GLIDER PACKETS

My brother still has an unopened packet with one of these self assembly planes inside.

So although it's not the same Air Base brand as in the previous advert, the paper packaging idea is exactly the same, so thought I'd post it up just to help you conjure up the image of it a bit better.

SUMMERTIME TOYS IN THE 60'S

These outdoor toys were the kind of thing you'd treat yourself to during the 7 weekies rather than add to your Christmas list.

The top Air Base ad is from 1969 and is for 2 styles of aircraft - a glider and a propeller based plane.

I can remember these. They were sold in newsagents as well as toy shops and came in long paper packets. You just assembled them yourself with the plane parts interlocking together. They worked really well too.
However, because they were made out of balsa wood, and what with boys being boys, they didn't have a very long life. The good thing was though, that once one was smashed, you'd just go buy another one because they were pretty cheap.

The Jetex ad is from 1966 and is for 2 different products - the Jet Car and the Hydroplane.

These were proper toys (not like the previous disposable type) with solid bodies and motors.

I didn't have these particular models but I have a hazy memory of other boys mucking about with fast modern vehicles, so they may very well have been these Jetex ones.

Perfect summer fun for primary aged kids.

MORE GIFTS FOR KIDS - 60'S & 70'S

Other ways kids got stuff for free, or on the cheap, were as shown in the examples above where you could - join a club, try competitions or collect wrappers.

The top Arrow Bar ad is dated 1968 and offers kids the chance to join the Arrow Bargain Club. If you did you got a membership card, badge and a book of bargains. Any of the goodies you sent away for out of the bargain book were sold at discount prices. So for instance they had things like roller skates, cowboy outfits, cameras and so on, with the ad emphasising a transistor radio, which is probably what I would have opted for.

Arrow Bars themselves were bars of toffee in different flavours.

The Love Hearts ad is also from 1968 and they came up with a competition as a way to entice kids to get hold of a Kodak Instamatic camera or a trannie. Pretty easy competition really - all you needed to do was figure out what their jumbled up slogans said. After that it was just a matter of sending your answer in, along with a winning slogan of your own, then cross your fingers and hope for the best.

The last example is the Super Mousse ad from 1972.

They were giving away free Apollo Mission sticker badges. Each badge referred to a different flight number and so all that was required was for you to collect 2 wrappers that had the same number printed on them, send them off and await your badge in return.

To collect the entire set of badges, meant, of course, that you had to chomp your way through an awful lot of chocolate bars!

Click on the ads to enlarge if you want to read the small details.

FREE GIFTS FOR KIDS - 60'S & 70'S

Youngsters do like to get their grubby mitts on free stuff.

Here's how us school kids got some of ours back in the 60's & 70's - as gifts in comics.

I'm sure you'll remember some of the ones shown above.

The Super Skimmer and the Wiz Whizz were the same thing, only different names, but they were plastic rotor blade wheels that used either lollipop sticks or elastic bands to get them spinning off into the air.

Toys that made noises were popular.

The Red Racketty was on a length of line and spun around over your head, the toy emitting a rasping buzzing noise in the process.

Thunder Bangs were great - just a swift downwards swipe to set off the loud bang.

I remember we made Thunder Bangs as part of crafts in Primary.

Then there was the Pop Gun of course, with its plastic plug to get the popping noise.

Balloons were also used for their sounds, coming in all shapes & sizes & names, fitted with plastic valves that made the balloons rasp when let fly around in the air.

As well as the Beezers Flying Fizzer above, the Beano also had the Flying Snorter and the Screamin' Demon.

There were whistles too - the Whoopee Whistle and the Happy Howler that made siren noises.

An annoying one was a toy called the Clicketty Clicker which was a hollow metal object with the image of Dennis The Menace on it, and when pressed in & out, made the clicking sound. Not a fave with parents!

The Whizzer & Chips was already 2 comics for the price of 1, but they also gave away free stuff, the one above being for a Flick Book.

Again, we used to do our own versions of flick books by drawing wee animations on the corners of our jotters.

Many of the gifts that were specifically for girls were adornment based items, while the boys were catered for in other comics with football related freebies.

So there's just a small selection of stuff we got for free when we were kids, generating lots of mucking about in the playground and at home.

CATHIE McCABE'S ARCADE POD - 70'S

Looking like a set out of "2001 A Space Odyssey" and using the Countdown typeface, you might expect this shop to be a hip, ultra modern retail outlet where the young trendy youth hung out, but no, quite the opposite, it was a family friendly place selling a strange mix of toys and rather mundane records.

This is Cathie McCabe's Record Shop at the Arcade in Shore Terrace - picture taken in the early 70's.

The shelving racks were interlocking octagons, a theme that also crops up on their ad, dated 1974 and their carrier bag underneath it.

If you zoom into the photo you'll find a combination of easy listening 8-track cartridges, a few toys scattered around, electrical goods and of course, vinyl records.

Here's the albums I've spotted in the picture -

Klaus Wunderlich - "Around The World".

The Alexander Brothers - "Let's Have A Ceilidh".

Bee Gees - "Best Of".

Various - "Total Sound".

Paul & Linda McCartney - "Ram".

Soundtrack - "Love Story".

And one of those stereo sound samplers called "Impact".

Doesn't really set the pulse racing!

The other item above is from the small ads in the Tele dated January 1972 and you can see for yourself the products they had on offer down at the pod.

In 1974, Cathie McCabe also had shops in Reform Street and Lorne Street Market.

Photo by DC Thomson.

LOCAL GOLFING YOUNGSTERS

The top photo was taken in the early/mid 80's and has a bunch of youngsters trying out their golfing skills somewhere in Dundee. I'm not too sure which course it is they are on, Camperdown pitch & putt possibly. Anyway, if anyone can say for certain where the scene is taking place, or even recognise someone, feel free to pass on your knowledge.

The one below it I can definitely nail because that sporty looking chap is me! Yes that's yours truly in 1969 aged 11 playing on our championship course in our back garden. We turned the entire length of our lawn into a mini golf course, a 6 holer stretching from the side of the house, through the washing green and all the way down to the plot at the bottom lawn. It was mostly used for putting. One of the holes was located in front of a greenie pole which was like a giant flag pole and that allowed you to get great rebound shots!

For pitch & putt, some of the hazards were - the ball rolling under the shed, getting snagged in the hedge, rolling down the rockery onto the pathy slabs (out of bounds) or ending up in the plot amongst the rhubarb.

For real golf swing work-outs with a driver, being surrounded by housing, we had to use a plastic practise ball for obvious reasons. However, the inevitable happened one day when our mate had a go and gave one a full wallop, but he made the mistake of ignoring the guidelines and used a real golf ball - then it was CRASH..tinkle, tinkle - straight through the kitchen window!

Needless to say, golf was banned on our course for a short while afterwards.
That said, I didn't take up the sport at all - I've never set foot on any golf course!

The other image next to me is a toy my wee brother got for xmas, early 70's - Arnold Palmer's Pro Shot Golf. This was a great invention that had a miniature golfer on the end of a club handle, which, when you pulled a trigger mechanism, made the player swing and hit the ball. It came with various items such as sand traps, putting green, score cards and a set of clubs. Great fun.

By the way, the image of me and the toy box are not to scale..!!

MECCANO ADS - 1966

These two ads from 1966 reminded me that I wasn't very keen on Meccano.

We had a big box of it at home in the 60's too which belonged to my brother, but I never felt the urge to have a go at it.

This was the era of slick E-Type Jags and space rockets, but to me Meccano just seemed to be stuck in an age of old steam tractors.

There was also an element of Frankensteins hideous monster creations about the concept that was a bit off-putting. Why would you want to make your own ugly sub-standard vehicle when you could get a stunning Corgi ready-made?!

This aversion to it however is more a fault with me than the toy I suspect because I also didn't take to Metalwork at school, and the only time I've ever been sent to the back of the classroom by a teacher because I showed no interest in a subject, was for Applied Mechanics!

Meccano - nah, sorry, not for me.

Click onto the ads and enlarge to read the wee bits.

DINKY v CORGI - 1960'S

See if I was forced into a darkened room when I was a kid, then tied to a chair and had electrodes clamped to my ears by some assertive market researcher who, while turning the current up higher & higher, asked me if I preferred Dinky or Corgi cars to play with?

I think I'd choose Corgi.

I suppose size-wise you got more car for your money with Dinky but I reckon the quality of finish on a Corgi was just a touch more superior.

Having said that, I sometimes had problems with Corgi's rubber tyres slipping off the wheels when cornering. Dinky, who had a harder rubber compound would tend to stay on when put through similar rigorous tests!

Notice the car from "Joe 90"? Well some of the "celeb" cars I had in my collection in the 60's were - James Bond's (bullet proof screen & ejector seat) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which I hung "flying" from the ceiling) - FAB 1 from Thunderbirds - The Green Hornet limo, and a couple of others.

One I always wanted but never got, was the Batmobile. Possibly the best of the 60's cars, but unfortunately for me, proved too elusive!

Top ad is 1966.

Mid ad is 1969.

Bottom ad is 1969.

Click on the ads to read the larger versions.

SUBBUTEO ACCESSORIES - 1972-73

Some amusing accessories were available in the early 70's to customise your Subbuteo pitch layout. Photographers, ambulancemen, police, TV crew, fans, in fact just about everything you can think of - apart from a streaker!

I had to scan the page in 2 sections, so poor old Ken Baily is split up the middle!

DOLL PRICES IN 1973

From the same Sunday Post as yesterdays books advert comes this price comparison test featuring 4 of the top selling dolls of 1973.
The dollies involved were - TRING A LING TRUDY - ACTION GIRL - WANDA - BUSY MISSY.
The 3 Dundee shops on trial were Cairds, Arnotts and Boots, with Boots offering the cheapest prices and Cairds being the expensive store to avoid!
Click image to enlarge.

FAVOURITE 60'S TOY - SPIRO-MATIC

Probably my favourite toy from the 60's was the Spiro-matic, a psychedelic art machine for kids. I got one for Christmas the year they first came out in 1969 and made many a masterpiece on it!!
I actually have the original toy (that's mine above) and it is still in perfect working order with all the bits & pieces that came with it.
Much to my amazement, however, when I was looking to see how much info there was on the net about the toy, I could hardly find any references to it, and absolutely no images. So, because I thought there ought to be some kind of source on it readily available on the net, I decided to start my own wee blog dedicated to it a few weeks ago, called SPIRO-MATIC GALLERY. That has lots of images of the toy itself as well as examples of the artwork.
Some of you may know that in recent years, Spiro-matic artwork inspired Damien Hirst and David Bowie to do large scale versions of the idea. They were called spin paintings and I ventured along to the Saatchi Gallery in London a few years ago to see the Hirst display. Huge they were and they did bring a big smile to my face, especially with the thought that I was dabbling in this form of art way before Damien!
Anyway, if anyone is interested in viewing some original 60's efforts, here is the link http://spiromatic.blogspot.com/

THE TOY SHOP - WHITEHALL CRESCENT

I'm not sure how long The Toy Shop was at this spot in Whitehall Crescent, but I do have a photo of it there in the 1940's and the above picture was taken in 1982, so it had been on the go for around 4 decades at least.
The decade that was of interest to me though as a primary school kid, was the 60's, the age of Scalectrix, Lego, Action Man and a whole heap of other classics. Having said that, because we usually got our major toys at Christmas, my only visit to The Toy Shop, apart from window shopping, would be to get small items like a Corgi car or suchlike. I do remember getting a Gyroscope from there. Once you got one of them spinning, you could get it to balance on anything. It was like having magic powers!!
Photo by DC Thomson.

ACTION TRANSFERS ADVERT - 1969

These were good fun. You used to be able to get Action Transfers from city centre shops like John Menzies and RS McColls. The packs came with a sheet of transfers and a gatefold card that opened up into a large landscape. There was a variety to choose from - battlefields, under water, sports, outer space and so on. The fun was being able to place the transfer images anywhere you fancied onto the backdrop, usually accompanied by, as kids do, doing all the sound effect noises along the way, guns, explosions, engines etc..!!
This ad is from 1969 and that's the era I'm familiar with, late 60's/early 70's, but later in the 70's they introduced Star Wars and probably a few other new ones, to the set.
Click the image to read the large version.

BUBBLES, WINDMILLS AND SPARKLERS

A variety of things on sticks can keep young kids entertained for ages.

A matter of simple but effective.

This is me (yes it's GG) playing aroond the backies in Craigie in the 60's.

I put it on view not because of me but because of the bubbles container. Notice, no product packaging, no logos, no manufacturing details, and yet that's how they were sold in shops. Just the plain tin with the stick inside. As basic as that.

Windmills too were as basic as it gets. A wooden stick with 4 plastic petal-like blades. The fun was derived running around pretending to be an aeroplane or attaching one to your bike. Then at the end of the day when you were puggled, you would plant it in the garden and pretend it was a flower!

Sparklers, however, well they were more of a luxury stick! Only allowed to indulge one week a year!!

I couldn't resist animating the photo (see below).
A circular breathing technique was needed to do this!

 

 

VISITING SANTA'S GROTTO IN THE 60'S

I remember being taken along to Santa's Grotto in department stores like D.M Browns, Draffens & G.L Wilsons (photo above) as a wee lad in the 60's.
The one thing about it I can recall most is that us primary kids applied a bit of know-how to the situation.
Santa's sacks of gifts were seperated into different age groups. Something like Under 5's, 5 to 7's and 8 to 10's. We noticed the pressies were bigger & better the higher the age group. So when it was time to chat to Santa, instead of telling him our correct age, 7 for example, we'd say we were 8, and he'd take something out from the appropriate sack!
Well it was the difference between getting a water pistol or a Luger with a silencer!
Photo by Dundee University.Tints by GG.

KIDS TRANSFERS IN THE 60'S

Another quirky little item I can remember from 60's childhood is transfers. I don't recall ever buying them from shops, they just seemed to be items I got "free". I got them out of comics and from the rag man who used to drive his van around Dundee's housing schemes for jumble. There were usually around 10 transfers on a sheet of paper and what you did was, cut out one of the images, wet your arm or back of hand (usually by licking), place the transfer onto the wet patch, hold into position for about a minute then peel off the back paper to reveal the image on your body like a tattoo. They were usually pictures of rockets, birds of prey, sportsmen and soldiers. The transfer above is an original unused one from the 60's which was too precious to waste my saliva on!

SHERRIFF'S - VICTORIA ROAD - 1960'S/70'S

Brian Sherriff's shop at 93 Victoria Road was THE place to go to get Airfix models and radio control cars. Just looking in the shop window was fun, seeing all the ships, planes and vehicles. It had everything you needed for model making, the kits, spare parts, wee pots of paint and transfers. It's heyday was the 60's when it was as popular with dads as it was with kids.
The above picture was taken in the mid 70's when it closed down to make way for new development on the site. The wee side street with the big incline is Idvies Street.

60's CLACKERS

One of the most popular fads of the 60's, were Clackers. They took Dundee, and the rest of UK by storm. There was probably no street or playground where you couldn't hear the CLACK,CLACK,CLACK blasting out back then. The noise annoyed adults so much that they invented a story about them being dangerous and banned them.
Here, below, is some outlawed footage of the treacherous toy in action!!

ROLL OF CAPS

Popular around the school playgrounds of Dundee in the sixties were "Caps", sometimes called keps. These were sold in rolls (as above) or bought as boxes of individual caps. Caps were used mostly in toy guns to make them go BANG!... but because they were cheap, they were used a lot at school without the need of a gun. One technique was to rip off a strip of about a dozen, place it on the ground and drag your foot across it to trigger a machine gun effect. We also used our thumb nails and stones to get them to explode!