Playthings Magazine - August 1951

This is the August 1951 issue of Playthings magazine. By this time the film was in general release, and merchandising was in full swing. Earlier issues had a lot more advertising for merchandise leading up to the release, but there are still some cool items in here.


First is a full page ad for Gund toys. This ad depicts the complete set of dolls (Mad Hatter, March Hare, and White Rabbit) as well as 3 of the vinylite toys mentioned in a previous post.

There is also a full page ad for the large-sized 12½" Duchess doll. This is a very rare doll, much harder to find than the standard 7" doll.

There is also an article that talks about a toy shortage predicted by some guy named Freud, and has a nice picture of Kathryn Beaumont playing with the Model Craft Molding Set.

The article also lists a few other items that were released as part of the Alice merchandising machine in 1951.

There is also a blurb about Alice in Wonderland Whitman publications

What's nice about this is that it pictures all the Whitman products released in 1951, including the Whitman 2140 from this post.

Then there is the first of two items about Alice in Wonderland balloons. Believe it or not there were TWO companies that made balloons for the Alice release. This first one talks about those released by Eagle.

Nice graphics of the so-called Head and Body Tossup Balloon, a balloon with cardboard feet so that it stands up!

And finally a quarter-page ad for the other balloon company, Oak Rubber Co., with lots of different balloons illustrated.

I find it interesting that they also have the stand-up balloons, something I'm sure Disney would never do today. I especially like the March Hare balloons with ears - forerunner of the Mickey head balloons at Disneyland I imagine.