Saturday, August 15, 2009

Flit bug spray, 1930

Scanned from Portuguese magazine Ilustração, No. 110, July 16, 1930. Click image for 783 x 1185 size.

"Destroys flies, mosquitoes, clothes-moths, cockroaches, bugs, ants".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are many references to "Flit" in movies of the 1920's and 30's. Specifically, in the futuristic satire, "Just Imagine", (1930) starring Marjorie White and Maureen O'Sullivan,the song "The Way I Feel With You", contains the lyrics "...Never spray a nit-with a great big can of Flit--he may think that nit has IT--The way I feel with you..." Oliver Hardy tells Stan Laurel to "Get the Flit!" when flies start descending on a dining room table birthday cake.
Apparently, Flit was sprayed with an old fashioned push-pump type device through a slim cannister.

For all of its use through, at least, the 1930's, by the 1940's there was virtually no mention of Flit in movies or magazines of the time. By the 1950's, ads for the still tremendously popular "Raid" insect killer that, "kills bugs dead!" were dominant, with no mention of Flit, anywhere in sight.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the information. I found a small brown bottle that has the word FLIT molded on both sides. It was under the dirt of some lilac bushes I was digging up. The comment posted on June 27th fits as far as dates, because I also found a 1939 license plate in the same spot in my yard.

Anonymous said...

Growing up in the 1940's, I and my 5 brothers slept in one room. At bedtime, mom came in and saturated everything, including us, with Flit spray. I don't know what the chemical was, but it hasn't seemed to have affected our health. Can't say the same for the mosquitoes!