Found this in a scrapbook my grandmother put together for me. Holy cow, I have no memory of being in a tuxedo ad. Sheesh, couldn't have they found someone better than I? I have barely any memory of this, I don't think it is from my city paper, I think it is from my school paper circ. 1991. This was a small, independent tuxedo shop run by a local Greek family. They held on into the mid-1990s when a chain tux store came to our local mall. But eventually that store closed, so no formal wear place exists in my town...
By Kevin Williams
I had a fleeting memory last evening as I was playing toy cars with Aster. I was just playfully running one of the cars over me and, for a split second, it felt like one of those hand-held massages, which got me thinking of something my grandma used to have. So that'll be the first item on my throwback Thursday nostalgia post. SIGH, sometimes I think I'm too nostalgic for yesterday, for days that will return and I need to just heartily embrace today, but sometimes that's tough to do. There was innocence and optimism in the 1970s and 80s, I feel like. Although those who remember times earlier than that may beg to differ. How many of you remember the following?
FAT JIGGLING MACHINE: Man, I wish theses worked. I had forgotten completely about these. But you stood on some sort of platform, put a belt around you, pressed some sort of button and this belt would wildly shake you, jiggling your fat and supposedly melting it away. Yeah, right.
These ads always caught my eye on the back of my comic books....
SEA MONKEES: Often featured and advertised on the back of Archie (and probably other) comics and, to a young boy, anyway, they looked like these large exotic mermaid type creatures. In reality, I think they were tiny brine shrimp or something like that.
COCA COLA SYRUP: I can't find a lot online about this, but, darnnit, this stuff was bad/good. You used to be able to find this at drug stores (chemist if you are in England?). I remember it was sold in tiny bottles in the medicine section of the pharmacy. Mom would keep some on hand and give some to us if we had a stomach ache. Does anyone remember it? Can you still get it? What did it do? Was there actual medicine in it or Coca Cola syrup? I think it was brilliant marketing on Coke's part back then because it lent the drink a "medicinal aura" that I still carry with me today. If I have an upset stomach sometimes I'll think "well, a cold Coke might settle my stomach." That's probably pure nonsense, but it is a vestige from the days when Coke, at least it's syrup, WAS medicine.
COCA COLA CLOTHING: Back when I was in junior high Coke came out with a line of clothing and I had a Coca-Cola shirt, one of my favorites. Even back then...
GREEN STAMPS: I can't recall my parents doing much with these, but I have a vague memory of my Grandma talking about these. Interestingly, as recently as maybe 5 years ago, I saw an S & H Green Stamp sign on a small store in Owenton, Kentucky. Whether that was just an outdated, old sign that had never been taken down or whether they survived in some form until more recently than what I can find online, I don't know....
Vickie
Cola syrup is available from Amazon, Wal-Mart.com, and The Vermont County Store. It's not Cole's actual syrup and they advertise it as upset stomach remedy.
Kevin
Thanks, Vickie, interesting....
Barb Wright
Kevin, funny about the green stamps. I hadn't thought about it in years..but when we got married in 1977, Hubby's grandma gave us several full books of them . We redeemed them for cookwear and silverwear. I still have some of those things!
Judy Goodwin
I wonder if you have ever come across blackberry pot pie among you Amish friends. My dad told me his mother used to make a big pot of blackberry pot pie and that was dinner. I mean the pot pie in liquid, not the pie with a crust. Grandma's family was Mennonite and she was born in 1875 in Rummel, Pa. so it would be an old time practice I've never eaten blackberry (or any other fruit or berry) pot pie but it sounds like it would be pretty good. Maybe better as a dessert but she did what she had to with such a large family.
Candy Cane
My pharmacy told me it is now illegal to sell Coca Cola syrup. My mother always had this in the medicine cabinet for when we had upset stomachs. I actually crave it when I am sick.
Kevin
Interesting, why illegal?
sara marsh
Coke syrup was Coke syrup that you put in the fountain Coke machines. I don't know how the machines work now but the water going into the machines was carbonated. There was an air compressor in another room and tanks of carbon dioxide that was mixed together coming into the machine to be mixed with the syrup. Dad would get a 1 or 2 ounce medicine bottle(we had a drugstore) and fill the bottle. I think you were supposed to sip a spoonful. Later Ipecac came out. It was the ingredient in the Coke syrup that settled your stomach. Ipecac is a staple in First Aid Kits to make you vomit as a poison control. It was also used as a cough syrup.
Virginia
Kevin, I remember my best friend's brother getting into a car accident in the late 60's. He broke his arm and was having issues with nausea. I think the car might have rolled or something and that was what caused the nausea. The doctor prescribed coke syrup. It did work. Haven't you ever drunk a soda when you have nausea? I still do, to this day. In fact, it is usually the ONLY time I drink soda. For me, it usually needs to be gingerale or Seven-up but it does help me.
Kevin
I probably would drink Coke if I had nausea, luckily, I rarely am nauseated...I have thrown-up just twice in my 45 years....but I do drink it for an unsettled stomach...
J
I remember the jiggling machines, the sea monkeys, the coke syrup, and