Toy OTD: Foster's Freeze Premium: Little Foster Wind-Up

I don't have much to say about this little fellow, except that it's another example of a good, cheap toy. The design's been maintained in an appealing way, and there's only three paint passes on one color of plastic. The sculpt's a little stiff, but still cute, especially considering the mechanical nature of the toy. The biggest downside is the same of every wind-up - the winding mechanism is flimsy. Mine was broken when I bought it!

I have no idea how old this is, or how it was sold. I'm assuming it was given away at Foster's Freeze as a premium along with a specific food purchase. I picked this one up at a toy show for just a dollar or two, so if you can find one, I doubt it'll be all that expensive. There's nothing on eBay right now, so keep your eyes peeled!

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.

Cool '60s Japanese TV Spot

This ad is for Tory's Whiskey, designed by Ryohei Yanagihara. The animation isn't very good, but I love the design! Here's more about the "Uncle Tory" mascot, and Ryohei himself from this website:

[Uncle Torys was] an advertising character created in 1958 for Japan's Suntory whiskey. [He] became a popular figure in print ads, TV commercials, collectible figures, and all that kinda jazz. Creator Ryohei Yanagihara started working for Suntory in 1954 and also became editor of their hipster magazine, Yoshu Mame Tengoku (roughly translates as "a little bit of liquor heaven"), which was standard reading at the Tokyo Torys Bar. Like Tony the Tiger or other great advertising characters, Uncle Torys transcended his commercial origin and became one of the most widely recognized icons in postwar Japan. By 1959, Ryo left Suntory to be a freelance artist, although the Uncle Torys campaigns continued into the 60s. In 1960 he co-founded the Animation Sannin No Kai ("Three People in Animation") with Youji Kuri and Hiroshi Manabe, and they started an animation festival, each contributing experimental handmade animated films influenced by opening title sequences from western films. Ryo's animations were characterized by the same bright graphic style as his illustrations, and he continued making short films up until 1966. Apparently Ryo himself created title sequences for over 40 films, including the Japanese version of the American film "Around The World In 80 Days".

Later, Ryo gravitated toward his true love since childhood, ships and vessels of the sea, and was able to combine his interests when he started doing illustrations for Japanese shipping lines, notably the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines which made him an honorary Captain in 1969. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has a great website called the Ryohei Yanagihara Museum which gives some interesting biographical information in the Library, along with Exhibition Rooms with a huge assortment of his illustrations / paintings of ships, in a wide sprinkling of exotic settings.