Glossy Time Capsules #14: Jack and Jill - 1966 and 1968

Glossy Time Capsules #14

Jack and Jill

April, 1966 (Price: 35 cents)

and

November, 1968 (Price: 50 cents)


So I found these two 50+year-old children's magazines at GoodWill. I don't think I'd ever heard of Jack and Jill (the publication) before, even though it has been in circulation since 1938 and is apparently still going strong.

Okay, then, 50-year-old issues of an 80-year-old magazine, let's see what you're all about!

We'll start with 1966...

That old Frosty The Snowman cartoon had already prepared me for the fact that 60's children often went around without pants, so I'm not shocked by this image. Neither am I surprised by the child standing in floodwaters. Just a typical April day in Portland, that.

I'm a bit put out that I don't have access to the next issue, in which I would get to learn about an ostrich named Charlie. I'll have to content myself with these jump rope rhymes for now...

Gee, I wonder why that one didn't get handed down to future generations?

Old eggs.

Perky Puppet! 

Oh dang, it's a clown.

No, no... actually, don't be that. We've finally learned the truth about that guy.

Another place to add to my bucket list.

Fun toys!

Here's an article about a TV producer with roughly 6 credits on imdb.

Look at the faces of the mom and the dog. They'd rather be literally anywhere else. And yet there they sit. That's love, right there.

Is he talking about the ducks, or the kids who gave him the ducks?

Oh, but that water!

Oooh, a partially written story! Where kids write the ending! Let's see what they've come up with...

Clever.

THE CARNAGE! Those poor babies!

She did WHAT?

Fireballs! Yessss.

There's a lot of dinosaur suffering going on in these stories.

Typical Craig, changing the name of the characters as he sees fit.

Oh, the ominousness of "and other things." 

YES! The dinosaur wins at last! Suck it, fish! Thanks, Nancy.

Being nice is... yeah, not that last panel.

Oh, Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. YouTube won't be invented for 40 years. Only then will this kind of thing be amusing to anyone besides yourself.

I love these news notes. I'm sure it would have been thrilling for any kid to find their name on this page. "Gregory McFarland, 9, of Ohio, found eleven dollars while playing ball." You go, Gregory.

And now for the 1968 issue...

Oooh, how timely! A Thanksgiving issue!

Who could fail to love a story about a cat rocketing through the sky on an ironing board?

Looking at the first picture, I thought Jimmy was about six, and I thought how quaint of his mother to send him off to the grocery store by himself. (School Readers of the 40s & 50s have taught me this was a perfectly normal thing back when.) But in the bottom picture, the shopping cart is below Jimmy's waist, so now I understand that Jimmy is this woman's giant adult son! 

Now if only he'd learn to READ OFF A LIST.

Gah!

That dog is willing to give up all his bones now in the hopes that at the years' end he will acquire five additional bones at no cost to him. 

In the meantime, I guess he starves? :( DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN, CHILDREN!

The "Limit 9 letters" thing immediately made me feel sorry for people named Christopher, Jacqueline, and... um... then, try as I might, I couldn't think of any other (common) first names that have more than 9 letters. Even names that seem like they should go off the page, like Catherine, Elizabeth, Bridgette, Stephanie, and Alexander, only have 9 letters apiece.

So Christophers and Jacquelines of the world, you're simply "Chris" and "Jackie" now. Otherwise, no soup (bowl) for you.

I couldn't go on until I'd heard the song "La Dee Doo Down Down" for myself, and what do you know? It's on Youtube!

Typical Germany travel story.

Hey, David... I know the feeling.

Haha. Children.

At least everyone in this family looks like they want to be there.

This is so cool. I was with some kids who found a bottle once. In a lake. I was adamant that we should write to the person (their address was in the bottle) but the kids didn't seem interested in following through. And they wouldn't let me take the letter. I was very annoyed.

And, yes, throwing things in the ocean isn't a great idea, but I still secretly hope to find my own bottle someday...

It ought to come as a surprise to NO ONE that this wasn't written by the lyricist Steven Schwartz.

You used to think that, or you actually DID that?

Nancy, Nancy, NANCY!

And now, for a collage of pictures related to Thanksgiving...

1. Football

2. Turkey

3. Doe drinking at the stream

4. American Indian

5. American Indians

6. American Indian dwellings

7. American Indian + pilgrim = BFFs4eva

Gosh, the only thing missing is a turkey shaped like someone's hand.

Well, until next time...