I think the Remington sold for around $20 in 1940…about $350-$400 today.

I ordered the 10-in-1 scope in the late 70s from one of those comic advertisers who had full pages of novelties and trinkets (not Johnson Smith, one of their rivals). Even then I realized that is was one of the most cheaply-made products you could ever buy. I had fun with it for about two weeks, then I either lost or broke it.

To the best of my knowledge, that thing in the third ad is still around – indeed it’s fairly common. I think I may have one lying around somewhere. They aren’t nearly as useful as the ad makes them out to be.

Also, the adjective I think of when I see that $1 desk most emphatically isn’t “beautiful”.

Wow, somehow I missed that 10-in-1 scope ad entirely, even though I actually had one of those. I think I still do somewhere. It was probably given to me as a Xmas stocking stuffer when I was a kid.

Is it just me or does it look like Carmine Infantino drew the faces in the third ad?

Rob- Looks like Infantino inked by Murphy Anderson to me, or someone imitating the style.

@spweasel

“They aren’t nearly as useful as the ad makes them out to be.”

Most things aren’t.

i’m sure the “fire starter” feature of the ten in one scope ways always used responsibly.

I have modern day versions of that 10-in-1 scope. Got my 1st one at the museum of natural history in DC when i was a kid. They are pretty cool!

Two big lenses and two small lenses? I assume a big and small together make the telescope, and the other two together make the microscope, and then the two big ones side-by-side make the binoculars. The mirrors double as the signal device. And then it says to use a pencil or stick to make a sundial, which you can do without the gizmo. It’s really only three things in one. It’s kind of like marketing the book the ad appeared in as a combination comic book-flyswatter-fishwrap-paint drip catcher-tinder for starting fires-emergency toilet paper- and much, much, more!

That bodybuilding ad is the only one that I was interested in responding to when I was a kid. I wanted to be an astronaut, so they were hitting the right paradigm for that ad in the late 1960s when the Apollo missions were preparing to land on the moon.

I also ate Pillsbury’s Space Food Sticks and washed them down with Tang because that’s what astronauts supposedly ate and drank while orbiting the Earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPZ8HHRR1A0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf1kw5Yp9Ck&feature=related

I had something like the 10-in-1 thing, but I got mine on a trip to the museum with my grandfather. I held onto it for years an used it as a prop in a movie I made for English class in high school. Thanks for reminding me of that. I’m really enjoying this series.

I, too, was the “proud” owner of a 10-in-1 scope….and it was worth every penny of 50 cents. Made of brittle clear plastive, the only thing i was good for was as a magnifying glass (and a poor one at that). the later smaller ads heavily promoted its use as binoculars.

At least is was better than X-ray specs!

I always get so curious when I see ads like these. I would love to know what that Remington desk actually looked like.