Thursday, September 15, 2016

Nostalgia Tour at MOHAI

9/15/16 ink, colored pencils
The Museum of History and Industry has a fun exhibit right now called “Toys of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.” In addition to all my childhood favorites – Etch-a-Sketch, Thing Maker, Spirograph – the show has every other popular toy of those eras. Barbie, Slinky, GI Joe, Tonka trucks, Silly Putty, Hot Wheels – what a nostalgia tour!

The best part of the exhibit was probably the TV commercials, which were being looped on several old sets. Thankfully, Greg and I had the exhibit nearly to ourselves, because I started roaring with laughter when the Mystery Date Dud appeared! (Oops, sorry for the ear worm.) Ah, we were so easily amused back then (and apparently now, too).

I had a hard time deciding what to sketch, so I made a montage of three favorite icons – Troll, Cootie and Mr. Potato Head.

What was your favorite toy?

4 comments:

  1. I always loved Cootie! These are so great!!! We have a Museum of the Moving Image that has some of the toys, but not all. It is always fun to see them.

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    1. Nothing like seeing old toys to bring back memories!

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  2. Oh man! I LOVED Spirograph!!!!!!! Hours and hours of fun with that. I have no idea what happened to it. Always coloring books, and puzzles. Also, I had this fashion designer kit (can't remember what it was called) where you could mix and match two to four different plastic plate sections with models wearing various styles. You'd lay them in a frame, cover with blank paper and rub them with a black crayon to get the outlines. Then, you could color them in. If I remember correctly there were different textures you could add to the clothing, or maybe I used other things from around the house. Also, I had this cruise ship (like a doll house but in cruise ship form) and it came with these mini Barbie-like dolls. Pretty cool. It had a 3 levels with a swimming pool on the upper deck, restaurant, sleeping cabin, hair salon, and stage for entertainment! I think they were called Glamour Gals, or something. My mom was really good at finding cool, inexpensive toys because I was the youngest of 6 kids with an 8 year gap between me and the next oldest!! I also got all my singles awesome hand me down toys like Mr Potato Head, and Slinky!! My oldest brother once took me to the mall when I was 6 or 7 and we sent the slinky down the escalator!! Awesome!

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    1. I still have my Spirograph!! It was still in storage at my parents' house (I had no idea!), so after my mom died and we cleared out the house, I found it! :-) And I loved that fashion drawing thing with all the templates to draw clothes! My friend had the Barbie convertible that I sooo coveted. :-) Ahhh... toys and nostalgia!

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