Wow, I was a cool chic in a convertible waaaay back when! Picture it ~ 1960 ~ !! Only back then, my choice of colors for the speedy little metal pedal car was baby blue. These days I think I might have to go with a pink one!!
Scrappy Jessi is hosting a party for all fellow bloggers today that want to share photos & childhood memories of their favorite toys, so cruise on over to her blog to see who all is participating when you are finished reading my ~ two ~ posts!
Above, I'm playing with my dear great-grandmother & my favorite red rocking chair. My first doll, a rubber one that I posted here on Doll Party day, is laying in the floor. Her name is Suzy & I still love her!
Here is Suzy again, along with my 2nd baby doll, another sweet dear also named Suzy (I wasn't a very imaginative child, was I?). Suzy II looks to be having a bad hair day, but as I was telling Mother that I was going to blog about her, she informed me that I cut Suzy's hair when I was little......I don't remember that. I just know I always loved her because her hair was the same color as my mother's!
These dolls are in our master bedroom, along with my daughter's very favorite book called BABY DEAR that she & I used to read every day at least twice ~ she & I both still can recite all the words in this book!
Here I am feeding & nuturing my ALL TIME FAVORITE toy ~ Zip the Monkey.
I simply adored Zip & my Bassett Hound, both made by the Rushton Company in the late 1950's. I always ALWAYS slept with Zip ~ at least til I was in the fifth grade! Many times when we were traveling, if I forgot Zip, my sweet daddy would turn the car around & go back & get him. I just could NOT sleep without him EVER!
Here he is today a little worse for the wear. Something has eaten on his shirt, I lovingly spelled out his name with a magic marker when it faded on his shirt, & his neck broke, so my sweet Granny added the stiff white band around his neck so he wouldn't lose his head.
He performed on the Howdy Doody Show & the Ed Sullivan Show & was 3 1/2 yrs. old when this little book was printed in 1953....anyone know the life expectancy of a chimpanzee? And if he is gone, just don't tell me, I don't want to know it!!!
One Christmas I received my panda bear. He was much loved & now has only one eye, as you can see in the pics below.
The above Christmas picture shows not only my panda, but the little FP oinker piggy pull toy that I still have below......along with some of my favorite childhood books. I was especially fond of the "fuzzy" feeling books. And A PRESENT FOR THE PRINCESS is still one of my favorite all time stories EVER. Beautiful story about a little blind boy that searches for the perfect present to give the little princess when she comes to visit!
The pic below shows my love for furniture & teasets even back then!! Also showing is my little FP monkey pull toy called Chatter Chimp.
My Rushton Bassett Hound
I've always been an avid reader. Still have zillions of my childhood books. The bigger they were, the better. I love the biggest one here that has the scalloped edge pages. The graphics were so sweet back then, too! Most of my little books were bible story books, or about animals or Santa or fairy tales. Hmmmm, STILL my favorite things!!
Me & my handsome daddy with my new Coca Cola dispenser. Gosh, I had tons of fun serving drinks with that. Now it has a permanent home in our gameroom.
It still has the four little original plastic Coca Cola glasses that came with it. You can also see a Roy Rogers lunch box & a reproduction tabletop juke box in the picture. My parents & I would eat at a place called Keene's Cafe every Friday night & they would give me nickles to play the juke box just like this one!
I always had a fascination with the little kissing couples. This set decorates my granddaughter's room.
I was a champion hula hooper, I tell ya! Not really, but I did have fun with it. Our daughter won a hula hoop contest in the late 80's tho! And she was so cute doing it, that as she went to pick up her prize on stage, a man in the audience gave her a $5 bill. We were lucky she didn't go on to become an exotic dancer after seeing what the public would pay for such fun skills!!
I always loved Silly Putty, never left home without it.
It was great fun to copy the cartoon pages of the paper with it!
I loved my Viewmaster & had quite a collection of reels!
I had a cute Tammy doll just like this one, but my main love was .....BARBIES!! More about those in the post below.
I was lucky enough to receive a Candy Fashion doll just like this one from Santa one year. I still have her, but couldn't locate her for pictures. (Think this might be where my love of dressforms started, as she came with ~3~ of her very own!) I also have the exact same doll as a brunette, but she is dressed as a bride so I will save her to share in June during Wedding Week!
Chatty Cathy was the very first speaking doll I ever owned.
When I got Mr. Potato Head, all you got were the pieces. Had to use a REAL potato!!!!
I also had tons of fun with my Slinky.
My absolute VERY BEST PRESENT EVER was the adorable dollhouse like the one at the very top of this post. The Ideal Toy Company manufactured this dollhouse in 1964 & Santa brought it to ME! when I was 9 yrs. old. The furniture is simply magnificent & the house came with very upscale accent pieces, too. So upscale that places like K-Mart couldn't sell the expensive little things, so manufacturing ceased in 1965. It has accessories like paintings, floor lamps, cigarette lighters & ashtrays, picture frames, perfume bottles, tea carts, wine glasses, pillows, ottomans, & be still my heart ~ even a crystal chandelier that REALLY lights up! My 3 story house was cardboard & fell apart years ago, but I still have the original furnishings & accessories. Still on the hunt for a few more pieces that I need to finish it up!This is so much fun sharing some of my childhood memories. I have tons of Barbie Love in the following post below, just for Jessi!!!! Please continue to read about my Barbies there, as this post was just getting too loooooong & I was afraid I would lose my pictures!
Hugs,
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