The Active Age is giving away eight tickets to the Jim Brickman Christmas Show at the Orpheum Theatre on Dec. 10. To qualify for the ticket drawing, correctly identify these popular toys in the quiz below. Mail or drop off your completed answers to The Active Age, 125 S. West St., Wichita, KS., 67213. Or email the answers to joe@theactiveage.com. Please put “Christmas quiz” in the subject line. Entries must be received by end of day Dec. 5. We will hold a drawing and notify winners Dec. 6. Entries must include your name and telephone number. The answers will appear in next month’s issue.
1. What Hasbro product based on a vegetable was the very first toy to advertise on television in 1952?
2. In 1996, Tyco Toys created what ticklish Sesame Street sensation that sold out in the midst of the holiday shopping season?
3. Kids could pull, twist, throw, beat and bend him as they stretched the limbs of what iconic figurine up to four times their normal size?
4. Parents expressed concerns about safety after the 1963 debut of what small, working cooking device for kids?
5. Created by a French electrical technician, what L ’Ecran Magique (magic screen) was renamed by Ohio Arts and shot to the top of Santa wish lists by 1960?
6. Founded in Illinois in 1917, what family-operated company began building wooden toy wagons but was forced to switch to stamped steel wagons in order to keep up with the demand?
7. In 1974, a Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor invented what 3D puzzle that proved insanely popular, selling 200 million worldwide by 1983?
8. In 1975, what name was given to the inanimate object that came in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes and instructions for care and feeding?
9. What colorful 40-inch plastic circles were marketed by founders of Wham-O toys in 1958?
10. Originally created as a wallpaper cleaner and soot remover, what malleable product rocketed to fame after it was repackaged by Rainbow Crafts and featured on the TV show “Captain Kangaroo”?
11. What miniature toy introduced by Mattel in 1968 because popular with hot-rod loving adults as well as young collectors?
12. What colorful children’s board game was named the most popular toy in the U.S. for the 1940’s by the Toy Industry Association?
13. What pre-compressed helical spring toy was invented by Richard James in the early 1940’s and was known to propel itself down a flight of steps?
14. In 1960, what talking doll operated with a pull-string mechanism connected to a simple phonograph record inside the doll so that the doll “spoke” eleven phrases?
15. What toy features prominently in the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story”?
