Looking like an over-sized Aurora monster model box, The Mad, Mad Scientist Lab play-set was often seen as a full-page advertisement in Warren magazines. It's hard to tell how popular of an item this was compared to other monster memorabilia from the day, but it is currently considered very rare with very few ever seen for sale or up for auction (one seller stated that it was only the second one they'd offered in forty-nine years). The last auction that I came across with one of these sold it for almost a thousand dollars.
First sold by Homelab, a division of Physio-Chem in 1965, the box art and lettering were closely patterned after the Aurora monster model kits that were all the rage at the time. It appears that Jim Warren had some affiliation with it as there were coupons for a "free" issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (just send 25-cents for shipping and handling).
The box promised: "Completely Safe! No Heat Or Flame Necessary! Over 100 Experiments!" With the handy instruction booklet, some of the experiments were called Instant Blood, Mystic Monster Milk Making, Ghoulish Green Globs, Witch's Bleach, Rubbery Bones and The Fiendish Fizz. Included in the kit were test tubes, a rack to hold them in, a plastic stirring rod and a "Mystic Writing Paper" note tablet. Can you imagine this making it on store shelves these days?
NOTE: Images are sourced from auction sites and the Toys For the Ages gallery on Flickr.
 |
| HOMELAB/Physio-Chem Logo. |
 |
| Full page ad from FAMOUS MONSTERS #36. |
If you have your own laboratory you may want to have a listen to this monster lab background music composed especially for mad scientists:
How about those science kits they put out in the early 50's that had actual radioactive material in them. Amazing how stupid we were about radiation in those early days. But that's true for so many things.
ReplyDeleteDon't recall hearing about that, but I guess there were many more products tainted with toxic materials along the way.
ReplyDelete