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.)

Portable And Car Audio Demonstration Cassettes

In the early days of portable cassette machines, late 1960s and early 1970s cassette decks often came with demonstration tapes. These were mostly public domain songs, such as "Little Brown Jug" and "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" or specially composed material, often with the second side blank for the customer or purchaser to test the recorder with. But several manufacturers from National/Panasonic, Sanyo and Sony made these cassettes.

Listen here

Below is a later '70s version, featuring a disco rendition of Mozart's 40th Symphony.

Listen here

Most Sanyo as well as other makes of portables had cheap top control mechanisms, which required the cassette to be loaded upside down. So Sanyo issued their '70s demonstration cassettes with upside down labels, a practice rarely used outside of children's tapes (the Fisher Price, Superscope Storyteller and Teddy Ruxpin cassettes all had upside down labels.)

Listen here

Listen here All images above: Internet Archive

By the 1980s, the focus shifted from '60s J-Pop renditions of "Red River Valley" to exciting ambient stereo sound with personal cassette players like the Sony Walkman.



As the 1980s rolled on, fewer electronics manufacturers were including demonstration cassettes with their portable decks. But there was one sector of the electronics market that not only embraced the demonstration cassette, but almost made it a science; The car stereo sector.

The GM Delco/Bose car audio systems were especially ambitious. They were the gold standard of 1980s car audio and their demonstration cassettes often came on premium normal or chrome tape. The music selections were varied, but mostly non-rock.

These auto demonstration cassettes were also made by Ford for their car stereos. The heyday of the car stereo demonstration cassette ended as CDs had began to become the audiophile standard and the last car stereo demonstration cassettes were made in the 1990s.

1992 Chrysler Audio System. Image:: eBay

Kenner Kiddie Fondue

I know I've been a little late on the posts again. But I've been working on one that'll be worth the wait. (I hope.)

Maybe you got this for Christmas in 1974. It seemed to be pretty popular. But not much has ever been mentioned on it.

Kenner Kiddie Fondue was an insulated plastic pot with fondue made with special packages of artificially flavoured melting chocolate inside a three compartment tray and heated by hot water in the red pot. Kids can then dip the mini-marshmallows in it and it was all fun and as close as they could get to those Saturday evening parties their parents would have when they would all smoke funny cigarettes with their friends in the living room around the real fondue pot.

This was made by Kenner when it was owned by General Mills. They were seeing some kind of synergy between both sides of their food/toy portfolio. (The Easy Bake Oven was another Kenner product.)

It came in chocolate, vanilla and cherry flavoured chips, which you poured into a three compartment tray.

Also see: Pizza Hut Electric Baking Oven.

K-Tel's Krazy Katch

Red Goose Shoes

Ipso

Ipso was an Irish made breath mint that was popular in the UK in the 1970s and '80s and was briefly sold in the US. They came in Peppermint, Orange, Lime and Raspberry flavours. Spearmint and Cinnamon replaced Lime and Raspberry in the US.

They were most famous for their Lego-like boxes, which you could collect and stack. However, they had a very special use for drug users, who used them as stash boxes, leading to many American schools banning them. But overall, they never sold well in America and disappeared from US shelves by 1981. They lasted until the late 1980s in the UK.

They never had a large advertising presence in the US, but in the UK, they were noted for this classic TV ad.

Vintage 1930 Pre-Filled Mesh Christmas Stocking

 

1950's Spear Phonograph

Spear child's phonograph from the 1950s. These were very common phonographs. As I've mentioned before, this was at the time when the "grown-ups" began switching over to the new 33 and 45 RPM speeds. And most childrens records were still pressed at 78 rpm.

The Spear was interesting in while the turntable itself was electrically powered, the sound itself was acoustically reproduced with no amplification!
It didn't sound too bad either. But the very LAST thing I would play on this is a very rare 5" Little Wonder record from the 1910s as shown here...

Digger The Dog

I will never forget the reactions of other (real) dogs when they saw some kid playing with this (ranging from snarling to outright bewilderment....)

1953 Mattel Tin Musical Wind-Up Easter Egg