Posted by Alan Hakim on March 28, 2008 at 07:31:05 from 80.189.151.59 user awhakim.
In Reply to: Re: Dick's camera posted by Jon on March 27, 2008 at 17:26:13:
I gave a short talk at the TARS Literary Weekend in 1997, entitled "Gadgets". In it I explained how my life had been influenced by the S&A books, referring in particular to the pigeon bell and flash powder. That is indelibly fixed in my mind with our 1946 school photo, when the photographer used a Dick-type flash gun, but unfortunately the powder was damp. The only way to fire it was to put a lighted cigarette in the flash tray, and we all had to stay still until the flash went off.
I bought some flash powder in 1964 for a stage effect, but haven't had any reason to look for any since then.