I had rainbow bright, and my little ponies and barbie.....but I remember loving strawberry shortcake. I had many of the dolls. When I was learning to read for christmas one year my parents had bought me a tape recorder/player and a few book/tape re together combos.....but ( my parents had dubbed over the cassette tape and Strawberry was reading the ABC'S)...so she said C was for Charisma and I thought she knew who I was and I kept waiting for her to say hi to me on saturday morning cartoons. hehe.

oh Do you remember Jem? she was jerica when she wasn't
a rockstar...and their rivals were the misfits? I had the dolls..each doll came with a cassette tape......Jem is her name no one else is the same JEM!lol.s

Wow! We were talking about this stuff at the craft show today! I had an original Barbie with the striped bathing suit, and many homemade clothes for her. Red brick building blocks and lincoln logs(wood). The old metal rollerskates. A baby doll that crawled, tea sets, and best of all a little Singer sewing machine that was electric.
Anyone remember the original black Super Balls??? They were the size of a tennis ball. I think they were banned or something......Boy did they bounce...... :D

Now you are from my generation. I too had the skates that went on your shoes with a key, a jump rope, never got the tiny tears but my neighbor did. I loved my baby dolls. Have my first walking doll. She is about l foot tall. My how times have changed and I am afraid they are not for the better.

Mrs. I

Anybody remember "aluminum" Christmas trees with that crazy color wheel? My mom had one of those and she thought it was the prettiest thing :D

You must be the same age as my oldest!
She had Jem and all the stuff that went with her. She even had a Gem car that when you opened the trunk, it was an AM radio. I STILL have that car along with the speakers that go with it. lol
Not sure why I have hung on to it all this time, but maybe my grandbabies are girls? :)

I didn't have Barbies...didn't like dolls. I wanted trucks and boy things lol
I did have the jump ropes and those swinging things that went around your ankle.
One year, my dad got a good deal on headphones. The HUGE ones that had the radio in them. We all got those. I still have mine too! lol
I think I was about 12 and my sister got Chrissy, the doll that it's hair grew. Well, for some reason, I pitched a fit and wanted Velvet. Chrissy's cousin. Pitched this fit on Christmas Eve! Well, guess what I got? Yup, Velvet. Opened the package, took her out, played with her for maybe 10 minutes, put her on my bed and that's where she stayed. Never played with her again.
We would get Hula Hoops. Those were hard to wrap.
Games of all sorts, but those always had ALL our names on them.
We lived in the middle of the woods, so we really didn't want for much in the way of toys. We had tree forts, rope swings and all sorts of cool things out there.
We would get sleds and ice skates since there was a hill in our back yard and a small pond.....

(I did have a Shirley Temple doll. I don't remember when I got her, but I know I still had her when I was in third or fourth grade, which would have been 1959-1960. I wish I knew what happened to her. I always kept all my toys and books, but she disappeared. I may have thrown her away, now that I think about it more. I think I got tired of her curls and decided to give her a short haircut. Did you know the hair on dolls doesn't grow back? I may have thrown her away so I wouldn't get in trouble. )

Back in 1956 I was just out of high school and working for the Emporium at the Stanford Shopping center in Palo Alto, CA. I was a salesperson and worked my way up to being the manager of the doll department, mainly because my man boss did not want to mess with the dolls and stuffed animals. Anyway one day a very pretty lady came into my doll department and was looking at the dolls. She asked me to see the manager and I told her I was the manager of the doll department, did she want me or my boss, was the manager of the total toy department She said she would like to speak with me in private. So I took her into the back storeroom where I had the restock for my department. She said that she was associated with the company that made the Shirley Temple doll and she noticed I had several of the dolls on display behind the glass doll case. I said I did and thought the dolls were really cute but sometimes their eyes crossed. She laughed and said to make them look better it was helpful if I always cocked their heads at a little turn to the left. So I thanked her and we went back out to where the dolls were displayed and I rearranged them so they were not crossed eyed anymore.
She winked at me and said thank you. Then she picked out about $ 200 worth of toys and gave me her charge card. I had to call in her charge since it was over $ 50 and it had the name Shirley Black. I could see some of the customers were watching us and whispering as I talked with her. After she left one of the older women who was a salesclerk in the other part of the toy department came running over to me all excited and asked me if I knew who I had been talking to. I said she was from the company that made the Shirley Temple dolls and her name was Shirley Black. My friend says, "you were talking to Shirley Temple Black" I almost died. Anyway she used to call the store to order toys for gifts and always asked to talk to the manager of the doll department and then she always had orders well over $100 and I was paid a small salary and got a commission over a $2000 sales for the month so thanks to her I had some bonus paychecks.

I remember having the Shirley Temple paper dolls and watched the movies she was in. She was my heroine.

so yes we had a tree like that and the color wheel squeaked LOL! But my mom thought it was really classy and the hot thing to have. I remember when we had huge christmas lights on the real trees and some were like candles with bubbles going up inside of them when they were on.

GREAT story, Barbsbus!

(Only, you said this was in 1956, but in the previous paragraph you said you were in 3rd or 4th grade in 1959. So were you managing the dolls in 1st grade????)

Me and dates are bad..LOL I graduated from high school in '56 Moved to Mill Valley right after ww11 I think in '46 and I was in the 3rd or 4th grade.
The 1st paragraph I copied and pasted from another post. LOL

You all have had wonderful memories added. I go to an "antique/flea market" I call it a "flea market" because.. they have my toys in it?? I know , I know.. the 50 year rule.. but .. I don't feel like the 50 years have gone by. It all seems like yesterday !!!

I have my grandmother's porceline doll with leather body. That is the antique I expect.. grin !!

The second Santa Clause has all the "antique" toys like: sock em Robots, ect.. I watched it today.. Those are NEw toys.. lol

OK.. off soap box.
Sister's Sherly Temple doll with the original petticoat.. that is how you have to say it too.. "My Sherly Temple Doll with the Original petticoat" and plastic on her head !! My sis was a bit of an odd child.. grin..

1960 Christmas I DID see Santa put my Chatty Cathy under the tree. No one can tell me differant to this day !

Do you remember Poor Pitaful Pearl. She used to sit on the shelf with Shirley Temple dolls. She was missing a front tooth. I remember one of best friends had an accident and lost one of her front teeth and she had a round face just like pitaful Pearl. I bought one for her. At first she didn't know what to say and then said she really loved her expecially when she saw how much I paid for her. LOL.

We called the balls on a string "clackers"
Scooters had wheels on the bottom of the board and a long pipe in front with handle bars
Jem dolls...my DD#1 wanted one, dad got it for her...so we kept telling her she had been such a good girl, and that Santa was sure to bring her one. Dad's apt was robbed early afternoon on Christmas eve...I frantically called every store and as that was the first year they were out, there was not one to be had in Portland/Vancouver area...I even had police friends checking stores while they were out and about, for me... We ended up wrapping up a note from Santa...explaining that Santa and the elves tried really hard, but could not make enough dolls for all of the good little girls who wanted them..she would be getting her's and Santa would make a special trip to deliver it to her as soon as they made some more of them... She proudly showed her note to EVERYONE!!!
Grama had her tinsel tree and color wheel until she couldn't find another color wheel anymore lol and then she complained that artificial trees didn't look real LMBO

Oh my---Tiny Tears, and the Toni Doll.....don't forget Betsy Wetsy. Chutes and Ladders, Jacks, sidewalk chalk...Tonka toys!!!!!!!! In the 70's there was Baby Boy Tender Love (anatomically correct :oops: ) my daughter had one. Those were the days when kids knew how to play[b]. :wink: :-) :-P :thumbup:

Chairjogger -- my Mamaw used to say, "Pffft! That aint no antique! I bought that new!!"

Good morning, everyone.......I was just reading all the latest and when one mentioned the revolving Christmas tree, it brought back memories of my childhood tree for a few years.

My dad would get a large, live tree and a friend would spray paint it silver..........imagine that ....
a live silver tree..anyway my mother then decorated it with all blue lights (yes, at that time, they were the big bulbs) and all shiny blue balls. I don't remember but I doubt that we had tinsel on the silver tree but very possibly, we did.

Hadn't thought about our silver trees in quite some time........thanks for the memories......

I love Christmas and love doing the decorating but since we are now snowbirds and are on our way to Florida either right before the holiday or the day after Christmas...I do a lot less than usual.......
but it is still the merriest of seasons.......

mj

Toys - let's see - these may have been in other posts, as I have not read all:

pogo stick
skates (my brother stole one to make a skate board when thos came out.)
marbles
a bike - my prize possession!
a Betsy Wetsy doll
a tiny china tea set

I still have my brother's teddy - only 6" high, and well-loved. Restuffed two or three times as he was passed down through the family.

When I asked for things like the easy-bake oven - all the rage at one point - my mother taught me how to cook, or sew, or whatever equivalent adult activity. I thought I was so privileged to be able to use the real thing rather than the toys! (Little did I realize then the training she was giving me.)

What a trip down memory lane :D

I got to thinking about a stuffed bear that my youngest brother had. It went with him everywhere and he slept with it every night. It landed in a toy box when he got older and was played with by children when they would come to visit. Mom was moving and was getting rid of these toys, I seen the little guy and pulled him out and took him home. When DB retired from the military I gave it to him as a "House Warming" gift. He could not believe that I had saved his bear!!! It is the only toy that he has from his childhood, I am so glad that I saved it for him.

Barb,

What a wonderful story! I'm so glad you shared it. I had the Shirley Temple paper dolls along with the doll and also watched the movies. She was certainly very popular, wasn't she? The movies she made as a teenager didn't do as well. The theory was that people didn't want to see her growing up; they loved her so much as a little girl that they couldn't deal with her growing older and having boyfriends, etc.

That made me cry...

Oh how I loved those paper dolls...all the movie stars, etc. and to top it all the books were cheap and all the girls in our neighborhood had them and we spent hours (remember there wasn't any TV) playing with them.

Ahhh but it had a very happy ending :wink: And it helped my daughter hang onto believing in Santa for a while longer too!!!

The year she turned 7 I just knew would be the year that she would find out in 1st grade Santa wasn't real... Well she heard some stories...but Christmas Eve she had such a vivid dream about seeing Santa, that she had convinced herself it was real.. So she got another couple of years of believing out of that lovely dream...I still believe that letter from Santa that year helped to keep Santa alive... :D :D :D

My favorite was my Ms. Beasley doll and colorforms!

Oh Lisa, I had a Mrs. Beasley doll too! I left her outside (yes, 35 years ago we played outside! :lol: )
Anyway, the snow covered her and I "lost" her for an entire winter. I found her the following spring...not sure what ever happened to her though...dog probably ate her.....

I still have mine. I lost her glasses though.. My daughter has her now on her bed :)

I see I am very late for this post, but Yep---knew Cootie & played it at home. We had one.

Some more:

Mr. Potato Head - the real one where you pushed the plastic pieces into a real potato!!
Yo-Yos
Bikes
Erector Sets (my brother's, but we all used it)
Home made skateboards - no one was making them yet.
All steel Skates with skate keys that clamped on your shoes
45 records & little box players
Jacks (one of my favorites!!)
Marbles (where's my shooter cats eye?)
Baby dolls with strollers & beds
Barbie (but I never got 1 - we couldn't afford it, and I was really too old when she first came out)
Books - I was a voracious reader!

It was! We had one; and when my Mom passed, I got it. One year I let my son borrow it and played H - - - getting it back....and when I did most of the branches were gone (his kids used them for "track markers" for their sledding) and they had broken the wheel :cry:

I remember

fun film
chatty cathy
clackers (they were hard hard plastic balls with a rope in between that you hit together. Boy I sure had a lot of bruises from that one!)

Oh yeah, I had trolls too. Called them iggy's.
Also my barbie, ken and midge dolls

OMG I remember these too! I LOVED FIZZIES!
I remember we used to get the brontosaurus soap from Sinclair gas stations.

Loved crazy foam too.

:lol:

Here's a website for fizzies, they're back!

http://www.victoryseeds.com/candystore/fizzies.html

I don't remember getting many Christmas presents at all as a child but I remember getting an etch a sketch one year for my birthday, my uncle worked at Western Auto and lived with us so he bought me a birthday present. I remember wanting a Bride doll and later a Barbie doll with case and one year I wanted Go Go boots so much.

Ooooh, yeah!! Go Go Boots!! And you needed a ChooChoo bag purse to go with them!!!

The toy with the lit screen was Lite Brite :) They still make them. I think the biggest fad I remember was the slinky.

I'll have to buy my new kitties a slinky :lol: :lol: :lol:

I loooooooove Spirograph!!! I also loved my Tinker Toys, my Fisher Price Doll house

Wow, what memories this thread is bringing. Amma, I must be very close to you in age because I had a lot of those toys too. The lite brite etc.
BTW the toy that made the bugs was not a creepy crawler, that was the bugs set name. The toy itself was called a Thingmaker. You could buy all different cooking discs that you poured the "Goop" into. There were flowers, bugs, all kinds of shapes. I even got glow in the dark goop. That toy was a favorite, and yes it did stink up the place when you were cooking the things. I remember kiddles and i had a kiddle playhouse to go with mine that had an elevator you would work by turning a little plastic wheel. The string broke on that thing so many times! :lol:
I also collected troll dolls. Then I graduated to Malibu barbie and my best friend and I played "warrier woman" with them. We made them Red Sonja type armor out of sequins all sewn together into a skimpy little bikini outfit and used those little olive stabbers that look like swords as their weapons. At that time Red Sonja was a character in the Conan comic books, this was LOOONG before the movies came out. We were also nuts for Breyer Plastic horses.
Did anyone ever have those create a sculpture things? They were hard plastic figurines buried in a shapeless mass of plaster of paris. You had to attach them to a table or workbench with vice grips and the kit came with a little hammer and chisel you would use to chip off the paster of paris to reveal the hard plastic statue underneath. You could buy all different statues to go with the main kit. Wow what a trip down memory lane.

I had a Tammy doll based on the Tammy movies. She was a 12 inch doll and she could wear some of Barbie's clothes but hse had a smaller chest. I also had a Skipper and a Scooter doll and the first Midge with bendable legs. My cousins and my sister and I played for hours with them all. I made a lot of Barbie clothes.

Back in the late 50's, early 60's, my great uncle worked at 'Joe the Motorist's Friend' and wanted to get us girls (there 5 girls in the famliy, no boys) sleds for Christmas. He got us these triangular red metal ones, I think called 'Rockets'. We played hard with those things - we had great hills and snows back then! When we had public sale a couple years ago on the farm after our parents passed, we found those sleds. Heavy! We couldn't imagine we lugged those things around so much. And probably they wouldn't be allowed nowadays because someone could hurt themselves. Our other uncle got us an aluminum tobaggan - I don't know what happened to that one - four of us could fit on there. The youngest was proably too young to be out with us!

Tickle Bee...was so much fun! I had a favorite book..."Jenny Lind and her Listening Cat".