There was a time when a dollar bill, a clipped coupon, and four to six weeks of waiting could hold more excitement than a whole cart full of next-day deliveries. X-ray specs promised the impossible, d
A Dollar, a Stamp, and the Promise of X-Ray Vision |
There was a time when a dollar bill, a clipped coupon, and four to six weeks of waiting could hold more excitement than a whole cart full of next-day deliveries, X-ray specs promised the impossible, delivered a cardboard trick, and taught an interesting lesson about advertising. |
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News for the America we remember |
If you grew up in the years when the back pages of comic books, Boys' Life, and Popular Mechanics felt like a carnival midway, then you probably remember the ad. It sat there among the sea monkeys, the whoopee cushions, the correspondence courses, and the muscle-building miracles. In bold type it made a promise no sensible adult would believe for one second and no red-blooded boy could resist: |
See the bones in your hand. See through clothes. Amazing X-Ray Specs. |
Now there was a sentence made to stop a youngster cold. |
Those ads had a way of speaking directly to the little inventor, detective, magician, and rascal living inside every kid. The drawing always showed some fellow in thick dark glasses staring at his own hand, where a neat white skeleton appeared as plain as day. Maybe there was a pretty lady in the corner looking surprised. Maybe there was some breathless copy about scientific principles and secrets known only to specialists. It was nonsense, of course, but it was grand nonsense. And in that age, nonsense had time to ripen into real longing. |
The dollar in the envelope
Getting those x-ray specs was not a matter of tapping a screen and forgetting about it by supper. First you had to decide that you wanted them badly enough to spend real money. |
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