"riverman" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Old Grey wrote:
....
I wish you hadn't reminded me of that. I distinctly remember the
pocket fisherman being much later than the 60's! Or maybe I'm getting
that much older! :] Actually I think it would work out nice for a
quick backpacking pole in a pinch.


It was later.

I dunno....the ad sure looks like the 60s.
http://www.biography.com/broadband/m...cketfisherman2

--riverman

I'd have guessed 70s, myself. A brief google turned this up:

http://www.ronco.com/rco_aboutus.aspx

The only mention of the Pocket Fisherman on this page...

"By the early 60s, Ron was selling products exclusively over television. Ron
and his father became wealthy from sales of kitchen gadgets that have become
household words: Dial-O-Matic, Veg-O-Matic, Mince-O-Matic, Pocket Fisherman.
In 1964, through TV Ronco pulled in $200,000 in sales. In 1968, the
company's revenues were $8.8 million. But, now he used less of his father's
products and more of his own."

isn't specific enough to inspire certainty, but it sure looks like it was
indeed a 60s product.

Confirming the history of the product and its sales via TV ads would require
more research than it is worth to me, but I'd be much surprised if the ads
didn't run through the 70s.....and it seems likely that it's the later ones
that stick in my mind.

Wolfgang