Friday, November 27, 2009

If These Walls Could Talk

A couple of months ago we painted and fixed up a small bedroom. I posted then about the layers of wallpaper we had to remove. We also did some wall repair. When we removed a portion of the drywall we found this message written on the inside of the wall.

The writing seems completely "random" as the kids would say. But, it is not. In the late 60's Scope mouthwash ran a series of television ads featuring "The Green Phantom." In the ads bottles of mouthwash were mysteriously delivered to folks with bad breath. Accompanying the bottles was a note signed by The Green Phantom and urging the recipient to use the mouthwash. The ship captain, teacher, manager or whomever received the mouthwash would then interrogate their underlings trying to unmask the offending Green Phantom. The whole thing was pretty funny.

I very vaguely recalled the ads and found them assembled for viewing at this Duke University website.

Don't know who left the message, but I sure like their sense of humor. The Green Phantom, being associated with the competing Scope, would be just the sort to steal Listerine. Gave us a big laugh.

We closed the wall leaving this silly fun message intact. Just as work was done 40 years ago and as we did work this summer, I am sure that someone in the future will again work on this small room in this old house. We'll leave for them the joy of uncovering this amusing plea.

6 comments:

Cafe Pasadena said...

How old is the house??

Bellis said...

Those are great adverts - a bit dated now, but all the better for it. Adverts on TV nowadays are either about medical problems or cars, and there's never any humor. How lucky you are to find such a witty message left by previous owners. Will you also leave something for future owners to find?

Michael Coppess said...

CP: I figure the writing goes back to the late 1960's. But the house itself has parts, including this particular room, that go back to the previous century. Pretty old even by Pasadena standards.

Bellis: The old ads were fun! Before closing it up, I probably should have left something in the wall to be uncovered 40 years from now. Maybe a copy of this post. Forty years from now will folks look on our blogs with the same nostalgia we feel when we watch the 60's era ads?

Petrea Burchard said...

That's just great. Those ads are too much.

I can't believe you didn't leave something in the wall!

Our kitchen windowsill is filling up with archaeological treasures we've found on our property. Pennies, broken things, things we don't recognize. Vestiges of people who came before us. We're glad they left treasures for us to find.

pasadenapio said...

I found an ancient toy truck (1920s or so) when digging in a garden years ago at my 1922 house. Never found anything in the walls. Further exploration obviously is needed!

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