December 16, 2010

Under the Christmas Tree - Batteries Not Included


The Mid-Century was the real beginning of the battery-operated age for children's toys: Toy robots and vehicles, radios, walkie-talkies, and all types of imaginative electronically advanced gadgetry to equip the average All-American kid. Remco would have to be, without a doubt, one of my favorite manufacturers, for all the attention the toy company paid to that all-important imaginative ingredient. Plus their products from this time-period just scream the age they were made in!

Remco's Electronic Radio Station was manufactured in a number of versions and colors over the years between the 50's through the 60's, including a colorful and spacey Dan Dare version aimed at the fans of the British comic strip. The station comes with an operational searchlight that you can manually rotate (just who or what you were expected to aimg it at is unclear) , a telegraph buzzer with a handy built-in note pad for taking down those secret coded messages, and a set of the futuristic Remco hand-held walkie-talkies that could be plugged into the station's advanced communication center. Add to this the multiple dials and spiffy twin signal towers, and you have an almost guaranteed ticket for hours of kid-entertainment!

And in my case it would have meant Dad would have been bumping around in the dark at night since I would have quietly borrowed the batteries out of his flashlight so I could operate my new toy... hmmm, maybe that's what the searchlight was used for?

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