There were some really strange toys around in the States in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. So strange that I've always been fascinated by them. You might even think them ugly. Did you have anything like these or any other strange toys?
First up is Vincent Price's Shrunken Head set! You could dry out apples and attach hair and key chains. I didn't have one but oh I wish I had! A classic from the late monster craze.
https://www.atomictourism.us/2019/12/24/atomic-reactor-steam-plant/
Back to atom splitting, this Lone Ranger Atom Bomb toy ring is from the 1940s and maybe the first toy to dabble in nuclear physics.
Gilbert got there Atomic Energy Lab in first though, in 1950. Just 5000 were sold. With it cloud chamber and uranium ores the set allowed kids to see alpha particles collide. Not a great seller but what a toy! I'd have blown my room up!
You can read more on Wiki
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_Laboratory
Dark Shadows has always been on my bucket list of shows I missed and want to watch. One of the odder playthings to emerge from it in 1970 was Josette's Music Box. I've listened to the tune and can imagine it giving young kids the creeps to be honest. Still, a fabulous bit of Dark Shadows kit and I for one would have loved it!
On my target list for my collection, I'm unlikely to ever own this beautiful oddity.
The 'bomb' on top allowed kids to peer through a spy hole to gawp at the thrilling mysteries of polonium.
You can find out more - if you can take it - here:
https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/spinthariscopes/lone-ranger-atom-bomb-ring-spinthariscope.html
Perhaps my favourite odd toy is Horsman's Self Propelled Action Bed, released on the success of the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The bed had mystery non-fall action and came with a doll which was supposed to look like Angela Lansbury but didn't. A strange item for a toy don't you think?
Beneath the bed lay the battery case, motor and non-fall device.
I wonder if the Action bed sold well?
Oddly enough, I'd love one. You?
Which strange toys have you come across?
That certainly is a very strange assortment of toys. I loved Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but I have never seen the Action Bed before. I doubt there would still be many of those around.
ReplyDeleteYes, Ive never seen the Action Bed in the flesh either Paul. It does look fragile. Horsman are new to me too.
DeleteThere was a company in New York called Horsman Dolls Inc., which had started out in 1864 (during the American Civil War !). Founded by E.I. Horsman, it originally made indoors games.
ReplyDeleteThe underside of the motor unit says Taiyo, and Made in Japan, but I do not know if that applies to the whole toy, or just the mechanism.
Got to be them Paul. Horsman in New York.
DeleteI am surprised no one did an atomic demon called:
ReplyDeleteMolech-ular
He he, like it.
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