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Mad about Mad?
When I first got the idea about Mad Magazine, my immdieate association was the 60′s. The irreverance for all things establishment that is the hallmark of Mad just seems to shout 60′s. My faulty memory is to blame as well. When I search my memory, my memories about Mad start in the 50′s. I probably got my hands on a copy or two but it mostly went right over my head or scared me to death. I know that I never purchased an issue although looking back, I should have passed on Les Miserables and subscribed to Mad. It would have given me a much better perspective on life – and the world in general than the ‘color inside the lines’ philosophy I picked.
By the time I became aware of Mad, it had evoloved from the origianl comic book format to a real magazine and Alfred E. Newman was it’s personification. The contents were intoxicating and subversive. I knew that reading Mad was not good for me but I couldn’t not look. Continue reading →
The American lifestyle changed after World War II. My memories start in the late 40′s and the changes that made the 50′s so exuberant happened gradually. I took it all for granted without any of the difficulties of the depression that my parents knew. Still I knew that my growing up in the 50′s was completely different from the old days when my parents grew up. Where they grew up listening to the radio at night for entertainment, we had TV. And it made a big difference. Continue reading →
I have put this post off long enough. Several times over the last few months it crossed my mind to post about Tang- the breakfast drink of the astronauts. Each time, I was confused because although Tang was created in the 50′s, it didn’t become a commercial success until the 60′s. So I dithered about should it be a 50′s post or a 60′s post. Dithering being what it is, the result was that I just put it out of mind altogether.
Then the last straw.
Then this week, Bob from Cantankerous Old Coots commented that Tang was one of the beneficial products developed under the US space program. I couldn’t wait any longer. It is time to clear the air of this slander. This myth has been circulated long enough. It is true that some of the NASA launches carried Tang but Tang was developed and marketed independently from the space program. It was pure marketing genius that got Tang attached to the space program and made it a popular drink for kids in the 60′s not the science and knowhow of NASA.
Finally the Truth.
So what is the real truth? Tang predated the space program by several years and it was created by a big American food company, not NASA. So what made kids believe that they could be just like the astronauts when they chugged their morning glass of Tang. It was nothing but marketing hype. Tang was actually invented in the late 50′s by researchers at General Foods but did not become popular until the 60′s largely because of the association with astronauts.
The original idea for Tang was a citrus y, vitamin enhanced breakfast drink. It only became associated with the space program because the recycled water in the Gemini program had an unpleasant taste. Flavorings were used to mask that taste and Tang was one products that NASA used. But Tang wasn’t the only one and Tang wasn’t used for every launch.
Tang is now owned by Kraft Foods which still makes several versions of the product.
My Tang experience
When I was growing up, my mother bought Tang and my brothers and I happily mixed it up and drank it. It was easier than mixing up frozen concentrated orange juice which was messy and separated in the refrigerator. We thought it was cool to mix the powder with water. It didn’t taste very good but neither did it taste bad and we were confident that it was good for us because the astronauts drank it.
Gradually the excitement over the space program died and Tang stopped being a part of my consumption.
The story of Mr. Potato Head is truly one of American ingenuity and persistence and the price of success in America. The original idea was to provide plastic parts which could stick into vegetables to make amusing characters. Initially, the idea of wasting good food made the idea unappealing but the prosperity of the 50′s soon put that aside. Mr. Potato Head was one of the first successes for the Hasbro Toy Company.
In 1952, Mr. Potato Head was the first toy marketed directly to children on TV. Continue reading →
Let’s give I up for the Frisbee- one of the top toys from the 50′s! Eveybody knows about frisbees. Everybody has thrown one. But not everyone knows that the frisbee is a legacy from the glorious 50′s. The design was a simple adaptation from pie and cake pans which were discovered to have aerodynamic properties. A few tweaks and the use of plastic instead of metal created a marketing tour de force.
