Vintage Joke Exploding Matches

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shaintiques

Lifer
Jul 13, 2011
3,615
227
Georgia
Was going through some of my old stuff and came across a couple packs of these. Found it interesting because it mentions pipe smokers and the guy in the pic has a pipe. And seeing the pic I know it would be sacriligious to put these into the hands of a pipe smoker, but still thought they might be of interest.



 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,093
11,012
Southwest Louisiana
Aw the jokes we played on each other in the old days. Story time, after coming out the Navy I was a Relief Operator at a Carbom Black plant. Old man I was work

King with was a pipe smoker, nasty slobbering pipe smoker. One night I was eating my sandwich and had to go off the Control platform to check something out, laid my sandwich down, when I came back he was gone with his vile pipe inches from my sandwich. Now cats were abundant because we fed them, I grabbed one, took the pipe and shoved the stem up its ass tickling his nose. Layed it down, old man finally came back and put the pipe in his mouth, slobbering and went on never once thinking anything was wrong. Sometimes you can't win for trying. :PS Nothing wrong with pipe smoking just don't be a Slob. :laughat:

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,260
108,374
Sorry, if a Dunhill hit the floor over a prank match, I would hit the floor laughing. Never liked those things.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,224
5,354
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
shaintiques:
Exploding matches were just a part of the stock and trade of Detroit, Michigan's Johnson Smith & Company, as is evidenced by this page from their catalog No. 148 of 1938. Into at least the late 1960s the back page of most American comic books also featured a selection of their more popular novelties including joy buzzers, onion gum, dribble glasses, whoopee cushions, X-ray vision spectacles, and fake ice-cubes with plastic bugs inside.
f04n9.jpg


 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,260
108,374
Johnson Smith catalogs were great! Before I could drive and go to the likes of Spencer's Gifts, Johnson's products fueled most of my adolescent mischief. Got my parents with cigarette loads many times. Also remember I couldn't sit for a while afterwards too. Good times. :puffy:

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,224
5,354
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
The late Hoosier author Jean Shepherd (of "A Christmas Story" fame) wrote engagingly about Johnson Smith & Company in a story titled "The Rosetta Stone of American Culture" in his book "The Ferrari in the Bedroom."
Just imagine that rich radio voice confiding, in part, "Johnson Smith & Co. is and was as totally American as apple pie, far more so in fact, since they do make apple pie in most places in the civilized world. Only America could have produced Johnson Smith. There is nothing else in the world like it. Johnson Smith is to Man's darker side what Sears Roebuck represents to the clean-limbed soil-tilling righteous side, a rich compost heap of exploding cigars, celluloid teeth, Anarchist (Stink) Bombs [#6256 "More fun than a Limburger cheese"]."
This book, together with "In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash" from which the stories that comprise "A Christmas Story" were taken, are well worth seeking out, reading, and enjoying. The man was, indeed, a rare talent, the likes of which we will never again see.

 

mephistopheles

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 14, 2014
545
0
...popular novelties including joy buzzers, onion gum, dribble glasses, whoopee cushions, X-ray vision spectacles, and fake ice-cubes with plastic bugs inside.
I used to play with that kind of stuff all the time as a kid. :twisted: I got so many people with a fake rubber turd that I'd leave all over the place. I also had a pack of gum with a mousetrap inside, the fly in the ice cube, and a few other things that either broke or didn't work well.
I eventually gave up my gimmicky pranks after I dropped a stink bomb and it exploded all over me during a family vacation... There were three families packed into a tiny cabin and the water in the shower was so hard that it also stunk. I spent a very long weekend stinking to high heaven. :x

 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,592
15,324
SE PA USA
Hunter, one of my prized possessions is a fairly large collection of complete Jean Shepherd radio transcriptions, downloaded from the 'net about ten years ago. He was a genius of the radio, an American classic, albeit a son of a bitch in real life. Still, whenever there is a road trip afoot, it's Jean on the car radio.



LISTEN

READ

 

ravkesef

Lifer
Aug 10, 2010
2,913
9,203
81
Cheshire, CT
Years ago--many years ago, I slipped one of those cigarette loads into one of my mother's cigarettes. She lit up and took a couple drags from the cigarette, when suddenly there was a loud "POP!" I looked over, and there was my mother sitting at the table, her eyes wide. The cigarette was peeled back like a banana, and there were flecks of tobacco on her forehead, cheeks and face. I have never been able to tell the story without breaking into hysterical laughter, as indeed I'm doing now. This past Friday, January 30, 2015, would have been her one hundredth birthday. As it is, she lived to be 84, so I guess my little prank didn't shorten her life too much.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,224
5,354
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
woodsroad:
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Shepherd in 1988 when he was touring, and found him to be a delightful gentleman. After the program he chatted patiently with everyone who wished to speak with him, and was gracious enough not only to autograph for me each of his books, but to take a few minutes to discuss with me my favorite Shepherd story.
An SOB you say? I think not.

 

onepyrotec

Lifer
Feb 20, 2013
1,067
6,642
Nevada
I used to have a full counter display card of exploding matches, then my Niece's meth infested first husband stole them along with many other "collectable" old front strike matches and several rare coins.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,224
5,354
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
That Mr. Shepherd's initial married home-life was purportedly tragic could come as no surprise. I say "purportedly" because he is not here to defend himself. As for the interview of his daughter by Mr. Grant, children can always (and typically after the fact, and when "Daddy or Mummy Dearest" are safely dead), cry "foul" concerning the roles of their parents in their lives. (To that end Bing Crosby's first son, Gary, immediately jumps to mind). Factor this by Mr. Grant's purported animus toward Mr. Shepherd, and I choose to take both with a grain of salt. Still, can history repeat itself? Yes, it can.
If you read Mr. Shepherd's works carefully a current of sadness flows beneath the surface of some. During a question-and-answer portion of the program in which I saw him he was asked about "A Christmas Story." One of the things he revealed was that the stories upon which it was based were largely autobiographical. Another (and surprisingly candid one) was that shortly after the storybook ending depicted in the movie, real life intruded and his Mother and Father divorced, leaving him, his brother, and their Mother to fend for themselves.
As Mark Twain perceptively noted, "The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow."

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,997
26,617
New York
I remember as a child we had a joke and magic supplier called either Edison's or something like that, it supplied the most wonderful things. I seem to remember they did fake nails that appear to go through you finger, stink bombs and plastic dog turds and raspberry blowing fart cushions. Sadly I have never had children to indulge in these wonderful whims but thinking about that catalogue still makes me smile today.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,224
5,354
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
Here's another blast from the Johnson Smith & Company's past. You may recall that in Episode Three of "Leave it to Beaver" Wally and the Beaver sent away (most probably to JS&C, although they are not specifically named) for a baby alligator which they name Captain Jack.
I recall that a variety of other animals could also be ordered including spider monkeys.
3305u0g.jpg


 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,592
15,324
SE PA USA
I'll leave it to the curious to research Mr. Shepherd's life and to discover for themselves who the man was. There is a rather sharp contrast, though, between what he chose to present publicly and what those around around him experienced. Interviews with his co-workers, son, daughter and brother (Randy) are fairly consistent in their depiction.
I can only say that his observations are forever part of who I am, and for that I am grateful.

 
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