1950's Mattel Toy gun commercials

[JBinMN]

From "back in the day" for some folks to remember...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWuR3-Y4Go


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWrEcFFSnxE

Times have changed a lot, haven't they?

And I don't think necessarily for the better, either... Lot of folks today would have conniption fits if these were still sold to youngsters, I'd bet.

Back then it was just fine. And not a lot of complaints about them & ones like them.

You can imagine, or even know, what might happen in certain areas "now", were kids to have & play with these toys?

Yup... Times have sure changed...

[Thundarstick]

I've got one of those in the first clip!

[MUSTANG]

I had the "Detective Special" back in the early 1960's. It was a revolver with 2" barrel, Shoulder holster, Detectives badge, and an arrangement where the "38" brass cases took both a cap and a grey plastic "Boolit" in each brass casing. The revolver was almost full size if I recall correctly. You could shoot targets off of a saw horse from 10 feet or more away. Great fun for youngsters.

I am sure the "Protect the Chillen" crowd would have apoplexy over those today; besides "You could shoot your eye out".

[Bulldogger]

Neat-o!

[wgr]

i had a fanner .50

[white eagle]

I had one but by the time I got one the libs decided that the auto handle was to
much like a gun of war and I could only semi fire it

[Ickisrulz]

And I don't think necessarily for the better, either... Lot of folks today would have conniption fits if these were still sold to youngsters, I'd bet.

Back then it was just fine. And not a lot of complaints about them & ones like them.

You can imagine, or even know, what might happen in certain areas "now", were kids to have & play with these toys?

Yup... Times have sure changed...

Nerf guns seem to be pretty big sellers these days and kids actually shoot one another with them.

[robg]

Life was simpler then .if kids had them today on the street there would be an armed responce unit there in a couple of minutes with a helicopter overhead.

[KCSO]

I loved my fanner 50 used it till I got a real gun!

[popper]

There was another version of the 'fanner' that had the caps inside the case. Nothing was 'shot'.

[Thin Man]

I had a lever rifle like Chuck Connors in The Rifleman. There was a small "flap" mounted on the lever that would cause the rifle to fire when the lever closed against the receiver. With my constant use of that flap it wore out of regulation quickly. The rifle fired roll caps, no projectile. That one (and a few others) contributed to my loss of hearing real early.

[Traffer]

I STILL want one of those. LoL. Never had a good cap gun as a kid. However I did get a BB gun when I was 4 years old. I remember having to put the stock on the floor and hold it next to my foot to cock it. (Daisy)

[OS OK]

We had rubber band guns. Had to make them for yourself. If you shot them at close range you could get a good reaction out of your buddy.
Then we got Red Ryders...then came the BB gun wars! Life was so simple back then!

[starmac]

Built some rbberband guns myself, actually got to be a pretty good wing shot with them (dragonflies)

[popper]

rubber band gun wars only. And when they got taken away, the old finger & thumb worked fine. You could upsize to the innertube band rifles too, clothspin trigger.

[marlin39a]

I had them all. Fired caps, darts, and plastic bombs. Went to a BB gun, and here I am now. I still remember the day I found out I was left eye dominate.

[DocSavage]

Cousin had a shootin' shell lever rifle got in big trouble for shooting out the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Had that Tommy gun but finding perforated caps in my neck of the woods was near impossible. Big thing was the Rifleman's Winchester,Josh Randall's Marie's leg and Wyatt Farm's Buntline Special when I was a kid.

[Uncle Jimbo]

I had the "Detective Special" back in the early 1960's. It was a revolver with 2" barrel, Shoulder holster, Detectives badge, and an arrangement where the "38" brass cases took both a cap and a grey plastic "Boolit" in each brass casing. The revolver was almost full size if I recall correctly. You could shoot targets off of a saw horse from 10 feet or more away. Great fun for youngsters.

I am sure the "Protect the Chillen" crowd would have apoplexy over those today; besides "You could shoot your eye out".

I had one of these also. Long time ago, but do remember having fun with. Remember always having to go buy new plastic bullets for it, lost them constantly.

[Powder Burn]

This was a nice birthday present back in the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPhZsauluXM

Also I had the Outdraw the Outlaw to practice with my Fanner.

212795

[Maineboy]

My brother and I each had a Fanner 50 and a Tommy Gun as did many of the neighborhood boys. if I remember correctly, caps were 5 cents for a 5 roll box.

[wrench]

This is me, a looooong time ago. Good times.:bigsmyl2:
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[David2011]

I had the "Detective Special" back in the early 1960's. It was a revolver with 2" barrel, Shoulder holster, Detectives badge, and an arrangement where the "38" brass cases took both a cap and a grey plastic "Boolit" in each brass casing. The revolver was almost full size if I recall correctly. You could shoot targets off of a saw horse from 10 feet or more away. Great fun for youngsters.

I am sure the "Protect the Chillen" crowd would have apoplexy over those today; besides "You could shoot your eye out".

I had a Detective Special and over the years most of the toy guns mentioned here. Dad had a darkroom setup and made a photogram (silhouette image) of his 2” High Standard Sentinel and my toy pistol. They were the same size and it was hard to tell which was the toy in the photogram.

[rancher1913]

I had the "have gun will travel" rig from the palidan series.

[gray wolf]

There was another version of the 'fanner' that had the caps inside the case. Nothing was 'shot'.

My brother and I each had one of the above.

[quack1]

Wrench-Funny, I have a picture like that, too.
Me in 1954
https://i.imgur.com/h9U9Khr.jpg

[opos]

Guess we all have our cowboy pictures...Denver Stockyards in about 1945 or so...the second picture is my oldest Son (just turned 60 and is a grandad now) in about 1962 in the Mountains in Colorado..notice the levi cuffs turned up and go back to the "fanner" commercial and look at the kid when he walks away with the cuffs turned up...some things were pretty constant back "in the day"

212813

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[frkelly74]

spring loaded Dart guns were my dads idea of a good time. We had wars in the front room and all of our cats got a little skittish . I once got a double barrel shotgun for Christmas and a wind up rabbit to shoot at. ( gave the cats a break )

[opos]

Anyone here ever make "match shooters"? An old straight wooden clothespin with a spring clip clothes pin attached...take the old wooden "strike anywhere" matches and when you shot them the match lit...some fun until you set the couch on fire....no pictures of how to make one..that's from the 40's and don't want to be responsible for any problems with some kid that might try to duplicate our insanity.

[Thumbcocker]

Some steely eyed hombres in the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Echo]

We had rubber band guns. Had to make them for yourself. If you shot them at close range you could get a good reaction out of your buddy.
Then we got Red Ryders...then came the BB gun wars! Life was so simple back then!
Roger on the Rubber Guns - back in the day, tire inner tubes were fairly plentiful, and one could make a repeater, by stacking clothespins. And the 'reaction of buddies' was to wince and arch their back when hit between the shoulder blades by a double- or triple-rubber!

[pcolapaddler]

I remember a toy revolver that I received from Christmas that had a plastic bullet that fired downrange. I don't remember what mad it 'go', but the bullets would snap back into the cases.

It wasn't long until I lost or broke all of the bullets.

I can't imagine something like that being sold today. Liability looking for a home....

Sent from my Frankenphone using Tapatalk

[popper]

And the 'reaction of buddies' was to wince and arch their back when hit between the shoulder blades
Those little green sand burrs worked better for that. Came with a built in 'handle' so you could 'peg' them pretty good.

[Blanket]

have my old six shooter hanging in the basement, given tome for Christmas by my grandad when 4 years old and is in rough shape. It is about the same size as a SAA and says cowboy on the side. The ejector rod pulls forward to open the cylinder.

[starmac]

Anyone here ever make "match shooters"? An old straight wooden clothespin with a spring clip clothes pin attached...take the old wooden "strike anywhere" matches and when you shot them the match lit...some fun until you set the couch on fire....no pictures of how to make one..that's from the 40's and don't want to be responsible for any problems with some kid that might try to duplicate our insanity.

Hell you might as well post it, a kid can get marijuana with no problem these days, but NO way is he goingto find a match that will light anywhere like that any more. lol
We built versions of match guns, but I don't even remember what they looked like now.

[Blanket]

we shot strike anywheres out of our daisys, as well as having our hands on silver salutes and real cherry bombs and M80's

[Blanket]

standard issue back pocket filler was a slingshot but that was not the correct name they were called at that time

[edler7]

Anyone here ever make "match shooters"? An old straight wooden clothespin with a spring clip clothes pin attached...take the old wooden "strike anywhere" matches and when you shot them the match lit...some fun until you set the couch on fire....no pictures of how to make one..that's from the 40's and don't want to be responsible for any problems with some kid that might try to duplicate our insanity.

My buddy and I used to make those. We'd go through a box of matches in an afternoon. I want to show my grandkids how to make them, but I know better than to do it. Things just aren't the same any more...

[starmac]

standard issue back pocket filler was a slingshot but that was not the correct name they were called at that time

I hear you on the name. I ran around with a couple of brothers that actually had wrist rockets and they were deadly shots with them.

[starmac]

And the 'reaction of buddies' was to wince and arch their back when hit between the shoulder blades
Those little green sand burrs worked better for that. Came with a built in 'handle' so you could 'peg' them pretty good.

Acorns or if you really wanted to raise a welt, them little green pine cones HURT.

[nseries]

I had an old Polaroid of me dressed up as Daniel Boone for Halloween holding a plastic Kentucky flintlock rifle twice my height wearing a synthetic coonskin cap. I was probably 3 or 4 years old at the time (late 1960's). Took it to work years ago for some "guess who this is" thing our HR department was doing and never got it back.

[mold maker]

I STILL want one of those. LoL. Never had a good cap gun as a kid. However I did get a BB gun when I was 4 years old. I remember having to put the stock on the floor and hold it next to my foot to cock it. (Daisy)

Mine, I think, was a Daisy mod 25, that I had to stand on the ground to pump the action. My arms were too short and weak to overcome the spring.