Toys
Two of my grandkids just went back home after a week's visit. As I always do when I know they are coming, I went by the Dollar Store and grabbed a couple of new toys so they'd have them when they got here. It started me thinking. My childhood took place in the 40s and the toys were less . . . frantic.
Nothing had a battery and, except for the baby doll that made a sort-of baby sound when you flipped her over, nothing made noise. You had to screw up your face and your voice box to make the sound that cowboy pistols make when you fire them. We had baby dolls, as I said, and blackboards (actually black, by the way--the green ones came in while I was in elementary school) with white chalk. I cut out a ton of paper dolls (the doll itself was on the thin cardboard cover and could be "punched out" but the clothes were on slick pages inside the booklet and had to be cut out with scissors). My g'daughter's "paper dolls" are all magnetic so the clothes "snap" on them (remembering how the cut-out clothes were always falling off, I think the magnetic ones are a great improvement). My favorite paper dolls were those of Doris Day (one of the popular musical singing stars of the time). In one "book," she had a long red and white polka dot dress that I so fell in love with that I SWORE I would have a polka dot dress when I grew up. (I better hurry--I'm a grandmother and I still haven't bought that polka dot dress!!) I played for HOURS with a doll house that was metal (not wood) and that had plastic furniture. And the only thing that came close to "videos" were the cartoons that were shown before the main feature (and after the newsreel) when we went to the movie theatre. They consisted mostly of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tom & Jerry (the Road Runner came later). While my g'kids are constantly being exposed to the learning curve on PBS and programs like Cyberchase, I guess we learned the correct way to hit someone over the head with a skillet (and that their heads would assume the shape of said frying pan until the victim shook his head vigorously). I do have to tell you about one of my absolute FAVORITE toys. The comic strip "Li'l Abner" was in its heyday when I was a kid and, in several of the strips, there were little white rolling pin-shaped characters called "Smoos." Someone thought that manufacturing these would be a money-making endeavor, I guess, so they came out and my parents bought me a set. They had (if I remember correctly) a simple little face of black (smiling) lines and came apart at the middle so the smaller ones could be stacked inside the larger ones. Talk about playing for hours! I loved those little things. Since matter can neither be created or destroyed, those little Smoos are somewhere in the world right now. But they can't call out to me from their location because Smoos were silent creatures. I miss them. Almost makes me want to hit myself over the head with a frying pan for letting them get away . . .
Nothing had a battery and, except for the baby doll that made a sort-of baby sound when you flipped her over, nothing made noise. You had to screw up your face and your voice box to make the sound that cowboy pistols make when you fire them. We had baby dolls, as I said, and blackboards (actually black, by the way--the green ones came in while I was in elementary school) with white chalk. I cut out a ton of paper dolls (the doll itself was on the thin cardboard cover and could be "punched out" but the clothes were on slick pages inside the booklet and had to be cut out with scissors). My g'daughter's "paper dolls" are all magnetic so the clothes "snap" on them (remembering how the cut-out clothes were always falling off, I think the magnetic ones are a great improvement). My favorite paper dolls were those of Doris Day (one of the popular musical singing stars of the time). In one "book," she had a long red and white polka dot dress that I so fell in love with that I SWORE I would have a polka dot dress when I grew up. (I better hurry--I'm a grandmother and I still haven't bought that polka dot dress!!) I played for HOURS with a doll house that was metal (not wood) and that had plastic furniture. And the only thing that came close to "videos" were the cartoons that were shown before the main feature (and after the newsreel) when we went to the movie theatre. They consisted mostly of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tom & Jerry (the Road Runner came later). While my g'kids are constantly being exposed to the learning curve on PBS and programs like Cyberchase, I guess we learned the correct way to hit someone over the head with a skillet (and that their heads would assume the shape of said frying pan until the victim shook his head vigorously). I do have to tell you about one of my absolute FAVORITE toys. The comic strip "Li'l Abner" was in its heyday when I was a kid and, in several of the strips, there were little white rolling pin-shaped characters called "Smoos." Someone thought that manufacturing these would be a money-making endeavor, I guess, so they came out and my parents bought me a set. They had (if I remember correctly) a simple little face of black (smiling) lines and came apart at the middle so the smaller ones could be stacked inside the larger ones. Talk about playing for hours! I loved those little things. Since matter can neither be created or destroyed, those little Smoos are somewhere in the world right now. But they can't call out to me from their location because Smoos were silent creatures. I miss them. Almost makes me want to hit myself over the head with a frying pan for letting them get away . . .