Part One : Popular Toys by Decade, with Lemax and Dept. 56

Toys....Toys....TOYS

Lemax Collection,
"Toy Palace," #45093

Many of us define our best Christmases by the toys we found under the tree when we were children.  I remember my best Christmas.  I must have been about 4 or 5 years old.  Our bedroom was off the living room, and the tree was outside our door and to the left.  It was dark and it was cold and my brother and I were in the room together, whispering, trying to decide if we could go out.  Finally, my parents tapped on the door, and it was time. We ran around the corner, screaming, heading for the tree and the cache of Christmas toys.  I didn't know it at the time, but I know it now.  It was the best Christmas ever.  A red Flyer wagon!  A sled! A small bike with training wheels! A doll in a high chair!  And there were other packages concealing toys I don't even remember.  A haul.  A haul of everything  a 4 year-old could image possible.

Dept. 56, New England Village,
"Christmas Valley Toys and Dolls," #56677

I also remember my worst Christmas, at least in terms of presents.  I was probably old enough to be in junior high or high school.  Maybe the year was bad for my parents, and they didn't have as much money.  Maybe I had reached an age where they no longer understood me and what I wanted. Maybe I had changed and the old thrill was waning and I didn't even know it.  In any event, I remember a terrible letdown after opening my presents.  There were no surprises.  No fun and interesting new things.  Nothing I could call my best friend about.  An hour or so later I thought I must be missing something.  I went through the short pile again, and the best gift was a white slip.  A slip.  A white slip.  No, I still think it was a disappointing Christmas.  I don't know why, but it was, and still is.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"A New Bike for Christmas," #53409

You may think that, after many decades of living and working, much experience raising children, and a masters in humanities, that I should equate Christmas with something other than presents.  Of course I do now.  But my "memories" are of childhood excitement and joy and expectation and fulfillment, not of profound assumptions and concise logic.  My memories are of rushing and shouting and laughing and playing, not discussing the true values of Christmas.  I was a kid then!

Lemax Collection,
"Kringle's Toy Shop," #65395

So I started thinking: what toys were the most popular Christmas presents in decades past?  And when were some of our favorite and historic toys introduced?  I uncovered some surprises, which I enjoyed.  Hope you do too!

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Santa Comes to Town-2007," #55428

I have created a list of the most popular toys produced in every decade from the Victorian Age to the present.  The list was really long, so I am splitting it into two blogs.  In this blog, you will find the toys that children might have received for Christmas from Victorian times through the 1950's.  In several days I will put out a second blog, which I think is even more interesting, about popular toys from the 1960's through the present.

Dept. 56, Alpine Village,
"Spielzeug Laden," #56192

Information about the toys discussed in this blog came from two primary sources:   http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/toys.html and http://www.drtoy.com/toy_history/toy_history_timeline.html.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Noah's Stuffed Animals," #799990

Victorian Times  If you were born with a silver spoon in Victorian England, you might have received Christmas presents from a real toy store like  J.D. Nichols, to the right.  Some of the toys offered:
1. A rocking horse dappled gray, with a mane and tail made from real horse hair
2.  A factory-made train set
3.  A factory-made toy soldiers
4.  A factory-made doll
5.  A Doll houses with toy fruit and vegetables, hats, and medicines inside
6.  A soft toy produced by Gund
7.  A set of Noah's Ark.  (Children were not allowed to play with toys on Sundays in Victorian times, unless the toys had something to do with religion.  Hence, the popularity of Noah's Ark figures, because they represented a story from the Bible and could be played with on the Sabbath.)

Lemax Collection,
"Toy Peddler," #62316

If you were a poor child in Victoria England, you might have received the following Christmas present:
1.  A doll made with clothes pegs
2.  A carved wooden boat
3.  A ball made from rags stuffed with dust.
4.  A  cheap factory-made toy, purchased from a market stall, like the ones shown in the Lemax "Toy Peddler," to the left.

Lemax Collection,
"Boys v. Girls," #74677

On the other hand,  poor and rich alike could play outdoor games, including tug-a-war, shown in the Lemax "Boys v Girls," to the right. Other games:
1.  Marbles
2.  Hoops
3.  Ball games, even football (soccer,) using a blown-up pig's bladder for the ball.
4.  Tiddlywinks, which became a craze in the 1890's!

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Lionel Electric Train Shop," #54947

Toys in 1900 To 1920  The early 20th century produced an explosion of marvelous popular toys.  The building of Scottie's Toy Shop, pictured left, has the date 1904.  And here is a blockbuster list of toys that would have been available:
1.  Teddy Bears, 1903, approximately
2.  Erector Set, 1913
3.  Lionel Trains,1900, a big event for model train and miniature village collectors!
4.  Lincoln Logs, created by the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lloyd Wright! 1916
5.  Raggedy Ann
6.  Radio Flyer Wagon
7.  Tinker Toys, 1914
8.  Crayons, 1903
9.  Tin Toys (wind-up toys), early 1900's
10. "Sorry," trademarked in 1929

Dept. 56, Christmas in the City,
"Topsy's Toys," #799995

Toys 1920 to 1940-Though the US was in the middle of a recession, a few toys were introduced.
1.  Madame Alexander Dolls, 1929
2. Yo-yo's, 1929
3.  Miniature golf, 1926
4.  Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938
5.  Monopoly, 1934, though there were predecedessors dating from the early 1900's
6.  Baby stacking rings, 1930
7. View Master, 1939

Dept. 56, North Pole,
"LEGO Building Creation Station," #56735 

1940's Through the war years, toy production was specialized and profitable.
1.  Chutes and Ladders Board Game, 1943
2.  Silly putty
3.  Tonka Dump Truck, 1949
4.   Little Goldenbooks, 1942
5.  The Slinky, 1945
6.  Candyland, 1949
7.  Legos, 1949 (plastic interlocking bricks first introduced.)

Dept. 56, North Pole,
"Barbie Boutique," #56739

1950's  Just look at this list!
1.  Mr. Potato Head, 1952
2.  Hula Hoop (Started as a bamboo exercise ring in Australia, until Sham-O made it in plastic and introduced it in 1958, as the hula hoop!)
3.  Frisbees, 1957
4.  Ant Farms, 1956
5.  Barbie Dolls, 1959









REMEMBER!  Check back in a few days to find lists of the popular toys, listed by decades and years, from the 1960's through 2010!

Toys! Toys! Toys! From Lemax and Department 56

Lemax Collection,
"Santa Claus," 52111

When our niece was a little over two years old, she and her family came to spend Christmas with us.  We did not have children yet, but I loved Christmas and looked forward to having a kid around,  In a burst of creative joy, I decided at the last minute to play Santa for her.  On Christmas Eve, amidst the cooking and wrapping, shopping and entertaining, I charged out (with energy I look back on with wonder) to a local costume rental shop, and found practically the only Santa suit still in town.  I hid it, along with the appropriate number of tummy pillows, under our bed and awaited the big moment.

Lemax Collection,
"Santa Unmasked," 62301

After dinner, when everyone was sitting around chatting, I disappeared.  Moments later Santa appeared, red and fat, a right jolly old man! I ho-ho-ho'ed into the living room, looked at my niece, and bellered, "Merry Christmas, Little Girl!"  Our niece took one look at me, turned as red as a cherry, opened her mouth in a perfect "O", and let out a horrified shriek.  She turned and grabbed her mother's neck and began screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs as if she were running uphill.

I have a way with children....

Lemax Collection,
"Santa's Sleigh," #52161

But I don't give up....ever.  Later, when we had our own children, we staged another eventful Santa episode, which we have memorialized in a grainy video. We carefully arranged visiting relatives and our children so the mounted video camera would catch their expressions when Santa entered.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Santa Comes to Town-2009," #807285

I, like a rat, am a fast learner.  I decided not to play Santa this time, and left it to a non-profit group which staged Santa interventions for an appropriate renumeration....in my mind, any amount was too little to avoid the aforementioned debacle.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Santa Comes to Town-2006," # 55402

Santa this time entered more quietly, mildly, and gave our wide-eyed kids an appropriate berth.  Stomach shaking, he wobbly over to an easy chair and pouffed down.  When he was comfortably seated, some distance away, he gently looked at the kids and mentioned, as if an afterthought, "Why, Merry Christmas, children...."  The kids were speechless, but they didn't scream. They didn't clutch the neck of the nearest adult, and wring it until color left the victim's face.  They didn't run, though the younger did look ready to spring, at the slightest cause, like a jack-in-the-box, off the couch, out of the house, and into the cold night.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"I'll Need More Toys," #56365

Santa waited a moment, then asked mildly, "And what would you like for Christmas?"  He leaned back in the chair, and waited patiently for an answer.  My husband finally prompted our littlest.  "Tell Santa what you want."  But she simply sat there, wild-eyed, poised to bolt for the door.

There was twittering among the adults, but they didn't know what I knew, from experience, that this moment could be the end of a perfectly joyful Christmas visit.....the  antithesis of peace on earth and good will to men, particularly for Santa and me.

But this Santa was better than I. He remained calm, and turned quietly to my older daughter.  "And what would you like," he almost whispered.

Lemax Collection,
"Hooray for Santa," #04241

My daughter stared at him intently, and then gasped one word.  "Toys."  A bit of energy surged through her, and she repeated a bit louder, "Toys!"  And then, in the hysteria of joy and hope, shouted one more time, "TOYS!!!"

The moment was saved.  Toys trumped fear.  Hope triumphed. Peace reigned.  And that tiny molecule of joy resides forever in our hearts.