‘Oh Wow, What Were They Thinking?’ (Exclusive)

It’s a miracle any of us survived the good ol’ days — and this new eight-part series, executive produced and hosted by Happy Days star Henry Winkler, proves it. Hazardous History With Henry Winkler (Sundays at 10pm ET/PT, beginning June 15 on HISTORY) looks at the toys, hobbies, foods, products, amusements and more that seemed like really good ideas at the time, but turned out to be dangerous or outright deadly.

“It is fascinating that all this imagination was put out into the world, and then the world realized, ‘Wait a minute. We’re not taking care of our population. We’re not taking care of the kids,’” Winkler says. “The history of it is amazing. The facts about it are amazing. And the ‘Oh wow, what were they thinking?’ portion of it is amazing.”

We couldn’t have been that stupid, right? Tobacco companies once used doctors in cigarette ads. Radium was added to cosmetics and toothpaste. Early refrigerators not only used toxic gasses, but also had door latches that turned them into deathtraps. Shoe stores used X-rays to ensure a correct fit. Neurotoxic lead was added to paint and gasoline. Early 20th century roller coasters lacked safety belts and subjected riders to dangerously high G-forces. Metal-spiked lawn darts got stuck in human bodies. Potentially cancer-causing asbestos was used as fake snow in holiday decorations. Carbonated beverages contained potent mind-altering drugs.

“One of my favorite examples is 7UP, a delicious, refreshing citrus soda,” Winkler says. “When it first came out in 1929, the log line was ‘refreshing and will help you take off the edge.’ And then, of course, you found out that it was laced with lithium. So you had a lot of people after lunch, as they had 7UP with their tuna sandwich, lying on the floor.”

Kids learned lessons the hard way in the 1950s with chemistry sets that included alcohol lamps and toxic substances. “So you have an 8-year-old with a Bunsen burner, and the guidebook said, ‘Kids, don’t burn wood alcohol with your Bunsen burner because your mother will not like the soot, so burn rubbing alcohol,’” Winkler says. “You’re going to burn down the house, but at least there will be no soot.” Another science kit included uranium powder so kids could create a radioactive cloud right in the house.

In the ’70s, products like Wham-O’s Super Elastic Bubble Plastic let kids squeeze colorful gel out of tube, put it on the end of a straw and blow their own balloons. The gel was not only flammable, but it also emitted noxious fumes. “These children are inhaling all of these gasses and chemicals. It’s got to damage their insides for the rest of their lives,” Winkler says.

“When I bring up one of these examples, everybody’s reaction is the same: ‘Oh, wow.’ Playing polo on horses is dangerous enough. Playing polo with cars is insane. And yet we did it.”