The Top 40

Mattel used to make an exact replica of a snub-nosed 38. I go one for my 6th birthday. Ah, childhood...

Totally out of favor these days. Way too militaristic, not to mention all that CO2 from the baking soda.

Cereal maker Post printed baseball cards on the back of boxes in the early 1960s. I remember ransacking their stock in the grocery store looking for boxes with players I didn't have. I hate Alphabets to this day because I consumed so many boxes of that stuff for the baseball cards.

One time I found a box with Curt Flood on the back. Unfortunately it was on a box of Raisin Bran, but I dutifully gagged down the whole box to get that card.

I don't believe I ever ate Post cereals again after the baseball cards disappeared.

Yep.

Sugar Smacks, Sugar (later Corn) Pops, Fruit Loops, Coco Crispies, Captain Crunch. Mom fed it all to us.

And why lie? It wasn't just the high-lead-content toys that we were after. It was the Sugar!

Looking back at it now, its a wonder that I wasn't in a diabetic coma somewhere between the morning recess and lunch period.

All's well now though....Pretty much every day I have the same boring breakfast: Oatmeal brightened up with a dash of cinnamon, a pinch of slivered almonds, either raisins or craisins, and sweetened with honey. Somehow, in spite of Mom's sins, we all do grow up.

That submarine!!

GotDAMN, I remember playing in the bathtub with that thing til my fingers turned pruny. Now I realize I can even remember what it tasted like when I chewed on it.

Jesus, Van der Leun, what a rush.

Man, I had that sub, too.

Good heavens, but that popped a memory. I had one as well. I remember putting vinegar in the sink to see if would work better. It fizzled.

JWM

I loved those subs, but I really, really really loved the frogmen.

I had both. What a memory rush. Thanks.

Atomic sub, frogmen: more things I never got as a kid. Thanks for the reminder. It might make me sad except I just bought a new HD camcorder. Best revenge and all.

I especially liked the frogman with the knife. You HAD to have a knife underwater because there was always the danger of being trapped by a giant clam clamping down on your foot. And then you'd have to cut your foot off with the knife. The giant clams scared the hell out of me.

JWM

The underwater frogmen - surfacing and catching the enemy by surprise, then diving into the deep for their getaway.

Fond memory.

I don't remember them as a cereal premium, though I'm sure that's where they must have came from.

The frogman with the knife. Yes. YES!

Yeah, the good old days--before toys got all girly.

That sub was the greatest thing I ever got out of a cereal box.

Mum could hardly keep a tin of baking powder in the house until I graduated to the GI Joe submarine.

Good times.