Happy the Cowboy Ventriloquist Dummy

"Happy" looks anything but, as if he's battling the DTs. Does his cigarette really emit smoke?

Original ad here. (Page 35.)

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 09, 2016
Category: Puppets and Automatons | 1950s | Sadness

Comments

Wasn't Jeff-ff trying to flog one of these setups?

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 02/09/16 at 09:28 AM

I think I'd rather have a "life-like" Sandy!

(Please stop me before I embarrass myself!)

Posted by KDP on 02/09/16 at 02:01 PM

And he has a disability to boot. Note the withered right arm

Posted by RobK on 02/09/16 at 03:29 PM

Anyone else remember the smoking monkey "toys" from when we were kids? I also remember candy cigarettes which were white with a red colored tip.

Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 02/09/16 at 07:41 PM

I remember two versions of the cigarettes. One was wooden, only about 1/8" diameter, and it would fall from the mouths of the monkey toys, then get lost. The other was candy, like you say, and about the size of a real cig. Ours came in a Lucky Strike pack. Looking back, these obviously must have been out out by big tobacco.

Posted by Virtual on 02/09/16 at 08:14 PM

Candy cigarettes and bubblegum cigars were favorites.

Posted by RobK on 02/10/16 at 12:37 PM

Looks like he may have been related to the famous (infamous) "Lobster Boy" family with those hands

Posted by MikeR on 02/11/16 at 04:26 PM

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