# Classic Products You Wish You Didn’t Remember



## francist (Sep 3, 2020)

Okay, there was a thread recently where someone dredged up the memories of “Dippity-Do” setting gel from the 1970’s. I’m sure it was some derivative of Agent Orange and I hesitate to think how many girls (my five sisters included) smeared that goo over their hair to make themselves look ever so more bee-ew-tee-full. 

But I had to chuckle when I recalled it and the fond memories of younger days. What other good ones are out there in your collective memory banks?

I have one that I’ve been trying to remember the name of for a couple years now. It was a liquid plastic product that came in small pint cans (no, it’s not Plasti Dip). The colours were vivid green, fuschia, red, orange, etc and it dried to a transparent film like cellophane. The idea was you took some floral wire, bent it into a closed form (a leaf shape, for example) and dipped it into the liquid plastic. When you withdrew the shape the liquid plastic stuff would bridge over the form and dry very quickly so you ended up with a transparent leaf of this shiny green plastic stuff.

The smell was very powerful, probably acetone or maybe lacquer thinner, and I’m sure it was toxic as all get-out. The liquid tended to dry out in the can pretty quickly for obvious reasons so it was one of those short-lived wonders. The finished products were also huge dust magnets, and after the initial shininess and brilliance of the first few weeks they quickly became a dull, dust covered thing that was way too fragile to clean.

Anybody remember what it was called? From about 1970, my one sister brought it back from the big city with her at Christmas one year. Too late to ask her, but for some reason I can’t get it out of my head.

-frank

Edit: found it! “Dippity Glass” aka Fun Film, FormaFilm.


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## brino (Sep 3, 2020)

One to go along with your sisters hair products:  Brylcreem.
I guess my mother thought it made us boys look more kempt for school.

Funny, I never knew the spelling until today.

According to wikipedia:


> The cream is an emulsion of water and mineral oil stabilised with beeswax


I now wonder if it could have been used as a cutting fluid/coolant.........hmmm

-brino


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## Ulma Doctor (Sep 3, 2020)

i don't know what the cellophane like substance was, but i do remember plasti-dip!

on thing that still haunts me is the old commercial for the Ginsu Knives


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## francist (Sep 3, 2020)

“Weed Bar” is another one burned indelibly into my senses. Consisted of a waxy bar about 2’ long with a cord attached at each end. The idea was you tow the bar behind the push mower on nice hot summer days. The key components of the bar, other than wax, were such lovely things as 24D, dicamba, mecoprop, etc which were now deposited via the sun-warmed wax onto any offending dandelions. This was about 1968.

After a season of dragging this around your lawn the wax bar would wear down to the cardboard core and you’d theoretically be forced to buy a new one. A frugal father, however, would break off the remaining wax into chunks so that he could rub it directly onto any remaining dandelions. Safety was not spared of course, so he might wear leather gloves which would quickly soak up the warm, waxy chemical. Good lord, he lived to be almost 90 but I can still remember the smell of that bar and the gloves!


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## C-Bag (Sep 4, 2020)

Sorry Frank, I don’t remember the weed bar. I do remember my mom messing with that plastic dip stuff but I don’t remember the name. She was always trying crafty stuff. Sometimes I think some products were a local thing. I do remember Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya! We didn’t use that, we used Butch Wax when everybody was into flat tops and it made your top stand up. Nasty stuff.


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## mikey (Sep 4, 2020)

Ulma Doctor said:


> i don't know what the cellophane like substance was, but i do remember plasti-dip!
> 
> on thing that still haunts me is the old commercial for the Ginsu Knives



This must have been the origin of "... but wait, there's more!"


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## mikey (Sep 4, 2020)

As a kid growing up on Maui, HI, only the big boys and the rich kids could afford Brylcreem. We used the sap of the red Torch Ginger instead. Take a crown of that stuff and bang it on your head. Worked just like Brylcreem or Pomade but it smelled really nice. Only problem was the ants that liked to live in the ginger; they could sting you so you'd be scratching your head all day!


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## FOMOGO (Sep 4, 2020)

Remember the slip and slide? hook up a hose to it, get a running start, and off you go. And of course the infamous lawn darts, and then there's the Popeel pocket fisherman. Mike


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## francist (Sep 4, 2020)

And “clackers” — two plastic balls on a string that you were supposed to get knocking together really fast. If you didn’t knock yourself senseless first!


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## matthewsx (Sep 4, 2020)

Three words:

Space Food Sticks

John


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## Bi11Hudson (Sep 4, 2020)

Not a TV geegaw or gimcrack, but I never was fond of TV, especially the adverts. But there is was a silly movie I'd like to find. A young teenager and a dragon. The pair would walk to a town, the dragon would burn half the town and steal some livestock. Then the kid would appear and chase the dragon off. The kid was well fed by the town and then the two would move on down the road. If anyone can recall the title, I would appreciate a heads-up. I have been searching YouTube for months. And not particularly interested in rape, burn, and pillage. The movie I'm searching for was fun. Not funny, just fun.

.


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## macardoso (Sep 4, 2020)

Bi11Hudson said:


> Not a TV geegaw or gimcrack, but I never was fond of TV, especially the adverts. But there is was a silly movie I'd like to find. A young teenager and a dragon. The pair would walk to a town, the dragon would burn half the town and steal some livestock. Then the kid would appear and chase the dragon off. The kid was well fed by the town and then the two would move on down the road. If anyone can recall the title, I would appreciate a heads-up. I have been searching YouTube for months. And not particularly interested in rape, burn, and pillage. The movie I'm searching for was fun. Not funny, just fun.
> 
> .



Ugh, I know the movie - can't remember the name.

EDIT: DragronHeart (1996)









						DragonHeart (1996) - IMDb
					

DragonHeart: Directed by Rob Cohen. With Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer. The last dragon and a disillusioned dragonslaying Knight must cooperate to stop an evil King, who was given partial immortality.




					www.imdb.com


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## savarin (Sep 4, 2020)

I remember brylcreem, it was plastered on so thick it left a greasy mass in the comb.


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## projectnut (Sep 4, 2020)

francist said:


> “Weed Bar” is another one burned indelibly into my senses. Consisted of a waxy bar about 2’ long with a cord attached at each end. The idea was you tow the bar behind the push mower on nice hot summer days. The key components of the bar, other than wax, were such lovely things as 24D, dicamba, mecoprop, etc which were now deposited via the sun-warmed wax onto any offending dandelions. This was about 1968.
> 
> After a season of dragging this around your lawn the wax bar would wear down to the cardboard core and you’d theoretically be forced to buy a new one. A frugal father, however, would break off the remaining wax into chunks so that he could rub it directly onto any remaining dandelions. Safety was not spared of course, so he might wear leather gloves which would quickly soak up the warm, waxy chemical. Good lord, he lived to be almost 90 but I can still remember the smell of that bar and the gloves!



We never used the Weed Bar, but did use some equally nasty chemicals on the lawn.  About the worst was the "Blitz Fogger" mosquito killer.   It had a chemical tank attached to either a push mower or a garden tractor, with a tube that went to the muffler.  You drilled a hole in the muffler and screwed in a fitting to attach the tube.  Then just open the valve on the tank and start mowing.  









						Blitz Fogger
					

Blitz Fogger




					bangshift.com
				




The thing produced a cloud of insecticide so thick you couldn't see where you were mowing.  After mowing a couple acres you had a buzz better than drinking a case of beer and a headache  so bad you thought you'd been hit in the head with a hammer.  All that for one or two mosquito free days.  Most times it took longer to recover from the buzz and the headache than the insecticide worked killing the bugs.  We finally gave up on the stuff.  Not for health reasons, but because it was too expensive and needed to be applied too often.


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## Reddinr (Sep 4, 2020)

Two words, Lawn darts.  May have inspired Steve Martin's arrow through the head bit.

And, I remember the dip stuff.  My sister had that and would dip wire forms into it to make flower petals, etc.


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## f350ca (Sep 4, 2020)

Do you remember all the K-tel products


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## C-Bag (Sep 4, 2020)

About the only tv I watched as a kid was cartoons. But read a LOT of comics. And the weird ads in the back. Anybody ever get the X-ray glasses? Bought one of the little submarines, it was cardboard and you put tablets(antacid?) in it. Also got a couple of the space ships that would “magically“ fly. They were very cool,  very Buck Rodgers. I think they were some kind of pot metal and you ran them on a string. I’ve never seen one since I was a little kid. Ours got broken when the string broke and it hit the floor.


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## vtcnc (Sep 4, 2020)




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## vtcnc (Sep 4, 2020)

Read the fine print..."3hp"!!


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## Reddinr (Sep 4, 2020)

> Read the fine print..."3hp"!!



Not sure an outlet in our old house back then would source 8 Amps, unless we put a penny behind the screw-in fuse to up the rated current that is...


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## Buffalo21 (Sep 4, 2020)

Be careful, I have a Flowbee, I‘ve used it twice a month for the last 20+ yrs.


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## vtcnc (Sep 4, 2020)

Buffalo21 said:


> Be careful, I have a Flowbee, I‘ve used it twice a month for the last 20+ yrs.


LOL, I use clippers at the 1/16" setting. Lost my hair in a bet about 5 years ago and never looked back. My father used a Flowbee for a short period of time and I always remember that it was a hassle - but the models on the box and commercial made it seem like you were getting your haircut in paradise. Only in America can a vacuum cleaner be repurposed this way! Classic!


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## C-Bag (Sep 4, 2020)




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## Winegrower (Sep 4, 2020)

My brother used “Peach Pomade” on his hair every morning.


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## bill70j (Sep 4, 2020)

C-Bag said:


> I do remember Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya! We didn’t use that, we used Butch Wax when everybody was into flat tops and it made your top stand up. Nasty stuff.


I'll add Wildroot to your nasty stuff list.  Of the three it made the most disgusting goo that appeared between the teeth of your comb.


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## C-Bag (Sep 4, 2020)

vtcnc said:


> View attachment 335768


This ad exemplifies why I always hated ads. Look at the kid, WTH? His hair is all greased down with something and that look on his face, especially his eyes! is she cutting his hair or is that really a home lobotomy kit???


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## Forty Niner (Sep 4, 2020)

For those that wore their hair in the "Flat Top" style, there was "Butch" hair wax.  It was rose colored and came in a wide mouth short jar.


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## Eddyde (Sep 4, 2020)

Ulma Doctor said:


> i don't know what the cellophane like substance was, but i do remember plasti-dip!
> 
> on thing that still haunts me is the old commercial for the Ginsu Knives


Ha Ha, I still have my Ginsu knife from back in the 70's and it still cuts a tomato!


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## NCjeeper (Sep 4, 2020)

I remember using Aqui-Net and Polo cologne to try to impress the ladies back in the early 80'.


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## tjb (Sep 4, 2020)

On a little bit of a cheerier note, any of you remember the small green 6-1/2 oz. returnable Coke bottles that had the city and state of the bottler on the bottom?  I grew up in Atlanta where Coca-Cola had its headquarters.  We used to have contests of who could collect Coke bottles from the farthest away.  I had a pretty enviable collection of them.  Wish I still had them.  I could probably sell it for enough now to equip a brand new shop with all new CNC equipment.

There was a department store in downtown Atlanta that had a Coke machine in the warehouse on the top floor.  Many Coke machines back then were chest-type: you drop in your coin, open the lid, and pull out your Coke.  Got no idea how he did it, but one of our gang managed to get up there, and he discovered the machine dispensed Coke for only a nickel.  It was supposed to be employees only, but we'd go up there about once a week and get a Coke.  We finally got kicked out.  Managers finally discovered the reason they'd regularly be short several of those returnable bottles every week.  Hey, those things were worth a penny or two at the corner grocery store.

We also would take the bottle caps and put them in the spokes of bicycles, and use a clothes pin to attach a playing card to the forks so that it would 'flap' when riding.  That was the epitome of 'cool'.  And, of course, you'd have your pomade or butch wax or Brylcreem glopped all over your head in the process.

I still remember in the early '60's when most restaurants started going to fountain Coke instead of bottled.  I worked in a restaurant at the time, and NOBODY liked the change.  (That is, of course, except the busboys that had to lug Coke bottles around when bussing tables.)

Those were the days.


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## markba633csi (Sep 4, 2020)

My Dad had this stuff, like green crystals, you'd pour some on a pile of dog poop. The flies would die by the thousands. It was great fun to watch them buzz around, forming a huge mountain of dead flies.  I had a great childhood.  I'm sure the stuff had DDT in it.  Wish I knew what it was called. And in California!
Also remember this Nabisco cookie called "Ideal peanut logs" my brothers and I would inhale pound after pound. Pure bliss. We visited the dentist often.
-Mark


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## francist (Sep 4, 2020)

f350ca said:


> Do you remember all the K-tel products


Only the Patty-Stacker.....


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## f350ca (Sep 4, 2020)

tjb mentioned the chest type Coke cooler. There was one outside the corner store in the village. Someone, got a bottle opener, pop the top while the bottle was still in the machine and drink it through a straw

Greg


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## benmychree (Sep 4, 2020)

tjb said:


> On a little bit of a cheerier note, any of you remember the small green 6-1/2 oz. returnable Coke bottles that had the city and state of the bottler on the bottom?  I grew up in Atlanta where Coca-Cola had its headquarters.  We used to have contests of who could collect Coke bottles from the farthest away.  I had a pretty enviable collection of them.  Wish I still had them.  I could probably sell it for enough now to equip a brand new shop with all new CNC equipment.
> 
> There was a department store in downtown Atlanta that had a Coke machine in the warehouse on the top floor.  Many Coke machines back then were chest-type: you drop in your coin, open the lid, and pull out your Coke.  Got no idea how he did it, but one of our gang managed to get up there, and he discovered the machine dispensed Coke for only a nickel.  It was supposed to be employees only, but we'd go up there about once a week and get a Coke.  We finally got kicked out.  Managers finally discovered the reason they'd regularly be short several of those returnable bottles every week.  Hey, those things were worth a penny or two at the corner grocery store.
> 
> ...


Back in the 1980s, I had a Coke machine in my shop that dispensed the small Coke bottles for 5 cents, it had a vertical rotary magazine, and you dropped your coin(s) and turned the crank and down came your bottle.  I had it set up for 10 cents, and the price of a bottle kept going up until the limit on resetting the coin mechanism was exceeded by the price of the Coke, so I got rid of the machine and replaced it with a refrigerator; how stupid was that?  How much would that classic Coke machine be worth now???


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## mcostello (Sep 4, 2020)

Grow baby monkeys or somesuch from Popular Mechanics. Never did grow anything.


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## NCjeeper (Sep 4, 2020)

^^^ Ah yes the sea monsters. Did anybody order the chest of army men for like 10 cents?


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## tjb (Sep 4, 2020)

f350ca said:


> tjb mentioned the chest type Coke cooler. There was one outside the corner store in the village. Someone, got a bottle opener, pop the top while the bottle was still in the machine and drink it through a straw
> 
> Greg


Glad we didn't think of that.  We'd all probably still be in jail!


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## tjb (Sep 4, 2020)

benmychree said:


> Back in the 1980s, I had a Coke machine in my shop that dispensed the small Coke bottles for 5 cents, it had a vertical rotary magazine, and you dropped your coin(s) and turned the crank and down came your bottle.  I had it set up for 10 cents, and the price of a bottle kept going up until the limit on resetting the coin mechanism was exceeded by the price of the Coke, so I got rid of the machine and replaced it with a refrigerator; how stupid was that?  How much would that classic Coke machine be worth now???


Depends on the machine.  A couple of years ago, we finished our basement in retro-style.  I have a passenger door from an old truck hanging on the wall with a curb service tray on it and some soft drink glasses (anybody remember the Varsity from back in the old days?).  We have an old gum ball machine and some other memorabilia down there.  Looked for an old Coke machine and found a couple.  The older style - like we were trying to find - were either trashed are very expensive.  That idea just kinda dropped off the radar screen.  This thread is making me re-think that.  Oh, boy.  Hope my wife doesn't read this.

Regards


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## DavidR8 (Sep 4, 2020)

francist said:


> Only the Patty-Stacker.....


I think you can still buy those new


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## WCraig (Sep 4, 2020)

francist said:


> Only the Patty-Stacker.....


A guy I knew had an opening line with girls at the bar...

"Your hairstyle--is that a Topsy Tail?"









Craig


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## gr8legs (Sep 4, 2020)

Growing up in the mid 50's it was no big deal to go to the local garden store and get a can of Ortho Triox herbicide, mix it 1 or two teaspoons to the gallon and spread it where you didn't want stuff to grow. Active ingredient: Arsenic Trioxide.  Don't see much of that anymore!

SWMBO and I enjoy decorating with 'odd stuff, here's one of the kitchen cabinets:




Ah, the good old days!

Stu

As an explanation for the decline in the US's tech edge, James Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."


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## francist (Sep 4, 2020)

Sounds like you’d be right at home with some of this stuff then...


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## BGHansen (Sep 4, 2020)

Buffalo21 said:


> Be careful, I have a Flowbee, I‘ve used it twice a month for the last 20+ yrs.


+1 on the Flowbee.  Just replaced the blades on mine after about 20 years use.

Bruce


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## BGHansen (Sep 4, 2020)

I miss the "Bob" commercials for a product called "Enzyte".


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## tweinke (Sep 4, 2020)

BGHansen said:


> I miss the "Bob" commercials for a product called "Enzyte".




Wonder what ever happened to him, all the ladies probably wore him out..........


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## Bi11Hudson (Sep 4, 2020)

macardoso said:


> Ugh, I know the movie - can't remember the name.
> EDIT: DragronHeart (1996)



Thank you, Sir, for the link. Not the one I was after, too recent, but a good watch none-the-less.

.


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## RJSakowski (Sep 4, 2020)

How about Geritol for "iron poor blood"? Carter's Little Liver Pills?  Then there was the weekly dose of cod liver oil.  We used to brush our teeth with tooth powder.


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## RJSakowski (Sep 4, 2020)

gr8legs said:


> Growing up in the mid 50's it was no big deal to go to the local garden store and get a can of Ortho Triox herbicide, mix it 1 or two teaspoons to the gallon and spread it where you didn't want stuff to grow. Active ingredient: Arsenic Trioxide.  Don't see much of that anymore!
> 
> SWMBO and I enjoy decorating with 'odd stuff, here's one of the kitchen cabinets:
> 
> ...


I hope the calcium cyanide can in the upper left is empty!


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## sycle1 (Sep 4, 2020)

francist said:


> And “clackers” — two plastic balls on a string that you were supposed to get knocking together really fast. If you didn’t knock yourself senseless first!


Click Clacks they called em over here,  I remember them well many dents in the forehead trying to use them. too funny! it brought back some fond memories thanks.


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## JPar (Sep 5, 2020)

Mercurochrome - a red colored antiseptic liquid for cuts and scrapes. 

Shell No-Pest Strips - they looked like a big strip of yellow taffy that you hung from the ceiling.  Not sticky like flypaper, they contained nasty pesticides and lasted for months.  We used them in our barn and they were effective at killing flies.  Whatever was in them must have been very potent; I'm sure breathing it wasn't good for us.


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## FOMOGO (Sep 5, 2020)

Hold still this won,t hurt at all. Mostly iodine as I recall. My dad used to say, quit your blubbering " It's a long way from the heart " Mike 



JPar said:


> Mercurochrome - a red colored antiseptic liquid for cuts and scrapes.


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## brino (Sep 5, 2020)

gr8legs said:


> here's one of the kitchen cabinets:




Hmmm........should we have the plain Calcium or the Calcium Cyanide today?

-brino


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## CluelessNewB (Sep 5, 2020)

How about the Kraft food commercials with the disgusting recipes that all seemed to contain Kraft MIniature Marshmallows, Miracle Whip and Velveeta.


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## francist (Sep 5, 2020)

“Squeeze-a-Snack“, anyone?


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## mcostello (Sep 5, 2020)

Mercurochrome.
The GOOD cough syrup, had NyQuill beat by a mile.


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## tjb (Sep 5, 2020)

mcostello said:


> Mercurochrome.
> The GOOD cough syrup, had NyQuill beat by a mile.


I think you're wrong:  That stuff had NyQuil beat by TWO miles.  Oh, what I'd give for that good cough syrup again!  The only way to get it now is with a prescription.  Best substitute I've ever had was a potion made from bourbon, honey and lemon.  I hate whiskey - especially bourbon - but when the coughing spell hits, I'd drink just about anything if I knew it would work.


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## Buffalo21 (Sep 5, 2020)

CluelessNewB said:


> How about the Kraft food commercials with the disgusting recipes that all seemed to contain Kraft MIniature Marshmallows, Miracle Whip and Velveeta.



velveeta....................great grilled cheese sandwiches, one of the few things, my mother could cook right, she came by her cooking skills honestly, my grandmother could not cook either.


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## tjb (Sep 5, 2020)

Buffalo21 said:


> velveeta....................great grilled cheese sandwiches, one of the few things, my mother could cook right, she came by her cooking skills honestly, my grandmother could not cook either.


You poor guy!!! My grandmother, mother and wife go down in the annals of MASTER cooks.  Not 'chefs' but 'cooks'.  And my wife happens to be a card-carrying Master Gardener.  It's not uncommon for everything on the table at dinner time came from off the farm.  Even the beef, when we used to raise it.  But we stopped that a few years ago.

But, you can't beat a good Velveeta cheese sandwich!


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## Buffalo21 (Sep 5, 2020)

My grandmother on my father’s side was German and an excellent cook, I still long for her potato pancakes................


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## Cadillac (Sep 5, 2020)

Lawn darts anyone?


I was a early 80’s kid I remember some stuff you’d put on your fingers and pull them apart and it would smoke. Shrinks dinks and maybe the worst thing for kids was the play cigarettes that you’d blow in them and they’d simulate smoke with a powder. Times have changed!


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