Redartz: Most of us have memories of comic spinner racks, candy displays, shelves of baseball cards, and so on. I'd wager most of us also have plunked some coins into gumball machines at some time or other. Just about every grocery, drug store, and restaurant had gumball machines in place (often near the exit, to catch those kids coming and going). You had penny machines, nickel machines (you got five gumballs or a fistful of toys), even quarter machines (for GIANT jawbreakers). Most dispensed gumballs, but others had candy, peanuts, or toys. Some of those gumball machines had gum and 'toy surprises' as well, so you never knew what you'd end up with.
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Those little toys took many forms: charms, little dolls (remember the "Wishniks" or "trolls"), little devices (magnifying glasses, 'super balls'). There were rings, puzzles, and "mini books"- tiny books, about an inch tall. The mini-books often had jokes, but Marvel Comics released a set back in the 60's that are now scarce collector's items.
16 comments:
Giant jaw-breaker gumballs were probably my personal favorite.
And for some reason, in our courtship days, my wife really liked getting a little superball from our local Giant Foods supermarket whenever we went shopping together. (Lordy, she was cute bouncing it around as we headed on outside. . . !)
HB
Little NFL team helmets were my thing. If I behaved during shopping, mom would let me get one on the way out. I think I eventually got most of the 28 teams back then. They were common trade bait in school. I would trade my doubles for comics! I remember trading a Giants helmet for a run of Joker comics.
If we had a penny we would buy these " Boston Baled Beans" because we were hungry, out of the machines. As an aside, we would take that penny and buy a Bazooka Joe chewing gum just as often but not out of the machines. The BJ came with that little comic that me and the buddies would exchange with each other as we busted our jaws chewing that rock-hard gum! What was that white stuff on the BJ, baseball card, Odd Rod, and Wacky Pack gum? Yeast or gluten or...?
Less of a thing in the UK I think, my main exposure was the dispenser at the swimming baths.
It always struck me as an odd juxtaposition - simultaneously looking at a poster promoting healthy lifestyles while stuffing my mouth with candy.
Such was public health in the 1970s, the decade dental health forgot.
Colin I get to France frequently (French wife) and I just love the swim suit dispensing machines selling the mandatory (!) Speedos swimming suits and swim hats which is like the last thing an American would put on for a liesurely day at the pool. Same in the U.K.??? Cheers fro Curious Charlie!
Charlie - in the UK budgie smugglers tend to be on racks or behind the customer service desk. The dispensers are mostly reserved for chocolate and fizzy drinks.
"Budgie Smugglers???" Pray telll what that is? Speedo Swimsuit ??? LOL!!!
Yep, that's speedos...
Hi Red - when might you do a post on comic book dispensing machines? Not sure how common they were but they were around in Gary, Indiana, and I fed pennies, nickels, and dimes into them! A picture might be required; a bit hard to describe!
I haven't seen a gumball machine in years, but I seem to remember the gum tasting terrible.
Yesterday it was changing the universe - today, gumball machines. Love it.
I remember gumball machines but was not fond of them. If I wanted gum, I would buy the individual dubble bubble for a penny. Then when they increased the price to something like 3 for a nickel I like to had a stroke.
As for the more expensive machines where you got a prize, I rarely did those. I think it depended upon your outlook on those sorts of things. Did you like getting a "surprise" or (like me) did you view a 25 cent investment in a gumball/prize machine a "risk"? For me, that quarter could be better spent on say...a comic. :-)
Tom
Not gumball-related, but I always remember a time when I was 11 or so, my pal and I went to a local store with comics and I paid a quarter for an ish.., while he paid something like 35 cents for a bag of Fritos chips or something.
We were pals, but he turned to me and told me he couldn't understand how I'd waste my coinage on a comic, when I could have bought a snack. I thought he was odd too, since I get supper every night at home anyways.
The comic may have actually been ASM 129..? Can't quite remember (as David recalls smugly...).
David - with tongue firmly in cheek:
There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.
Proverbs 21:20
I remember Bazooka gum and collecting all of the Bazooka Joe comic strips included inside -hoping to save enough for some mail order prize. Never did send them in though.
The white powder on the gum is typically a corn starch used to keep the gums from sticking to the paper of the wrapper or the baseball cards etc.
I did like Hubba Bubba, Bubbalicious, and Bubble Yum gums. There was also a long stick of gum (probably a foot long) and I think it was called Bub Daddy or something like that. Oh, and I liked Fruit Stripe with the Zebra but the taste didn't last long. Probably got those more than gum out of a gumball machine. My favorites were the Bub Daddy green apple or grape flavors. Though it was usually a treat for my mom to give me a penny for gum when I went shopping with her. That machine gum always just tasted like sugar and quickly lost it's flavor. Although there were slightly larger purple / grape gumballs that cost a nickel that weren't too bad.
My sister got one of those small red plastic round gumball machines for a birthday. We filled it up with the supplied gumballs but quickly emptied it, ate the gum, and I don't think we ever used it again.
As far as the prizes ... I was typically not interested. Although on the other hand I always looked forward to similar prizes in Cracker Jack. Water tattoos, little riddles and jokes, the small metal ball games, even the metal filing and magnet faces, etc. I ate a lot of Cracker Jack at my Grandpa's house.
Bubble blowing contests anybody?
HB- love the mental image of your wife bouncing the super ball! They always bounced well, maybe too well- they would quickly get away from you and bounce down the street.
Luther- nice trade! Joker comics for a Giants helmet? Any day. Now, if it were a Colts or Packers helm...
Charlie- we will have to look into that comic dispenser post; I've never seen one!
Tom- our area had penny and nickel gum machines with both gumballs and toys. Sometimes you got one, sometimes the other. Of course the nickel dispenser gave you a handful, so you had a better shot at scoring a ring or mini-book.
Marti- Bubs Daddy was great; enough gum for the whole afternoon!And the grape gumballs were the best.
By the way, you said you never got further use of your gumball machine? The one in the photo above was a gift from a friend back in high school. Filled it up with toys from years of machine visits...
I actually got a couple of those Marvel Mini Books
from those dispensing machines. No longer know where
they are among my stuff, or if I even still have them.
Robert E. Massmann lists them at
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9430/m1/2/
(yes, there were Archie mini books too!)
The Spider-Man mini book was drawn by Marie Severin.
Here's the Thor mini - is this Marie Severin too?
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/516/
D.D.Degg
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