[Charles Martel]

"Cradled in the palm of the hand... the five-incher - a hard, cool, rocklike cylinder of sinister jade green topped by a vicious red fuse - was a thing of cruel beauty. And that was only a five-incher. Fireworks in those days came in even more lethal and exotic varieties. None, however, was more potent, more awesome, than the ne plus ultra of the fireworks world - the Dago bomb. (This was never construed as an anti-Italian name, by the way, being more pro than anything else.) A thing of exquisite symmetry, it came in four sizes: the five-inch, the eight-inch, the ten-inch and the sure death. In more effete circles it was known as an ''aerial bomb",- but among real fireworks fans it was most often known as "the Dago heister." It actually, looked like those giant nonexistent firecrackers that occasionally show up in cartoons - a red, white and blue tube with a wooden base stained dark green, and a long red fuse.

Theoretically, this infernal machine was to be lit by an expert hand. It would then explode with the first, or lesser, explosion, which propelled an aerial charge of pure white TNT into the ambient air, theoretically vertical, for several hundred feet, and then - devastation! - not once, but several times, depending on the size of the bomb. It was not cheap, the smallest going for fifty cents and the largest for around three dollars, which in the days of the Depression was truly a capital investment. The mere sight of one of the larger specimens on the shelves of a fireworks stand sent waves of awe and excitement through the sparkler buyers. It was truly the big time."

- Jean Shepherd, Ludlow Kissell and the Dago Bomb that Struck Back

[21twelve]

Is this the same person that wrote “The Christmas Story” about the Red Ryder BB gun? I can hear the narrator’s voice from the movie in that first line!

Was it an M-80 or “silver salute” that was silver, with a green fuse I believe. They were waterproof, and great for tossing in the pond, and experiments in water-filled soda bottles.