Some of our Sixties toys and novelties were distinctly of their time.
Take the Smoking Monkey for instance! You remember, the seated plastic monkey with the pouting mouth and long thin cigarettes that you lit.
With a few different names like Smokie Pets, these little toys were part of a whole world of gags, jokes and novelties available to kids back then. I'm not sure where you bought them but I know I had one of these monkeys.
The toy trick extended to actual TV characters too, which personally I never saw, like these carded figures by Elvin: Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound.
Consigned to the ashtray of toy history now, these smoking toys were part of that time when cigarettes were everywhere and the Marlboro Man was a TV personality.
Did you have one readers?
Somewhere I still have a cigar smoking Winston Churchill. A subject unlikely to encourage children to smoke.
ReplyDeleteHa ha. Those iconic cigars. This week I watched Fake or Fortune about a possible new painting by Winston. Fascinating stuff. There is no authority prepared to authenticate Churchill paintings at present or so they said.
DeleteIn East Germany these figures were known as Raucher Mäcky and there was a wide variety of them
ReplyDeletehttps://tinyurl.com/5xyppx62
I have collected a few whenever I've come across one, the rarest being a smoking Mickey Mouse!
Wow! Great link. Thanks Arto. My Missus has a collection of Mecki hedgehog figures and books. Not the same as Mäcky but I thought I'd mention it.
DeleteI think there is a Mecki connection Woodsy. In addition to Mecki raucher figures, the mini cigarette pack also features a Mecki hedgehog lookalike.
DeleteAnd who can forget Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble smoking Winston Cigarettes on the Flintstones!?!? The ad agencies were out of control back then! SFZ
ReplyDeleteI've seen the magazine and for that recently! Yep, crazy Marlboro Man says!
DeleteNever had a pet version of this. However I did have a smoking skull which was fairly hard plastic and the jaw was spring loaded so the cig would not fall out. But the bad news about it was the burning cig would melt the plastic, leaving a tiny blackened ring hole in the upper and lower skull. I've not seen mine in decades so it probably got tossed out.
ReplyDeleteHere is a pic of what it was though. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1960s-70s-smoking-skeleton-3822152641
I love that Skill Lance. I want one!
DeleteSkull!
DeleteI recall these being sold from vending machines in the men's rooms of highway rest stops.
ReplyDeleteReally! How strange!
DeleteI do not recall ever seeing anything that bizarre in New Zealand.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere Paul there is one!
DeleteI loved the smell of the smoke on these, probably not good for my asthma nowadays....
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I'm trying to recall the smell!
DeleteOh boy, I remember these with fondness.
ReplyDeleteOne of the earlier iterations of my puppet film (the one with seven Lemurs in flying suits) was going to feature these cigarettes. However, I found they are only made in one post-Iron Curtain country these days and are prohibitively expensive.
Still, almost all of the characters in my latest version smoke, so maybe I should have another look...
Which country are they made in Looey?
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