I do! My parents bought me Tinkerbell's magic wand at Disneyland. I loved that thing!

Your Tinkerbell magic wand and my cross fall into the same ludicrous category. Glad we're still here to tell about it, Nancy. Sheesh, what they didn't know back then!

I got a Mickey Mouse when I was 5 with "radium hands"...I wore it to bed for about 3 or 4 years until I was old enough for a "nurse's watch"....also with radium hands. Eventually that watch needed a new crystal and I took it to the jewelery store and when it came back the radium paint was scraped off the dial!! Great disappointment!!
The shoe store about a block away from my house had a fluroscope....and my friends and I would stop in on the way home from school and look at our feet....and hands!
I did have glow in the dark plastic toys but can't remember what....seems to me it was a doll's face.
I also remember in Jr High Science class, the teacher had a Geiger counter....and we listened to the clicks from that watch dial!!!
Ai yi yi!

Thank goodness for my poor parents. Lol.

I had a rosary just like the one in the original post.

We also used to PLAY with the foot x-ray thing at the shoe store. I am one of 7 children so spent lots of time in shoe stores.....there was a post on the Antiques forum about those machines not too long ago. I think someone still has one.

On top of that, we had a "sun lamp" for tanning at home. We did need to wear eye caps when using it. Many sunburns from that lamp.

Also had fun playing with mercury when a thermometer broke.

ML

We went to Knotts Berry Farm every week for lunch. One of the places I had to see was the "glowing" church. They would turn off the lights and a life size Christ/cross, along with every wall, glowed. They also had a gift shop filled with glowing gifts. Have wondered for years why this went away. Was back in the early 50s when Knotts was free.

I remember the wood shoe sizers too.

I wonder how any of us are still alive! No wonder some of us have health problems.

I never read about the radium girls; I grew up not far from Orange NJ; was actually born in a hospital there lol

I was born in 65; don't remember the xray machines; hub may remember them. From what I read; they were gone by 1960. We had a lot of cool toys in the late 60's; early 70's- does anyone know of a good web site that gives info on what they were made of?

I honestly don't remember any radioactive toys, although I remember glow in the dark watches.

I also used to play with the x-ray machine at the shoe store. You could see the bones of your feet wiggling around inside your shoes. While my brother was getting new shoes, I was busy frying my feet.

My city's science museum had a non-working fluoroscope machine on display for awhile. I wish I had gone to see it!

Oh yes, I remember that machine in the shoe store. We were five girls only 7 years apart and we would all get new shoes at the same time. Only my sister who was pigeon toed got to use the machine. The rest of us couldn't. Maybe they nknew something others didn't .

I went into our local clock shop about a month ago looking for an alarm clock with light up hands. She told me they didn't work as well as in the old days when they were radium. I was floored. Didn't know that.

I remember looking at my feet in the Buster Brown shoe store. My father was going to graduate school during the 60's. He had a Geiger counter for a project they were doing. They tested an old alarm clock and ended up moving the clock way across the room. I imagine it got thrown out, but I don't remember that part of the story.

I don't remember the x-ray machine. I do remember the glow in the dark stuff but not that it was referred to as radio active. I loved the glow in the dark clocks. :c)

My dog has a glow in the dark ball and I love watching her play with it in the dark. Too funny!

I remember the radium dials (most contain tritium now...), but most "glow in the dark" toys are not radioactive, and I doubt the old ones were either. They contain a phosphor that needs to be exposed to normal light for a little while before they glow in the dark. Phosphorescence is not related to radioactive decay.

I used to have a pretty set of yellow dishes that were hand me downs from my grandmother-it turned out that had uranium in the glaze!

Maddielee, what a kick that you had a rosary like that. Now I'm feeling like the only nuked protestant. Hehe. We had a sun lamp and those weird little eye cap goggle things too! I had forgotten about that so thanks for the memories. Dunno why we had it because we lived in La Jolla, but we did spend a lot of time under that silly sun lamp. Nobody had any idea they weren't safe beyond the eye caps thing. Yes, there are still some of those machines out there. If you google 'fluoroscope' and hit 'images' you'll see some pics and some articles.

Technicolor, we used to go to Knotts Berry Farm too back when it was free, though not nearly as often as you. You must have loved that. I don't remember that chapel, but I was very impressed as a little kid by the room with the slanted floor. Remember that? Great fun. And their jam was great. Sorry I missed the chapel -- what a hoot!

Roselover, no kidding. Awww, you're just a baby! Yeah, the machines were gone way before you came on the scene I'm sure. Why not just google 60s and 70s toys? If you do it in 'images' you'll probably see just what interests you. I'm sure there is some fun web sites. It's a hoot to look at pictures from our childhoods, and see old TV shows and ads, isn't it? I'm sure the toys you played with weren't radioactive. They'd wised up when you got here, or gotten caught is more like it.

Dedtired, yep those x-ray machines were fun, weren't they? They were like a big magnet for kids.

Denali, oh that's not fair that you didn't get a turn! Just as well though, now that we know. Yeah that was radium paint. They were cool how the numbers all glowed in the dark.

Mary do you think moving the clock across the room helped? I doubt it but that's funny. Your dad sounds like a fun guy.

Lukkirish, maybe my memory is faulty but it seems to me we all knew it was radium paint. We just didn't know it was dangerous. I agree. Those clocks were much cooler than digital clocks. I'm sure your dog's ball isn't radioactive but it sounds like a great toy. One of my dogs would go nuts for that. Where did you get it?

Kristine, you're right about the tritium, I think. Wiki says of tritium, "While these devices contain a radioactive substance, it is currently believed that self-powered lighting does not pose a significant health concern." I'm sure the toys were radioactive (and still are). They came out at the same time as the radium clock and watch dials. It was all the same paint. I remember that. Interesting about your grandmother's dishes. The thing with the Radiation Girls happened in the '30s. But even today there are food-safe glazes and non-food-safe glazes (I think they have lead in them).

In the 1950s my uncle, a merchant marine, gave me a radium clock when I was a child. It was made somewhere in Asia, and I was fascinated with it. I would keep it next to me at the head of my bed and after dark put it up close to my face so I could watch the movement of its luminescence. It was like it was alive, it pulsed. I enjoyed this so much but now I wonder what possible damage I did to myself, eyes? Brain?. Do I still make sense? Haha. Does anyone know a reliable source for answers. I'm sure others my age group have done the same. Please share your stories and research. Many thanks.