I was reading something the other day that pointed me in the direction of a website listing popular toys (but I think they were only Fischer Price brand) way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  I recognized some of them but my parents mustn’t have been big into buying Fischer Price stuff, because a lot of it didn’t sound familiar.  Or maybe Fischer Price doesn’t cater to older kids… around about the age where my memory starts kicking in. 

In any event, it got me thinking about some of my favorite toys from my childhood, so I looked up a few of them.  And I’ll be damned if I didn’t find them, like Kenner’s Give-a-Show Projector.

I even found the commercial from 1968 for the toy:

H/T cartoonbrew.

My parents had a walk-in closet and, on rainy days when we couldn’t be outside playing with our walkie-talkies or riding our bikes, we’d go in there, shut the door, and show the movies on the white wall.  It worked perfectly, although it did have a tendency to get a bit cramped, what with my mother’s shoe addiction and all.  But piling a few shoe boxes on top of each other got the projector to just the right height for comfortable viewing.

You know how after you watch a YouTube video you get suggestions for related videos?  Well, one of the suggestions was this:

H/T zimmtube

Now, although I hate to dis this toy too much since it was made by Marx Toys and all, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was the very beginning of the childhood obesity problem. 

July 13th, 2009 | Category: Consumerism, Entertainment, Family, Friends | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL