Good Ol' Gold Key, in October 1972, published the "16 Page Kenner Fun Catalog" in their mags. Plenty of time for us to see what we'd want for Christmas. Plenty of time to come up with a plan to convince our parents that we wanted, nay, NEEDED cool stuff like SSP racers (more, more!), Spirograph, Chip Away, and all the rest (yeah, I ate the cakes my sister made from her Easy Bake Oven). See why comics were so important to us? They even helped us prepare our Christmas lists!
One of my older sisters had one of those Easy Bake Ovens, and what ever it was they were baking tasted like crap.
ReplyDeleteI mean, it was awful. It was so bad, that thing was only used once.
It was like eating clay. I can still remember it over forty years later.
M.P.
Had the Spirograph and some version of the SSP Racers (probably a knock-off given my wise and frugal parents). The one that cracks me up is the bogus Whittlin' Wonder toy with the plastic knife. Being a country boy we were out whittlin' for real and the "safe" plastic version didn't...well...cut it. (I apologize for that last one.)
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Oh man, I LOVED my SSP racer and Spirograph!! Do they still make them? If so I NEED to get me some new ones. Did anybody ever have the Chip Away or Whittle Away? I always wondered if they really worked. Now if I can only get my hands on the Vincent Price Head Shrinker that used apples my life would be complete.
ReplyDeleteMy brother had a Chip Away--baseball player. I don't remember what the inner core was made of, but it stood up to a chisel.
ReplyDeleteI had Spirograph once. Tried Chip Away one year, and that was an epic fail, if but because sculpture was never my bag. Even had a Give-a-Show projector, and that didn't last long, either.
ReplyDeleteAny idea who drew those ads, Groove?
Today's 20-somethings had cell phones in elementary school, and could scarce imagine one household phone with rotary dial on a wire, a few antenna channels on a b&w tv, no computers, no video games..a great blog entry to share with them! Thanks Groove!
ReplyDeleteLoved the SSP! Sear's Christmas catalogue ain't cheap on eBay so thanks for the memories!
ReplyDeleteI had A Chip Away that looked like crap when I finished with it. A Spirograph, and the Smash Up Derby, which according to my Mom was the hot toy that year, and tough to get. I do have memories of that Christmas and how thrilled I was, and the T.V. commercials, Heck I can still hear that jingle (smash bang crash em up), my sister had the Easy Bake Oven, and maybe the stuff didn't taste great, but there was a thrill to baking and eating a tiny cake at that age. thanks for the memories, and Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMy parents had very little money when we were growing up so I wasn't able to experience any of the toys advertised in comics (We had to go to store to play with the Rock'em Sock'em Robots). The Chip Away always struck me as an odd concept for a toy.
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