Toltoys Kid

One of the most viewed posts here on Toltoys Kid is the entry featuring Willy Water Bug. I receive regular requests asking where they can be found today, unfortunatey I’m not much help, suggesting they start a ongoing search on ebay. It seems the kids of the 70’s want their kids today to enjoy the same summer fun we had, running on the lawn with water splashing everywhere and not a care in the world.

I feel I may be in for more requests with today’s post featuring a cousin of Willy, the Wham-O “Fun Fountain” clown sprinkler. The example below is again the Toltoys Australia branded version, I was lucky enough to find this guy in mint unused condition. When the hose is attached to the base and the water turned on, the hat rises above the head on a stream of water. Unlike Willy Water Bug I do remember this toy, in particular hitting the hat by swinging a cricket bat at it. Really loved the 70’s I did.

Enjoy!

And finally we have the Toltoys pages from the Toyworld 1975 Christmas Sale catalogue!

The 6 Million Dollar Man heralded the arrival of Kenner as a licensing force in toys, cemented a couple of years later by their securing of the Star Wars license. Toltoys would come to profit greatly by this relationship, coming under Kenner owners General Mills group of companies themselves around this time. The Bug Catcher is the only toy still produced today under the Toltoys brand, essentially unchanged from this 1975 model. Colourful Child Guidance branded toys were a multitude of plastic toy designs for younger kids, and included the wonderful railway system that everyone had, but whose name was remembered by no-one!

The Toltoys Jenny doll was based on the Kenner Dusty doll, and featured a Qantas hostess outfit, with other outfits sold separately. (Of course!) Jenny was modelled on real hostess Jenny Tregaskis, and the 1974 launch was held on a 747 Jumbo above Sydney Harbour during Toy Fair, with a video featuring Bert Newton as the pilot introducing Jenny the hostess and Jenny the doll to a captive audience of toy buyers. The launch was a huge success, as was the doll, outselling even Barbie in Australia that year.

The Puffing Billy train set is a new one to me, based as it though on one of Melbourne’s most famous tourist attractions, Puffing Billy. Toltoys produced most of the Play Doh sets of this era in their own livery (including the individual cans) I have a Fuzzy Pumper Barber set somewhere that I’ll add to this post when located. The less said about the dishwasher set the better I think!

Wrapping up the catalogue is great page of Tonka toys, my brother still has his “Mighty Dump”, trying but failing to destroy it over a childhood of sandpits and school yards. They really were “Tonka Tough”!

A few more pages from the 1975 Toyworld Christmas catalogue…

Croner Toys had an eclectic mix of international brands including the popular Janex talking alarm clocks, I’m still looking for a mint boxed Batman version! The Holly Hobbie sewing machines seemed to grace every girl’s dresser for a time, including my sister’s. I can’t recall seeing the Sesame Street radios, but that Bugs Bunny camera is very familiar. Digging the LEGO knock-off Pedlo bricks, rubbish name though.

Intertoy landed some of the biggest names in international toys, including Hornby trains, Sindy dolls, Scalextric slot cars and the highly detailed Lone Ranger line of action figures by Gabriel. Combex kept mums and kids happy with a great line of inexpensive plastic toys.

No prizes for guessing the stand-out item on this page, the legendary Corgi Batmobile is one of the most successful and iconic toys of all time. Interesting to note that the loose triple pack illustrated above still includes the earlier issue tin-fin Batboat. The Rustler Ace 100-shot cap rifle would have been a lot of fun, 1975 seems quite late for a western style toy rifle but I’m sure I would have been happy holding up the local stage-coach with it! I also note that the Electrolux Battery Operated Toy Vacuum cleaner is “for girls” aged 3-8. It has “real suction” too, a refreshingly honest statement for a toy that really did suck.

Cheers!