It was only much later that I figured out that Fun Night
was probably a PTA fundraiser. For us
kids, it was simply Fun
Night!
At Fun Night, all sorts of activities went on. There was a Cake Walk (boring!), a gypsy
Fortune Teller, variations on Cake Walks (boring-er!!), carnival-like games of
skill, and a fishing game. This involved
dangling a string on a bamboo pole until it hung past a barrier. Crouched down, unseen by us kids, a parent
would attach a trinket to the line.
As you can imagine, the “prizes” we won were the same sorts
of things you could get from a penny-candy dispenser. Wax moustaches, little rubber balls, marbles,
the dreaded pencil or pink eraser -- these were some of the “prizes” won for
the price of the tickets our parents bought at the ticket booth.
But for me …. The best prizes were the scary or monster
ones! And one of my treasures from the
1960s ….
Theoretically, you put these in your pocket. Your unsuspecting patsy (AKA everybody else)
would think a skeleton was crawling from your pocket.
I didn’t learn until much later that these things were
often sold with a plastic skull attached.
By the 1970s, such a plain little scare couldn’t make it on
its own; it was bundled as a come-along when you bought
other stuff! The ad above was from the
September, 1970 Boys Life.
Here’s a color ad.
Don’t feel bad, Skeleton Hands! You’re worth everything to my memory!
PS they looked like this when I wore them to church on Sunday, October 30th. Everybody admired them.
