Don Tuite wrote:

I did have Captain Midnight secret decoder, too. (The 1949 model, with
the crossed rockets), but it was just a two-wheel
alphabet-substitution gizmo. You got it for two bits and the
waxed-paper seal from the top of a jar of Ovaltine. The daily
messages, alternated Ovaltine blather with warnings about Ivan Shark.


And that is what was behind the "secret message". Who hasn't watched
"A Christmas Story" on TV at least once? I never listened to captain
midnight but I have seen this movie... the littel boy finally gets
his super "decoder' ring in the mail, decodes one of the secret Captain
Midnight messages he has saved and it says: "Drink more Ovaltine". haha

All the effort and that cool ring just to get an ad for ovaltine.
Maybe learning to read code is the "decoder ring" of the 21st century....