Pzazz

"Fuzzy Wuzzy wuz a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wuzn't very fuzzy,
Wuz he?"

The empty wooden thread spool with nails hammered in the top to make a long yarn "chain" was called "French Knitting".

How about Chinese Checkers...real marbles, on a tin game board?

Cowboys and Indians...not "politically correct" today.

Lostn51

Hot Wheels- the ones that had the red line tires and the button that came with them.

GI Joe's with kung foo grip

Schwinn Stingray Bikes

Ed Roth Hillbilly Hats

Rat Fink

The Monkees trading cards

Planet of the Apes Trading cards


Billy

Pzazz

Anyone have a "Rocket radio"?

QuiltMania

I remember most of those toys. I loved the Happy Hollister books. Still have some in my mom's attic.

Does anyone remember the Swingy doll? She was a little doll that ran on batteries. She would walk or if you flipped the switch the other way, she would swing her hips and dance. My brother and sister walked her down the basement stairs and she never worked again. I was so mad!

Sandy1951

Sue Barton, yes! I got all those from the library. I must have bought or been given a few Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames books, but the rest came from the library. (Was it Cherry Ames who was accidentally the last one in her class to receive her cap? I miss nurses' caps. Now you can't tell them apart from nurses' aides or techs.)

Both Cherry Ames' and Sue Barton's first books were set during WWII. The Bobbsey Twins books were set even earlier, although they were so generic it didn't seem to make any difference. My daughter just cautioned me not to get rid of them (since we're moving soon) because my DGD's would probably want to read them, but I have a feeling they won't be interested. I know they don't care about paper dolls. Why play with paper dolls when you have fairy and princess outfits of your own and a gazillion dolls to play with?

I don't remember the Donna Parker series. It wasn't the one set on Lookout Mountain, was it? I remember one of the girls in that series had a blond ponytail and was named Bitsy, I think. I don't remember the Happy Hollister series, either.

I just thought of something. I loved reading the Boy's Life magazine. My brother got it and I always snuck it out of his room so I could read it. I was a fast reader and always got it back to him before he missed it.

I did have a Shirley Temple doll. I don't remember when I got her, but I know I still had her when I was in third or fourth grade, which would have been 1959-1960. I wish I knew what happened to her. I always kept all my toys and books, but she disappeared. I may have thrown her away, now that I think about it more. I think I got tired of her curls and decided to give her a short haircut. Did you know the hair on dolls doesn't grow back? :cry: I may have thrown her away so I wouldn't get in trouble. :oops:

Someone mentioned the Little House on the Prairie series. I loved those, too. I couldn't pace myself either and always zipped right through them. I still read the same way.

Lisanne

No, Donna Parker lived in a small town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Parker

"Misty Mountain Hop" is a Led Zeppelin song. (One day we'll have to do a thread about our favorite music growing up.)

The "misty mountains" were part of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ring trilogy. The Hobbit was its prequel, if that rings a bell.

I don't know of any other books set in the misty mountains or a place by that name.

MadQuilter

no idea what they were called: two very heavy balls on a string. The object of the game was to grab the string in the middle and flip the balls til they kept clanging against each other. OH did that smart when you did it wrong an they hit body parts - mostly the knuckles.

Then I had a thing that looked like an hourglass. The object of the game was to make it roll back and forth on a string controlled by sticks at each end. Never got that to work either.

I was very glad when I discovered boys.

gaigai

Sewhappy, pm me your addy and I'll send you some!

mjsylvstr

baren*eh*ked_canadian............quoting you..........
(keeping in mind I am a child of the 80s)

remember this......I was a child of the 40's !!!!!

anyway, as little girls, we loved our baby dolls. We would dress them and take them for walks in the carriages. During WW2, I lived in California and missed my "Bright Eyes" baby, so very much, that Santa left her under my tree so very far from home.....thanks to some help from an uncle who worked for the PO. One of my treasured memories.

And paper dolls....they were another big thing that kept my friends and me amused for hours. We had to obtain boxes from all the cigar smoking men in the family to keep the clothes nice and neat. We had a ball with them.
Have any of you ladies seen the fabric out now with dolls and also the fabric for making outfits for them.....almost like our paper dolls.

Well, ladies, we can come back to the current generation and see what has developed over the years.

MaryJane

Pzazz

I am child of the 50's.

My mom made my clothes..until was old enough to make my own. I just bought some fabric with pix of the old McCalls "mom and daughter", and "big sister, little sister" patterns on it.
I am sooooo enjoying all these memories.

mjsylvstr...your comment about the baby dolls reminded me of one of my earliest memories. I loved purses, so my aunt would give me her old ones. I still remember taking my "baby" for a walk in her buggy, me with my purse over my arm. I suspect the purse was almost as big as I was!!! LOL :)