#1960s toys

[cinderelmo]

Advertising for Ideal Toys Muppet Puppets

[smallerplaces]

Tweakie Time!

Tweakie Toys, by J Chein, were sold for a single year in 1969. As a child, I had the same roles in the top row. While the youngest Fisher Price family (Mr. Price, Susan Price, and their children Patrick, Patricia, and baby Amy) lived in a Marx tin litho colonial furnished with FP furniture, the Tweakie family lived in the Modern Abode, a plywood house my father had built. The Modern Abode was furnished with Blue Box imitations of Triang furniture.

The Tweakies were Grandpa (mail carrier), Grandma (kindergarten teacher), their granddaughter Carol (police officer), and their ne'er-do-well son (in the grocer's apron) who lived in the attic and slept until noon.

Tweakies were sold with modular room blocks that could be stacked into various houses and stores. I never had those, nor any of the vehicles. There is a massive, thorough discussion of Tweakies -- with vintage ads! -- Planet of the Dolls. That splendid text creates the mystery of how I had four Tweakies, not six. I was an incredibly careful child who never broke toys! Plus, it was out-of-character for my parents not to have bought both sets of Tweakie People.

Time has passed. After years of the Modern Abode being inhabited first by pipecleaner people, then by those big-headed string dolls, I decided in 2019 on a Tweakie civilization and ordered all of the variants.

Carol is still a uniformed officer, but she's no longer writing parking tickets. She has risen to Captain of the local police force. She also bought the Modern Abode and redid it in Japandi style.

Giuseppe (formerly Joseph) rediscovered the family's Italian roots about the time that he decided to restore a collapsing chicken coop and start an organic farm with attached produce stand. He has a pet dire wolf.

Grandma Rose and Grandpa Gerard retired in 2019 and moved to a condo created from two Lil Huset cubes. (I gave that house away in 2022, so they're kind of hanging out.)

Ashley and Greg live in the Blue Box Mission-style house, furnished in vintage Marx furniture. She is a well-regarded voice actor. He is a cartoonist.

Clyde is a Gerard's best friend. They hang out at the Elks club together. Clyde is widely believed to have been involved in organized crime, as his paintings have never sold enough to support his lifestyle. He was briefly married to Augusta, some decades ago.

Augusta is the owner of the Maine Cottage. She was an artist's model in her flaming youth, before going into real estate. Three nudes she posed for hang in museums.

Stanley is Augusta's son, a businessman in Boston.

Fleur, a nurse, is the daughter of Clyde and Augusta, and sister of Stanley. She lives in a the Sunflower Cottage, a small Calico Critters house, also furnished in vintage Marx furniture.

This motley crew demonstrates how different face-ups can be on the "same" character.

Miranda, another nurse, works at the hospital with Fleur. She is the girlfriend of...

Tabitha, who is a math professor at the local community college. Her bemused expression comes from reading too assignments mangled by ChatGPT.

Anabeth is a detective in Carol's precinct. She carries a torch for Noah.

Irvine started out delivering milk during the pandemic. He has since expanded to delivering Giuseppe's organic eggs. Despite his head injury, he can handle his route.

Noah owns the hip restaurant and nightclub that's shaped like a giant drinks cart.

Naomi, Tabitha's twin, is a professor of sociology at the same college. Some freshmen are very confused for the first few weeks of the semester.

Christine is a bright young rookie in the police force who wants to be just like Carol.

[inthedarktrees]

The Island of Misfit Toys

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) Rankin/Bass

[doctorbeth]

Secondary Hospital for Toucan and Hippo

Sometimes, animals need to go to a higher level hospital, kind of like visiting the Mayo Clinic after having first been treated at the local community hospital. When the toucan's person first wrote to me, he was looking for that higher level hospital.

Toucan was born in 1965. His person got him by sending in box tops from Fruit Loops Cereal. Earlier this year, he decided that Toucan, while still furry, really needed a bath, and he sent him, along with his friend hippo, to a hospital (not mine). When they came back, they were clean, but their colors were faded, their fur was gone, and their facial features (as well as hippo's ears and tail) had all been replaced. Their person was, needless to say, not happy.

Here is the diagnosis photo of Toucan that he sent:

Toucan was supposed to be two shades of yellow as well as blue and purple! His man was ok, with the new eyes, but his beak was malformed (he couldn't get small bugs with that rounded tip) and his tail had a poor patch.

Hippo (who was too shy for diagnosis photos) was similarly pale and unfurry, with the wrong ears, eyes, nostrils, and tail!

The only treatment I can offer for fading and balding is new fur, which I explained to the pair's man. He thought this would be acceptable (especially since it was reversible if he didn't like it, unlike their earlier cleaning), so he sent them in -- I got to be the Mayo Clinic :-)!

We went through a few options for colors and furriness amounts, but eventually figured out the right balance and surgery commenced. Here is the Toucan all better and waiting for some Fruit Loops:

The hippo took a bit longer. While the man had photographs (old original photos from film!) of them younger, the angle on Hippo was not great for his nostrils, and it took a few tries to get them and his eyes just right. But here he is all better too... he's even showing off his new tail!

They flew home (not far, just down to Los Angeles) and their person wrote:

The pair have arrived safe and sound.  They have never looked better.  Thank you so much for your superb craftsmanship.

[dragonfruitghoul]

Bats in your belfry dream toy

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Japanese tin robot & spacemen toys (1950s, 1960s)

[catsofyore]

Gone fishin'. Photo from my collection, 1968.

[goshyesvintageads]

Wilson Sporting Goods Co, 1966

[goobersplat]

1975 Snoozie Turtle, 1970s Yellow mouse with cheese, Blue, red, and yellow dog (lost the link.), 1987 Lil Hooks sneaky snail

[blondebrainpowered]

GIF by BoomUnderground

[gameraboy2]

Barbie and Ken (1962)

[misforgotten2]

I love smell of Play-Doh in the morning. It smells like childhood.

Parents Magazine  - November 1967

[retropopcult]

Electronic RADAR SEARCH game from Ideal, 1969

[vintageadsmakemehappy]

1969 Hot Wheels Super Charger

[4064]

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine ads (1960s)