Toys Next Christmas Will Be Different

Press, Volume C, Issue 29437, 13 February 1961, Page 6

Toys Next Christmas Will Be Different

(From the London Correspondent of ‘‘The Press”)

LONDON, February 6. Fewer than 270 shopping days to Christmas and British toy manufacturers have been showing tbeir wares at the British Toy Fair in London. A few inquiries at the fair revealed some surprising things going on in . this £4O miilion-a-year industry. Against all expectations some British manufacturers are annually selling several thousand pounds worth of toys—- “ The kind that appeal to an upper crust of spending power"—in Japan. Two years ago salesmen ridiculed the idea. And they are doing nicely against well-established competition in Continental countries, including Germany. Exports run to over £8 million a year. The arms race continues in the toy factories but several makers reported that boys are still most interested in conventional weapons—tanks, guns, battleships: these down-to-earth engines of war and battalions of infantry beat nuclear rockets and intercontinental missiles

hollow. Some unilateralist manufacturers have ignored nuclear deterrents altogether and do not regret their decision.

One salesman disclosed that, although he had several most popular lines of toy soldiers and an effective arsenal of weapons, this year's best-selling item has been a plastic garden kit. In this, miniature plants, tools, pavingstones, borders, trees and ponds assemble according to a child’s own plans into a bright and tidy model garden. For some reason or other (British toy makers are curiously uninterested in the tests in the tastes and psychology of their young customers) girl customers (or their parents?) have lost interest in baby dolls. The rage for the last year has been for teen-age dolls.

“Quite suddenly, the girls have become sex conscious," said one doll maker. “We make hardily any character and fewer baby dolls with chubby legs and round bodies. Instead we are asked for dolls with busts, waists and shapely legs, I don’t know what has caused this change, or what will happen next; we simply follow the orders that come back from the retailers.” A specialist in dolls’ clothes confirmed the change. Almost all her doll fashions were modelled on snappy teen-age outfits rather than nursery clothes. A modern girl is clearly less interested in napkin-changing than in acquiring a fashionable, teenage or even grown-up wardrobe for her doll.

“Stiletto heel shoes and nylons are a must,” explained a French-born designer. “There is a big demand for jeans, and scooter jackets, party frocks, cocktail dresses, and short, flared skirts. Duffel coats are out this year.” she confided.

Television is setting the pace in some departments of the industry. A few item is a model hospital named after the TV show “Emergency Ward 10”. Ward 10 has an operating theatre, with ment trolley and blood transfusion apparatus, surgeons, nurses, and patients, and an out-patients department.

Right up-to-date for boys is a three-storey car park with electric lift and car wash (real water).

The competition is still hot in the model car industry. One firm which currently makes about 100 different cars, lorries, farm machines and military vehicles goes to greater lengths every year to keep ahead. First they gave their cars sprung suspension and perspex windows. Then came interior fittings and miniature drivers; last year lift-up boots and bonnets with engines and spare wheels. This year, linked-rod steering and jewelled lights were introduced. “We can go further yet," said the chief salesman. Surprisingly, it takes almost as long to tool up a production line for a new model as it does to bring out the new car on which it is based—up to nine months is the rule.

“We aim to give a replica." said the salesman. “In fact, an exact scale model never looks right at all, so we have to make some modifications to the proportions. It is all a matter if the way you see a model mostly from above.” The toy makers’ best overseas market is Australia. They sell about £1 million worth a year there. Canada and the United States are both almost as good. New Zealand remains a well regarded but shrunken market—£l76.ooo in 1959.

“We are holding our overseas markets on quality and service.” said a director of the company sponsoring the fair, Mr S. H. Powell. "We are not attempting to pump a lot of cheap stuff out to the markets of the world.’’