Wednesday, December 13, 2023
100 Years of Toys
The latest in Mode’s 100 Years series is a look at the hot toys for Christmas. While the oldest toys are indeed classic, they were all new and innovative at one time. Even though I was a child in the 1960s, I remember getting Tinker Toys, and a doll house, and a top, and the Mr. Potato Head toys that you used on your own vegetables. One thing I wanted, but never got, was a Barbie. That’s possibly because I never came out and asked for one. Oh well. Which of these toys do you recall from your childhood? (via Viral Viral Videos)
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5 comments:
My sister, who grew up with me about that same time, also never had a Barbie ... my parents got her a 'Tammy' doll (Ideal Toy Company's response to Mattel's 'Barbie') instead.
And if you were to provide us an address, Miss C., your loyal readers would make sure you'd be up to your ears in Barbies by Christmas.
-"BB"-
Oh dear, no! When my daughters were young, everyone in my husband's family showered them with Barbies, all white and blonde, for every birthday and Christmas. I bought them diverse dolls to counter. At one time, I counted 22 Barbies, and they had started "altering" them in the most gruesome ways. I've had enough of Barbies now.
I remember playing with an aluminum top like that shown from the 1930s. By applying lots of force to get it to spin fast and long, I left dents in the linoleum. I remember Slinky (shown for the 50s, but I got mine in the 60s) and gifts that I did not get: Gumby (shown) & Pokey, and Cecil the Sea Monster, Mr. Potato Head, the game Mouse Trap and the Spirograph from the 1960s, Silly Putty from when? And Barbie of course; my sister got those.
So, Miss C, how many of those Barbies survived till today? In new homes, I hope.
I still have the Chinese Empress Barbie, in the original box, as a testament to how difficult it was to get in 1996. The rest were either given away or if damaged, trashed. Even if they were re-used, they don't last forever. My kids stopped playing with them at least 15 years ago.
Christmas 1963 my two apartment mates bought me a plastic hot rod over a foot long. On their way to the cashier "Doc" grabbed a Barbie in her black & white swim suit and stuck her behind the wheel. The cashier objected but "Doc" sweet-talked her into letting it go and got a date with her too.
I had to throw barbie out as I couldn't give her to some kid because before they gave her to me they used a permanent marker on her body under the swim suit.
xoxoxoBruce
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