THE MORE YOU EAT....AND REAL TIN PRIZES

Yes, real tin toys at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box.

Not paper decals or other paper derivatives, as now. Or even worse, plastic objects.

"When I was a boy,"...................I got real tin, REAL TIN! I had one of the spinners shown above. And it was real tin. Just before Cracker Jack discontinued tin prizes for the war effort (WW II) the "keep 'em flying!" spinner was minted and included in random boxes of the product, and man, if you were real lucky, you got a box with the spinner in it. It was cause for celebrating with the other kids if you got one at the bottom of your Cracker Jack(s).

Those spinners could be traded on the school yard for all sorts of special favors. Then, we were enmeshed in a world war, and tin was not used for amusement anymore. Tin suddenly was serious business. We collected and saved in fatter and fatter balls the tinfoil from gum wrappers. We also collected newspaper, rubber scrap, string, and milkweed pods for use as kapok in life jackets. Our parents initiated Victory gardens. Bandages were cut into strips from previously used clothing; mothers knitted sweaters.

When the druggist at the corner got a rare box of Fleers Double-Bubble gum, he rationed it out to us kids, with a limit of 5 pieces per customer at a penny a piece.

In THIS war, Americans were asked to make sacrifices, unlike today.

In our forced-Lenten-like deprivations, we made do.

Before the war, I had a real tin device I got in a box of Cracker Jack: a bird whistle. It was an L-shaped thing that you permissibly placed in your mouth - no mothers cautioned against swallowing it! - and experimented with your blown-breath and your tongue and lips until shrill bird sounds issued. It was possible for a good bird whistle-blower to call birds down from the trees. I saw it done.

One would have serious trouble doing that with a paper prize.