Friday, March 07, 2008

When Toys Were Cool

When I was a kid I would have loved to get a snub-nosed 38 for Christmas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid I bought a sheriff's badge and gun from Becker's, with money I had saved. As I crossed the street the pistol fell out of its holster, and just when I realized what had happened a Volkswagen Bug drove over it and wrecked it. When I got home My dad went back and bought me a new gun because he figured,"what kind of a kid wears a sheriff's badge without a gun!!!???". Since that day I hated V.W. Bugs; but it was quite a few years before I understood my dad's reasoning about the gun. Society shouldn't stop boys from playing like boys, the boys will end up being well adjusted, good people. Kids who play cops and robbers usually don't grow up and become the robbers they tend to become the cops.

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid, I bought a toy .38 snubnose from the drugstore. It used rocket caps (if you remember those little round ones), that fit into a metal cartridge, into which you pushed a plastic bullet. The cartridges went into the cylinder and the bullets actually fired out the barrel when the caps went off. Just like the real thing. Pretty cool. I think it may have been made by Mattel and marketed as a tie-in to 77 Sunset Strip, the detective show.
And I know how to handle guns safely.

Anonymous said...

The idea that being a boy requires playing with guns requires a bit of argument behind it. I don't see that at all. I had a real (air) gun, but it was obviously not a toy and not for playing with. I don't feel that it enriched me in any way, any more than playing with dolls necessarily would have.

But then, I spent too much time on books and computers when I was 8 to be able to hunt and kill any of the Indians that lived near me.

Anonymous said...

Yep, same gun all right. $4.00!

Anonymous said...

I had a dollhouse that had a huge chimney and a huge staircase that you could take out. There was a tiny toilet with a lid and all that cool tiny furniture. It even had tiny utensils.

If you want a toy that will keep girls (yes girls) happy for hours, this is it. Get a real one, not one of those crappy plastic things. Don't buy the kit to make one unless you want a hobby to keep you busy for months.

I remember my parents gave it away to an orphanage eventually. I sure wish I still had it!