ONCE MORE: CHRISTMAS

Evening Star, Issue 23129, 1 December 1938, Page 21

ONCE MORE: CHRISTMAS

THE INCENTIVE TO SPEND SETTING THE STAGE IN DUNEDIN Christmas is coming, and, doubtless, in accordance with the terms of a very familiar saying, the geese (and turkeys) are getting fat, living on the very best available, vyith_ one (for them) unfortunate end in view. However, although the Yuletide season is but little more than three weeks distant, geese and turkeys are not playing any .part in early displays of Christmas specialties in the city shops. True, one may encounter the exhortation; “ Order your Christmas (poultry now, but there the matter rests so far as these creatures are concerned.

If turkeys and geese (deceased) do not make an appearance until a date nearer the Christmas dinner, plenty of other things are being given prominence in city shops, and nearly all of these have a very direct bearing on the season in mind at the moment. No matter where one looks one becomes aware that the time for making unusually large holes in the family exchequer is at hand, and if attractiveness of lay-out means anything at all, it is evident that these holes. will be much larger than ever before. Perhaps lay-outs must be attractive, because the articles forming part of the lay-outs are attractive in themselves. Manufacturers in every class seem to have held mass meetings during the year and evolved diabolical schemes for creating novelties and gifts that have passed with 100 per cent, honours their degree of B.A, (buying appeal). One is made acutely conscious of the difference between buying, say, a shirt at this period l of the year and at any other time. For normally, what man is shown a shirt wrapped in cellophane and surmounted with a benignant, heavily-whiskered old ipan, . whose happy, insouciant outlook upon life is tho epitome of. the Christmas spirit? Ties, sox, handkerchiefs —somehow they all look different in their special wrappings. Cigarettes, bought every day of the year, suddenly appear in highly decorative containers, and don’t they look all the better for it? A girl must remember her boy friend with such gifts, just as he must remember her with one of those most attractive and (again specially wrapped) hoses of chocolates.

Other things which have not been specially dressed yet achieve the desired result through neat display. Thus even solidly commercial all-the-year-rouud items such as tins of fruit become imbued' with a distinctive appeal through the careful arranging of packets of muscatels, almonds, and candied fruits, in close proximity.

Widespread window dressing for Christmas has not yet been resorted to in Dunedin, but it is on the increase and will be the main concern of most retailers for the next few weeks. Where displays have already been arranged, one is impressed with the pronounced artistic sense that has guided lay-outs. It does not seem so many years ago that’ ■ window displays were higgledypiggledy sorts of things; dump in as much as possible and let the public sort out what was wanted. To-day. only a little, and that little set out winningly, is the rule.

The year seems to have culminated in an unusually wide range of fascinating, novelties—mainly ornamental—for the home, _ Gifts of rfhis 'mature are becoming increasingly popular, and prices are more reasonable than they were a few years ago. Even crystal is marked under the exorbitant figure of yesterday, and the precious beauty of crystal makes any article made from it a treasured possession. THE TOYMAKERS’ SCHEMES. Toys form an integral part of every Christmas; they make the season what it should bo to children (and, often enough, to adults). To the younger generation the annual visit of Santa Claus makes life worth living. When one becomes stricken with a mood mainly cynical (and one does from time to time) the thought arises that maybe Christinas just wouldn’t be anything so wonderful if it were not for the infectious enthusiasm of the children.

Well, children are going to be very well catered for this year. The airminded spirit of the day is apparent in the number of model aeroplanes appearing on shop stalls. Some of these will ny, others will never do more than taxi along the ground; some are intriguingly equipped so that as they move a “ machine gun ’’ in the forepart of the machine releases a continual stream of sparks. This firework display is also attached to railway engines and to steamships. The stately Queen Mary may thus be enabled to make a circumambient passage of the dining room linoleum and discharge a column of sparks from its funnels! Although toys will not last forever—from the manufacturer’s point of view it would not do if they did —to-day they seem to be made on much stronger lines than hitherto. Patented rubber forms the major part of construction iu many motor cars, steamers, and kindred subjects, and its durability is something at which to marvel. Furry toys are again going to be prominent among the year’s offerings. Here, too, quality is pre-eminent, the cheaper Japanese article* being less conspicuous than ever before. The cuddly koala bear may be seen in all sizes, from midgets of a couple of inches to giants of a couple of feet. He’s an appealing fellow, and is ousting the former ‘“king of the castle,” the teddy bear, from his proud position. The Disney characters are, inevitably, much to tho fore, not only as toys, but as ornaments, or forming decorative patterns on cups, plates, or basins, or even moulded into chocolate figures. Mickey Mouse is still holding his own, and has shown that bombastic saiforman Popeye (a creation of the late Mr E. C. Segar, and nob Walt Disney) that no spinach-eating mariner is going to cause any reduction in tho popularity of a friendly little rodent. Mickey is supported by Pluto tho Pooch, Gus . the Goose, Claribelle the Cow. Horace Horsecollar, Donald the Duck, and all the rest of the whimsical characters made familiar to everyone through the “ moviqs.” This year the Disney caricatures are increased by the appearance of seven highly amusing little fellows, Doo, Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, and Bashful. In other words, tbe seven dwarfs who cavort in tho Disney feature cartoon ‘ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ The appearance of these dwarfs _ this vear is timely, for the cartoon is to be shown in Dunedin at Christmas. The Disney characterisations, created in the first place for laughter and happiness, live up to the purpose of their being in whatever inanimate shape they may bo cast by the very industrious toymaker.