Toy OTD: Anri Peanuts Music Box: Flying Ace Snoopy (1968)

Before there was Star Wars for me, there was Peanuts. I've been a huge fan of the strip for as long as I can remember, gobbling up the escapades of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Schroeder, and of course Snoopy.

Simply a cute puppy in the beginning, Snoopy came into his own in the late fifties/early sixties to become (arguably) the strip's most popular character. He transformed into a canine Walter Mitty; imagining himself as a vulture, a BMOC, a high-powered lawyer, and most famously a WWI flying ace.

I assume Schulz used his World War II experiences (or movies he grew up with) to inform Snoopy's adventures. They were purely imaginative in the comic, but occasionally visualized in the television specials. As they accumulated and grew ever more vivid, the fantasies began to inform the merchandising.

Anri began manufacturing many different Peanuts music boxes in the late sixties/early seventies, and naturally the flying ace was depicted in the series. One featured Snoopy flying on his doghouse, and this one (above) creates a more elaborate scene of him in a war-torn countryside. It's one of the most detailed environments of the line!

The Anri music boxes were crudely designed and constructed, but I still like them - there's an almost folk-art quality to the pieces. The simplicity does seem appropriate, even though they're far less sophisticated than the original artwork.

The elements seem to be made primarily from wood. What's interesting is they appear similar enough from one box to the next that they don't appear to be hand-carved. But how would you mass-produce something like this? Is some sort of wood pulp poured into a mold, like the '30s-era "Syroco" figures? Regardless, the shattered brick wall, the barbed wire, the helmet, the mushroom and Snoopy have a roughly-hewn charm.

The paint work is equally loose, feeling like rushed assembly-line work. Other than Snoopy's eyes, little of the paint on the box has much taste or care in its application. Most of the colors come across as overly layered and muddy. Still, it does contribute to the hand-crafted feel of the piece, which does have a certain warmth to it.

The song choice (It's a Long Way To Tipperary) is not only perfect for the era, but also because it was specifically featured in the strip. I can't remember if the box was wound with a side key or a rotating base, but it works fine and is well constructed. I'm assuming that a wooden base makes for a good resonator (which might make the mechanism sound better), but I'm not sure. Of course, it's worth mentioning that the base is nice and simple, with no unnecessary text or labeling on it.

Unfortunately, I don't have any packaging for this item (or any box photos that I can find online) to review.

These music boxes weren't made in huge numbers, and I imagine that many of them broke down over the years. As a result of that, and the strip's continuing popularity, these pieces can get quite pricey on the secondary market. This particular one ranges anywhere from $124.75 to $279.99 + shipping on eBay. Look the auction pictures/descriptions over carefully and make sure it's complete and in working order before you shell out the cash. Have fun!

Toy OTD: Rosko Toys Battery-Operated Charley Weaver Bartender (1962)

Older toys based on television personalities tend to look a little creepy. Cartoon characters (being simple to begin with) translated well into toy form, but '60s manufacturing technology just wasn't up to the task of capturing a pleasing, realistic likeness.

Most internet dwellers probably don't remember radio/theater/tv personality Cliff Arquette, aka Charley Weaver - if you're in your mid-forties, chances are you caught the tail end of his career quipping on the '70s version of the Hollywood Squares show. While drinking wasn't as central to his comedy as Foster Brooks or Dean Martin, it was certainly part of his persona. Enough, at least, to inspire this mechanical toy.

What this battery-operated figure lacks in polish, it makes up for in activity. Switch it on, and "Charley" mixes a drink, quaffs it, then scrunches his face (flushing red) as smoke comes out his ears! Mine works pretty well, even after all this time (though I'm not sure the red bulb still lights up). Silly but amusing!

The figure doesn't have a lot of volume, and the head is disproportionately huge in order to accommodate the mechanism. Rosko did make an effort to duplicate Charley's costume, right down to his battered hat (my toy is missing its tie, but is otherwise complete). The complexion of a brand-new model is much closer to its flesh and blood counterpart, as mine has soaked in its share of UV rays.

I'm also impressed with the tin litho bar counter. It's an element that the designer could have easily painted a solid color, leaving Charley to be the centerpiece. Instead, it's decorated with lively textures, 'bar stools', and a reference to Elsie Krack, the ugliest girl in Mount Idy.

The packaging is pretty cool looking, too. While the fonts may be somewhat lackluster, the box was designed to compensate for the toy's visual shortcomings - shoppers got a full-blown illustration of Mr. Weaver behind the bar. It looks more like a model kit box than one for a battery-powered toy!

This isn't a particularly rare toy, but getting one in good shape (and in working order) can be pricey. They seem to range between $125.00 (not working and missing his shaker top) to $350 + shipping (complete and working). There's cheaper examples for sale, so be patient and read the item descriptions carefully. Have fun!

Toy OTD: Quaker Cereal Mail-Order Premium: Cap'n Crunch Bank

Cap'n Crunch was the source of many cool ads, in-box prizes and mail-order premiums. This bank is one of my favorites!

I think this offer was from the late sixties or early seventies - for money and box tops, you could get either a bank in the shape of the Cap'n or his main nemesis, Jean La Foote. It's a simply made item, but it's fun and appealing.

The colors are accurate when you compare it to the cartoon character. Granted, the proportions are extremely tweaked in order to make the character work as a bank. There's not much of a pose here, either, but I think the original design still comes through and rescues the execution. The paint work is rather sketchy too, and to some degree the bank looks like an unauthorized bootleg. It really depends on how appealing you find early manufacturing and design - you either buy into its primitive vibe, or you don't.

These bank aren't terribly rare, so finding one shouldn't be all that difficult. In fact, there's a really nice-looking one up for auction on eBay starting at $24.99 + shipping. Enjoy!

Toy OTD: Jello Mail-Order Premium: Mr. Wiggle Puppet (1966)

I didn't actually see Mr. Wiggle ads when I was a kid (I was a year old when this promotion took place), but I love the design work! The graphics are nice and simple, and as a result the animation is quite good.

Mr. Wiggle was a spin-off brand of Jell-O - apparently it had no sugar, so the ads reminded kids that they could eat all they liked! Mr. Wiggle fed the cathode urchins plenty of gelatin while Sweet-Tooth Sam (Wiggle's Snidely-Whiplash-style arch-nemesis) would try to get some for himself.

General Foods had a mail-away premium offer - for fifty cents and two box tops, you could order a vinyl Mr. Wiggle puppet, a Sweet-Tooth Sam puppet (a vinyl head with the more traditional cloth body), or both!

This is a very cute toy - the proportions of the sculpt are squatter than the animated character, but I'm sure part of this is to create a better fit for a child's hand (plus, he changes shape constantly anyway). The paint work is nice and simple, just like the character's three-color design. It's made out of a good vinyl too, as they've held up really well over forty-three years!

I don't know if this toy ever had any packaging beyond a cardboard shipping box, so I can't really talk about that.

I'm assuming a lot of these puppets were made, because they aren't difficult to find at all - some puppets have warped, but it's still not too hard to get one that's in good shape. There's one for sale right now on eBay for about $60 + shipping, but the auction will have ended by the time you read this. There's also a Sweet Tooth Sam puppet (that I'm considering) on eBay as well for $80 + shipping (I'm assuming he's a little rarer). Good luck!

Toy OTD: Horikawa Rotate-O-Matic Tin Robot (Mid-To-Late '60s)

This is another childhood toy - its back story isn't as involved as the one for my Snoopy music box, but it still sounds a little like something out of The Velveteen Rabbit. Well, if The Velveteen Rabbit were sealed in a tin space suit with machine guns on his chest, anyway.

One of my father's co-workers had a son of his own, and that little boy was this toy's original owner. It seems that the robot had stopped working at some point, but by the time that my dad's friend had repaired it, his son had outgrown the toy. So my dad's friend gave it to my dad, and my dad gave it to me. It's a little sad, thinking about this toy just sitting around waiting to be played with again. Still, it got a new owner, and I can only anthropomorphize toys so much before I start to realize that I have one the biggest toy jails in the country...

Regardless, this is a beautiful toy! There's a lot of bright, colorful detail in the lithos, and the bulk of the robot is solidly constructed. I like the nifty 'astronaut' illustration in the head, and the plastic visor really makes it feel like a helmet. The sunken 'gauges' along the beltline are also awesome-looking. The main body shapes are suitably blocky and mechanical - in fact, they were re-used on several other models!

The walking movement looks great, with the extra bonus of a periodic pause, the chest doors popping open (moving the inner weapons forward), and a body spin as the machine guns noisily open fire, blinking red all the while! Clearly not a great toy for cat owners.

It's not a particularly rare item, but it's old enough and popular enough that it won't be cheap to buy. Here's one for sale on eBay for $165.00 + $11.62 shipping. Enjoy!

Toy OTD: Colgate Soaky Toy: Dick Tracy

I think one of the main reasons I like older toys is that so many of them have to find an appealing solution within a multitude of material/technological/aesthetic limitations. Soaky toys are great example of how you can take something as boring and uniform as a bath soap bottle, and make it playful and fun. How do you capture the essence of an animated (or comic strip) character, and still fit it into the practical dimensions that you're given?

Naturally, taller bipedal characters work the best for Soaky toy designs, so Dick Tracy here works great. The pose is stiff, but it maintains as much of the bottle's volume as possible. I love the minimal color usage in the design - the plastic does most of the work, with black and a skin color filling in the rest.

I also like the head sculpt - it's a lot friendlier than the comic character's chiseled grimace (how cheerily he reaches for his gun!), but it still has some feel for Tracy. As drawn, the famous profile almost defies dimensionality, but the I think the sculptor found a solution that works. I'm not thrilled that Tracy's name is emblazoned on the base, but at least it's not emphasized with paint.

There's not much additional packaging to a Soaky - a paper label wrapping the base, and some cellophane - but since the bottle is toy and package in one, that makes sense. It's a great idea that's still around today (though not made by Colgate), and works even better in these conservation-minded times!

Dick Tracy is not a rare Soaky character, so you should be able to get one without much effort. There's a slightly damaged one for sale at timepassagesnostalgia.com for $19.99 + $5.50 shipping, and another on eBay for $22.00 + $6.50 shipping. Happy shopping!

Toy OTD: Schmid Bros. Snoopy Music Box (1968)

This is a very special childhood toy with a lot of history.

When I was a kid, there was a drug store in Vermont called Campbell's Pharmacy - it was where I bought a lot of my comic books, and they also sold figurines, music boxes, and other gift items. Snoopy was prominently displayed in the main window, and being the huge Peanuts fan that I was, I immediately fell in love with it. I stopped to look at it every time we went by the shop. Or at least I did until it disappeared one day. I was heartbroken.

Of course, my parents had bought it for me, and it became one of my favorite possessions. I played it constantly, even though I had no idea what the song Over There was really about. I even took it into the bathroom with me at bath time, until one day it fell off the back of the toilet, landing on the floor. The fall rendered it silent.

I was very upset, but Dad patiently opened the doghouse up and repaired it. As an explanation for the damage, he painted bullet holes on the side, simulating an enemy attack! And so I've kept it to this very day. I've discarded and 'upgraded' many of my childhood playthings, but this one simply has too much love inside of it.

Of course, I think this music box is wonderful - the design is crude, even primitive, but that's part of its simple charm. In a way, it's just as elemental as the comic itself. An astronaut version that plays Fly Me To The Moon was also made at the time.

These music boxes weren't made in enormous quantities, so naturally they're sought-after collectibles today. There's one up for auction on eBay right now starting at $9.99 + shipping, but I'd be prepared to pay $100 or more for it. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Dell Mickey Mouse Squeak Toy

I've had this toy since I was a kid - I think my folks bought it for me at a flea market. The squeaker still works, and it still stands on its own, even though I'm assuming it's around forty years old.

In spite of my love for the improvements in production technology, there's a lot to be said for the charm of a limited paint palette and a little overspray. Black, white and red are a classic color combination, and the off-white helps keep the toy warm and friendly.

It's a curious pose for a figure - it feels like Mickey is waiting or reacting to another character, as if a Minnie Mouse had been made as part of a set. Still, there's a real sweetness to the sculpt, even though Mickey isn't on-model in the strictest sense. His look and clothing are not exactly what we expect when we picture a Mickey toy, but it has its own consistent design integrity.

I have no idea what was paid for this 'originally' (i.e, in the early '70s when my parents bought it for me - probably less than a dollar. I don't see these for sale all that often, but you can buy one at whatacharacter.com for $55 + shipping.

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Tick-Tock Clock #997 (1967)

This toy goes way back for me, though it isn't the original I had as a kid. It's a very simple idea - you wind it up, and it plays like a music box while the sun/moon disc rotates. Tiny scenes of a kid's day are revealed as the die-cut window on the disc rotates. Since I've heard the song since I was a tot, it's incredibly soothing, like watching an episode of Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood at any point in your life (If you're too young to remember watching it, just humor me).

Like most F-P toys of this period, it's mostly wood, with a little plastic used to its strengths (the plastic 'crystal' surrounding the clock face, for example. As with the Tooly Birds, this was made in an industry with far less licensing - there's references to Hickory Dickory Dock and Dick and Jane in the artwork, but that's basically it. The design is charming - maybe a touch bland - but it evokes storybooks from the early sixties very nicely. The only construction variation I've noticed is that some of the plastic handles are yellow and some are red, so keep an eye on that if it's important to you.

This toy is really tough - it took getting left outside in the sun and rain to ruin the one that we had, and even then the paper labeling got the worst of it!

Because the toy is so durable, it's not too difficult to track down a working one. The trickiest part is finding one with a nice-looking 'crystal', so it depends on how fussy you are, and how much you're willing to pay. There's two eBay auctions going right now, and the starting bids range from $7.50 to $14.99 + shipping. Make sure to ask if the music box works if it's not metioned in the product description - always approach eBay with a heaping spoonful of caveat emptor. Good luck!

PS - If you're a huge F-P nerd, you can buy a print of this toy's patent here.

Toy OTD: Revell Dr. Seuss' Birthday Bird Model Kit

Revell had an incredible line of Dr. Seuss products in the late '50s/early '60s. There were two types of model kits - the soft-plastic, rearrangeable Dr. Seuss Zoo creatures, and the more traditional, hard-plastic-model-cement-needed models of his storybook characters.

All of the latter line is wonderful, but this may be my favorite, since Happy Birthday To You! is one of my favorite Seuss books. The sculpt is nicely done, capturing Seuss' drawing style really well. There's a great use of colored plastic here - you don't need to paint the finished kit at all for it to look amazing! It has enough parts to have satisfying play value, but not so many as to be intimidating or frustrating for young children. There's even a tree of tiny plastic letters, so you can customize the cake with your own name, which is a nice touch.

All of these kits are highly desired by collectors, so be prepared to shell out at least three or four hundred dollars for this one. I can't find one for sale online right now, so you'll need to set up an eBay Favorite Search. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Avon Andy Capp Talc Bottle (1969)

You just don't see that much Andy Capp stuff around, so I had to pick this up. I can't imagine what motivated Avon to license one of pop culture's most famous alcoholic wife-beaters. Bizarre!

For a bottle, the sculpt's pretty on-model, but by necessity, the pose is symmetrical and stiff. On the bright side, the bottle stands well and has no balance issues. The colors and paint work are fine, though I think his nose should be redder. At least there's no logos or slogans, so that's nice.

I picked up mine at a toy show for around $30 or $40. You can pick up a nice example of this bottle (nicer than mine, really) for $57.16 at vectisdirect.co.uk. There's one for sale on eBay.co.uk, too, starting at £2.99 + shipping (or about $6.00 USD). Good luck!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Barky Pull Toy #462 (1960)

Here's another great old-school Fisher-Price toy! This type of toy construction was used a few times to create different characters (see Gran'pa Frog), but each of them is a clever variation on the same overall design.

It's hard to beat the killer combination of richly rendered labels, wooden construction, and the charm of a mechanical ratchet noisemaker. Even with the traditionally styled illustrations, the toy feels very stylized, but very appealing!

This is an older F-P toy, so it's a little more expensive than its later counterparts. I can't find it on eBay or anywhere else online, but some patient hunting should turn one up. I'd expect to pay between fifty and a hundred dollars for one, probably on the higher side. Good luck!

The Greed Of Christmases Past: Wishbookweb.com

If you don't already take enough trips down memory lane, here's a site that's archived a bunch of the old Wish Books. If you're under thirty years old, your parents may not have ordered all (or any of) your presents from JC Penny or Sears!

I loved the ritual of the Christmas Wish Book arriving each year - poring through the toy section for weeks, carefully circling and meticulously listing the stuff I wanted.

At one point, I had everything on this page but the plush (before Star Wars, Peanuts was the thing for me)! It's wild to look through these catalogs now - just like today, some of the toys are great, and others are really awful. Check 'em out!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price #444: Queen Busy/Buzzy Bee (1962-1985)

This isn't one of Fisher-Price's best toys necessarily, but I had one as a kid, so nostalgia demanded that I get a spiffy replacement from eBay!

Queen Busy Bee is nice and simple, with a cute noisemaker and plenty of charm. The designers get a lot of play value out of their simple materials, accenting the spinning wheels and wings with bouncing spring antennae. I wonder if the illustrator knew what the artwork was for - there's wings painted onto the 'thorax', even though the toy has wings as separate parts! It's very cute, regardless.

This toy was made for so long, there's tons and tons of them out there - it'd almost be harder not to own one! Needless to say, there's some variations in the construction, but basically no one version is much more expensive to get than another (well, the '59 model will cost you, but in general it's not a pricey toy). A quick search on eBay revealed thirty-seven different auctions, so this is kind of a fish in a barrel unless you're looking for the box, or want to the toy to be in ultra-mint condition. Have fun!

Toy OTD: Baby Puss Vinyl Toy

Here's another bizarre piece of Hanna-Barbera merchandise from the sixties. Aside from the shaved face, the color isn't as out of whack as many other toys from this period are. For whatever reason, someone decided that Baby Puss needed some accessories, and added a bow tie and belt(?). At first blush that seems really odd, but I guess it's no weirder than Yogi Bear being totally naked except for a hat and tie. At least the green works nicely as an accent to the yellow body!

I think there are toys for Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, Dino and Baby Puss (you know, the cat that throws Fred out of the house in the credits of the later episodes) - I don't know if there are vinyl Pebbles or Bamm-Bamm figures in this line or not.

These toys aren't impossible to find, but they're not particularly common, either, so I think they usually range from $70 - $100. There's one for sale at whatacharacter.com for $165, but they're not known for bargains - you may want to dig around on eBay for a while before you jump on that!

Toy OTD: Eldon Billy Blastoff With Space Crawler (1968-71)

This figure is one of my favorite space toys! I didn't grow up with Major Matt Mason, so I imprinted on a beat-up Billy Blastoff that I found at a flea market. That one didn't survive my childhood, so I picked up a spiffy, operational version from eBay much later on.

It's a clever format for a toy - let the figure itself power all of the accessories (even his laser pistol). Billy's backpack is motorized, so you simply plug it into any of the vehicles in the line, and away you go! There were several different conveyances to choose from, as well as a full-blown moon base, and Robbie, his robot buddy. Billy was also available as a fireman and a scuba diver (there may be still other variants), each with still more accessories. As far as I know, the astronaut is the most common, with a walking version made a little later. It makes sense that Billy Blastoff was the most popular of the line - once you come up with a catchy name like that, anything else just isn't gonna cut it!

These aren't as popular as the Major Matt toys, and they're also easier to find in good shape (no wire armatures to break). Some items can get pricey, depending on rarity and how difficult they are to find complete. There's an eBay auction for a decent-condition Billy with several vehicles that's currently at $45.12 + shipping.

Check out a Billy Blastoff TV spot here!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Lacing Shoe Music Box #991 (1966)

This toy may not be a gold medlaist in the Fisher-Price olympics, but nevertheless it's got charm to spare! There's tons of play value too, in spite of it being a teaching toy - tiny passengers that ride in the cockpit/toe of the shoe, and there's a tumbler scrolling sweet drawings as it plays music. So cute! This type of stylization is getting rare these days - I think it helps kids learn how to be imaginative through toy representations of the world that are more abstract, more symbolic than literal.

The increasing amount of plastic is used very well - for the carrying loop (upper left), the opening toe, the scroll-viewing panel, and the high-wear wheels. Of course, it teaches kids how to tie their shoes, too! I wonder if this works for left-handers - it look me a long time to learn how to tie my shoes because of that.

This is a more recent toy from the F-P line, so it's not all that tough to find. If you don't mind tracking down the figures separately (though it does have the original box), there's an eBay auction for this toy starting at $14.99 + shipping. Also, here's more information about this item than you'd ever want or need - enjoy! Happy hunting!

Toy OTD: Messemaennchen "Convention Man" Figure (1964)

It's been a while since I picked this up, so I don't remember where I bought it (maybe at the San Mateo toy show) - I think it cost me about $40. I knew nothing about it then, but an internet friend doughyboy did some digging and found this guy's back story:

It's called Messemaennchen, and it's an East German mascot for the Leipzig Convention in the early sixties. The phrase Leipziger Messe refers to a convention center/area in Germany (Leizpig), that has been around forever - since before World War I. They host a famous book convention, games convention, car convention and a few others. The double M on the character head is the logo for the convention center itself (the logo was designed in 1917).

I'll bet William Joyce has one of these figures in his collection, don't you think? It's very much the aesthetic that he's fond of.

I thought these figures would be harder to dig up, but if you can read German, it looks like you can buy a similar figure here for six Euros, or about $8.27 USD + shipping.

Toy OTD: '60s Ideal Peter Potamus Doll

This is a really nice vintage doll I found on eBay a while back. It's unusual that a plush can stand on its own, so it gets big points just for that (I think there's a bendable frame within the stuffing)! It's still cuddly, and quite well made - the designers made the head out of plastic so that material could do the heavy design lifting. Nice colors and simple details - the leg wrinkles even work for the character! Good proportions, too.

I think this toy cost around $60.00 or so. There's one for sale at gasolinealleyantiques.com for $79.50 + shipping, but it's not in very good shape. I see the phrases rare! and hard to find! thrown about by dealers so often, I never really know when to believe it.

Toy OTD: Ideal Zeroid Robots: Zobor, The Bronze Transporter

Here's another robot from the late '60s/early '70s toy line from Ideal, the Zeroids. Each toy scooted about on motorized treads. Zobor's early box was cleverly designed to add to the play value - the robot could pull the box along on its wheels, carrying cargo like a wheelbarrow. The robots came with different hands (some magnetic) and a variety of accessories.

One of my school buddies had this specific Zeroid, and I coveted it fiercely. I managed to pick up this one years later on eBay, and other than some missing accessories and paint wear, it's in good shape. eBay is really the only place to buy one of these, and examples in decent condition start at roughly $70-$100 each. The more complete it is, of course, the more it'll cost!