Whence & Whither?

***Do you know who made the Luminous Spooks? Were they only available with Sugar Puffs or did Quaker use an exisiting product? If you can help, please contact me: retromat 'at' btinternet 'dot' com***

Where did they come from?

In the 1950s and 60s, it was common practice for producers of breakfast cereals to give away plastic figures etc from existing ranges made by toy manufacturers, rather than commission new ones, presumably because it was cheaper. Kellogg's gave away unpainted figures from Cresent, specially stamped on the base with the Kellogg's logo, for example. Similarly, some free gifts from Sugar Puffs have been identified, as follows:

- late 1950s: Cowboys and Indians, made by an Islyn Thomas company in the US. These were imported by Rosedale/Tudor Rose or Poplar in the UK and sold in Woolworth's as pocket-money toys (source: Kim Stevens & yowiemaggi);

- 1957: Racing cars, by Caldwell of Canada; *

- 1962: HO scale British soldiers, by Airfix of the UK; *

- 1963: HO scale Cowboys and Indians, also by Airfix; *

- 1967/68: Fairground Rides, by R&L (thanks to Steve Luker).

(* - thanks to Kim for these).

It seems likely then that the Spooks also came from an existing range of figures. While the original figures may not have been luminous, or have even been made of plastic, I'm inclined to think that is unlikely. Luminous plastic would have been relatively expensive to produce and making them as thin as they are would have kept costs down.

The apparition, bat, 'spooked' cat, witch, and to a lesser extent the skull and crossbones, are all Halloween motifs, so it seems likely that the set, or part of it at least, was originally intended for sale at that time of year. Did Quaker intend the Spooks as a Halloween promotion? There is no reference to Halloween in the comic ad and the promotion started a little too early for that, although they were available as late as October, according to Peter Watson. Perhaps there may have been an implicit link. The commercial exploitation of Halloween has occurred only relatively recently in the UK, so there could well have been an American influence or origin. The Spooks have 'eyes' or 'loops' and so perhaps were originally intended as 'charms' or pendants. Could they have been sold in Woolworth's too, like the Sugar Puffs Cowboys and Indians? Unfortunately, 'Woolies' didn't do catalogues until the 1970s, so that may be impossible to verify.

I received an interesting snippet from Kim, who says a contact recalls Christmas Tree decorations that were luminous, flat, and which had detailed surfaces with holes for eyes etc. They even had the little loops from which to hang them. This was in the mid-1950s, so it's quite possible then that the original Spooks date from this period, too, perhaps even being made by the same company.

Kim wrote a letter to Plastic Warrior Magazine asking for information about the Spooks, including help in identifying the manufacturer. Given the worldwide circulation of the magazine and the specialized knowledge of the readership, if anyone could help, it would likely be a reader. The letter appeared in the December 2008 issue and did achieve a fantastic result with the Haunted Manor picture from Peter Watson. However, there have been no other responses, so perhaps we will never know who made them.

Where did they go?

So, where have all the Spooks gone? There must have been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of them made and given that Kellogg's figures (Cowboys and Indians, Spacemen, Knights etc) appear all the time, I would have expected the occasional Spook to turn up on eBay. However, I've not seen a single one for sale.

I found an interesting, if rather dry, document from the Monopolies Commission in 1973 about the supply of breakfast cereals (link has now gone). The figures in it indicate that Quaker's market share would have been about 10% of that of Kellogg's in 1965. So, it's likely that fewer Spooks would have been given away in the first place and correspondingly, there would be fewer surviving now. That would explain their scarcity, perhaps, but not their complete absence. Perhaps the real reason is that they were novelties , rather than toys to play with (unlike the Kellogg's figures mentioned above).