MEMORIES:
To a kid, nothing is more pleasing than a toy that can make substantial amounts of noise. Perhaps it just the pleasure of driving the parental units crazy, but if a toy can be obnoxiously loud, it needn’t really do anything else to provide hours of entertainment. And perhaps no other toy has ever demonstrated this phenomenon better than Knocker Bockers, a toy so grating on the nerves of parents that one might assume it was invented by an aspirin company.
Although numerous companies marketed these toys under various names such as Click-Clacks or Clackers, they were all basically the same concept – two wooden or plastic balls connected by a rope. By moving the wrist back and forth in just the right rhythm, and at just the right speed, the balls would proceed to bang together with mesmerizing synchronicity and make parents in the nearby vicinity wish they had remained celibate.
Of course, perfecting the clacking technique wasn’t quite as easy as it looked and the learning curve provided plenty of opportunity for injury to the hands, wrists, elbows and even the noggins of those that sought to experience the hypnotic trance of Knocker Bockers. To make matters worse, they made an efficient weapon, one that could be used on an unsuspecting friend or sibling. After numerous mishaps were reported, the adult population had all the justification they needed to remove these noisemakers from existence.
Today, there is nary a store shelf that proudly displays a set of Knocker Bockers. They live on only in the memory of those who lived during their short, but well-remembered, lifespan. And while safety concerns are often blamed for their demise, it is also quite likely that parents were looking for any excuse whatsoever to send these cacophony-creating globes of annoyance directly to the toy graveyard. Isn’t it just like a parent to spoil all the fun.
