Collectors Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia (1960's & 1970's, 2nd Edition)

Wasn't this book's cover just singing out to me from the recently returned shelving of the non-fiction floor yesterday? Collectors Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia: 1960's and 1970's, 2nd Edition (library) by Greg Davis and Bill Morgan is a collector's historical and price index to your favorite tv tie-in tchochkes from the sixties' and seventies'. Neither one of my parents had the kind of parents who would buy them a lot of INSANELY AWESOME merchandising, so I'm just going to have to keep my eagle eyes peeled for these items in the wild. Wanna take a look?

THE. BIONIC. SNEAKERS. OH. MY. GOD.

As I've said before, I am unnaturally attracted to tv-tie in collectibles. When Great Escape or Goodwill happens to feature a board game or a lunchbox or a coloring book from any and every show I've ever seen in syndication, it's almost a certainty that if the price is under $15, I will be purchasing it for inclusion in my own tiny little home "Golden Age of Television" museum. It's a sickness! An affliction! (#firstworldvintagecollectionproblems) I was telling a coworker at the non-fiction desk earlier that though I have never seen an entire episode of the Six Million Dollar Man-- not once! Not even once!-- I somehow still have the board game, an officially licensed t-shirt contemporaneous to the show's original run (I thought it was homemade, but this book says it's official!), and a lunchbox! These things just fall into my hands somehow.

That, dear friends, is why I avoid ebay auctions altogether-- could you imagine how bad I would be if the whole world was open to me, in terms of shopping territory? Still, the book showed me many wonders to keep in mind in case they do crop up in a home goods or toy section in the near future. 

Let's take a look at some of the killer dillers:

Bewitched Paper Dolls

We discussed paper dolls just the other day, and while I do have a Doris Day set in my "celebrity" collection, I feel sad that I don't have a Darren, Endorra, and Samantha set from the tv show Bewitched. These Swedish language clips are TOO. CUTE. "De Ungas Sidor" means "The Youth Pages", and I think these would have featured in a Swedish newspaper or magazine sometime when the show originally aired? I was surprised at how tame Agnes Moorhead's costumes and makeup looks in comparison to what I remember from the show-- doesn't she look more a young Zsa Zsa Gabor than herself on her page? Whatever, would still snap these up in a millisecond.

Another show that was in re-runs on the old Sci-Fi channel weekday lineup was The Bionic Woman. Please, please, please look at the box art for the fembot. I found one at an exorbitantly high priced listing on ebay, but this snap from a fansite is even better. YOU CAN RIP OFF HER FACE, YOU GUYS. You can rip her face RIGHT OFF to reveal the plastic decal of her inner workings! I have honestly never seen a more exciting toy. If you don't remember the show or this particular element of the show, do yourself a favor and watch this absolutely amazing clip of an example episode from YouTube. One of the exchanges is "1: Aw, no! No, no, no, man! 2:The doctor's human son died as a baby..." and from there, it really just gets better. FEMBOTS FOR LIFE.

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I also love this wallet, but couldn't find one for sale anywhere. You know Quentin Tarantino has one. You KNOW he does.

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I was surprised when going through the Brady Bunch memorabilia that the official series lunch box is not nearly as exciting as you'd think it would be. Not that I don't want one if you want to give me one, but check it out:

Vintage 1970 Brady Bunch Lunchbox King-Seeley Thermos Division Metal Lunch Box

I wasn't sure if they even had the wedding on the show, but apparently they did, in the pilot episode, where the future Mrs. Carol Brady actually wore yellow instead of pink. Discrepancy! Still, compared to the Partridge Family lunchbox, this is kind of weak sauce...we need more of the kids! More of the A-frame house and staircase! Somethin!

This thing looks insane. Let's get it:

Vtg Mego 1977 Farrah Fawcett Bust Styling Glamour Center Head w/ Instructions

Did you have your own style-its-hair mannequin head a child? Haircare toys are always hit and miss to me because if you do any of the things you're supposed to do to the figure's hair (cut, wash, curl, set, etc), you're kind of going to mess it up. And unlike real hair, your doll's hair does not grow out of the asymmetrical Dorothy Hamill cut you regretted instants after having given it to her.

My dad said in high school it was fashionable for boys of his age to ask door-to-door-literature-distributing Mormons if they could get "me a date with Marie Osmond!", of the most glamorous Mormon singing brother-sister sensation of them all, Donny and Marie. I only remember Donny and Marie from their revamped talk show in the late 90's, and Marie's frequent marital/family/psychological problems of that same time frame. Still, you have to admit they're kitsch cute in their sequins and turquoise on the front of this 45s carrying case. You'd be surprised at the sheer volume of Osmond merchandise there was when the sibling's variety hour was a thing back in the seventies'. 

DONNY AND MARIE OSMOND record and toy CARRY CASE 1977 Vintage RARE!!!

We! Love! Gidget! We! Love! Her!I'm not sure what psychic powers the girl midget might possess, but her smilling little bouffant'd head on the cover is enough to sell me.

HTF 1966 GIDGET FORTUNE TELLER GAME by Milton Bradley, Complete & VG Condition

It's been nine years since I was outbid on a Welcome Back, Kotter record player in my freshman year of college (that might have been the experience that got me off of ebay!), but the passage of time has not dulled the pain a whit! Even as cringe-inducingly-bad as his career has turned of late (did you guys see the video for "I Think You Might Like It"?), even as completely off-put by Scientology as I am, I'm a John Travolta supporter all the way, forever, and his male ingenue turn as Vinne Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter is one of my particularly fond memories of the Travolta-that-was. LOOK. AT. THIS. PLAYSET.

RARE- 1976 - Welcome Back Kotter Classroom Set + 5 Sweathogs - & accessories WOW

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Truth time: the one item for which I would actually break my ebay embargo (it's not ebay's fault, it's my hair-trigger compulsive collecting habit that's to blame): OH MY SWEET AND DEAR LORD, Southwestern Native American themed Cher dressing room set. YES. A THOUSAND TIMES YES.

Mego CHER - Cher's DRESSING ROOM Playset (1976)

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There's a lot more in the book where that came from. Did you have any particularly beloved tv-tie in merchandise as a child? Do you scour ebay for this kind of junk, or would you gladly pass it up as a yard sale because "what'll I ever do with it?" (I wish I was in the latter camp! I wish!). Which toy would you like to add to your collection?

HOW AWESOME ARE FEMBOTS?

Have a great Thursday, and I'll see you tomorrow for Photo Friday!