"Found In The Attic - The Little Sears Card"

Are you old enough to remember when Sears had that small credit card?  It was only about 2/3rds the height of every other credit card out there, which made it unique but also hard to store in a wallet.
The attached photos shows what the card looked like in 1981 -- simple blue & white, with the standard Sears logo.  The photos show a pretty woman with big teeth happily showing the card.  There is also a photo of a family exiting a Sears store - the father wearing a bright blue 70s-style leisure suit.  The other photos highlight people ordering from Sears over the phone (very popular back then) as well as ordering in store from their well-known catalog. All-in-all, not a bad flyer for 30+ years ago.  More 2 come...

"Found In The Attic - Star Wars Action Figures (Part 4)"

Okay here's the final part in the Star Wars Action Figures brochure series, featuring three more toys and three more kids being teased with the hottest toys of the age.
First we have a radio-controlled R2D2.  The photo makes it look huge, almost life-size.  The text however makes it known that it is only 20cm tall.  That kid with the Art Garfunkel afro looks pretty happy though.
The second toy, the Creature Cantina, is bizarre.  Does the cantina in the movie, while really entertaining, merit an entire playset?  The photo doesn't make it look very good and the text doesn't make it sound good either.  The kid playing with it once again looks delighted.
The final toy has to be the coolest of the three - Darth Vader's Tie Fighter.  With this kids can pretend they are the dark lord and try to destroy the rebel alliance ... what fun!
So that's it for Star Wars action figures and playsets from 1979.  I wonder how much George Lucas made from these?  It's unknown, but what is known is that the merchandising mania only got stronger when the next movie came out in 1980.  More 2 come...

"Found In The Attic - Star Wars Action Figures (Part 3)"

Part 3 of the Star Wars action figure brochure features two popular toys from the late 70s, the X-Wing Fighter and the Death Star.
I had an X-Wing Fighter and believe me, it was great.  I always thought that the Death Star in the movie would have been an excellent playset too (even though it's a kids toy with the word "Death" in its name), but this playset looks nothing like the Death Star in the movie.  I realize that replicating the movie's Death Star would have meant creating a massive toy, but come on, the toy in the brochure is disappointing.  It's got an elevator, a canon, and the trash compactor with "Trash Monster".  Looking at the picture, I think any kid would get bored of the Death Star much sooner than they would with the X-Wing Fighter.
Anyway, no kids are being teased on this page of the brochure -- but there will be in the final installment from the brochure (part 4).  More 2 come...

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 18 12) -- Sedona AZ

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 18 12) -- Sedona AZ

"Found In The Attic - Star Wars Action Figures (Part 2)"

Part 2 of the Star Wars Action Figures flyer shows three larger vehicles in George Lucas' ever-expanding merchandising empire. 
The first one is the "Land of the Jawas" playset.  As I mentioned in the previous post, the Jawas were barely in the original movie so getting their own vehicle in this lineup is pretty impressive, especially since the final time this vehicle is seen in the movie it has been burned by the Storm Troopers and everyone onboard has been destroyed.  What fun for kids to re-enact this!!
The next vehicle simply kicks butt.  If I could have had any vehicle in this flyer (part 3 and 4 to come later), it would be this -- the Millennium Falcon.  Just look at that thing!  It has everything -- the cockpit, the satellite dish (for picking up interstellar ESPN), the hidden cargo hold under the floor boards, and more.  It even has the game table for pretending to play that holographic chess game from the movie!  Awesome.
The 3rd vehicle on this page is bizarre.  Call me crazy, but I don't recall a van in the movie!  The flyer invites you to "join in the custom van craze".  What are you supposed to do with this, put your action figures in it and pretend to drive around?  Very strange.
The other thing that gets me about this page is that it must have been a huge tease for the two kids in the photos to play with these toys/prototypes during the photo shoot and then have to leave them behind.  Seriously, these were THE toys in the late 70s, and seeing something like the Millennium Falcon would have almost made your head explode.  Then to have to leave the toy behind would have been brutal.  More 2 come...

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 16 12) -- Sedona AZ

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 16 12) -- Sedona AZ

"Found In The Attic - Star Wars Action Figures (Part 1)"

Oh boy this takes me back!  The attached image shows the first part of a flyer for original Star Wars figures from the late 70s.  This was about the time that George Lucas started to become more interested in merchandising than movie-making, which seemingly continues to the present day.
Anyway, the first few pages of this flyer show the action figures available at that point in time.  Most are about 30cm tall, except Darth Vader and Chewbacca (38cm) and R2-D2 and the Jawas (20cm).  It's strange that the Jawas are even offered as action figures as they were in the movie for probably less than 10 minutes.  Same goes for Boba Fett -- he wasn't even in the first movie!  The flyer says he is "soon to be a major character in the Star Wars sequel".  Not in my opinion.
Also here are the Storm Troopers, probably the least accurate shooters in movie history, and Han Solo who is listed as the "cynical and over-confident pilot of the Millennium Falcon".
I'll be honest, I had a bunch of these action figures and loved them!  I also had the X-Wing Fighter which we'll see in the next post.  More 2 come...

"Found In The Attic - Glory Days At The Zoo"

Here's another quick one from the history of the Toronto Zoo, and sadly it's a site that won't be seen there any longer.  The attached file shows a postcard of a large herd of eight African Elephants strolling around their new home at the zoo.  As you may know, the elephants have recently left the zoo, likely never to return.  It was finally decided that the cold Canadian winter was particularly detrimental to the elephants, as was the need to keep them indoors all winter.  So, these mighty beats, and my favourite animal, have left the zoo.

The postcard lists a series of summer events at the zoo, including public feedings of many animals and the chance to meet some of the animal keepers (I think they still do this).  The prices of tours are listed, and once again it shows how far inflation has affected our lives.  The price of a zoomobile ride (which they still have) was $1.

Strangely, the photo was taken by a photographer from Ireland, and the postcard was printed there too.  Didn't we have any photographers and printers in Toronto back then?!  More 2 come...

"Found In The Attic - One Of The World's Great Zoos?"

The attached picture shows a brochure from the Toronto Zoo, and it's undoubtedly from it's earliest years.  The prices are $3 for adults, $1.50 for seniors & youths, and a whopping $0.50 for kids under 12.
The brochure proudly asserts that the zoo is one of the world's greatest.  Sadly, not likely these days.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that the Toronto Zoo isn't what it used to be, although it's still entertaining, especially for kids.  I've been to the San Diego Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, and more, and I can comfortably say that the Toronto Zoo, in my opinion, doesn't rank up there with those zoos.  I would be thrilled if the Toronto Zoo could get much more $ and improve itself, but in these times that doesn't seem likely.
The brochure asserts that "Noah would be pleased!" and then mentions the rolling woodland countryside, the five breathtaking glass pavilions, and the 4000 animals from around the world.  It also loudly proclaims "Just 30 minutes from City Hall!". Back in the late 70s that was probably true, but today you might have a tough time getting there in under an hour and 30 minutes (DVP, I'm looking at you)!
Finally, the brochure mentions the climate-controlled train that takes you around the zoo.  If you're old enough, you'll remember the monorail that once gave the Toronto Zoo a futuristic feel.  It's a shame that the monorail is no more.

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 13 12) -- Grand Canyon

John's Featured Picture of the Day (Apr 13 12) -- Grand Canyon