The Coolidge examiner., 1931-12-11
BY LOUISE M. coMsTock

. ~ Ing was snap. Twelve months super
gm n vising the jollest of elves in the man
Io~N ufacture of a standardized line of toys
kf1NSS and then a romantic evening whirlng
Sw\y a picturesque whip over willing Don
STY ner and Bitten visiting friendly cot
'.S1' tages with wide, welcoming chmneys
and capaciOus freplaces sufing
sturdy, handknit stockings with wooden dolls
rubber balls and sugar plums to fill in toe heel
and extra corners. mere nothing in those
golden days the responsibility of dstin-
gushing between the neatly darned sock of good
brother Ben and the ragged one of that rascally
Willie: very few little boys but good, and
deserving of sugar pums, and easily pleased
when father was a boy
But changing times, ushering in steam heat
kitchenettes with only two windows on a court
yard and a ventilator on the corridor to accom-
modate the rotund Saint, chiffon hose and
universal slavery to the great god Style, have
put Santa in the big business executive class
Today we make him annually responsible for
designing. constructing and distributing some
$400,000O00 worth of toys, all with nice dis
elimination between the good and the poor
careful consideration for childish tastes, and
correct application of changing styles.
Chldrens playthings. always initiating the pos
sessions and tools of their elders have thus nat
urally from the very earliest times followed
closely upon mankind's changing whims and
fances. The dolls unearthed in Egyptian tombs
are made of wood and sometimes have movable
arms and legs; but they all show that stiffness
and emphasis upon the profile view character
istic of Egyptian art. Early African dolls with
out heads were given to children of the Moham-
medan faith for their religion forbade the re-
production of the human features. Among the
toys of early Persian children we are not sur
prised to find many animals, tigers with movable
heads crocodiles whose lower jaws work up and
down, lions of limestone on wooden wagons for
the owner to pull about, or a carved hedgehog
on wheels. Roman children played with two
wheeled carts like the chari0ts in which their
public heroes raced. Toys during the Middle
ages if we are to judge from the few pre-
served for US, included knights mounted on
horses modelled in clay and slender ladies of
terra Gotta modelled in the elaborate costumes of
the period painted in gold and brightest hues
1t is the mechanical toy, perhaps, which shows
most emphaticay the influence of present-day
tendencies on children's playthings From the
tiniest tin automobile that winds up and darts
furiously few feet across the floor, to the 81 900
mechanical wonder which succeeds by means of
springs and electricity to simulate exactly real
cat or a whole circus parade in actiOn-the pur
chase, usually. so toy dealers tell us, of rich
grandparents and uncles who wish to wind up
the cat and watch the circus themselves-these
toys employ every invention of modern science
And they keep pace also with current interests
Toy counters today are crowded with minia-
ture motion picture cameras and projectors,
some of them capable of carrying 800 feet of
film and all of them so they advertised
easily managed by a twelve-year old. few
seasons ago, when a transatlantic flight was
still novel enough to commend streamer head
line in all the newspapers, the mechanical air.
plane was in high demand and toy golf equip
ment or indoor golf games dominated in the toy
store at the same time that miniature golf
green's began appearing in every vacant lot. To
day mechanical racing automobiles and toy yep
pelins supplanting the airplane in pOpu
larity, and automobile horse racing games,
and football, are crowding out golf in indoor
games. Carry-car trucks with a detachable
trailer capable of transporting four small models
and delivery wagons stocked with popular trade
marked wares keep this type of toy up-to-date.
While real mothers must be content with
babies upon whom current styles in curly or
straight hair, blue eyes or brown, have no infiu
ence, one to ten-year-old mothers can be much
more portcular For styles in dolls change year
ly it seems. In grandmothers day all dolls were
quite grown up, the youngest of them being prim
young ladies in pantalettes and artificial curls.
The baby-doll Stimulating real baby is COM
parative newcomer, and even it has suffered
periods of more and less popularity with chang
ing Juvenile tastes. In 1929 the haxen haired
beauty with the baby face languished unwanted
on the toy counter while the "fapper' doll with
dark bobbed hair, natty clothes and a complexion
Ofttimes modishly sun-tanned found q happy
home This year. thanks to the Empress Eugene
or whoever it was who revived in US a taste