Comic books ads have always been a fascination of mine. I would peruse those ads in my comic books as a kid, dreaming of ordering a pair of X-Ray Specs (for scientific purposes, of course), that voice-throwing gadget (fool your parents and your teachers!) or a life-sized Frankenstein's monster (because who wouln't want one?!) Sadly, I never ordered anything as my mom told me they were a ripoff. Who knew moms were so smart?
I don't recall ever seeing this pin-on dagger in a comic book, but I would venture a guess it was marketed similarly. I found this in a box lot of magic tricks over the summer.
The open pin is a sure sign of its age. It was manufactured by Honey Toy Industries in 1961.
The owner of Honey Toy was Harold Braunhut. You know him from such novelties as the aforementioned X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys. What you may not know is, despite being Jewish, he was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and attended Aryan Nation conferences. Kind of puts a downer on enjoying these great gag toys. But let's separate the man from his inventions and look at a few others credited to Harold.
Amazing Hair Raising Monsters: I remember this ad well, although it appeared in my older brothers' comic books, so I'm sure the offer had expired by then.
Invisible Goldfish: The ad's below. Don't you see it? Ha! I kill me. Seriously though, I couldn't find an ad for this. According to Wikipedia, they were "imaginary fish that were guaranteed to remain permanently invisible". I'm assuming Harold was trying to ride the coattails of the "Pet Rock" craze in making money off of nothing.
And if you think Harold was all fun and games (well, we know he wasn't at this point), he also invented weapons.
Image courtesy theawl.com
Apparently, Harold was detained and arrested in LaGuardia Airport in 1979 for attempting to carry these onto a plane. The charges were later dismissed when it was shown the weapon was pretty ineffective (surprise!).
Harold Braunhut passed away in 2003, thankfully with his products outliving his prejudice.