To The Moon By Rocket Ship (1940)

 

A bit of obscure ephemera today. In 1940 the Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia had a program they called "To the Moon by Rocket Ship." It was a program for adults and children describing the science of what it would be like to go to the Moon. It also explored the formation of craters (thought volcanic at the time.) They also sold this souvenir booklet of the program.

So from a hot summer night some 85 years ago we take you on an exploration of the Moon.

Franklyn Institute. To The Moon by Rocket Ship. Philadelphia, PE: Fels Planetarium.  (10 p.) Aug and Sept 1940. 

Sugar Jets Cereal (1954)

 

Sugar Jets Cereal! More sugar than your body needs in easy bite-sized bits.

Sugar Jets cereal was introduced in 1953, but here is a 1954 box. Its mascot for years was Major Jet. I have collected a bunch of ads, premiums, and comic strips about this cereal since I loved the "space age" design. So here is my collection so far.

I do have to recommend this 1958 Sugar Jets commercial for its space age appeal and the commercial for the Lindberg Space Station model you could send away for.

Sugar Jets - Your Breakfast for Tomorrow (1958 Commercial)

https://youtu.be/MHGhW4hPXcs?si=P6-8-Bb2ulcJzScQ

Back of the cereal box:

Some advertisements of the time

A giveaway premium: Major Jet's Rocket-Glider

Major Jet's Magic Googles

Next is Major's Jet's Magic Paint Set. I had blogged about these cereal premiums back in 2013.

"Yes, the universe of tomorrow may seem as small as the world of today!"

Finally here is some of the advertisements/comic strips that used to appear in the Sunday comics.

Thank goodness for Major Jet and his Jet Helicopter!

Mournful Mouse and the Space Trip (1963)

 

I am not really scraping the bottom of the barrel as much as taking the time to post the most obscure stuff in my space book collection. I collected almost any pre 1980 children's book about spaceflight. I preferred the non-fiction but picked up some strange fiction and comics along the way. (Giant carrots from the Moon anyone?)

So Mournful Mouse and The Space Trip is part of a series of books. This was the only one about rockets or space. It was the author's self-published effort. The two sizes of type on each page are odd. It seems (to our modern eyes) THAT THE OTHER VOICE IS YELLING.

A simple story: a mouse boy finds a sky rocket, accidently gets launched to the Moon, and makes it home for the picnic (with a stomach-ache.)

I do not understand the Mournful Mouse character either.

Schmock, Helen H. Illustrated by Schmock, Helen H. Mournful and The Space Trip. (The Adventures of Mournful Mouse, Book 3.) Ludington, MI: J & H Publishing. (16 p.) 1963.