If you’ve seen the movie, A Christmas Story, you’ll know that line. If you’ve been around Plymouth very long, you’ll also know that air rifle used to be made right here in town.
Michigan History Online has a great brief history of Daisy (and the air rifle industry more generally)
http://www.michiganhistorymag.com/extra/2008/marapr/its_a_daisy.html
Red Ryder was a character created by the company, during the Depression, to market Daisy Air Rifles to kids:
The 1930s also saw the introduction of a cowboy theme with Daisy guns honoring teenaged rodeo and movie cowboy Buzz Barton and movie cowboy Buck Jones. However, Cass Hough was always concerned about a celebrity endorser becoming entangled in a scandal and hurting Daisy’s image. He found a solution in the form of an imaginary cowboy, a comic strip hero whose name and association with Daisy have become legendary. Late in the 1930s, Daisy met Red Ryder. Actually, it was Fred Harman, author-artist for the Red Ryder comic series who came from Colorado to Plymouth to sell Daisy on a pistol concept he had whittled from wood. Harman and Cass Hough hit it off and before long they joined with Red Ryder owner Stephen Slesinger in joint promotional efforts. Daisy’s Red Ryder phase, including the No. 111 Model 40 Red Ryder Western Carbine, was among the most profitable eras of the company. The Daisy Red Ryder air gun was immortalized in the 1983 classic movie A Christmas Story, featuring Ralphie’s quest to get a Red Ryder air gun despite everyone’s warning that “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
The whole story of this industry and its origins in town is fascinating. Check out the entire article.
Merry Christmas.
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