Exposed: The History Behind X-ray Specs, Gogs, Tubes, Pens, and Scopes.

Look familiar?  This image, borrowed from a pending eBay ad, shows a 1906 premium/gift offered by the Derby Supply Co. of Chicago:

The "X=ray" card above is nothing less than a much earlier, non-stereo version of the famous "X-ray" specs, spex, and gogs famous from Boomer-era comic book ads:

...to say nothing of a certain see-through-walls "Spy Pen," hawked here in a 1968 ad scanned by me from a Charlton war comic.  Offered to the public by the "man from U.N.C.L.E." (which one?), this device was allegedly developed by the German Secret Service during WWII, and we have no reason to doubt comic-ad copy:

So, how far back in the hole of time must we peer to spot the first instance of this fuzzy, famous scam?  Answer: At least to the (probably late) 1890s.  Squint your eyes on this ad "cut" from a Robt. H. Ingersoll and Bros. mail-order catalog.  (Image borrowed from the fun Voice of the Monkey blog):

Then we have the same thing, only with a "metal base" and called an "X-ray Electroscope."  (Ad found by me in the Feb., 1902 issue of The American Boy magazine.)  "See your fellow, best girl, or any object through wood or stone," it says, but what about curtains and blinds?  Was there another "electroscope" for that?

Could any of these have survived? I ask because, not only were these things from the pre-plastic era, they were likely not constructed to last "a lifetime," unless maybe we're talking, say, the earthly span of a moth.  Somewhere, in some forgotten landfill, one of these is sitting next to a quickly discarded Wonder Tube:

Can we assume that the Rogen X-ray (X-ray Wonder), shown directly below in a 1920 ad, worked just as well as the Wonder Tube and X-ray Electroscope?  I think we can.  I think we can also conclude that, in all probability, "Rogen" was intended to be confused with "Röentgen," as in, X-ray inventor Wilhelm Röentgen.  Easy to see through that ploy.

Then, at least as early as 1922, the famous novelty outfit Johnson Smith & Co. was offering an "X-ray Tube" for 10 cents (3 for 25 cents)  in Popular Mechanics, proving that a gimmick need not work worth a darn to clear the excessively low mail-order customer-satisfaction bar.  Again, we see the bones-in-the-hand motif:

For an explanation of how this highly underwhelming (but quite lucrative!) gimmick worked, so to speak, see Wikipedia's entry on X-Ray Specs: Wikipedia's entry on X-Ray specs. Throughout this piece, I've been using a lower-case r for "Ray," but since we're not talking the genuine phenomenon, I x-spec it doesn't ray-ly matter.

Coming soon: Yet more scopes, including the "Seebackcrascope" "Seebacroscope," which shows up in a 1902 American Boy ad and was still being marketed under that name in the 1950s.  After that, the scope morphed into (you guessed it) glasses.  The device, of course, allowed one to see backra backro.

Lee

Grace Gay Betts and Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts (1883-1978) was a highly gifted painter, muralist, and children's book illustrator--some of her superb work from Fleetfoot--The Cave Boy (William L. Nida, 1929) is shown below.  (All captioned illustrations are hers.)  I found Fleetfoot last week at a candy-store antique mall (!) for the highway-robbery price of one dollar, and Betts' comic book-style illustrations were the reason for my purchase.  (I'd have gladly paid more, but a buck is fine with me.)  They reminded me of 1950s and 1960s Charlton art--especially Bill Molno's.

And so I've interspersed scans from Fleetfoot with Charlton panels (and/or portions of panels) by Molno, with the Molno images doctored to match the color scheme and dark, shadowy style of Betts' wonderful work.  I see much similarity between the two artists--in particular, the angularity, the busy detail, and the sense of motion--and the cool contrast between compressed and elongated shapes.  To be sure, Molno's renderings are noticeably less realistic (or at least noticeably less conventional). but both illustrators are on the same page in their skillful merging of foreground and background, giving equal weight to both, with accurate perspective a secondary consideration.  Again, Molno's approach is less literal, featuring shapes that depart further from real life than Betts', yet the two artists' images beautifully compliment one another.

That his drawings compare on any level to the masterful work of Betts is the best case for Molno's talent I could possibly make.  I'd love to think that Molno, born in 1923, encountered some of Betts' work at home or in the classroom and found his muse.  I can only imagine what kind of impression Betts' inspired and dazzling work would have made on a young Lee:

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Bill Molno

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

Bill Molno

Bill Molno

Grace Gay Betts

                                                                               

Bill Molno