Had to be one of the least enthusiastic product endorsements ever.
A country parson is going on British television with a commercial for God and margarine. ..
The Rev. Mr. Stephens said he took the job only on condition he could write his own script. He starts by saying he is not really a margarine man because it reminds him of his years in the army. Then he adds: "However, we ate it. Our system probably needed it. The body needs fat like the soul needs God."
The commercial was filmed in his study.
From the mind of inventor George Fullerton came, in 1973, the Belly Bongo.
It's called a "Belly Bongo," and according to inventor Fullerton, it will make you "shake, rattle and roll." Made of high-impact styrene plastic, the Belly Bongo toy is an 8-inch square composed of four open-ended chambers. A hard rubber ball hangs from a three-inch string on the front-center. A canvas strap threaded through the back fastens it to your body. When Belly Bongo is secured around the hips — "where the action is," says Fullerton — the ball moves with the motion of your body. As it hits on the hollow chambers, it produces a bongo-beat, the tone of which varies according to the chamber size. With the motion of walking, the Belly Bongo emits a bump-da-da-da, bump-da-da-da beat. "It tells you how sexy your walk is," Fullerton grins.
A rapid-motion twist produces an up-tempo pong-pong-pong-pong. With proper body movements, Belly Bongo makes you your own bump-and-grind drummer. A checker in the electro-mechanical division at Honeywell, Fullerton spends his evenings designing and tapping away at product prototypes in his Largo home. Belly Bongo is the latest in a long line of toys and crafts he's invented. Fullerton explains his wealth of entertainment ideas as a direct result of the lack of hair on his head. "It's all because I'm bald-headed," he says with a laugh, "If you're bald-headed, it means you're crazy."
Released in 1974, The Rite of Exorcism was an album performed by three Catholic priests calling themselves the Contemporary Mission. It included a rock-and-roll version of "Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)." The trio described the album as an attempt to communicate with young people in their own media. So, it was part of the ongoing effort to help Catholicism shed its stuffy image.
Except, in this case there's some debate over whether the three really were bonafide Catholic priests. By 1980 they were under investigation for using tax-exempt religious status to run a sketchy mail-order business that sold snake-oil of various kinds such as "a bath oil described as weight-reducing... and a 'Living Cross' that, when coupled with a special prayer, was guaranteed to change your life 'in just five days.'"
"The name of the game is ball buster. It's a family game, fun for children... and for adults it's exciting. You make strategic offensive and defensive moves. Then try to bust your opponent's balls."
Maybe the name of the game was a little too edgy for its own good. The game debuted in 1975, and as far as I can tell was discontinued after a year.
But the TV ad for the game is a classic, especially the final scene where the husband tells his wife, "You're a ball buster."
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.