Well, Christmas is coming as it usually does at this time of year. When I was a child, one of the most wanted (read: most widely marketed and advertised ) toys was an Erector Set. Oddly, I never got one. I knew kids who had them but I never had one of my own. When I saw them, they seemed complicated and confusing. I did want one, though. Perhaps the reason I never got one was that the company that made them declared bankruptcy in 1967 and they were picked up by a competitor. It wasn't long after that that I hit puberty and finally got one of my own. Sorry but the jokes just tend to write themselves on this one...which may well be another reason they faded from popularity in the more sexually-aware sixties.
I had a different reponse to those
ReplyDeleteErector sets from my 60's childhood...
I didn't want one. My parents suggested I might want one for the
coming Christmas, which made such a
toy instantly un-cool. I started buying comic books when I was ten and
by the time I was twelve comic books
were my major passion. Any toys I would have desired would have been
comic book related, and my parents
were trying to discourage my "addiction." Building stuff with
miniature girders seemed too boring to
me, and so I nixed the gift idea. But
I didn't get any comic book toys either, like that awesome Justice League playset that I saw in the Sears
catalog. I even got my mom to take me
to Sears so I could lay my wide eyes
on the playset, and perhaps mope and
pout enough to get Mom to give in.
Imagine my immense disappointment that
the local Sears didn't have one on
display. You had to order it through
the catalog only. Hmmmpphh!
I never did get to see the JLA playset
close-up, except for photos of tiny
statues of the characters, in Ebay
auctions, going for ungodly prices.
So I didn't get the Erector set that
I could have had for the asking. And
I didn't get the JLA playset that I
wildly desired but that Mom refused to
order from the Sears catalog.
Man, I was one stubborn kid!
Actually I had a plastic version in my youth. Probably because my mother was the type who would worry I would hurt myself on all the metal. But she also let me play with those cool metal Tonka trucks with no problem. Those were a lot more dangerous.
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