Things you could buy in the 50s.

[Pappy]

I have a few of these old Johnson Smith catalogs in my collection. This one is from 1950. I use to purchase magic tricks and other odd stuff. Lots more photos if anyone is interested. Enjoy.

 

[JustBonee]

1950 - my favorite Christmas present

I have a few of these old Johnson Smith catalogs in my collection. This one is from 1950. I use to purchase magic tricks and other odd stuff. Lots more photos if anyone is interested. Enjoy.
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The catalog industry was going strong in the 1950's, and I loved all the ones that came in the mail, from Chicago
.... Sears, Wards, Spiegel, Aldens.
And there were a large assortment of car/car parts catalogs as well, like Warshawsky and JC Whitney.

All these companies had large city blocks in Chicago full of their warehouses.

 

[Been There]

My dad gave me some kind of decoder he had back in his day. I forget whose name was on it. He said each week on the TV show, they would give out a secret message to write down and you had to decode it using the decoder. The next week, they would tell you what the message was so you would know if you got it right and then give you a new uncoded message.

Sound familiar?

 

[Pappy]

My dad gave me some kind of decoder he had back in his day. I forget whose name was on it. He said each week on the TV show, they would give out a secret message to write down and you had to decode it using the decoder. The next week, they would tell you what the message was so you would know if you got it right and then give you a new uncoded message.

Sound familiar?

Could be old Ralston cereal ring or Little Orphan Annie maybe? Lots of cereals had decoder rings.

 

[jujube]

A 5 cent frozen popsicle from the ice-cream man.
A gumball from the machine for a penny.
A 5 cent Coke from the machine.
You could send a letter for a penny less if you didn't seal the envelope, just tuck it in.
Quite a few medicines that became prescription-only later.
Kids could often walk into stores with a note from a parent and buy booze and cigarettes for them.

 

[RadishRose]

1950 - my favorite Christmas present

The catalog industry was going strong in the 1950's, and I loved all the ones that came in the mail, from Chicago
.... Sears, Wards, Spiegel, Aldens.
And there were a large assortment of car/car parts catalogs as well, like Warshawsky and JC Whitney.

All these companies had large city blocks in Chicago full of these warehouses.

 

[NorthernLight]

Dolls that peed. Yikes!

 

[Pappy]

Anyone remember this offer? I got several prizes from them.

 

[Geezer Garage]

Captain Marvel decoder rings, and yes, I remember the ads for the
Betsy Wetsy dolls. As I young boy I thought that was pretty gross.

 

[Alligatorob]

Things you could buy in the 50s.

Not much, I was 7 when 1960 came, did not have much money of my own.

I do remember buying a candy bar for 5 cents, a mounds as I recall.