Did You Sell Grit?

Mr_Cosmic

Did you sell Grit? Ever buy Charles Atlas' 32 page book? Mail away for X-Ray Specs? Enter the wonderful world of amazing live Sea-Monkeys?

In other words, did you ever buy or mail away for anything through a comic ad?

hauberk

No to Grit but I did fall for the foot locker full if army men. The were almost completely 2D junk.

RickM

Yes to Sea Monkeys. Also, in 1978 I sent away for the catalog of one of the back-issue dealers. It looked like it was created on a typewriter. I ended up paying $8 for Fantastic Four #56.

Chuck_Melville

I remember that my younger brother once sent away for a Hypno Coin. It didn't really work, but it was cool to look at.

The only thing I can recall sending away for was for some lists of old comics for sale, listed in the ad sections of some old Marvels back in the 60's -- guys selling their copies of Golden Age comics, like the original Human Torch. Couldn't afford them, as they usually ran upwards of $20 or so.

phansford

I bought one of those brass Spider-man coins and I also purchased my first edition hardback copy of "Origins of Marvel Comics" thru ads in a comic book.

I did sell the Grit - but I took over the route from a friend… who had taken over from someone else. All three of us lived next to each other. I had about 80 customers and made the same amount of money as my friends who delivered the daily newspaper. If memory serves me correctly, the Grit sold for 25¢ and I got 13¢ for each paper. The Grit came every Thursday to my house via the post office and off I'd go delivering it. It was actually the only "newspaper" at the time that had color photos in every issue. It was considered a weekly news magazine, but it was printed on news stock and was easily 60-80 pages a week. I would have people stop me in the street wanting to buy a copy. It was VERY popular. Plus you'd get points for each paper you would sell. When I closed out my account, I took my prize as cash and purchased ASM #2 for $60 (1976). I had my Grit paper route for 5 years and it was the big reason that I got my high school job…. because I sold the paper for so long, it showed I would be a dedicated employee….. so said my employer. HaHa.

bralinator

David_D

Jimmy is the most conservatively dressed boy with purple hair I've ever seen.

bralinator

David_D said:

Jimmy is the most conservatively dressed boy with purple hair I've ever seen.

He wants that swell survival knife prize

RickM

bralinator said:

David_D said:

Jimmy is the most conservatively dressed boy with purple hair I've ever seen.

He wants that swell survival knife prize

They mocked my purple hair. But when I showed them the knife. . . .

David_D

RickM said:

bralinator said:

David_D said:

Jimmy is the most conservatively dressed boy with purple hair I've ever seen.

He wants that swell survival knife prize

They mocked my purple hair. But when I showed them the knife. . . .

He could be an even more terrifying version of that paperboy who chases John Cusack's character through Better Off Dead.

You don't want Jimmy to have to chase you down for his 20 cents.

Torchsong

http://www.grit.com/

It's still around, folks.

You all owe me 20 cents if you click the link above. I need that telescope. :)

phansford

You laugh…. :D but other than the cash out, the only prize I ever ordered was a knife and hatchet set. I still have the knife and I think the hatchet is around somewhere. My parents had a place at Grand Lake St. Marys (Ohio) and these were handy items to have around. They're great for camping. I kept the knife in my tackle box. I think I got my older brother the set for his birthday. He camped quite a bit when we were kids.

This is the ad I remember from the comic books. And to be clear…. I didn't have a crew cut. HAHA

David_D

phansford said:

"And I think the hatchet is around somewhere...

... your honor." ;)

phansford

:))

Chuck_Melville

I always thought Grit was just a myth because I never saw it around anywhere, until one day I chanced on a copy someone had thrown away. It still strikes me as a curiosity, as that was the only time I've ever seen a copy. It's never referred to, outside of the comic book ads -- never cited as a source, or as someone's regular reading. If it's popular, its popularity is something of a well-kept secret. Who reads it, and where?

phansford

From what I can tell (Wikipedia), it was sold in the early 1990's and the format has changed drastically. But originally it was sold mostly in small towns and rural areas. The town I grew up in would fit the definition of a small town. At it's peak in 1969 circulation was 1.5 million copies a week.

It seems to now be a bi-montly magazine that caters more toward a rural emphasis and its print-run is 150,000.

I haven't seen a copy since I quit selling it. HaHa.

RickM

Was it full of anti-Communist screeds and reports of UFO sightings?

Steeven

Grit is now in Topeka, Kansas? That's practically my backyard.

SolitaireRose

RickM said:

Was it full of anti-Communist screeds and reports of UFO sightings?

No, Grit was actually VERY big in rural areas, and most of the people my Grandparents knew had subscriptions (which is why I couldn't sell it to them, they got it in the mail). It was a lot of happy news, farming information, stuff about gardening, etc... No politics, no war information, etc... I used to read the novels they serialized, but can't remember any details for the life of me.

nweathington

I actually have a small stack of Grits on my desk at the moment for a book I'm designing. Here’s a small sampling of the stories from one issue, just as an example:

1) Cover feature on Bob Barker
2) A story on the upcoming Lone Ranger movie
3) An article on the Blondie—the “world’s most popular strip”—newspaper strip
4) An editorial called, “Rise of Feminism Sets Children Adrift”
5) A story on cowboy painter Cyrus Ingersoll
6) A Paul Harvey syndicated column
7) A story on a former Army paratrooper
8) Some recipes
9) Newspaper strips: Peanuts, Henry, Nancy, Marmaduke, Mickey Mouse, and the aforementioned Blondie
10) A story on Smurf (in the singular, not the plural, although it is the Smurfs you're thinking of) being the spokesperson for Equal Rights for Children—it's a guy in a Smurf suit at a rally in Washington, D.C.
11) A story on Bill “Batman” Steele, a maker of custom-designed bats for MLB players, including Mike Schmidt and Reggie Jackson
12) A serialized western called Hang-Rope Fever
13) An article on rare cactus rustlers

Your basic safe middle-America fare.

SolitaireRose

Paul Harvey...my grandparents on both sides loved him, and I was tired of his "twist ending" stuff by the time I was 12. Gotta give it to him, he carved out a great career in radio during a time when syndication was hard to do with small, local radio.

Torchsong

SolitaireRose said:

Paul Harvey...my grandparents on both sides loved him, and I was tired of his "twist ending" stuff by the time I was 12. Gotta give it to him, he carved out a great career in radio during a time when syndication was hard to do with small, local radio.

"...and that young man? We call him John Wayne Gacy. I'm Paul Harvey.....good day!"

:)

Chuck_Melville

My dad used to listen to Harvey when I was a kid. I hated it, myself, and felt, even at that age, that he editorialized too much in his news reports. I did enjoy his "The Rest Of The Story" features, though.

[Deleted User]

nweathington said:

I actually have a small stack of Grits on my desk at the moment for a book I'm designing. Here’s a small sampling of the stories from one issue, just as an example:

1) Cover feature on Bob Barker
2) A story on the upcoming Lone Ranger movie
3) An article on the Blondie—the “world’s most popular strip”—newspaper strip
4) An editorial called, “Rise of Feminism Sets Children Adrift”
5) A story on cowboy painter Cyrus Ingersoll
6) A Paul Harvey syndicated column
7) A story on a former Army paratrooper
8) Some recipes
9) Newspaper strips: Peanuts, Henry, Nancy, Marmaduke, Mickey Mouse, and the aforementioned Blondie
10) A story on Smurf (in the singular, not the plural, although it is the Smurfs you're thinking of) being the spokesperson for Equal Rights for Children—it's a guy in a Smurf suit at a rally in Washington, D.C.
11) A story on Bill “Batman” Steele, a maker of custom-designed bats for MLB players, including Mike Schmidt and Reggie Jackson
12) A serialized western called Hang-Rope Fever
13) An article on rare cactus rustlers

Your basic safe middle-America fare.

That sounds awesome, and sounds like the world I want to live in.