I was pitiful, I could never build anything more elaborate than the most simple of designs with my used Erector-set. For that matter, I was never able to draw anything on an Etch-A-Sketch either. How the HELL do these "Frank Lloyd Wright/Skidmore Owings Merrill Erector-Set" prodigy kids do it? Of course, I have never actually seen an elaborately designed Erector-set created building in person.

The extremely graphic directions and magazine ads imply that you can build the most fantastic buildings and mechanical aircraft, simply by bolting a couple of metal pieces together. You know, it is a training ground for the brilliant McGyver type of kid. A person that can visualize something and knows instinctively what is needed to solve the problem. In other words, somebody other than myself.

Who knows, maybe it was one giant con job. Nobody was able to build anything more elaborate than a square box. That is something that I will continue to tell myself until I am six feet under.

This magazine ad promotes a fantastic toy from the Gilbert Toy company. The graphic ad has a beautiful early 1920's look to it, which is appropriate since it was created in 1929.









Tweet