The Yarn Spinner

  Colorado Brown Stain   It was 1930 and Doctor Frederick McKay, a dentist in Colorado Springs Colorado, was troubled because so many of his patients were complaining   about brown-staining on their teeth that could not be explained by diet or their use of a dentifrice. Patients at other dental practices he came to learn experienced the same stains he called Colorado Brown Stain. Dr. McKay contacted the U.S. Public Health Service and joined in a collaborative investigation with Dr. H. Trendley who was Dean of this government agency to try and discover the cause. Dr. McKay, Dr. Trendley and a   team of researchers suspected that the common denominator in this instance might have something to do with water. Dr. Dean and his team conducted extensive studies in various communities across the United States to understand the relationship between water quality and dental health. They discovered that the stained teeth were a result of excessive fluoride in the water,...

Ovaltine   Announcer: (excitedly) “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!”   This is a   very brief scene from A Christmas Story where Ralphie listens to the Little Orphan Annie radio show and decodes the secret message after hearing it on the radio. The delivery of this message is typical of the commercial in   a 30s radio program. Sponsors often used such secret codes to promote their products and build excitement among young listeners, companies like General Mills and Kellogg’s. Etc. The children's radio series Little Orphan Annie, and Captain Midnight radio and television   shows were sponsored by Ovaltine. They offered promotions urging listeners to save proofs-of-purchase from Ovaltine jars to obtain premiums, such as a "secret decoder ring," badges, or pins that could be used to decode messages in the program. (I confess to being a Captain Midnight fan, frequent imbiber and premium collector – like you?) Ovaltine was developed in 1904 by chemist ...