As many of you know, I'm deep into the writing of the book, and part of that involves a LOT of scanning. The past few weeks have been consumed with the scanning of seemingly endless records of various sizes, speeds, and countries. Perhaps the most interesting re-discovery is this recording of the Luton Girls Choir singing a medley of songs from Alice, with I'm Late sung by "a friend," who has so far not been identified. Give it a listen and if you know the singer let me know in the comments!
Here is a preview of the section on the Mettoy Mad Hatter's Race game from the forthcoming book. Enjoy!
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Founded in 1933 by Jewish emigrants fleeing the Nazis, Mettoy (a contraction of METal TOY) made a metal, tin, and plastic toys over a span of fifty years.
Arthur Katz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1908. When his father died in 1920 he moved to Nuremberg with his mother since she was originally German. After completing school he entered the toy business as an apprentice for a toy export company. Once his apprenticeship was complete he began working for a tin toy company, Tipp & Co, which was owned by a cousin Philip Ullmann.
With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, he emigrated to England on his South African British passport. Ullmann joined him shortly thereafter, and the two formed a new toy company, Mettoy, in a workshop owned by a model train maker, Basset-Lowke. But within five years they has to switch from tin toys to war production as England entered World War II. Interestingly their landlord Basset-Lowke had a vested interest in many Jewish-German suppliers for their business, and that company spent a large portion of their profits helping Jewish refugees escape Germany.
The war and accompanying defense contracts were good to Mettoy, so much so that the company needed to expand into a larger manufacturing space, which was arranged by the British government. The new factory was in Swansea, Wales in the town of Fforestfach. When the war ended in 1945, toy production resumed. By this time Mettoy had expanded into plastics given that rationing of metal was still in force, but by 1956 rationing had been lifted and they began making their most well known toy line of all: Corgi die cast vehicles.
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s Mettoy continued to grow with Corgi sales increasing in their standard car line but especially so with their licensed cars for Batman, James Bond, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. However, the arrival of Mattel's Hot Wheels in the late 1960s, coupled with a devastating fire in at the factory in 1969, Mettoy's fortunes began to turn. The 1970s and 1980s were a difficult time for Mettoy, and despite many efforts to turn the company around, including the creation of their very own personal computer product "The Dragon", the company went into receivership in 1983.
The following years saw the company spin-off the Corgi brand, which eventually was purchased by Mattel. The brand was sold several more times through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, until it was purchased by Hornby in 2008 where the brand continues to be sold to this day.
The number of Disney toys made by Mettoy is not known to me, but I am aware of a few tin toys from the 1950s including a zoetrope called the Disneyland Moviedrome, a toy called the Disneyland Skating, and the Alice game below; as well as the plastic film viewer toy from the 1970s called the Walt Disney Movie Viewer.
The one known Alice toy, The Mad Hatter's Race, was likely released at the time of the original film's release in 1951 or perhaps 1952. No historical pricing has been discovered.
This is one of the coolest toys ever made for Alice in Wonderland. It is a game played on a tin race track, with the game piece being a windup toy of Alice on the Drink Me bottle from the Sea of Tears. I have only ever seen one complete example with box - this one. I've seen the tin board and the windup toy once or twice before. Needless to say this is an exceptionally rare toy.
Fortunately the rest of the book section was WAY quicker than the Whitman section, 'cause you know, there are way fewer books outside of Whitman. Onward. If I can keep up this pace of one section (or more) per week, I should be able to finish in time for the 75th anniversary, which would be perfect. Fingers crossed!
Damn. That took WAY longer than I wanted. But it is done. Here are some stats:
Well, a new year is upon us. Let's all hope for a slightly smoother year this time around. On the good news side, I've gotten some good work done on the book. On the less good news side, still lots to go. Sigh.
Showing a small sample to some friends in LA this coming week, so hopefully I'll get some good feedback that isn't crushingly harsh ;-)
Research continues for the book. Recently I acquired something I did not know existed, although I should have know since it is a common enough practice.
The ACMI Wonderland Exhibition tour is back on the road after a 2 1/2 year break due to COVID, and its next stop is Perth, Australia at the WA Museum Boola Bardip. The lovely people at ACMI are again flying us down to help celebrate the opening and re-start of this amazing exhibition and its tour across the globe. Any readers in Western Australia be sure to visit, and if you happen to be there December 15-18, introduce yourselves. We'll be the two Americans wearing loud Alice-themed clothing ;-)
Well, I *think* I've hit another milestone today with the book. I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain I've completed the first draft of another chapter, that on Toys, Games, and Puzzles. Time will tell (meaning once we get the collection back on display) whether or not I missed something, but I feel pretty good about it. I may yet make my 2026 deadline! This was a big one, 28 sections, but hey, gotta be complete :-)
Banner Plastics made a variety of plastic toys for children, but specialized in tea sets and toy trucks.
The Banner Plastic Corporation was founded in 1944 in the Bronx, NY by
two men, Emanuel M. Pressner and Bernard Schiller, although Bernard Schiller
would not stay long with the company. In
1950, the company moved from the Bronx to Patterson, New Jersey where they
purchase a former aeronautical engineering plant. During the mid-1950s, the company greatly
expanded its product line, adding new metal toys to complement their line of
plastic toys, including tea set, blocks, and trucks. Into the 1960s they continued to expand their
tea set line to additional kitchen toys and dishes, licensing such brands as
Pyrex, Corning Ware, and others. They
continued to acquire other toy companies further expanding their lines with garden
toys, military toys, and space toys. But
by 1965 the company had contracted to the point that their catalog contained
only 50 items, that catalog would be their last as they filed for bankruptcy
that year, and by 1967 had been purchased by Tal-Cap, a large toy conglomerate
in Minnesota.
Banner held a Disney license for only two years, between 1955 and
1956. An ad from an issue of Playthings
from April 1955 shows the Alice in Wonderland tea set, but in the picture is a
plate with an image of Thumper, so it is likely that they made a few different
tea sets, but to date I've not seen any other than the Alice set. Tomart also lists stacking blocks and a Davy
Crockett covered wagon, neither of which I am familiar with.
Items are marked Banner Plastics Corp., Paterson, NJ, and depending on the year and the package, may have the company logo featuring two kids waving banners.
The Alice in Wonderland tea set was released in 1955 at the beginning of Banner's Disney license, the Playthings ad from April clearly shows it (well, not that clearly but I've highlighted it in the second image).
No specific pricing for the Alice set has surfaced, but comparable
sets of the era retailed at $3.98, which would be $40 in today's dollars.
The Banner tea set is amazingly cool. For many years it was unclear exactly what was contained in this mythical toy, since only the tin pieces showed up the majority of the time. However, the full tea set is actually pictured on the large tray so it was known what should have been included. Eventually the plastic pieces surfaced, and later a full set in the original box was discovered. A second set in the box was seen in the early 2000s and that is the set pictured here.
Being residents of the greater DMV (that's DC, Maryland, Virginia for those not in the know), the Washingtonian is our version of New York Magazine or Los Angeles Magazine, with features on local interest, published monthly. And this month has a one-page feature on the Alice collection, only 6 years in the making! Pictures below of the cover and our single page, and then an annotated page.
Otherwise known in the US as campaign book, this press book contains lots of sample articles, ad mats, posters, and merchandise specific to the Australian market. Super cool.
