I can still remember H.R. Pufnstuf and the life size puppets of McDonaldland who played on the popularity of Pufnstuf and whose Ronald McDonald Mayor McCheese and Hamburglar were the spitting image of the Krofft characters in the 70s I made a name badge with Dymo vinyl that said H.R. Pufnstuf and wore it to work at Shoppers when I worked the cash staff didn't notice but a customer did she was buying Roux Minx hair colour and dropped her purse when she saw my badge so all of her change scattered across the floor and then she laughed when she looked at my badge again and we collected her silver and coppers I apologized and she laughed some more out of this I learned how there got to be a blue rinse set and what to do next time my legs got weak and I snickered to myself the poor lady had nothing to learn and seemed unscathed by the levity and even laughed when I said there was no need to check my smoking material some t...

When  I was very young I remember seeing a reproduction of the famous equestrian painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps by Jacques Louis David in a freebie book that showed up in the mail one day.   The publisher--very likely Time Life--hoped to tempt you to subscribe to the whole series.  But in a family like ours, the book was just another way to ease the boredom until something else dropped through the slot in the door, like an individual portion of Captain Crunch, which showed up when the Posties were on strike.  The box advertised that Captain Crunch "stays crunchy, even in milk" and featured a perforated front, which open like barn doors to allow you to eat right out of the box.  Skip the Dishes is not a new concept in the history of marketing. I don't know who delivered the prize package--only remember waiting for decision as to whether I would get it, or it would go to one of my other two brothers.  There were competing claims regarding who go...