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The 1978 AHI Toy Catalog

The undisputed king of the “Rack Toy” in the 1970s was Azrak-Hamway International or “AHI” for short. They were riding high with past hits like Batman, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Space 1999 but 1978 saw them add James Bond 007, Farrah Fawcette, Donnie and Marie, the Walt Disney characters and their answer to Star Wars, Star […]

Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 17

Yes! A new installment of  one of my favorites, vintage toy store photos. A journey back to the days of oddly named department stores and independent mall toy stores and chains that are fondly remembered but sadly mostly gone. Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 17 covers the US and Canada this time and features appearances […]

Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 16

In an effort to combat the end of summer blues, I’ve dig deep to the days of Pegboard and regional toy stores to bring the 16th edition of our vintage toy stores feature. Installment 16 features old favorites such as the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man, Barbie, the Osmonds, Atari, Fisher Price, Mego […]

Osmond Mania!

I’m finally coming to grips with the actual amount of time I probably spent watching the Donny and Marie show, sure the choice to watch it was made by my older sister, who at five years my senior could totally take me.  However, I will attest to kind of enjoying the experience. I watched a lot of […]

Donny and Marie meet Donny and Marie.

This shot from 1977 pictures Donny and Marie inspecting their toy namesakes at a Mattel Expo where they were guests of honour. Other notable displays at this show involved Mattel’s new line of Shogun Warriors, Slime, Pulsar and Welcome Back Kotter toys. Sadly, the article only mentions those and this is the best picture I […]

Mattel Osmond Catalog for 1978

1978 saw Mattel expand their popular “Donny and Marie” line with a new member of the Osmond family, too cute for his own good l’il brother Jimmy! The 1978 Donny and Marie Catalog also showcases such items as Hollywood Home playset and a pile of outfits for older brother and sis. NO OUTFITS FOR YOU […]

Mattel Donny and Marie Catalog

Donny and Marie were TV superstars in 1977 thanks to their Sid and Marty Krofft (yes, the Land of the Lost guys) produced variety show which I watched an awful lot as a kid. Girls loved Donny and looked up to Marie so it only made sense when Mattel Toys snapped up the merchandising rights […]

An Osmond Confession

I admit it, I had a Donny Osmond doll. Even worse was that I chose him during the annual family March break shopping trip to the Scarborough Town Center, passing over the Mego Human Torch doll i had coveted for so long.All of this was done to impress my older sister who remarked how cool […]