibious Coast Guard Vehicle

Which toys would you choose?

SHOULD STAR WARS HAVE BEEN A CARTOON?

Recently I saw that Akira was voted the most significant animated film of all time. I had expected it to be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or another early Disney, but I suppose first isn't always best.

I wonder if George Lucas had made Star Wars as an animated feature rather live action it would have become more significant than Akira in that genre?

Was the technology or the finesse there in 1977 to make a world-class cartoon?

One of my Akira film acetates showing the Tentacled monster in Tokyo Bay

THE STONE TAPE AND OTHER MIDNIGHT MEDIA

I have just listened to the Stone Tape online on Radio 4 playback. It is a modern radio remake of the Seventies TV play. The version I listened to was described as being recorded in binaural sound as opposed to stereo, but with my basic headphones I couldn't really tell the difference.

That said, I enjoyed the radio remake especially the final half hour when it all goes to hell. the director, who made the Berberian Sound Studio, is like me, a fan of horror soundtracks and this remake is another of his homages to them. For techies among you the play contains many references to weird and wonderful recording gear. Its nested format, the fact that it was a radio recording about recording a recording on an ancient wall, in a Victorian house called Taskerlands, was not lost on me [available for playback online, Radio 4, for another 2 weeks].

Recording the supernatural is a common theme in horror and the original Stone Tape, which aired Christmas 1972, written by Quatermass author Nigel Kneale, contained perhaps the scariest moment ever on British television - involving a prolonged and singularly blood-freezing female scream [altogether more chilling than normal stock TV screams like the Wilhelm and the Howie]. 

Before the onset of the World Wide Web I wrote to TV Heaven in Bradford and asked if I could watch it there. I could but I never did and now you can watch it whenever you want due to the power of recordings on the World Wide Web!

Although the theory of the Stone Tape had been around since the early Sixties, it was particularly amplified in popular consciousness during 1972-73, firstly with the Stone Tape on television and then with the film The Legend of Hell House in 1973. 

Written by the prolific American Richard Matheson in 1971, his book, "Hell House" concerned investigations into supernatural sound and activity at the haunted Belasco House in Maine. The film had a memorable turn from Roddy McDowell as a medium, who along with Pamela Franklin, picked up the creepy aura better than any microphone. In fact the machine set up in the house was meant to destroy the evil forces through electromagnetism.

The concept of a past physically recorded on everyday objects - archeoacoustics - continued in books like Time Shards [1979] about pottery and Koji Suzuki's Ringu [1991] about video tape. This was eventually filmed and probably contained the single most frightening screen image since the Stone Tape, that of Sadako climbing out of a TV.

Other films include Prince of Darkness, The Woman in Black and Poltergeist. A strand which dealt specifically with the power of the sarsen stones at Stonehenge included the films The Night of the Demon and Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

The recording media used have changed over time as well, just as technology has changed and in some films it is the toxicity of these media - books, phonograph, tape, video, internet - which is explored e.g. Evil Dead, Brainstorm, Videodrome, Ring, V/H/S, REC and Unfriended to name just a few.

In the real world the establishment's own long-standing fear of the effects these new media may have [and had] on the masses i.e. lawlessness, is also reflected in part in these films and something I'll return to at a later date.