Dinosaurs and Adios, MF-ers
In de-cluttering/ organizing my home office this week, I came across two copies of Jack and Jill Magazine from 1965. Addressed to me. I'd had a subscription, apparently, which I think might have been a grandparent gift.
There's plenty of fun in the June 1965 Jack and Jill magazine, including my clumsy attempt on page 62 to "Draw a Dinosaur." What really grabs me, though, is the ad for the AMF Hi-Ball Hand Car. "More Fun Than a Circus!" "IT'S NEW...DIFFERENT--EXCITING!" "The wheel toy you can ride standing up." I probably wanted this "toy" when I read the magazine in 1965. I know I saw the magazine, because there's the aforementioned dinosaur done badly in black pen on page 62.
For some reason, when I saw the ad again today, with its name starting with AMF, my brain was thinking "Adios MotherF***ers" (what movie is that from?); then the happy clown image with its adult shape (yet child size) gave me the creeps. And then I wondered how many children were killed by neighbors' cars during the first few days after the birthday in which they received this thing. The clown is not wearing a helmet or elbow pads--those items would be important much later. But that's not the biggest problem. Read the ad and look at the drawing: THERE ARE NO BRAKES!!!!!
AMF is American Machine & Foundry Company, which is best known for its automatic bowling- pin setting machines, which helped make indoor bowling the very important recreational and competitive sport that it is. They made bicycles, too. I knew kids who bragged in the '70's about having "an AMF bike." I'm pretty sure the AMF bikes had some kind of braking mechanism.
But this AMF Hi-Ball Hand Car had no brakes? OK, so maybe AMF really does mean Adios MotherF***ers.