1932 Fisher Price Big Performing Circus

One of my most beautiful circus toys, and one of the hardest to find, is this, the Big Performing Circus made by Fisher Price in 1932, its second year of business.

 The centerpiece of the set is a 16 inch long wooden circus wagon, complete with doors that open, a roof that lifts off for easy access, and a pull string. The wagon was actually strong enough for children to ride on, and it came filled with beautifully lithographed jointed wooden animals, along with props for them to perform with, like barrels and ladders, and a clown to organize the whole affair.

The large number of pieces and the heavy play use this popular item received over the years makes them scarce today. Fisher Price went on to produce circus themed playsets right up to current times, but this is by far their most wonderful.

Chalkware Carnival Prizes

I love old chalkware carnival prizes. They're just fun, colorful, delightful objects to have around. These three date from the 1950s, the largest is 12 1/2 inches tall, and they represent a couple of Kewpie-type characters and a circus horse.  And one has a secret...

...the smaller figure wearing the sailor hat has a message penned underneath which reads: "John won this August 27, 1960. Homecoming at Ubly." Ubly is a tiny village in rural Michigan, and for non-American readers, Homecoming is a major high school social event, featuring a formal dance, parties, and, in this case, a carnival. I don't know who John was, but I get the feeling he and the recipient of this prize ended up happily married, as she treasured and saved this for 50 years...

Vintage Carnival Duck Pond Game Pieces

My favorite carnival game of all time is the Duck Pond, because, really, who doesn't like a game where you're guaranteed to win a prize, regardless of your lack of skill? All you have to do is pick up a little plastic duck floating in the artificial pond, turn it over, and the number marked underneath corresponds to the prize you win. Who cares that the prizes are flimsy plastic tchotchkes ordered by the ton: you won something! Yay!

I was very lucky to find some vintage Duck Pond ducks for sale recently. Those on the left are carnival-used, while those on the right, on the bobbing bases, are unsold old store stock.

Aren't they cute?!

These ones, I think, have a rather startled expression on their faces.

Coming Up in July...

My town just had its annual summer carnival, and my sweetie and I attended. He won me a stuffed toy (yay!), and this, naturally, has put me in the mood for all things circus-y and carnival-y. So coming up this month: vintage circus and carnival souvenirs and toys, including sideshow playsets made by Marx and Cracker Jack, a musical wooden bandleader pull toy by Fisher Price, chalkware prizes, and lots more!

Antique Dollhouse Food

My very favorite type of dollhouse miniature is antique dollhouse food. I actually collected dollhouse food long before I collected dollhouses, dolls, or furniture.

I think my interest in miniature foods goes back to seeing the illustrations in Beatrix Potter's 1904 book, The Tale of Two Bad Mice. In the story, two mice break into a dollhouse and attempt to eat the scrumptious looking dinner laid out on the table. When they discover the food is made of plaster and glued to the plates, they smash it to bits in frustration and then go on a destructive rampage as they burglarize the house. The dollies, upon returning home, immediately engage a Steiff policeman doll to watch over their residence.

I've always found the illustrations of the dollhouse food in The Tale of Two Bad Mice to be charming and captivating:

and I was thrilled last year to find an antique dollhouse ham very like the one in the illustration (German, circa the 1900s):

My oldest piece of dollhouse food is this tiny ham shown below, about 1 1/4 inch wide, made of a papier-mache-like substance on a pressed paper plate. It came from Germany in the mid 1800s. It's not pretty, but it's old, and it's amazing to me how something so small and fragile has survived:

 My very best sets of antique miniature food are these two, made in France in the 1880s. The items are painted plaster, in a scale a bit larger than 1" to 1 foot; I think they may have been meant for dolls rather than dollhouses. They are unplayed with; in fact, most of the pieces are still tied down with their original twine. The boxes feature beautifully lithographed labels with scenes of little bakers cooking (and drinking!) and children dining.

 

I love the old stove in this image, and the

oversized frying pan on the burner.

That's some giant omelet they're making!

And this image has so much to appreciate: the lovely cupboard on the right; the gorgeously upholstered chairs; the children's clothing; the finely detailed dishes and embroidered tablecloth...

And here's what's inside: beautiful miniature play food, some recognizable to me (those hams again!) some not (that flat pink and white thing in the upper left corner. Maybe it's some sort of French regional specialty):

Here are the items in profile, to give a sense of their proportions. The pieces average between 2 and 3 inches long:

And some detail close-ups:

A very fancy ham.

A fishy entree.

A ham (again), lobster, what looks like eggs in a salad....but I'm not sure what that is in the upper right. Maybe a fruitcake?

For some reason (perhaps the Beatrix Potter influence again) I prefer the primitive style of these old pieces to our modern hyper-realistic dollhouse food. Even though today's amazingly crafted pieces look so authentic, these crude-by comparison miniatures have a special charm of their own. And, after all, they fooled the mice in the story, so they must look real enough!