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| 1969.12.23 Knickerbocker NY News 5B |
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| 1969.12.23 Knickerbocker NY News 5B "A Noisy Yuletide Action, Sound Lend Realism To 69 Toys" by Nancy Hartnagel Article |
A Noisy Yuletide Action, Sound Lend Realism To 69 Toys
by Nancy Hartnagel
IT'S CHRISTMAS morning. The cookies and milk have been eaten, and the chimney is cleaner than it was the night before.
Santa's gone again 'til next year, but he did leave some packages for the children. It's quiet until they get up-say around 6 a.m., the hour of reckoning...
"When under the tree (with apologies to Clement Moore) there arose such a clatter" everybody else in the house is jolted right out of bed!
"Rev em up! Wipe out your competition!" The motors churn and away go Hot Wheels' superchargers over the trestle accessory, two-wheeling the half-curve, zooming around the full curve to a daredevil move over the jump ramp! Paced by the automatic lap counter-Bing! Bing! Bing!- they wind to a grinding halt at the talking service center!
Here curly-haired 9-year-old Johnny, demon driver of the Grand Prix race set (this is really another variation in the very salable Hot Wheels line), services his racers and swaps racing expertise with a voice coming from somewhere inside the realistic toy.
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TOY????? Yes, it's a toy and very noisy about that fact. It's one of many that roar, cry, yell, screech and just plain talk. As an added feature, they all move!
Toys, best friend to salesmen, have gotten more sophisticated in an attempt to keep up with children whose all-time favorite toy has been a thing called television. Toys must be realistic enough to match what the kids have "eye-witnessed" on the picture tube.
This year man walked on the moon. Not to mention the fact that he rocketed through space to get there. The resulting enthusiasm has made a trip to the toy store like a simulated blast-off.
Major Matt Mason is the child's man in space. He's ready for any moon adventure with his rocket (this is elementary), orbiting space station, uni-tred space crawler, uni-tred space hauler, space bubble, astro trac, talking command module, et al.
Matt Mason is the biggest line of equipment for would be astronauts, but there are many others appealing to the adventuresome spirit of little boys - and little girls who are fortunate enough to have big brothers.
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STRICTLY little girl toys are not to be left off the list of action toys selling out in Metroland stores. There are many, many, many dolls and one out-moves and out-talks the others!
The biggest new sellers are Beautiful Chrissie, whose hair grows when you press her stomach, and talking P.J., whose claim to fame is her friendship with the Barbie toy stores report they are sold out of all three dolls.
For doll collectors, mostly moms beginning collections for their young daughters, there is a line of foreign and storybook dolls, dressed in the costumes of their homeland or fantasy world. This Madame Alexander set is selling well at Toy Fair, Delaware Plaza.
There is another group of dolls whose rosy cheeks and rubbery bodies are alive with the sounds of little girls. Dancerina in her hot pink tutu dances "real ballet steps."
Baby Peek and Play is an excellent partner for peek-a-boo. All you do is clap your hands and she covers her eyes. Baby Catch-a-Ball does just that. And Baby First Step learns so quickly that pretty soon after that first step you'll have her ice skating (skates are sold separately).
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LITTLE GIRLS used to invite all their dollies to tea parties-using only their finest miniature plastic china. Now they have modern streamlined kitchens-complete with everything Suzy Homemaker has to offer.
That includes: Soda fountain, candy maker, oven dishwasher-sink, washer-dryer, blender, taffy puller, refrigerator, ice cream-maker, high speed mixer, and to clean it all up, a vacuum cleaner (in either regular or superclean models!).
With the same line are sold cake, cookie, muffin, cupcake and fudge Party Bake Sets. One of these is also available for bubble gum chewers. Children can bake their gum in flavors of grape, cherry, etc.
GI JOE is still around for military-type boys. But he is no longer just a combat soldier. Area toy departments offer GI Joe the astronaut, safari hunter, polar explorer, action pilot, firefighter, aquanaut, test pilot, secret agent, etc. As moods go, so goes the toy industry.
Books and paint-by-number sets are ever popular Christmas sellers. Metroland stores suggest these as small gift ideas, their expense being minimal when compared to that of something like Johnny Lightning - Hot Wheels major competitor and the racing set "that beats them all."
Emphasis is on education and creativity in any number of toys. There are talking picture books for pre-schoolers and Spirographs to get kids involved with the infinity of design and color. Coordination is the game named Bump Ball. New and different, it is really an exercise in thinking and moving.
For sports-minded boys and their fathers (mostly their fathers), there are literally thousands of electronic sports games-all officially approved by the AFL, NFL, NBA or American League.
And many carry the names of pro greats like Oscar Robertson's Pro Basketball Strategy, Fran Tarkenton's Pro Football and Rocky Graziano's Century of Great Fights.
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THE LIST goes on and on. Many of this year's new Christmas toys are variations on a theme that already sold very well last year and the years before. There are supercrayons shaped like the fruit or vegetable whose color they share. There is a hula-hoop-with sound built in. There are hydraulic dump trucks that work better than life-size ones.
And there is actually clay that glows in the dark. Gloppy, Glo-Juice Gloppy Make-a- Lot, and Glow-Globs are all part of this terribly real toy.
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CHRISTMAS comes but once a year and area toy stores have sold enough to fill Santa's bag a thousand times, "nay 10 times 10,000 bags" (with apologies this time to Frank Church) - all "to make glad the heart of childhood."
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