1950's - 1960's TOY COMMERCIALS

It's a Wham-O Wednesday in The Dungeon, and what I've got for you tonight are some shots from toy commercials from the 1950's and 60's! 

 The Wham-O Company was started in 1948 by Rich Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, selling slingshots by mail order! They called it Wham-O, because that's the sound the slingshot made! It's hard to believe that the same company that would bring the world the Frisbee, the Hula Hoop, the Slip 'N Slide, the Super Ball, and Silly String would sell in 1982 for a mere 12 million dollars. That's gotta be worth at least 97 gazillion dollars these days!

 Train sets used to be THE big thing! Santa brought me a set one year that looked an awful lot like a set my older cousin used to have. I used to use the tracks for marble races! Model train societies still exist today! You might be surprised, there's probably one in your town!

The Halloween/Christmas crossover produced toys like this!

 Think big kids! From the modest beginnings of things like Creepy Crawlers, the Mattel Company is worth somewhere around 8.5 Billion today!

 On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season, breaking Babe Ruth's record set in 1927!!

Hell Yeah you're gonna wanna play his game!!

 

 Or you could get an authentic Steve Canyon Jet Helmet for $2.98!

This is kind of deceiving, since you'd have to buy 4 Mr. Machines to get this whole effect!

The chemistry sets were never as cool as they seemed like they were gonna be, although I did like making the little crystals from sodium silicate!

And then there were the guns! I'm not pro or anti gun, but I did grow up with gun toys, and I've yet to kill anybody! The war had just gotten over, it was a different time and a different attitude!

The Roy Rogers "Quick Shooter Hat" was right out of a James Bond movie!

The whole concept of a toy gun is pretty bizarre if you stare it right in the face, but what are you gonna do? That's just the way it was!

The fact of the matter is that if kids don't have toy guns, they'll find a stick and use it as a fake gun, and if they can't find a stick, they use their hands and fingers! It's really just up to the parents to keep their kid's heads screwed on straight!

The Skyhawk was a gas-powered model airplane! Pretty cool!

I never thought about it until right now, but it does really seem like these eras of toys were dominated by boy's interests! If it wasn't dolls, girls got lots of clothes, jacks, and fingernail polish!

 Mixed messages no doubt!

 So you could either have three bombshell Barbies, or one spoiled Shirley Temple for the same price! I know which way the boys would go, but unfortunately, that wasn't the marketplace !

Today's kids would not be impressed by this concept!

 

Silly Putty, now that was the kind of toy that both boys and girls could enjoy! That stuff was awesome! I always liked the "press it on a newspaper and pull off the ink image trick" the best!

 Batteries not included?
What kind of a rip-off is that? I'm glad that's an idea that's not as prevalent as it used to be!