I remember seeing the Zero M commercials on TV, but I didn't know until recently that Kurt Russell was in them. When I was six, his name would not have meant anything to me, anyway, although I knew who he was by the early 1970's, when he was starring in Disney movies. Of course, the Zero M line reflected the spy/secret agent fad of the mid-1960's, when every producer in Hollywood was jumping on the James Bond bandwagon (Our Man Flint, Matt Helm, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible). In the late 1950's, during the fad for Westerns, there were probably a lot of cowboy hats and toy Colt .45's being sold.
I had one Zero-M toy, as I recall. It was a camera that folded out into a Luger-type pistol. I got the drop on a lot of imaginary enemy agents with it.
Besides the TV commercials, there were some one-page comic strip ads that ran in comic books. IIRC, they usually had Agent Zero M cornered or captured by the villains, who thought he was unarmed. Then he would turn the tables on them by turning his movie camera into a machine gun. Apparently, the Iron Curtain countries were behind us when it came to the concept of concealed weapons.
I'm curious whether any kids held a "blast-off" between the Mattel Sonic Blaster and Wham-O's Air Blaster (featured as weaponry in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians). Also wonder how many eardrums were busted by kids putting either blaster up against their pal's ear and firing... A.S.
I remember seeing the Zero M commercials on TV, but I didn't know until recently that Kurt Russell was in them. When I was six, his name would not have meant anything to me, anyway, although I knew who he was by the early 1970's, when he was starring in Disney movies. Of course, the Zero M line reflected the spy/secret agent fad of the mid-1960's, when every producer in Hollywood was jumping on the James Bond bandwagon (Our Man Flint, Matt Helm, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible). In the late 1950's, during the fad for Westerns, there were probably a lot of cowboy hats and toy Colt .45's being sold.
ReplyDeleteI had one Zero-M toy, as I recall. It was a camera that folded out into a Luger-type pistol. I got the drop on a lot of imaginary enemy agents with it.
ReplyDeleteBesides the TV commercials, there were some one-page comic strip ads that ran in comic books. IIRC, they usually had Agent Zero M cornered or captured by the villains, who thought he was unarmed. Then he would turn the tables on them by turning his movie camera into a machine gun. Apparently, the Iron Curtain countries were behind us when it came to the concept of concealed weapons.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's Bill Conrad doing the voice-over for the Sonic Blaster commercial - an all-star production!
ReplyDeleteA.S.
Never had these toys, myself, but wouldn't mind having them now.
ReplyDeleteNever saw it. But I am a Kurt Russell Fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious whether any kids held a "blast-off" between the Mattel Sonic Blaster and Wham-O's Air Blaster (featured as weaponry in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians).
ReplyDeleteAlso wonder how many eardrums were busted by kids putting either blaster up against their pal's ear and firing...
A.S.
The "Sandra West Diaries" series on YouTube spoofs spy-action movies, and some of the prop weapons that she uses look like Zero M toys.
ReplyDelete