Author Topic: The Fred-O-Matic Kitchen Timer (Read 2927 times)

Mike Tennant · « **on:** November 14, 2006, 08:20:05 PM »

My wife saw this thing in a mail-order catalog we got today and pointed it out to me. (Wonder why?) Supposedly it "plays an assortment of 1970's game show jingles" when it goes off. You can hear some of those alleged jingles at the link provided above.

Does anyone here recognize these ditties? Or is Fred trying to get us to trade in our hard-earned cash for a zonk?

Gus · « **Reply #1 on:** November 15, 2006, 12:04:48 AM »

I believe that's a zonk. All the music sounds MIDIfied and with similar composition and instrumentation, and none of it is familiar to me.

mystery7 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 15, 2006, 08:55:34 AM »

It sounds like cheap "Easy As 1-2-3-style" production music to me. I'll take the curtain instead.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 15, 2006, 09:52:57 AM »

[quote name=\'mystery7\' post=\'137921\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 09:55 AM\']
It sounds like cheap "Easy As 1-2-3-style" production music to me. I'll take the curtain instead.
[/quote]

I think it was easier for Fred-O to describe the music as "heard in game show" cues than to say music "heard in the old Coronet and Encylopedia Brittanica educational films we were forced to watch in school back in the day".

For a minute there, I thought they found another way to schlep that crappy MIDI game show music CD found at Best Buy for $5.00

Then again, that appliance noise might be the sound of the blender destroying said CDS.

DjohnsonCB · « **Reply #4 on:** November 15, 2006, 12:14:35 PM »

This thing deserves to be tossed on the trash heap alongside The Flasher.

The WHAT? Okay, I'll tell you all about it since most of you may not recall it. The Flasher was one of those things hawked on TV back in the '70s that "makes a great gift". I only saw the commercial once or twice. It looked like a ping-pong paddle with a bunch of flip cards attached to it, bearing sayings like...well, I don't recall--it's been so long ago--but they were along the lines of "Can I call you up?" or "What's your sign?". They showed guys "flashing" the various sayings to girls on the street and--get this--the guys were dressed like MIMES! "Everybody's doing it!", hyped the off-screen announcer. NOT!

My apologies if this was getting a bit off-topic, but I just had to tell this story somehow after reading about the blender timer.

clemon79 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 15, 2006, 02:30:15 PM »

[quote name=\'DjohnsonCB\' post=\'137942\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 09:14 AM\']
It looked like a ping-pong paddle with a bunch of flip cards attached to it, bearing sayings like...well, I don't recall--it's been so long ago--but they were along the lines of "Can I call you up?" or "What's your sign?".
[/quote]
I remember that. They used to sell that in the goodie books, the Harriet Carter and Spencer Gifts catalogs and what-not. And there was a blank tab in the back for you to make up your own whimsical statement. Whee.

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #6 on:** November 15, 2006, 03:03:54 PM »

I gather that, as I expected, the consensus here is that this thing should be renamed to the Fraud-O-Matic.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #7 on:** November 15, 2006, 03:56:19 PM »

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'137962\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 03:03 PM\']
I gather that, as I expected, the consensus here is that this thing should be renamed to the Fraud-O-Matic.[/quote]
I think "fraud" is way too big a word for a goofy little novelty item. Yes, it would have been more accurate to say, "The machine plays bits of production music that, if you remember the sixties and seventies, will remind you of the kind of music used on game shows of that period, although if you really know your game show history, you'll know that they don't actually represent any specific game show themes or incidental music." But all that might not have fit on the box.

The fact that they called the music "an assortment of 1970s game show jingles" should have tipped you off right away that they weren't being precise. Jingles?

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #8 on:** November 15, 2006, 04:34:49 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'137971\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 03:56 PM\']
[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'137962\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 03:03 PM\']
I gather that, as I expected, the consensus here is that this thing should be renamed to the Fraud-O-Matic.[/quote]
I think "fraud" is way too big a word for a goofy little novelty item. Yes, it would have been more accurate to say, "The machine plays bits of production music that, if you remember the sixties and seventies, will remind you of the kind of music used on game shows of that period, although if you really know your game show history, you'll know that they don't actually represent any specific game show themes or incidental music." But all that might not have fit on the box.

The fact that they called the music "an assortment of 1970s game show jingles" should have tipped you off right away that they weren't being precise. Jingles?
[/quote]
I never took this as seriously as I'm inferring that you think I did. I thought it sounded interesting, so I looked it up to listen to the music. I figured it was, at best, production music that might have been used on some game shows and might be recognized by some of the denizens here. If there had been a genuine game show connection, I might have waited for one to show up on eBay for a buck or two.

The "Fraud-O-Matic" was intended as a joke and nothing more. I never expected much out of this thing and just thought it would be fun to post it here and see what comments it might get.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #9 on:** November 15, 2006, 05:33:42 PM »

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'137976\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 04:34 PM\']
The "Fraud-O-Matic" was intended as a joke and nothing more. I never expected much out of this thing and just thought it would be fun to post it here and see what comments it might get.
[/quote]

Cue firestorm of controversy.

WhammyPower · « **Reply #10 on:** November 15, 2006, 10:39:33 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'137982\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 04:33 PM\'] [quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' post=\'137976\' date=\'Nov 15 2006, 04:34 PM\']
The "Fraud-O-Matic" was intended as a joke and nothing more. I never expected much out of this thing and just thought it would be fun to post it here and see what comments it might get.
[/quote]

Cue firestorm of controversy. [/quote]
See above posts.