Show B I 1 M yie e jo m i n 57 naga toy bl fer sr 0 S santa anta claua assistants un D by LOUISE M COMSTOCK was when the job of santa clausing was ft as a snap nap twelve months supervising the jolliest joll jol lest liest of elves in the manufacture of a standardized line of toys tos and then a romantic evening whirling a picturesque whip over willing uon don ner and britzen BI 1311 Itzen visiting friendly cot sl with wide welcoming chimneys and capacious fireplaces stu stuffing fling sturdy hand linit stockings with wooden dolls rubber balls and sugar plums to fill in toe heel and extra cor corners 11 e r s A mere nothing in those g golden old e n da das 5 s even the responsibility of distinguishing gui shing between the neatly darned sock of good brother den ben and the ragged one of that rascally wlllie very few little hois boys but were good anil and deserving of sugar plums and easily pleased when father N was ns a boy I 1 but changing times ushering in steam heat kitchenettes with only two windows on a courtyard and a ventilator on the corridor to accommodate the rotund saint chiffon anse lose and a universal hersal un slavery to tile the great god style have put santa in tile the big business executive lass class today toda we make him annually responsible for designing constructing and distributing sonie some worth woith of toys toss all with a nice its crimination between the good and the poor a careful consideration for childish tastes and correct application of chin gln styles stiles childrens playthings always imitating the possessions eess lons and tools of their elders have hae thus naturally from the very earliest times followed closely upon man kinds changing whims and fancies the dolls unearthed in egyptian tombs are made of wood and sometimes have love movable arms and legs but they nil all show that stiffness and L emphasis mp hasis upon the profile view characteristic of egyptian art harly early african dolls without heads head were given to children of the mohammedan faith for their religion forbade the reproduction of the human features among the toys tois of early persian children we are not surprised to find many animals tigers with movable heads crocodiles whose lower jaws work up and down lions of limestone on wooden wagons for the he owner to pull about or a carved hedgehog on wheels roman children played placed with two wheeled carts like the char chariots lots in which their public heroes raced toys loss during the middle ages if we tire to judge from the few preserved for foi us included knights mounted on horses modeled in clay aln and slender ladles indies of terra otta cotta modeled in the elaborate costumes of the lie period painted in gold and brightest lines hues it Is the mechanical toy to perhaps poi haps which shows most emphatically tho the influence of present day tendencies on oil childrens lill diens playthings pla bilings from I 1 rom the tiniest tin automobile that winds up and darts f furiously a few fen feet across the floor to the 1000 mechanical wonder which succeeds ill uy means of springs and electricity to slin simulate exactly a real cat or a whole circus parade in action the purchase usually usual so toy toj dealers tell us of rich grandparents and uncles who wish to wind up the cat and watch tile circus thein themselves selves these toys tos employ every invention indention or of modern science and they keep pace also with cm current lent intel interests eats toy counters coun teis today are crowded with miniature motion picture cameras and projectors some borne of them capable of carrying GOO feet of film and all of them so they are advertised easily managed by a twelve year ear old A few eamons hearons ea sons ngo ago when a transatlantic flight was still novel enough to commend a streamer headline in nil the newspapers tile the mechanical airplane was in high demand and toy golf equipment or indoor golf giries games dominated in the toy store nt at the same time that miniature golf greens began appearing in every vacant lot toda day mechanical racing automobiles and toy zep belins are supplanting the all airplane plane in popularity and automobile or horse racing ganies and football are crowding out golf in indoor games carry car trucks with a detachable trailer capable of transporting four small models and delivery deliver wagons wagon stocked with popular trade marked wares keep tills this type of toy up to date while alle real mothers must be content with babies upon whom current styles stiles in curly or straight hair blue eyes ees or brown have tio no influx ence one to ten year old mothers can be ba much more particular port kulir cular for styles stales in dolls year early it seems in grandmothers day oil nil dolls were viere quite grown up the youngest of them being prim oung ladies in fit panta lettes and artificial curls the babydoll baby bab doll simulating a real baby Is a comparative para tive newcomer new comei and even it his has suffered periods of more and less popularity with changing juvenile tastes in 1929 loo 0 tile the flaxen flaton haired beauty with the baby face languished unwanted on the toy to counter while the happer flapper loll doll with dark bombed bobbed liili natty clothes clot lies and a complexion mods lily suntanned sun tanned found a happy home this year thanks to the empress Im eugence eu anie or I 1 v voin ihn i hn revived in us ft taste 0 aa for things old fashioned and sweetly feminine curls dimples long lashes and frilly wardrobes wardi obes are ni e in again and biby baby dolls I 1 little daughter has apparently glen given up dreams di earns of a career and requests of santa claus clans for foi this christmas nothing more modern than a doll flolly s house to keep in order and a realistic baby doll to be loved and nursed and dressed and redressed her dreams di earns of miniature domesticity me are also it seems more elaborate and thoroughgoing thorough thoi ough going than those of grandmother to hom the doll itself was ft as all sufficient they include a ready lead made wardrobe for what up to date little girl Is going to slave over oer a toy to sewing seeing machine even an electric one or prick her fingers with a grownup grown up needle ft what hat alth N ith the grand giand styles and the bargain prices of read to wear near dolls clothes and they the include also electric ranges that really cook carpet sweepers or better yet et vacuum cleaners that really clean A very ery different type of doll but one also indicating the influence of current tastes even on childrens toys Is the caricature doll stuffed and painted to represent characters already familiar through the talking pictures popular juvenile books or widely read comic strips and COMING A kris km kringle is coming coining X kris kringle 1 is coming B k kris kringle kengle is is coming coining to towal town I 1 he fie wears wean a big pack 1 l i 0 on the tp top of hn his back bach ill and wk cooki like a funny old clown clon K ir vi V now wait A ait just a minutes minute ja ill tell hat I 1 is in it f then wont your our eyes sparkle nith ith joyl i I 1 there s something with mith curls k ill for I 1 or good little airl il K j and something thi thing as a nice nice for or each boy M W X there are fla dili dollied I 1 and all 1 1 torn of alie follies ik T to ide pleast e little folks day t there are arc gay horses prancing ff and daudy jacks dancing 1 1 I and everything fitted for or play y N from arl kengle t chin f iIla hangs tig a plenty of ti tin jj j tin and and drums 1 noah t ark k painted red ij sl ki A little dolls led bd and soldiers with very big drums f jj iff V from out ol of his pockets j hell take sugar locket K and candies all red white hite and blue ay iy JO and there will be kisses for nice nice little muses misses 1 I y and sweetmeats sweet meats in in plenty tor for you ik ff aunt clara in in the nursery january ISTO 41 y A rw f rv raj iv sunday supplement funnies mickey mouse a foot high and true to the orl dinal to the last whisker may not inspire a young loung owner onner with spasms of mother love loe but who would refuse a celebrated movie star warm welcome vel coine into the doll family circle thus mickey mouse blouse and arazy kat auli and the rollicking bimbo as well as the entire aesoph fables gang done up neatly in black velvet elet and nine members of our gang modeled in bisque and waiting for their owner to paint them as they should be painted are important newcomers in the doll world orphan annie anil skeels and smithy tire are among a number of comic strip celebrities reproduced as dolls dolla tills this year rose hose ON oneille eills kerpies Kel New pies ples done up in flesh pink plush nuke make a cuddly cont coin pinion for babes crib and from juvenile literature have been borrowed A A milnes funny little bear minnie the pooh featured in a number of toys tos this year ipar and the whole raggedy family from raggedy ann down don ask anybody who has outgrown childhood just which toy lie he remembers with alth the greatest satisfaction and you ou will find nine cases out of ten hat aliat it was vas something very simple a set of the TbT blocks a rag doll or even something which he mittle made himself out of spools or tin cans the real pleasure afforded hy by this type of toy persists in spite of mechanical wonders and layettes lay ettes in which everything from nursing bottle to safety pins Is provided psychologists however have brought it up to date and now present us with the term activity toys and point out anew the eternal value of the plaything which makes the child the actor rather than the spectator which demands youthful ingenuity calls forth infant imagination exercises childish brains and muscle thus we find always in style all outdoor games g a mes and playthings from the good old bat 1 and nil ball to a mechanical seesaw see saw so constructed that alint it takes only one child to operate it and teeter deliciously up and down without the peril of a sudden bump when the partner at the other end dis embarks thus also the permanent appeal of tool boxes paints and blocks of clean paper pencil boxes modeling clay building blocks or any of the elaborate construction outfits by which the youthful engineer may build bridges and skyscrapers to his hearts content and thus the demand predicted this christmas for cowboy boots or toy revolvers in a holster on a wide belt by which the small boy Is suddenly metamorphosed worp hosed sed front from the terror of the fifth grade to a hero herci of the western plains modern child psychologists have also added impetus this year to the sale of toys classed as educational instruction cloaked as amusement like a sugar coated pill may now be pleasantly administered in any number of playthings when the instruction Is for the very young the educator moreover prescribed toys that are durable under normal handling and above all absolutely hygienic no more fragile dolls which the lusty infant will more than likely crush with its first ecstatic hug no more blocks from which the bright blight colors may be sucked by any agress agres lve sIve baby or metal toys with sharp corners or cutting edges there Is of course some educational advantage in giving a delicate piece of mechanism to nn an older child especially if care be taken to impress upon him its proper care and use for the child whose tastes are already sufficiently developed de eloped to be evident the christmas shopper may choose from cutout cut out puzzles composed of hundreds of fascinating colored blocks cut out with a jigsaw jig saw which one labors labor s to fit together and lo 10 Is rewarded by a lovely map or a famous masterpiece of pain painting there are sets of chemicals done up in small vials and boxes bows with directions for combining them to produce some of our commonest chemical phenomena and construction sets by which the boy bov Is taught the principles of the cantilever bridge or of modern step back architecture and electric transformers which urge their possessor to make his own electric toys games whether heftier they profess ns as many of the newer games do to be of educational value or merely claim to amuse all nevertheless have a certain tendency to quicken the mind and eye to train the muscles in automatic response moreover games have this year ear attained attain e d a certain definite d finite style appeal through tigh the present e popularity of adult games the fact that grown grownups ups are playing placing them has this year lent new attraction to many of the simplest of childrens games and made game playing in itself drabs a sophisticated h and interesting thing to do just ft when hen and why the current rage for adult games commenced nobody seems to know some says it Is the result of the vast interest people as is a whole take today in outdoor sports ft when hen the baseball and football season Is over and it Is impossible to take the weekly workout work out at golf or tennis what more natural than that people should resort to their own indoor games in their own homes perhaps officials of the large steamship companies who have popularized their cruises by filling in the long days of water water everywhere with deck tennis shuffle board and table games in the smoking rooms are responsible at any rate last winter people in search of amusement broke away from standard auction bridge through contract backgammon became n dangerous rival and first thing we know pool tables appeared in the basement tennis tables in the attic guests were nere given their choice between bridge and club par pare chesl llesi and the larger department and sporting goods stores installed nourishing flourishing adult game sections this consequently will be a christmas of many games children and elders alike will drag out such old time favorites as flinch and authors or amuse themselves with the familiar electric questioner they will familiarize them selves with famous events in history by a new game based on tile the history of mankind of van loon tin and go into convulsion excellent to offset a heavy christmas dinner over an imported game called sorry g by western newspaper paper union |