The Garfield Telephone

1986 ad for the Tyco Garfield Telephone

 

The 1986 Tyco Garfield telephone perhaps would have been another '80s pop culture relic were it not for a phenomena happening to this day halfway around the world.

The phone itself was a conventional working telephone molded as Garfield. It's eyes opened when you lifted the receiver. It was targeted to kids lucky enough to have phone lines in their bedrooms (which was becoming a regular feature in homes in the 1980s.) It was foreign manufactured for Tyco (best known for their model trains and slot racers.)   

It even had a toll-free number kids could call and "talk" to Garfield.

And the phone was successful in America, from the numbers of them seen in thrift shops and on eBay.

But they aren't so popular in Iroise, Brittany on the French coast. Because since the 1980s, Garfield phones and parts have been washing up on the beaches of France and for many years, locals didn't know from where until a missing shipping container was found, completely loaded with unpackaged Garfield phones. But since the container is in a sea cave, it's extremely dangerous to access. So it's presumed Garfield phones will keep washing up for many more decades, possibly centuries as the plastic they are made of does not degrade very easily in the elements.

Dick Tracy Wrist Radio (1947)

The Dick Tracy Wrist Radio was a crystal radio, powered by nothing by AM radio waves, an aerial and grounding wire connected to a grounded piece of metal (like a radiator pipe.) And a kid's imagination.

You could even talk to a friend with the radio by connecting the aerial wires to your friend's Dick Tracy wrist radio. And it worked primarily because you were in actual speaking distance from your friend.

It wasn't very loud. In fact, it was hardly audible and you had to have your ear right against it to hear it. And even then, it only picked up the strongest local AM radio broadcast signals (in spite of this ad copy hype, crystal radios have no superheterodyne tuning, which made AM radio signals squeal, distort and drift.)

$3.98 sounds like a average price for a disposable piece of junk (unless you were a hardcore Dick Tracy fan. And how dare I call it 'junk'.) But bear in mind $3.98 in 1947 had the same purchasing power as $48.21 in 2021. To put into perspective, most parents had better things to do with that kind of money. Besides, they knew you could put together an even better working crystal radio for much, much less than that and even from parts already around the house (many built radios for themselves and their families in the Depression, as many kids did since money for new radios was so scarce, it was cheaper for mom and dad to just learn the science and do it themselves.)

A battery powered transistorized version later came on the market in 1958 (hopefully better working.)

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