Remembering the 70s – Slime [VIDEO]

I can't possibly describe how much fun it is to have a job where I get on my computer, research old toy commercials from my youth, and then write a story about them. I'm sure it's similar to being a voice artist on "The Simpsons," or being on the LEGO® creative team. What job?!!

My first narrative on this topic took us back to the Trapper Keeper.  This time I'm delving back even further.  So hop into my wayback machine as we travel back to the 1970s and explore the phenomenon we called "Slime."

The thing I remember most about the '70s was Disco, Star Wars, and my relief in knowing I was too young to have to wear those atrocious fashions. I'm sure I did have at least one pair of plaid checkered pants, though. I also have a somewhat vivid memory of my favorite toys during that magical era.

It was during that time, for whatever reason, that Mattel decided us kids needed something green that oozed, felt really weird in our hands, and gave our parents fits. I couldn't have agreed more! Bring on the Slime!

More powerful than Play-Doh, much cooler than Silly Putty, Slime found its way to store shelves in 1976. Whether they were marketing whizzes or just doing too much cocaine, the marketers of Slime capitalized on this wonderful creation by packaging it in its own little plastic garbage can...genius! Think back and I'm sure you can remember the distinct odor when you popped open the can. How 'bout the counterfeit flatulence sound when you first pulled out the magnificent glop? What about that first feeling of rolling it around on your hands? For those hoping that this synthetic booger-resembling substitute would help keep our fingers out of our noses, they (or at least mine) were sorely disappointed.

The last thing I remember about Slime is that it really wasn't any fun. Other than enjoying the sight of watching your mother's hair curlers pop when she saw you matting it into the carpet, there wasn't much of a redeeming quality to it. They did try to spruce it up now and then by changing the colors and adding plastic eyeballs or rubber worms (which I also had to have) - even turning it into a game at one point. By then I was over it.

Slime would take on a whole new life in the late '70s and early '80s when a little known Canadian television show called "You Can't Do That on Television" introduced green slime as a prank that would fall on the head of any unsuspecting cast member who uttered the phrase "I don't know."

As with all those wonderful toys of my youth, I kind of wish I had a can to play with now.