And of course we all play Bilgo and Poogo to this very day.

Modern Mania for Mergers Now Menaces Minor Sports

RAILROADS, banks, and other big business organizations have no monopoly on the merger idea. Inventors, bereft of original ideas, are now turning their attention to combining separate ideas into one complete whole merging, as it were, the well-known ideas of the past.

Nowhere, perhaps, has this tendency been so pronounced as in the world of minor sports. Polo long ago merged with swimming in a game known as water polo, tennis and fly-swatting emerged as ping-pong, dominoes and rummy met in China and returned as mah jong, while labyrinth puzzles and golf united in the popular craze of putt-putt.
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A BOY’S DREAM COME TRUE

Give a boy a tree house and he can have all the adventures of a safari in his own backyard.

For adventurous little boys, a tree house offers many delights. It is a hideaway, a place to store secret treasures, a camping-out spot. From it one can see without being seen. It can be reached by ladder only and it is relatively inaccessible to adults. Read the rest of this entry »

Tub Sub

THE bathtub battle fleet has a colorful new recruit—a plastic “rocket” submarine that performs a series of gliding dives on- pill-power. The manufacturer, Payne Products, Inc., of Midland, Mich., supplies effervescent tablets designed to propel the craft for six or seven minutes. Agitating the water slightly makes the submarine dive oftener.

When the submarine is placed under water to start its voyage, the gas-releasing “fuel” acts as a pump, expelling water and sending the craft to the surface. Then it submerges again, and the cycle is repeated. Balance and glide as the toy rises and sinks provide its forward motion.

BOYS! MAKE LEAD SOLDIERS BY THE DOZEN

Mould Your Own Army — Band — Athletic Teams

With the new Gilbert Electric Kaster Kit, you can easily make a whole regiment of lead soldiers. Color them, too, with Kaster Kit paints, so they look just like the finest soldiers you can buy. Extra Kaster Kit moulds make football and baseball players, a military band, cannons, animals and other exciting models…Earn extra money by selling Kaster Kit models to your friends.

Kaster Kit operates by electricity. Safe and easy. See it at your nearest toy store. Complete with i mould and 24 pigs of metal $4.95.

GILBERT KASTER KIT

Archery and Poker Game in One
POKER and archery are combined in a new game that has a target on which are painted all the cards of the poker deck, as shown in the photo above. Points are scored by shooting five regular arrows into the cards to make four aces, a full house, three of a kind, or whatever your shots draw. The young lady in the photo above, Miss Helen Thompson, wintering at Ormond Beach, Florida, has just shot three aces and a pair of kings—a winning hand.

Auto Barber Chair Calms Child

THE novel automobile barber chair pictured below is the latest device for keeping children quiet while having their hair trimmed or dressed. This new chair was introduced at the Hairdressing Fair of Fashion at White City in London recently. The model car is rather complete in equipment for the amusement of the child customer. The brake at the right side is used by the barber to lower or raise the chair.

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CLATTER GUN

There’s fun galore in store for the boy who has this realistic sounding Thompson machine gun. By Orlando Guerra AT practically no cost and in a very small amount of time you can convert a mailing tube into a marvelously noisy clatter gun. Most kids will love it.

A three-inch-diameter tube is best for the purpose, and it should be cut to a 14-in. length. The gun stock is cut from one-inch pine according to the pattern shown, then the tube is glued and screwed to it.
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Gets 90 Miles on Gallon of Gas

THIS youngster, shown in the photo below, is the envy of all the children in her neighborhood. Her ‘”private car” run? from its own power and is easily operated. It was built by her father and is capable of going 30 miles an hour. She gets about 90 miles on a gallon of gas.

“SLINKY” SPRINGS to FAME

Given an initial shove, “Slinky” eerily and deliberately flip-flops end over end down a flight of steps. It is simply a spring, but it does stunts that made R. P. James, Philadelphia engineer, think of converting it into a toy.

The flat-coiled strip of Swedish blue steel assumes shapes in almost unending patterns. Mr. James got his toy idea when he saw the spring roll off a workbench and do funny antics on the floor. Read the rest of this entry »

This is pretty great idea.

TRACK FOR MODEL TRAIN IS FLEXIBLE

Strips of flexible track, just introduced for model-railroad use, can be twisted and turned in almost any direction to make loops, bridges, sharp curves, or steep grades. Made of small, interlocking rail segments held together with coiled wire, the metal track has realistic wood ties and can be rolled up for storage. The new O-gauge equipment, manufactured in four and six-foot sections, can be used with conventional model-railroad accessories.

One Horse Power Model

THIS mechanical horse, built by Roy Sheldon of Redmond, Oregon, pulls a wagon at ten miles an hour, and carries a rider at fifteen. An eccentric cam on the front wheels causes Dobbin to “gallop” like a real horse, and a gallon of gas is enough for the one horse power engine that supplies the motive power.

BACKYARD SPACE SHIP
THE space ship set among the younger generation will really soar when they see this seven-foot-long, two-seat jet rocket made of sturdy three-ply fiberboard. Easy to assemble, it can be obtained from the Honor House Products Corp., 35 Wilbur St., Lynbrook, N. Y. Pretty neat, huh?