I've said it before and I'll say it again, Christmas and I are not friends. However, I can never resist the charm of old Playskool toys. Now that Christmas commercials are appearing freakishly early I'm reminded of the Playskool toys I had when I was a kid.
Playskool, as we know it, came to be in 1943 when they bought the J.L. Wright Company - makers of Lincoln Logs. Through mergers in 1958 and 1962 the company acquired a wood product manufacturer and a producer of wooden blocks, checkers, and construction sets. In 1968 Playskool became a subsidiary of Milton Bradley.
I think what sets Playskool toys apart in our memories is their visual and design simplicity, placing emphasis on educating the preschool set in a time before rampant television programming for children, computers, and video games. I will always remember the Playskool merry-go-round my mother saved for me to play with, as well as my plastic record player and my friend's Lincoln Logs.
Here's a little collection of (now) vintage toys and wholesome advertising. I dared go as late as the 70's, shocking, I know.
^ this is the house that Jack built! (aretha sings) ^
^ delightful ^
^ a crappy image of a cute advertisement from '64 ^
^ forget email ^
What's going to be exponentially more exciting than this post is when I round up all the toys that were totally cool in the 1940's/50's/60's but today would make parents and teachers alike scream out loud. Like this toy submarine gun with siren!
1 comments:
I'm with ya on the vintage toys, but for me my weakness is Fisher Price Little People. Little Betty has almost all of them. It's excessive.
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