Christmas is a time when I reminisce about my childhood holidays and the gifts that I received way back then. While I still have many of my original toys, even more are now long-gone, passed on to younger relatives or sold by my little brothers in yard sales for candy money when I was away at college. (With therapy, we've finally managed to move beyond this issue.)
While talking to my friend Ron (born in 1936, pictured at right) about long-lost favorite toys, he told me about his greatest lost-toy regret: an entire shoebox
filled to the brim with vintage radio show premiums. These included multiples of the Lone Ranger Six Gun Ring, Sky King toys, Captain Midnight badges, and his greatest treasure, the
Green Hornet Glow in the Dark Secret Compartment Ring, for which, he says, "I had to eat this horrible, nasty cereal I had
begged for so I could get the ring, and my mother wouldn't let me order it until I finished the whole package. That really sucked, let me tell you."
As he listed the contents of his shoebox, I began mentally adding up the current selling prices of these items. I wondered, "should I tell him?
nooo...I don't think so...it's probably better that he doesn't know..." Finally, he finished recounting the various pieces he had owned, and then asked me the question I was dreading: "how much do you think they'd be worth now?" I told him. When he finished shouting and cursing, I asked him what happened to the box full of toys.
Ron grew up in Detroit in the late 1930s and 40s, and lived in a 4-family flat. One day a new family moved in, with a little boy named Gordie. Apparently, Gordie's family lived in even more dire financial circumstances than their neighbors. So Ron, in a remarkably generous moment, gave Gordie
his entire shoebox of premiums. Lest you think this story ends with a
Christmasy-sweet sentiment, here is Ron's final comment on the matter: "That little bastard Gordie...hmmm....I wonder if I could track him down and get it back..."
On a more pleasant note, Ron recently rediscovered his childhood diary. After some searching, he found this entry, penned in his 10
th year:
"Hooray - I got my Green Hornet ring today. And yes, it really does glow in the dark, and it really does have a secret compartment, and, it really does look like real gold!"The ring pictured above is the most affordable
(ha!) Green Hornet ring I've been able to find so far, priced at $450. If you, too, are looking for a long-lost
Green Hornet Glow in the Dark Secret Compartment Ring, it's currently available online at: www.rubylane.com/shops/thepinkflamingo/item/PNKCOL107
As he listed the contents of his shoebox, I began mentally adding up the current selling prices of these items. I wondered, "should I tell him? nooo...I don't think so...it's probably better that he doesn't know..." Finally, he finished recounting the various pieces he had owned, and then asked me the question I was dreading: "how much do you think they'd be worth now?" I told him. When he finished shouting and cursing, I asked him what happened to the box full of toys.
It's taken me 30 years, but I've just finally replaced one of my all-time favorite childhood toys: the Colorforms Castle Dracula Fun House Playset. Considered by Colorforms aficionados to be one of the best sets ever created, it's also sought by vintage monster toy collectors, which tends to drive its price to truly horrific levels.
After several years of lost auctions, I broke down and bought this from a dealer who sells all of her sets in individual lots. That is, she sells every single piece in a set separately. The intent is to enable collectors who are missing a few bits to buy just the pieces they need, instead of another whole set. In my case though, this led to 20 minutes of frantic clicking and buying, particularly as this set has characters with separate tops and bottoms. I bought the Frankenstein monster's head and torso; would I manage to complete the purchase of his bottom half before someone else beat me to it? And the Wolfman was even worse: he had a top, bottom, and frequently-lost separate arm. The tension was unbearable as I raced to complete his three separate purchases, worrying that I would end up spending a small fortune only to have an incomplete set, full of monsters missing vital body parts.
I was flipping through one of my old copies of Famous Monsters of Filmland last night (the May 1978 issue) and found this Star Wars toy advertising insert at the back. How cool to see these much-loved toys of my childhood in what were surely some of their earliest ad appearances! Click on the pics for more details.
Here's one of my favorite issues of Famous Monsters Of Filmland, from April 1977, featuring Robby the Robot. Just a fab cover!
I have a small collection of vintage "monster magazines" from the 1960s and 1970s. They're loads of fun to read, especially the old ads. Here's one of my favorites: the July 1966 issue of Monster World, with a feature article about the Addams Family tv show. The back cover has a fabulous ad for the Addams Family model house that you could order for only $1.98!
I felt I h
ad found a treasure with this great vintage 1960s King Kong ring in its original packaging.
Probably from the early 1960s, this vintage vending machine display card is one of my favorites. It reads: "Monsters...HEADS. GHOSTLY! HEY KIDS: They stick on your head!" And indeed they do: the tiny monster heads are still sticky after all these years. Or, you can string them on a necklace for a fabulously ghoulish fashion accessory.
I love vintage magic stuff, and October, with its aura of spooky mystery, seems a suitable month to post some. 
Over the summer, I was really lucky and found both vintage 1960s Addams Family board games at yard sale prices, and have been saving them for an October post.
This past Saturday, I went yard saling and scored some great finds. One of the best was this hard-to-find vintage Star Wars playset, Land of the Jawas, from the first movie. No one I knew as a child had this set; I didn't even know it existed until I was a grown-up toy collector. It's a relatively scarce piece because half of it, the sandcrawler backdrop, is made of fragile cardboard.
