More Toys for Girls and Boys

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Dennis Overcash, LHS ‘66, wrote: "Not really gender specific but the toys I remember most were, of course,  the cap guns, coonskin caps and Mickey Mouse ears but also water rockets, Balsa Gliders, bags of army men, view master, farm sets from Sears catalog with metal barn and of course livestock, Etch a Sketch, Spirograph, and yo-yos.  It is hard to believe but some of these are still available today in a modern form and most, of course, are not made in the US.  Balsa Gliders still are US made by Guillows (made flying toys in the US since 1926 and still do today).  Available in limited selections at most Ace and probably other Hardware stores and at hobby stores. Unfortunately, most of the toys we had and loved had some design elements that are no longer used: such as lead in our metal toys."

Let's look at one of Dennis' toy selections - the balsa wood gliders. Most of us boys flew these gliders at least once in our childhood, and we loved to play with them - and alter them to our own design strategies.

I found the following story on the internet and it tells a lot about the gliders we played with. It was written in a piece called LET’S GO FLYING!, an article by Dave Pecota.

We just opened the packages … slid the wings and tails into the slots … and we were ready to go flying.   Few of us even bothered to read the assembly instructions.   We all knew what airplanes looked like.   Assembly was simple and easy … almost intuitive.

Some of the gliders, we merely tossed into the air.   Some we shot skyward with rubber band catapults.   Others had rubber-band “motors” that we wound furiously and released to fly off under their own power. (If they were rubber-powered AND had an "undercarriage" ... wheels & struts ... they took on the moniker "ROG" because they could actually "Rise Off the Ground".)

Many youngsters loved to fly toy airplanes, but … like me … lacked the building skills necessary to assemble those marvelously complicated balsa wood stick & tissue kits.   So these “ready-to-fly” (RTF) balsa wood toys provided an easy way for us to enter the realm of flight.

We soon discovered that we could alter the way the gliders flew by moving the wings forward and back … or by adding weight to the nose … or by changing the shape of the wings and tail with a piece of sandpaper … or even by winding more and more knots into the rubber-band motors.

Unknowingly, we were actually learning about the basics of flight in almost the same way Wilber & Orville Wright did ... experimentation.  (As the legend goes, it was the gift of a rubber-band powered helicopter toy that first piqued the Wright’s interest in flying.) 

Many, many times, our best flights ended with the airplanes landing on a neighbor’s rooftop, or in a tree or disappearing totally from sight.   But a quick trip to the store could easily replenish our “air force”.  They seemed to be available everywhere, with lots of company choices.   There were company names like American Junior, North Pacific, Guillow, Comet, Testors, Champion and Top Flite.   And many others I can’t remember.

In 1953, the Paul K.Guillow Co. introduced the Jetfire glider, which was the first of its type to be mass-produced and packaged in high-speed machinery.   This allowed Guillow to meet the production quantity and unit price demands of the now-flourishing “chain stores”.  The mass-marketing success of Guillow and a slowing economy spelled the end for many of the smaller companies in the 1950’s and 60’s.   Some, like American Junior Aircraft, North Pacific and Comet disappeared into larger companies.   Others just disappeared.   By the 1970’s, only a few players were left in the game.

Phyllis Miller Rodgers, LHS‘65, wrote: My favorite dolls, popular in the 50’s, were the Ginny and Ginette sisters. I had various outfits for both, plus a baby bed for Ginette. Only last year did I give them to a cousin, whose son and wife had given her her first granddaughter. I’m sure that Grandma and child will definitely have fun playing ‘dolls’ together."

On the internet, I found: "When Jennie Graves opened “Ye Olde Vogue Doll Shoppe” in Somerville, Massachusetts, she set out to design superior quality clothing for high-end doll companies like Kämmer & Reinhardt. In the late 1940s, after more than 20 years of running this successful small business, Graves introduced her own eight-inch composition doll. By 1951, demand for the miniature fashion doll had grown and Graves renamed the new hard-plastic series “Ginny” dolls, after her oldest daughter, Virginia.

Ginny was an immediate hit, particularly because of her many detailed outfits available for purchase separately. Graves continued to insist on using high-quality fabrics for the doll’s attire, including taffeta, cotton, felt, velveteen, and brocade, sometimes even embellished with lace trimming. The first plastic Ginny products were marked “VOGUE” on their heads and “VOGUE DOLL” on their bodies, sometimes including a patent number.

The series of miniature toddlers in stylish adult clothing was sold in packaging that read “Fashion Leaders in Doll Society.” The success of the Ginny dress-up dolls allowed Vogue to expand and create tiny shoes, handbags, eyeglasses, jewelry, and more. By 1954, the dolls incorporated more realistic features, such as sleeping eyes or jointed walking legs, and accessories like a tiny stuffed terrier by Steiff.

Vogue also created additional dolls in matching outfits to grow the Ginny family, first adding her baby sister Ginnette in 1955 as a drink-and-wet companion. The company soon released other characters, like the brother-sister duo Eve and Steve in identical plaid, or the Rock ‘N Roll-styled teenagers Jill and Jeff. Jill, who was modeled as an older sister for Ginny, even had real earrings to wear in her pierced ears. Younger brother Jimmy was born in 1958, in outfits to complement Ginnette, but because of slow sales, Jimmy was discontinued the following year.

By 1957, Vogue had become the largest doll manufacturer in America. At the peak of their department store distribution, Ginny dolls brought in more than five-million dollars a year.

The Wayback Machine

A Look at a Vintage Balsa Glider

Here's some youtube videos of vintage balsa gliders.

I tried to double up on both girl's and boy's toys this week. I am still looking for more ideas to cover so keep them coming.

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