9.13.2008

Saturday Morning Cereal: Fifth Bowl

"Hey! You sank my Battleship!"

Ring a bell? Or is that just the sound of your Rock Em Sock Em Robots game...

Ah... the toy commercials of the '70s. As much a part of television programming as the show themselves. Cheesy as all get out, they featured earnest kids (just like us!) cheerfully playing with the toy or game du jour, enticing us to bug our parents to buy it or to add it to our Santa list.

Kenner. Parker Brothers. Mattel. Household names to those of us now of a certain age. Good times, good times.

So go hop on your Big Wheel and get set to take a trip through Candyland as you check out vintage commerce at its best...


Slinky


Big Bang Boing and SSP Racers



Big Wheel



Six Million Dollar Man "Action Figures."
Please. Let's just call these what they really were: dolls for boys.


Easy Bake Oven



Spirograph



Lite Brite


Operation



Connect Four


Barbie Pool Party



Battleship


Wonder Woman


Rock Flowers
Recognize that narrator -- it's Casey Kasem! I had this -- totally groovy...


Hot Wheels Crack Ups

7 comments:

Sherrie said...

Thanks for that jaunt down memory lane...Rock em Sock em Robots were the Christmas holy grail for me- got 'em in 1976 if I recall correctly. I was SO not a girly girl!

Anonymous said...

I love this post. I of course had a many of these, except sadly the Easy Bake Oven or the Big Wheel. I had to covet and hope to be allowed to play with my friends' ones.

Unknown said...

Gotta love the shag green carpet on the stairs in the slinky commercial!

Unknown said...

oh by the way, I still have scars on my knees from all that spinning and racing I did on my Big Wheel. Kids just don't know what they are missing these days.

TopSurf said...

Loved, loved, loved it!

Jen said...

These just make my weekend!

Lite Brite was my favorite toy EVER. Ever, ever, ever. I think I'd still probably like it as an adult. But shhhhhh.... ;-)

BTW... my first adult career was as a lighting designer - think there's a coincidence there?

April said...

I hope you realize you're the cause of all the 80s nostalgia on our iPod!