Johnson Smith Catalog Item #8

Does that top-row badge translate as "Permit 2 kiss a cock"...?

From the 1950 catalogue.

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Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 07, 2011
Category: Animals | Detectives, Private Eyes and Other Investigators | Johnson Smith Catalog | 1950s

Comments

Yogi will have to confirm this but back in the day one was "randy as a rooster" or "a banty rooster".

The number 23 most likely refers to the phrase "23 skidoo" which meant "get the hell out of Dodge", "leave quickly", etc.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 09/07/11 at 11:09 PM

23 skidoo (sometimes 23 skiddoo) is an American slang phrase popularized during the early twentieth century, first attested before World War I and becoming popular during the 1920s. It generally refers to leaving quickly, being forced to leave quickly by someone else, or taking advantage of a propitious opportunity to leave, that is, "getting [out] while the getting's good." The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain.

23 skidoo has been described as "perhaps the first truly national fad expression and one of the most popular fad expressions to appear in the U.S," to the extent that "Pennants and arm-bands at shore resorts, parks, and county fairs bore either [23] or the word 'Skiddoo.'"[1]

The randy one referred to a goat. "As randy as a billy goat". I remember the banty rooster one and I think it had more to do with being "cocksure" or cocky than with being horny. Kinda a "struttin his stuff" thing or "cock of the walk".

Posted by yogi in Kennesaw GA on 09/07/11 at 11:22 PM

Where's the FBI- Female Body Inspector. Nifty badges.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/08/11 at 05:37 AM

J. Edgar would have had those confiscated and the perpetrators hung at dawn.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 09/08/11 at 11:53 AM

And he'd have been wearing nylons and a lace teddy when he ordered it done too!

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/08/11 at 05:28 PM

Sounds plausible. You've got my vote.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 09/11/11 at 03:53 AM

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