For some reason I waxed nostalgiac tonight and began to think about my childhood, which was very happy and "tvland" like: mom, dad, me, my sister, ranch house in a subdivision. My sister and I played outside a lot, going barefoot as soon as it was acceptable (sometime in May?), rode bikes through the neighborhood, made mud pies, tried to sell lemonade/kool-aid to the neighbors. When it was too cool outside, we played indoors with baby dolls or Barbies. As soon as the Sears Wish Book arrived in the Fall, we began picking out the toys we wanted for Christmas. We were always prepared for the reference work, of course, because we had faithfully watched Saturday morning cartoons and had seen all the ads.
One of the things I was reflecting on today was how dangerous some of the toys were. For instance, my sister had a Viewmaster Projector that became incredibly hot when in use. The most dangerous toy that we owned would have to be the Mattel Thingmaker, used for making both Creepy Crawlers and Creeple People. The Thingmaker was basically a hotplate, in which you placed metal casts of insects or lizards, filled with Plastigoop. The Thingmaker would cook the cast until the Creepy Crawlers were dry and rubbery. The metal cast was lifted out with a metal tong. You see the danger here: hotplate, hot cast, hot plastic. Creeple People were made the same way but you were actually forming body parts (arms, feet, heads) for troll-like beings. The body parts fit onto a no. 2 pencil. How bizarre! Bugs, earthworms, trolls, spiders all being cooked-up in a hotplate on the kitchen table.
Another toy which I remembered was the "Give-a-Show Projector" which promised hours of movie enjoyment but delivered maybe moments of mild amusement. The "movie" or "film" was actually a rectangular frame which was pushed slowly through the projector. I remember having to gather the family in the bathroom (the only room with no window) in order to have enough darkness so that we could have a night at the movies. The lens of the projector had to be moved in and out frequently for focusing purposes. This toy was made by Kenner. In my opinion, and I invite your response, Kenner, Hasbro, and even Ideal could never hold a candle to Mattel.
4 comments:
Every experience you describe I had (topper)but not more. I agree that Mattel was the name brand. Yes, we were all in danger but also in wonder.
I loved making mud pies and stews and everything else. My cooking adventures began as an young child. My sister and I would put all sort of vegatation. I too loved being outdoors at all times! We had one of the easy bake machines. Nothing like hot powdered brownies.
How scary mom! Now we're not even allowed to have roller blade Barbie because her skates make sparks. You all were playing with hot STEEL! (That was in honor of my Daddy)
When I was in the after-school program my friends and I would play house on the playground. This was a coed activity and the character to be was naturally the teenage daughter. She could drive and go on dates! We made the house around a tree and formed the outline of all the walls and doors with pine-needles. Cooking of course was with pine needles, sticks, bark, dirt and our favorite was onion grass because it actually smelled like food! Rarely was there water or anything liquidish.
Also, I always wanted the adventure attic too. Sad, all we had was fiberglass rafters.
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