COLLECTORS

MONA LISA

Mona lives back East with her Husband Bob, and has been collecting for a little over 8 years (She says "hard to believe I could collect this much stuff, isn’t it???")   Her large basement is divided into sections, starting with her earliest memories:   A local kid's show call Luci's Toy Shop, Captain Kangaroo (Kukla Fran & Ollie, although she doesn't remember much about the show), Shari Lewis, Mr. Magoo etc;   She has a section for toys, not associated with a show or theme (mattel, remco, ideal, etc);    She has a doll section (Playpals, Chatty Cathys, almost all mattel talking dolls from the 60s (several mint in box);   a book section with her old school desk (scholastic books, Dick & Jane, Winky Dink, Coloring Books, GE Show & Tell);   a baking section (easy bake oven, baking mixes), Halloween and Christmas sections;   And of course her games, which are her biggest weakness.  None of these items are from her childhood... They've all been purchased since she's been collecting.    She has "something" of "everything", from Vintage advertising to complete cartoon series.    As she says, "My husband got me started on this crazy habit and now I can't stop".

She's got some great games here, including Ideal's GODZILLA and KING KONG, and a rare BORIS KARLOFF'S MONSTER GAME.   She has my favorites, like VOICE OF THE MUMMY, TIGER ISLAND, SWACK!, BASH, WHICH WITCH? and HAUNTED HOUSE.   Check out the cartoon character games, like ATOM ANT, THE JETSONS, RUFF N REDDY, MAGILLA GORILLA and the very rare TWINKLES.

"I spent a lot of time by myself as a child, so I had plenty of time to practice playing BASH.   No one in the neighborhood could beat me. To this day my husband will not play this game with me.   Usually on my first turn, I knock off no less than 3 disks and it is all over after that.   I can’t believe Bob is such a sore loser!"

Check out the TENNESSE TUXEDO game, along with multiple copies of KING LEONARDO.  And how about 2 versions of the Talking Herman Munster doll, one full body, and one a puppet.   That MUNSTERS DRAG RACE GAME is one of the hardest games to find!

"Bob and I watch very little current TV.   I have about 30 complete series of shows from the 50s/60s.   We've created our own personal "TV Guide", so we know what we are watching each night.   Donna Reed / Ozzie & Harriett / My Three Sons / Hazel / Wagon Train etc...   you get the idea.   I also have most of the 1960s cartoons (complete series).   Some Saturdays I will grab a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and watch cartoons until about Noon.   Just like the old days..."

I have a feeling she likes MR. MAGOO...   Neat, rare Standard Toykraft MR. MAGOO game as well as the rarish MR. MAGOO GOES TO THE ZOO by Lowell.    Check out the Sparkle Paints and the unused Mr. Magoo sticker display, and Mr. Magoo as Uncle Sam Halloween costume..."Mrs. Beasley is one of my favorite dolls...   She is special because she is the last doll that Santa brought to me.   My motto on believing in Santa is, and will always be...   If I believe and there is NO Santa, no harm done...   If I don’t believe and there IS a Santa, I’m in big trouble."

Some really rare stuff here, like the battery-operated MONKEE MOBILE, MONKEES TALKING FINGER-PUPPET, and an obscure Monkee's album, CHANGES (made when Mickey Dolenz and Davey Jones were the only ones left in the band!)...   How about the WITCHIPOO doll and Costume?

"I remember Christmas of 1966 I wanted the Kenner Easy Bake Oven more than anything.   After receiving all of my presents from Santa and my mother at home, I was so sad that I had not received this toy.   My mother explained to me that she just couldn’t find one, they were all sold out.   We always went to my oldest sister’s house in the afternoon on Christmas Day (she is almost like my second mother because she is 14 years older than me) and after all the presents were open, (still no oven), I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself when my sister told me 'See that present still remaining, way under the tree...?   'Why didn't I crawl under the tree and get it for her?'   You guessed it...   when I did, it had my name on it and it was my oven.   I have the picture from 1966 of me opening my oven, next to my easy bake oven display."

"The toy that started me collecting was CHATTY CATHY, Brown Hair / Brown Eyed (most important).   I remember one Christmas season my Mother was wrapping gifts for my dads children from his first marriage.    Me being the good little helper had to see the beautiful Blonde Hair / Blue Eyed Chatty Baby that she had purchased for Carolyne who just happened to have blonde hair and blue eyes.    When my Mother saw the look of want in my eyes she reminded me that Santa had not yet arrived and that even if I thought I wanted this Chatty Baby, she was not the doll for me because of her blonde Hair and blue eyes.    My Mother was very careful to always try to give me a doll that had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match me, which would prove I was their mother, if you know what I mean...    On Christmas Morning I received a brown hair / brown eyed Chatty Cathy from Santa in her peppermint outfit.    This is the very doll that Bob gave me almost 40 years later that got me started collecting toys."

"Another of my favorite toys was CURLY TOP PATTI PLAYPAL.   I received my Patti Playpal right around my 4th birthday.   This was a time in my life when I was not such a good little girl and I repeated everything I heard, I guess I especially liked the nasty words that good little girls don’t say.    Anyway, when I woke up on Christmas Morning, my Patti was sitting at the table and chairs with a hobnail milk glass tea set (just like I display today) but Patti was wearing a little red devil suit with a note from Santa telling my he knew all about my expanded vocabulary, and that if I wanted him to visit next year I had better change my language or I could expect coal.   Obviously at that age I couldn’t read the note but that is the story I was told on Christmas Morning and that is the story my Mother repeated throughout the year, when needed".

"Another favorite toy is LITTLE MISS ECHO by American Character, a doll with a built-in recording device so you could record phrases and have her speak them back to you.   Little Miss Echo was a great invention that suited my purposes just fine, or at least I thought she did.   My older sister Karen was always picking on me, or so it seemed, and at times if a child could hate their sister, I suppose I did.   It was also during the period when I was saying things a sweet little girl should not say.   Anyway, I recorded on my Little Miss Echo “Karen is a _ _ _ _ _”...    called Karen into the kitchen, hit the 'play' button on the doll, and hid behind the kitchen door.   Needless to say, she found me, she pounded me, my doll was taken away from me for a long time, and I can’t remember the next time I recorded a message on my doll.   Today, just for fun and for old times sake, the same message is recorded on my Little Miss Echos (both of them).    Now when I hit the play button we have a good laugh!"

"We have a 15 Foot Christmas tree with about 4500 vintage ornaments (nothing newer than the 60s).   I have almost all of the Telco X-Mas figures from the 80s/90s in their original boxes that are original to me...   (Unlike the electric Telco Halloween Figures which I had to repurchase $$$$$$$!).   We decorate the entire house for Christmas, and at last count I think we had 8 trees...   Speaking of Christmas, another of my favorite toys is the DELUXE READING BEAUTY PARLOR DOLL.   But more important than the doll and her accessories is my memories of her box.   I woke up on Christmas morning and Santa had displayed my doll & accessories very nicely with her box just behind her.    The box was moving and was making noises.   Inside of the box was my first puppy, Tiny.   I had Tiny for 17 years!"

"Vintage Halloween is probably a category that I will always buy if I find something I don’t have but think I need (regardless of whether I do or not).   As a child I always loved Halloween and everything that represented Halloween.   I loved being scared to death trick or treating and I loved the glow of the pumpkins and candles.   I remember each Fall at the corner store filled with penny candy...   the wax lips, teeth, fingernails and most important, the Wowee Wax Whistles.   Today I have many of these original whistles, several still sealed.    What memories!   We decorate the entire house for Halloween (I have some awesome props) and we have a big Halloween Party..."

"I like MATTEL INCREDIBLE EDIBLES, though it's a tough one to figure out.   I hate bugs...    I have always hated bugs but I had to have this toy.   I remember, sitting at the kitchen table carefully removing each bug once cooked from the mattel plate.   I also remember the first time I took a bite of one of these nasty little bugs.   Not Good!    I usually made a plate full and "bugged" my family to eat them.    Today, I still make them, just to smell, not to taste.   I have three factory sealed sets and one to play with.   I also have a store display case of the goop.    I have the Kooky Kakes (two sealed) but I have yet to actually bake the kooky kakes!"

As you can see, Mona has quite a collection (it's really quite overwhelming)...    But here's one last story about her favorite program as a child, Luci's Toyshop...

  "When I was a child, there was a local children’s program called Luci’s Toyshop.   It ran from 1960 – 1972 and followed Captain Kangaroo.   Luci had a toyshop full of puppets (Wonder Witch, Dragon, Stanley Mouse, Mr. Tree, etc).    Once a week Luci would have children on her show and each child received a puppet at the end of the show.   I wanted to be on her show so bad, to meet her, and receive my Wonder Witch Puppet.   My Mother worked sometimes up to 12 hours per day during the week and until 12:00 NOON on Saturdays so there was no way I was going to get to that show.   Even as an adult I felt as if I missed something, not being able to meet her.   I thought over the years I had read that Luci had passed away, so when I began collecting I knew I had to have these puppets but didn’t know where to start.   Bob contacted the local news channel where the showed had aired and found her partner on the show who told me to contact a company called Sheram Industries.   I called one day from work and went through the whole story about when I was a child, how I loved Luci etc., and the lady on the phone told me her name was Luci, to which I replied 'Oh you must be Luci’s daughter'.    She replied back 'No Honey, I am the original Luci'.   Well I met Luci, have all of her puppets, she signed a DVD of her show for me “To Mona Love Luci”...   About 10 months after all of this, Luci did pass away.   And as strange as this sounds, I think our meeting was meant to be."