Sunday, December 04, 2005

Scribbles: Top Toys of the Century

This Just In from The 65th Crayon:
After Steve Forbes pulled the faux pas of letting his magazine come down on bloggers a few weeks ago, The 65th Crayon seized the opportunity to wax the floor and slip right into the Forbes archives. With the help of a little known black sheep in the Forbes family tree, our crayon was able to pull together this timeline of the bestselling toys through history. Just in time for the holiday season.

“If you just want a taste of nostalgia,” our colorful friend said. “You might enjoy this slide show Freddy Forbes made for me instead. Ready for a trip down memory lane?”



“Take a stroll down toy lane,” The 65th Crayon invites everyone. “What toy do you remember most?”



The 199os
1998 Furby



The 1980s
1985 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


The 1970s
1979 Strawberry Shortcake


The 1960s
1968 Hot Wheels


The 1950s
1959 Barbie


The 1940s
1949 Candyland


The 1930s
1934 Sorry


The 1920s


The 1910s
1916 Lincoln Logs

The 1900s
1903 Teddy Bears

“What do they need with them? When they could have me?” was all that the crayon said as he walked past the hall of toys. “People. They need so much.”
—me strauss Letting me be
For links to additional Scribbles Reports by the 65th Crayon see the sidebar.
Scribbles Reports by The 65th Crayon appear Sundays in Letting me be ...
The 65th Crayon is a copyright of ME Strauss. All Rights Reserved

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The smell of crayons, and they MUST be crayola, for the wax to pigment ratio, I can smell them now.

A close second was the etch a sketch. Another good toy to take on car trips, that is if EVERY child in the car had one.

Fighting over the etch a sketch in the car could be known to cause toy crackeage , from being bashed over a head, or against a door. We were wrestlers.

I also remember this goofy machine that made incredible edibles. Ours featured bugs. You poured this gelatin like mixture into a mold and it was baked into a rubber candy in the from of a bug, by a heat lamp that lived in the incredible edible machine/oven.

Remembering back, thanks, I've been locked into kid mode for a couple of days now. I like it.

Anonymous said...

You left out micronauts from the 70s. Freaking girls!

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Lori,
You are a fineartist through and through. I bet you were great to buy presents for.

smiles,
Liz

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Doug,
Let's see in the 70s
We're you a big boy to be playing with micronauts? Hmmmm
giggle
Liz

Anonymous said...

Hi, just stopping in to meet you.

Oh my gosh! Thanks for the memories. I had an easy bake oven. It was a lightbulb, how ingenious.

And I loved hot wheels, still do.

There is a picture of me from the swingin sixties with a little striped dress, a la Marcia Brady, and a necklace that was a big clear locket, with a little doll inside. I loved that one too.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Rain,
Nice to meet you. Not my usual post, but the usual effect. I like to make posts that cause people to remember cool things about their childhood.

So I guess in that way. This is a usual post.
smiles,
liz

Anonymous said...

Some information is just not useful.

Betsy Wetsy was my favoriate toy and I wasn't even on earth in the 1930's.

This list does not account for marketer's does it?

That's the only reason I can think of that I was sooo far behind the times.

Margaret

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

cHi Margaret,
I like having you stop by.
Yeah. Maybe toy stores had some. Who knows? What was a bestseller before there was TV? Sears catalogue had to be the test--right? I'm sure it wasn't the Betsy Wetsy we knew by any stretch.

We needed TV and a marketing blitz for the famous doll that I put behind that link.

By the way, I was a Tiny Tears fan myself. Maybe because I was a tiny tears person. :P
smiles,
Liz

Anonymous said...

1983 Cabbage Patch Kids: All I wanted for xmas. And I got one. A baby with a head that smelled like baby powered. I LOVED that doll.

1979 Strawberry Shortcake: New born, but my parents who thought S.S. was adorable got me a stuff/rag doll S.S.

Man you brought back memories. (I won't mention the other toys I remember :))

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Jennifer,
How nice that I was able to bring you some toy memories at Christmas time! That makes me smile.
Liz

Anonymous said...

I'm late for Christmas chatter but I'll be around for this Christmas. My number one was always a new box of Crayola crayons - 64 colors were perfect! Then my etcha sketch... hmmm Slinky of course, Lincoln Logs, and books, tons of books!

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Tammy,
How Sweet of you to stop to leave a comment. You're really good in so many ways.