Mental Floss

THE '80S





Mill Creek Entertainment

The quintessential annoying neighbor went from pitching milk and pizza in regional commercials to starring in 10 feature films. Let's see the Pillsbury Doughboy do that.

Jake Rossen




ebay user hideho

It's time to go through the attic, the garage, and the boxes at your parents' house. If you saved your old Happy Meal toys, you could be sitting on a goldmine.

Stacy Conradt


Steven Leung via Flickr

When art school dropout Ralph Shaffer was hired by American Greetings to illustrate greeting cards in 1964, the 23-year-old was tasked with depicting delicate flower petals and hopping bunny rabbits.

Jake Rossen


By Diego Moya - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

As we now know, 'Pac-Man' was a massive hit, and its grip on pop culture is still strong today. But 'Pac-Man's success was far from certain; its designer initially had no interest in games, and the public reaction to it was initially mixed.

Mental Floss UK


Mike Mozart, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

When U.S. Army Corps bombardier Max Spencer Adler was shot down over Europe and imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, it’s not likely he dreamed of one day becoming the czar of penis-shaped lollipops and lava lamps.

Jake Rossen






ABC

For nearly 10 years, TV viewers got to experience a journey aboard a cruise ship nearly every Saturday night as The Love Boat brought the misadventures and romantic escapades of the luxury liner life right into their living rooms.

Jason Serafino


Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid (1984).

You'd better start practicing those crane kicks again! More than 30 years after Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence faced off in one of cinema's most iconic showdowns, The Karate Kid has officially made a comeback.

Tim Lybarger