Friday, September 27, 2013

“Your Best Buy’s Mongol” (and other buys)


[Life, March 19, 1956. Click for a larger, even better buy.]

A full-page advertisement for my favorite pencil. I lIke the claim: “writers say it actually stimulates flow of thoughts.” So I am here to say, Yes, the Mongol actually stimulates flow of thoughts. Yes I say yes it does Yes.

The Mongol ad appears on page 64 in Life. Across from it:


[Life, March 19, 1956. Click for a larger view.]

Not all rubber bands are full of life. But these are. I will use one of them to secure a Mongol to my thinking cap. Flow, thoughts, flow!

And now that thoughts are flowing, I would like to say that I have never dabbled in psychedelics (I have trouble even spelling the word), but I’m sure that if I were so to dabble, I would see Pink Pearl erasers sprout little hands and feet and run with glee.



My attention to these matters is prompted by news of an illustrated history of Faber-Castell, as reported by Contrapuntalism and Lexikaliker. The Mongol ad is reproduced in the book, as I learned while Looking Inside at amazon.de. Thanks to Sean at Contrapuntalism for providing that link.

Other Mongol posts: Harry Truman with pencil : Jimmy Hoffa’s Mongol : Molly Dodd, Mongol user : Mongol No. 2 3/8 : Naked City Mongol : “Sound-testing a MONGOL” : Stolen Mongols

[Some years ago, I wrote (briefly) about the Mongol ad in a piece for Pencil Revolution.]

comments: 4

Gunther said...

A great ad! I especially like "2,162 words for one cent".

Johnny said...

Gracious, I wish my kids could experience ads like this!

Chris P said...

Now I know I'm old - I've used most of these items, even the typewriter cleaner.

Excuse me while I grab my cane.

Michael Leddy said...

Gunther, I’m glad you like it, and that it’s in your book.

Johnny, Google Books is the best place I know for easy access to such ads. It’s a wonderland.

Chris, me too. I still have a bottle of lethal-smelling stuff for cleaning typewriter platens. I should find and photograph it, before it explodes.

Thanks, everyone, for the comments.