Presents For Men And Dogs

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30938, 20 December 1965, Page 2

Presents For Men And Dogs

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter) PARIS. Christmas gift suggestions in Paris this year include every imaginable gadget, ranging from a “hairbrush” for bald-headed men to an automatic dog-feeder. One leading Paris department store has put on a special Christmas display which it calls “Gadgets a Gogo.” The store's buyers have collected 300 different gadgets, useful, useless, humorous and decorative.

They include gadgets for men, women, children, dogs, the whole household. Most sell for about 15s. Gifts for men tend to be whimsical and generally rather impractical. There are numerous “alcoholic” themes, such as a realistic fountain pen which contains one shot of whisky, whisky-scented tooth picks, and bath salts packed in replicas of champagne or liqueur bottles. Money is another prevalent theme for men. An inexpensive joke for the “man who has everything” is the roll of bathroom paper printed with dollar bills. “Money to burn” is devised with a special chemical powder which Ignites multi-coloured flames when the paper notes are tossed into the fire. A bald-headed man’s hair brush, costing about 10s 6d, is made of soft wool cashmere fabric, which replaces the conventional bristles and is guaranteed to polish the bald pate to an impeccable lustre. If a man “smokes like a chimney," another appropri-

ate gift suggested is a 32-inch high ash tray, shaped like a chimney pot. A special mechanism inside the “chimney” absorbs all the odour of the tobacco. New items for women are pastel velvet slip covers for the steering wheel of the car, jewelled boxes containing a miniature tooth brush and

tube of paste, and perfumed shelf paper for the wardrobe. French manufacturers have come up with several new ideas about the telephone. A pale blue velvet telephone, modelled on one of the earliest turn-of-the-century instruments, reflects the current vogue for authentic, old-fash-ioned telephones, which are at a premium in smart French antique shops.

An extremely utilitarian pencil is shaped like an antique telephone; and it takes only one second to attach to any instrument a small music box which plays a medley of popular tunes to entertain the listener when one party is forced to put down the receiver for a few minutes. Another “finesse of gracious living” is an electric card

shuffler intended to eliminate all manual labour from a game of bridge. Even the family pet comes in for its share of new gadgets. An automatic dog-feeder works like an alarm clock, and can be set to spring open at the desired hour. If the buyer needs a dog to match the gadget one department store is willing to supply one free of charge from its pound for homeless animals. Finally, there are Christmas cards and “chewing gum” for dogs.

Canine cards have a blank page on which the dog imprints his pawmark in lieu of a written greeting. Chewing gum turns out to be a harmless wad of buffalo skin which can be gnawed for hours. /