Back-to-School with the Fisher Price Safety School Bus

It's September, so I thought we ought to take a little trip back-to-school with one of the classic theme-related toys made by Fisher Price: the Safety School Bus.

The first version of the bus came out in 1959, measured 14 inches long, was made of wood with a transparent plastic roof, and originally included 6 passengers. (More on the passengers in a minute: they're very important!)

 The roof has a removeable wooden piece that allows access to the bus interior, where the passengers nestle in holes cut in front of their seats. This holds them securely in place as the bus is pulled. Can't have kids falling over all willy-nilly as you're going down the road...

The front of the bus features headlight "eyes" and a friendly driver, along with a moveable stop sign that can be flipped out and tucked back (the "safety" component of the Safety School Bus). The headlight eyes and the driver turn back and forth as the bus is pulled.

That is, amazingly, the original pull string.

The back end of the bus holds 2 naughty children who spin and bounce wildly as the vehicle is pulled, a touch of realism that I remember vividly from my own school days. (I myself always sat up in front with the nerdy good kids...)

 
And speaking of those kids: what makes the Safety School Bus such an historically significant toy is its inclusion of the first iteration of what would eventually become the famous Fisher Price Play Family Little People. These 6 simple peg people evolved over the years to become the "green dad," "blue mom," and their children, familiar to any of us who grew up in the 1970s. In their earliest form, these Fisher Price "little people" measured 2 - 3 inches tall, with plastic collars and hats and wooden bodies covered with lithographed paper. This paper invariably peeled, and the concept was quickly abandoned in favor of painted bodies, which makes people with their paper extremely difficult to come by, and priced accordingly.

The third child from the left has the "crabby" face which was retained on some Little People boys all the way into the 1980s. My favorite, though, is the one on the far right, with the comically ginormous head.

In 1962, Fisher Price released a redesigned bus (no transparent roof or removeable insert) with restyled "little people", who now had painted bodies and some interesting shapes. (In between this and the original bus, there had also been an unpopular version, with stationary, printed eyes on the front end.)

"Yeah, I'm lookin' at you, kid..."

There's the infamous "crabby boy" again, and observant readers will note the similarities to the FP Nifty Station Wagon family, who debuted in 1960.

To learn more about the development of Fisher Price's Little People, check out This Old Toy's great history page.

Happy September everyone!

Antique Dollhouse Doll

I'm always happy to add another antique dollhouse doll to my collection. They're rather addictive, and their diminutive size makes them easily (though not cheaply!) collectible. My latest find was this 5 inch tall china head, wearing her original, and very lovely, Turkey Red embroidered dress. The tiny German-made doll dates from the late 1800s.

Her simple face painting still manages to convey a gentle, bemused expression, and her rosy cheeks make her look as if she's blushing. What is she thinking about, I wonder?

Here she is in front of her new home, a circa 1900 lithographed paper dollhouse:

She loves to cook, but she should really have an apron on over that beautiful dress!

Vintage Allan Doll

Found at the same time as the mod doll case in the previous post (in fact, it was found in the mod doll case) was this vintage Allan doll, companion to Barbie's friend Midge. (I don't have a Midge, so we pretend my Allan has eloped with my Barbie instead.)

Allan was initially only made for a couple of years, from 1964-1966, but this one managed to amass quite a wardrobe in that time.

He's got swimwear (including a snorkel, mask, and fins), tennis togs and shoes, a letterman sweater, jeans, khakis, bermuda shorts, a bowling shirt, polka dotted boxers, pinstriped pajamas, and loads more. Some of my favorite pieces are shown below:

I especially like the two-tone shoes
and the stripey socks!











Allan came in his original outfit of blue swim trunks, striped beach jacket, and cork-soled sandals:

Here he models for us his color coordination skills:

 Stylin'!

Mod Doll Case & Vintage Dawn Dolls

I found this unusual mod-era doll case the other day. It's a generic case, not affiliated with any particular doll line, but it has great mod fashion illustrations on the front, all done in electric lemon yellow and hot pink.

It's the perfect home for my set of vintage Dawn dolls, made by Topper Toys from 1970-1972. The Dawn dolls were tiny, only 6 inches tall, and featured "real" eyelashes, groovy, glittery clothes, and lotsa makeup. My Dawn dolls came to me from teddy bear artist extraordinaire Peng Peng, who very kindly thought of me as she was de-stashing them (thanks, PP!)

(I suspect the second doll from the right is a special edition "streetwalker Dawn," or possibly "I've run away from home and become a go-go dancer" Dawn...)

 Here's the standard Dawn herself, in all her spangly fuschia glory:

And here's her friend, Jessica, who's a bit less flower-child-like:

For a size comparison, here are the Dawn dolls with a mod-era Barbie. It's like a scene from that old "Land of the Giants" TV show:

Toy Trading Teds

Like many collectors, I'm finding that today's economic challenges are making it more difficult to do all the buying I would like. That's why I'm so happy to discover more and more collectors, dealers, and toymakers are exploring the possibilities of toy trading.

A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Mutschler, a wonderful teddy bear artist from Canada, discovered my blog as she was searching for information on antique British teddy bears. I offered her a couple of my vintage bears, she offered me some of her handmade teds, and quick as a flash, two packages full of bears (and surprises!) were making their way through the international postal system.

My box of bliss arrived last night, with the contents beautifully wrapped.

 And look what was under all that enticing pink paper: five fantastic little bears!

 The tiniest two, in the lower left corner, are only three and a half inches tall, while the largest, in the upper right, is nine. Michelle's bears are made of vintage and aged mohair, velvet, and velveteen, and comprise a wide range of characters, from comical, carnival inspired clowns to primitives and antique-look bruins.

Here are the tiniest teds, "My Old Bear" and "Flora," unjointed itty bitty pocket bears.

 "Martha" is a dotty looking, primitive style bear made of two-tone velveteen wearing a lace doily collar.

 Martha has rather a prodigious schnoz. The other bears try not to stare, as she's rather sensitive about it.

"Grizelda", made of vintage white mohair and red velvet, reminds me of antique clown and harlequin bears.

 Such a sweet face on this one...don't you just want to kiss that nose?!

And last but not least, "Ted E."  has one of the  craziest heads I've ever seen on a bear. Just look at that profile!

 Thanks sooooooo much, Michelle, for your fab teds!