Looking Back to 1960-The Toys We Enjoyed

Christmas was just around the corner. We’d sent Santa our requests, and now we had to wait to see what would come down the chimney. 

But times were tough, so our hopes weren’t too high. In fact, we couldn’t even afford a real Christmas tree, so my aunt let us borrow a gold-leafed artificial one. 

Although it was bright and shiny, the smell of pine needles was sadly absent, and the sheen of all the foil seemed a bit out of place. But, at least we had a tree upon which we could plant our wishes, even if it was made out of metal.

My list of toys wasn’t any different from most kids my age. It usually centered on a bicycle, a robot, or something else advertised on Romper Room or Captain Kangaroo. I don’t remember ever thinking about how I could make my mom’s holiday any easier.

Those vintage toys still bring back so many fond memories. In fact, some of the toys I received as a child I still have today.  There’s a red square Etch-a-Sketch upstairs in the loft, begging for me to create some Picasso masterpiece.  I was never very good at drawing, so any attempts at linear art weren’t worth saving.  So, I’d just shake it upside down and start over.

I also have a Charlie McCarthy doll, which I often used when I thought I wanted to be a ventriloquist.  Along the way, the rubber band that controlled the mouthpiece broke, but I still have that Charlie upstairs, still dressed in his finest checkered coat, begging for repair.

I also have a marionette doll given to me by my aunt from her Mexican Flea Market on Ventura Blvd.  All the strings are tangled into some mess of a web. I’ve tried fixing it a number of times to no avail, so now it just collects dust. I keep it because it takes me back to simpler times when you could use your imagination to play games and invent characters.

What I really miss are those plastic cowboy and Indian figures, all bow-legged, so you could saddle them on top of the horses and make them gallop away. Perhaps I was enacting my version of the Lone Ranger and Tonto as I gave each character a distinctive voice and trotted them through my living room.

Long gone are my skateboard, Play-Doh, Mr. Potato Head, Erector Set, Candyland and my Chutes and Ladders games.  But Christmas is just around the corner, so maybe if I email Santa now, I might get one of them delivered by Christmas day.