The organization in the ad, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. You may know it by its current name, the March of Dimes. The president’s call to action saw an overwhelming response. The surge in funding helped Jonas Salk develop the first polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh. It was front page news all around the world:

Although it gave successful protection, it would be Albert Sabin’s oral vaccine developed at the University of Cincinnati that would become instrumental in eliminating polio in most countries (there is still natural spread in a few). This is Sabin giving his vaccine to a child in the 1960s. It was often given on sugar cubes.

Massive efforts were held at schools and public venues. This was easier in the days before social media and rapid online spread of disinformation.

The single most famous iron lung ward photo was actually staged for a film, but a typical iron lung ward in the era looked like this.

In the height of the polio pandemic around 1952, the US alone had over 3000 deaths due to respiratory paralysis in a single year, and over 21,000 paralyzed. Roosevelt himself was paralyzed below the waist, and many needed iron lungs to breathe. In 2024, Paul Alexander of Dallas, Texas, died after being confined to an iron lung for 72 years of his 78 year life.

Today, polio is eliminated in most countries, and there are efforts to eliminate it worldwide, so it may join smallpox and rinderpest in the annals of vanquished diseases.

I could not find as much info about Gobbles the Crazy Eating Goat as for Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow. Milky came out in 1977, so Gobbles might be around that vintage as well, both sold by Kenner.

I was also unable to find a vintage TV commercial for Gobbles, but here is a video of Gobbles in action.

Here is Gobbles. He was the GOAT.

These were sold by Kenner starting in 1977. You would get Milky to drink from a trough of water by pumping its tail. I’ve never worked on a farm, but I doubt that is the method used for real cows. After that, you could milk Milky into a tiny bucket. It may seem udderly ridiculous, but it was sold for a while before Kenner mooved on. If the toy was a marketing failure, we can forgive them. To err is human, but to forgive is bovine.

The 1977 TV commercial is a thing to behold.

Milky in the flesh, as it were:

If that doesn’t satisfy your farm themed toy itch, see also Gobbles the Crazy Eating Goat.

Renault automobile poster, date unknown.

I usually try to do the legwork to find context such as what sort of car is in a poster, but I am not certain about this one. My best guess is Renault 40 CV Type JV Torpedo, circa 1922, which is the model pictured below. Maybe an automobile aficionado can correct that if I’m getting it wrong. It looks virtually identical to the poster car to me, but I know little about 1920s cars.

Jarts were a brand of lawn dart toy first sold around 1950 per some sources, or 1940s per others. You would toss them, trying to land inside a circular target. They had a weighted metal tip so they would stick upright into a lawn.

This was not a very good idea.

The metal tip was heavy and could fall with enough energy to penetrate a skull. At least three children were killed, with many thousands of injuries from mild to severe. Over 6100 in the US alone were sent to emergency rooms.

Attempts to ban the toy started around 1969. The US took them off the market in 1987, and Canada in 1988.

Similar toys are sold today, minus the deadly weapon part, with nerf or blunt tips designed to avoid penetration injuries.

Here are some actual jarts.