This Nostalgic Life #21
Sort of spooky toys edition.
Welcome to this edition of This Nostalgic Life where we taking a trip back in time to look at a couple of sort of spooky toys. Check them out, and let us know if you remember them!
My Short-lived 70’s Monkey Business
by Eric Vardeman
In 1968, 20th Century Fox sent four astronauts into space and launched one of the most successful science fiction franchises of all time. Planet of the Apes was a hit, both critically and financially. With the success of the first film, sequels were bound to follow, and they did. By 1973 a total of five Ape films had been released. Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last film, though not as appealing or successful as its predecessors, was still popular in its own right. While 1973 might have seemed like the end of the Ape dynasty, it was actually the beginning of another phenomenon referred to as Ape-Mania.
In 1973, 20th Century Fox challenged America to Go Ape! and began showing the first two Ape films on TV and all five Ape films in back to back marathons in movie theaters. As luck would have it, little Kenny Abrams, the son of Mego Toy Company President Marty Abrams, dragged his father to one of these marathons and in that theater the idea for the Mego Planet of the Apes line was born. As Marty has recounted in numerous interviews, he sat in the theater not even knowing what Planet of the Apes was, but saw fathers and sons enjoying the films together and digging the whole ape/future concept. The next day he was on the phone with 20th Century Fox executives outbidding a rival company and securing the rights to produce figures and play sets based on the Planet of the Apes property.
I wasn’t even born when the original movie debuted and I never saw any of the original movies in the theater. I was only four when the toys debuted. It was early in 1977 when I first saw the original movie on TV and I was FASCINATED. I had just turned seven years old. As pure luck would have it, my father, who loved garage sales (I think he really liked getting something for nothing because he would regularly come home with things that other people had left at the curb), happened upon a garage sale one day that was selling an entire lot of Planet of The Apes toys.
He came home with a box containing the original book series (I didn’t even know there was more than one movie let alone a book series), a three puzzle set, two play sets and a set of five action figures.
Now, I was only seven, so the books would sit unread for several years. They actually got packed away due to a move and I didn’t stumble across them again until I was twelve or thirteen. At that point, I’d seen all the movies and, like every other book or book series that get’s made into movies, the books were so much better.
There were several sets of 8” action figures produced over the years but the original five - Dr. Zira, the astronaut, Cornelius, ape soldier, and Dr. Zaius - were the only ones I had. In the original movie, the main human character was an astronaut played by Charlton Heston. However, while negotiating with 20th Century Fox, Mego failed to negotiate for Mr. Heston’s likeness so a figure looking like Taylor the astronaut from the movie couldn’t be produced (an issue they remedied in future sets).
The play sets were rickety and a little fragile. The tree house was especially rickety and fell over if you looked at it sideways. A good portion of the fortress was made out of card board so it didn’t not hold up well at all.
The puzzles were put together, covered in that modge podge goo, and hung on my bedroom walls.
It was 1977 though. A few months after obtaining my “Apes” haul, Star Wars debuted and the Star Wars toy craze took the children of America into it’s death grip. For a short while, The Apes toys held their own in the toy hierarchy as I only had a few Star Wars action figures. However, Christmas of 1977 was my first “Star Wars” Christmas and after that toy haul I don’t remember playing with my Apes toys again. Once again, they ended up as garage sale fodder soon after.
Mattel’s Mad Scientist Monster Lab
by Mick Lee
With it being the Halloween season, it’s the perfect time to talk about a toy I never had…the Mad Scientist Monster Lab.
The Mad Scientist Monster Lab from Mattel, Inc. in 1986, allowed users to “make disgusting, gross monsters…then sizzle the flesh off their bones!” The set included a plastic Monster Vat, plastic monster “Bones”, Green Monster Flesh, and a Secret Froth formula for Dissolving Monsters.
It was a unique toy to be sure, but I can’t tell you just how unique. I got to be in its presence once at my grandmother’s house. Stevie the Tyrant was there and had brought the Monster Lab with him, but as usual, I wasn’t allowed to actually play with his toys, just watch him play with his toys.
But it did appear to be really cool to put the skeleton together, mix up the crap that would become the monster’s skin, and then dunk it in the stuff that would make it fall off the bones.
Now with a toy like this, I can’t really blame Stevie the Tyrant for not letting me play with it. I mean, he only had so many packs of all the stuff it took to make this magic with, and letting me have a turn would have robbed him of a turn later on. It’s not like this was a G.I. Joe figure or something that he could get many more hours of play with later. The fun of this thing was kind of finite. But regardless, I still would have loved to try my hand with it.
Even though I desperately wanted it, it was a no-go with my mom. Any kind of toy she thought could make a mess was a very tough sell, and when she examined this one in the store, she said absolutely not., and thus ended my chances of owing a monster lab of my own.
In 1984: It’s the last week on the chart for “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama. While it’s probably the most recognizable song in the movie The Karate Kid, it isn’t officially on the soundtrack. “Cruel Summer” was released in the summer of ‘83 and the movie didn’t debut until 1984. The movie’s soundtrack was released by Casablanca records while the band was part of the Polygram label. Polygram wouldn’t release the song to be on a soundtrack from a different label. The studio was only able to secure rights to play the song in the movie and only for a short amount of time.
In 1990: There have been two versions of “Unchained Melody” from the Righteous Brothers oh the chart for a couple of weeks thanks to the box office blockbuster film, Ghost. The original, from 1965, is peaking this week at #13. Because of the renewed interest in the song, Medley and Hatfield re-recorded the song after their label secured the rights and it was released as a cassette and CD single. Even though the original version peaked higher than the new version, the new version outsold the original due to the fact that the original was only available on 45 RPM vinyl.
Playlist: This Week In 1984
Playlist: This Week In 1990
In every edition of This Nostalgic Life, we like to share a curated list of nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that we’ve come across recently. It gives you a chance to discover great content and remember things from your past that you may have forgotten. With that in mind, here are some things we wanted to share with you this week. (All links will open in a new tab.)
12 Rad ‘80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember (Movie Maker)
Shady Things About the McDonaldland Characters (The Take Out)
10 Retro Halloween Movies For Everyone (Geekster)
12 of the Weirdest Gadgets Sold in the ‘80s (Slash Gear)
Thank you for joining us for another issue of This Nostalgic Life. Be sure to leave us a comment about anything in this issue that connected with you and we can discuss in the comments section. See you next week for another nostalgia-packed issue!
Loved reading the Planet of Apes segment! I always loved the concept of that toy line although I've never owned any of the figures. My father was a garage sale guy and that's how I got my hands on some of my collection when I was younger. That, and hand me downs.