Thursday, December 11, 2014

BIG FAT TOY EDITION




nostalgia                                               

  WHO REMEMBERS ...
Toys From the 70's
Easy Bake Oven, Gay Bob, Jarts, and more ...



My sister had an Easy Bake oven, and later, so did my kids in the 1970s. 


ALAS ..
After a release of a new Easy-Bake Oven model in May 2006, Hasbro received reports of 29 children getting their hands or fingers caught in the front-loading door, including 5 reports of burns. In February 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ... well, got involved.  SO NOW


The 21st-century version, the Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven, comes with games, videos and downloads, but it requires no light bulbs. That's right, no light bulbs. What's an Easy-Bake Oven without light bulbs? Well, since it has a heating element similar to a conventional oven, it's really just a miniature oven.

"Why wouldn't I just use a real oven?" reads one of the online Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven FAQs.

"The Easy-Bake brand is a fashionable fun food brand that inspires tween girls to bake, share and show their creativity and expertise through an immersive brand experience."

Now I get it. You can fake your cake and eat it too. [Indy Week]


We had Lawn Jarts, and it was, as I remember it,  the only game we, as a family, played with any regularity.   Badminton and Croquet took too long to set-up. 

You may remember Jarts, if only because Sixty-Minutes got involved in having them banned.  A seven-year-old girl was killed by a lawn dart thrown by one of her brothers.  The 'Jarts' had been purchased unintentionally as part of a set of several different lawn games and were stored in the garage, never before having been played. The girls father began a crusade to get lawn darts banned, claiming that there was no way to keep children from getting their hands on lawn darts short of a full ban

Sixty Minutes had that kind of clout.   The show later destroyed the Audi 300 and 500 brand, using falsified data but, somehow, only managed to air one report on the Clintons (Cattle Futures) until Slick's Impeachment seven years later. They were never banned.



Gay Bob, The World's First Gay Doll For Everyone.  Flew under our radar in the 70's.  I only know about it because it's featured in Vintage Ad Browser.  We had GI Joe.  Nanny staters thought GI JOE GI was a violent toy.  


Here's an Easy Bake Oven alternative that pointedly goes after both boys and girls.  Who could complain about this? (ROLL)


13 comments:

Esteve said...

The last toy supports the patriarchy. The boy is grilling while the poor exploited little girl is doing the dishes. Thought I nailed it then I saw the rollover. Great minds..... And that Gay Bob must have been a regional toy like maybe only sold around the Hudson River and the San Francisco Bay as I surely never heard of it either.

DougM said...

Re: bottom one
I don't see the issue.
I mean, hey, heee's the one makin' the sammich!

molonlabe28 said...

Hell, we played Smear the Queer during recess almost everyday at St. Dominic School for Boys.

Anonymous said...

If cowboy Gay Bob didn't have some fuckme chaps, it's no wonder it didn't sell.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Jess said...

The little girl in the last photo looks Asian. Shouldn't she be serving tables, or doing some kind of Ninja stuff, like cutting the meat with a samurai sword?

Murphy(AZ) said...

Jarts, or Lawn Darts, were ALWAYS more fun if you had a bunch of little brothers to catch them for you!

Anonymous said...

I knew Mr. Peterman was gay.

Squeak said...

When I was 8 I got a Easy-Bake-Oven for Christmas, that same day I got a 410 shotgun. I guess My father wanted a boy, talk about mixed signals.

Jess said...

Probably not mixed Squeak. He was telling you to go get some squirrels for some squirrel gumbo.

Skoonj said...

Jarts may not have lasted very long, but the term Lawn Dart survives. The F-16 has been described as a lawn dart, though it's a very good aircraft. Years ago the F-104 was called a lawn dart. In fact, the story was that if you wanted your own F-104, just buy an acre of ground in Germany. Soon you'll have one.

Unknown said...

Norm in Granbury
When I was stationed at a Radar site in AZ, Luke AFB in Phoenix was training German F105 pilots. The joke was what do you call a German F105 pilot who quits smoking? An optimist ;-)

Tom Smith said...

The banning of Jarts was the beginning of our cupcake world.

pdwalker said...

I remember lawn darts. I was 4 when I sunk one into my neighbors head. Blood everywhere.

My sister and the neighbor were "playing" and I thought they were "fighting".

I didn't understand why everyone was so upset.

It was a couple of years before I was allowed to play with them again

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