A numerical dilemma: The Elephant in the Room!

Cover. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Greetings vintage mates. Since 2011 TVTA has been diligently keeping track of the number of vintage print advert and catalogue images it has been archiving for your viewing pleasure. To date, prior to this post, our print archive stood at “4,998” images! Why, that’s “Enough print to encircle the planet three times, hot enough to fry an egg, deep enough to contain six Olympic swimming pools, and faster than a cheetah driving a Formula One racing car!!” or so our blurb says!

So… only two print images to go until we reach that magical figure of “5,000” archived images. Goodness! Whatever shall we post here today to celebrate such a milestone?

Well, how about this… a 1967 Corgi Toys advert featuring the Batmobile and Batboat! Bam! Pow! Kersplowie! Cool, “4,999” images! We only need one more ad to reach our 5,000 target!

Corgi toys. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Fine. So how about print image N° 5,000? What will it be?

How about this one?

The Fright Factory Thingmaker horror kit by Mattel! Y’all know how much TVTA loves horror and Halloween, right?

Fright Factory by Mattel. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Cool! But, then, how about this… The Sound of Music Dolls by Madame Alexander?

Yodel-me-not, for we do not kid around! Here it is in all its glory:

Madame Alexander Sound of Music Dolls. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Okay, but how about the splendid joy of the Teleidoscope and Musicalscope… TVTA dares you to look into the eyepiece of toy goodness and not be bedazzled by the sight and sounds which await!

Teleidoscope and Musicalscope. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


However… how can one resist the lure of Lincoln Logs?

Lincoln Logs. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Or, Winnie the Pooh toys and books?

Winnie the Pooh toys and books. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Gosh-durn-it on a biscuit, what about the Hound Hotel and Bear Outing playsets that probably no one’s ever heard of but wishes they had?

Hound Hotel and Bear Outing toys. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Or the Hurricane Galloping Horse toy? Giddy up!

Hurricane Galloping Horse toy. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue


Don’t know about you, vintage mates, but we here at TVTA are finding it hard to simply pick two adverts to reach our goal of 5,000 archived images!

How about some Dinky Thunderbirds toys?

Dinky Thunderbirds. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.


Or a Bilofix building set? (free pipe included for Dad to smoke on while he helps out building boats and stuff on Christmas day)

Bilofix building toy. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue


We could always ask our TVTA intrepid office cat Wooof what he suggests as our 5,000th print image…

TVTA’s intrepid office cat, Wooof (in one of his latest incarnations. Wooof has had more nine lives than you’ve had hot dinners!)

Wooof says: “Miow, mewl, myaw, meeeow, myah, myah, myah, mioooow!”

Translated: “Dear editor of TVTA, why not just post everything you just scanned, and then we can have another week off work? You silly, human twit, you.”

Dang. So, as usual, the cat wins. Hence, TVTA is proud to announce that we have now archived “5,010” print images. Excellent. Right, we’re off to set up the Bilofix and light our pipes! As always, thanks for looking 😁

Top ten toys that are freaking me out right now! (ptII)

Pelham Puppets. FAO Schwarz 1974 1975 catalogue. US.

Greetings, vintage mates! This is a fun “part 2” to a post I made way back in 2020, in which I showcased some particularly disturbing toy adverts which were leaving me, quite frankly, completely freaked out!

yet, here I am again, once more a sucker for punishment, as I present 10 further foul examples of nightmare-inducing toy monstrosities!

As such, with my latest batch of creepy adverts, I think I’m pretty close to the stage of the below definitions:

Pediophobia or “the fear of dolls” is a specific type of phobia characterized by irrational and intense fear or worry of dolls. Pediophobia is closely related to Automatonophobia.

Automatonophobia – morbid fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues or any inanimate object that simulates a sentient being.

Is it just me… or am I the only one to feel disturbed by my post header advert for Pelham Puppets? Take your pick, each puppet may surely possess the power to ‘string you up’ and leave you suspended in fear as they torture your dangling body…

Maybe it is me.

Maybe not.

Anyway, I’m not taking any chances, and neither should you!

Be warned…

Here is my latest top ten toy adverts that are freaking me out lately…

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Hello? Fisher-Price toys customer services department? Yes, can I get a sniffer dog please?

The Fisher-Price Chatter telephone. 1963 catalogue detail.

Greetings, vintage mates. TVTA is pleased to add to its archives a selection of scans for Fisher-Price Toys. Who among us, as children, didn’t own or have a friend who owned the Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone? Or how about the Snoopy Sniffer dog? Or the Little People (formerly known as Play Family People)?

Little Snoopy and Snoopy Sniffer dogs. Fisher Price. 1968.

Fisher-Price is an American company founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Helen Schelle, and Margaret Evans-Price. The company can proudly claim a long tradition of producing delightful preschool and early-years toys made from durable materials, and designed to last throughout generations of family members as the perfect hand-me-down toy.

Presenting: complete scans from the 1963, 1965, 1968 and 1970 Fisher-Price catalogues, each featuring toys a good deal of us will remember all too fondly.

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FAO Schwarz – the unique toy store, 1974/1975 catalogue

Cover. FAO Schwarz Fall/Winter catalogue. 1974/1975. US

FAO Schwarz was established in 1862 in New York and is one of the oldest toy stores in the world, in a spirit similar to that of the UK’s Hamleys.

FAO Schwarz (FAO = Frederick August Otto) offers children and parents a choice of quality and long-lasting toys, games, hobbies, books and crafts. The company continues to operate to date.

Thanks to a very kind donation by our friend Anna (thank you Anna), TVTA is pleased to acquire a number of vintage FAO Schwarz catalogues spanning the 1960s to early 1980s.

Today we present selected scans from the 1974/75 fall/winter catalogue.

Enjoy the toy goodness!

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Tonka Toys – mighty toy truck mania!

Greetings vintage mates. TVTA is pleased to welcome a new toyline to our archives – welcome Tonka Toys ! I already had a handful of Tonka adverts from the 1986 to 1997 period, but nothing prior to these dates and worth making a category for. Thanks to a kind donation by TVTA friend, Anna, I now have two catalogues circa 1963 to add to my archives. Thanks Anna!

Catalogue #1. Cover. Tonka Toys Incorporated. Circa 1963. US.

Catalogue #2. Cover. Tonka Toys Incorporated. Circa 1963. US.

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FAO Schwarz – the unique toy store, 1981/1982 catalogue

Cover. FAO Schwarz 1981 / 1982 catalogue. US.

FAO Schwarz was established in 1862 in New York and is one of the oldest toy stores in the world, in a spirit similar to that of the UK’s Hamleys.

FAO Schwarz (FAO = Frederick August Otto) offers children and parents a choice of quality and long-lasting toys, games, hobbies, books and crafts. The company continues to operate to date.

Thanks to a very kind donation by our friend Anna (thank you Anna), TVTA is pleased to acquire a number of vintage FAO Schwarz catalogues spanning the 1960s to early 1980s.

Today we present selected scans from the 1981/82 fall/winter catalogue.

Enjoy the toy goodness!

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Pocketeers… mechanical handheld retro gaming

Pocketeers Pitfall game. UK. 1979.

Pocketeers mechanical games were produced by the Palitoy company in the UK from 1975. Based on the original Japanese Tomy Pocket Games, each Pocketeer was a themed puzzle or challenge contained within a sturdy plastic casing. The games functioned by operating a variety of levers, springs, cogs, ball bearings and trapdoors.

These pocket-size fun games were rather like mechanical precursors to electronic handheld games like the Nintendo Game and Watch, and later the Gameboy. At our school, Pocketeers were popular because of the “Three Ts” – portabiliTy, collectabiliTy and swappabiliTy 😁

UK. Star Wars Weekly. 1979.

Pocketeers Big Match. UK. 1979.

UK. Star Wars Weekly. 1979.

Pocketeers Casino and Letterbox. UK. 1979.

UK. Marvel Comic April 1979.

Pocketeers Rat-a-Tat. UK. 1979.


Pocketeers France. In France the games were known collectively as Mini-jeux and were distributed by the Meccano company.

France. Pif Gadget. 1979.

French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.

France. Castors Juniors. 1979.

French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.


Pocketeers Germany. This 1982 German advert shows the Tomy license. The advert also shows Tomy’s ‘Funny Bowling’ game.

Pocketeers. Germany. 1982.

As always, thanks for looking 😊