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Sunday, November 27, 2011

What Shall I Be?

While in Connecticut over Thanksgiving, I played Scrabble with my parents one night. Their copy dates to 1968, and an insert in the box advertises other games by Selchow & Righter (Scrabble's publisher at the time), including this pair:

Here's the text of the caption:
WHAT SHALL I BE? An important question for children when they think about their future . . . . Our two What Shall I Be? games, one for boys, the other for girls, teach youngsters about planning careers while having loads of fun. Boys follow the career road to becoming an astronaut, doctor, scientist, lawyer, pro football player, or engineer. Girls reach for careers in dancing, acting, teaching, nursing, modeling, or as airline stewardesses. These are really different games for boys and girls. Here's to your children's future!

These are really different games for boys and girls.

5 comments:

applegac said...

That copy ("These are really different games...") seems designed to be reassuring, somehow. But I'm not sure if we're supposed to be reassured about the politics (Don't worry, these games uphold the idea that boys and girls are different!) or just pragmatically (If you're considering buying both games, don't worry, you won't be paying twice for the same cards!). You need to keep digging through your parents' belongings on your visits home, because you tend to turn up real gems.
Also, when are you going to post your traditional roundup of photos of Thanksgiving pies?

Teague said...

I did feel like I was having some trouble pinning down the tone they were trying to convey with that line. But the overall tone is so patronizing that I'm inclined to go with the first possibility you mention.

Speaking of board games and previous old stuff I've run across, I again saw the 1960s version of the game Trouble in the basement, and had a fresh chuckle at its tagline, "The new frustrating chase game." Clearly they did not have Don Draper handling their account.

gastropodblue said...

"Trouble: the cure for the common chase game"?

applegac said...

How about "It's how you say fun in Farsi"?

Teague said...

Mr. Gastropod, you have a strong future in advertising, provided no one finds out that you assumed the identity of a snail in your unit after he was killed in action in Grenada.

Ms. Applegac, we'll have to focus-group that one.