Boomer Toys for Girls and Boys (USA) Quiz

Answer: Chatty Cathy had a twin brother called Chatty Chucky.

The brother was actually called Tiny Chatty Brother. Chatty Cathy inspired an episode of "Twilight Zone" called 'The Living Doll' where a doll called "Talky Tina" enters the house of a man played by Telly Savalas. This program scarred the childhood of many a kid I knew! In fact, June Foray provided the voice as well for this episode. I had to verify the teeter totter as I distinctly remembered the so-called rich girl on the block getting the whole set of twins and twins teeter totter. Sure enough, you can purchase it on the web but they were the Chatty Babies.

It is a highly coveted item for collectors. Later, Chatty Cathy's voice was provided by Maureen McCormick of "Brady Bunch" fame (aka Marcia Marcia Marcia). This doll was second only to Barbie in sales. If you are a highly suggestible person like me, that horrible doll's voice is in your head now!

Answer: Major Matt Mason

If you have a particularly good memory, I'm sure you're thinking about his gear and how it fit just right if you did not lose it immediately. If you had the vehicles and the coveted Space Station then you were fortunate indeed unless your parents cleaned out that attic where they were stowed as they're worth something today to collectors! I am privileged to have made his acquaintance through my two brothers who had them. Sgt Storm was Matt's buddy along with a few others.

Some aliens were sold in this collection named Callisto, Captain Lazer and the villain Scorpio. I'm thinking that the kids who owned these might have been the equivalent of the girls whose Barbies had shoes or whose Kens sat around in more than a bathrobe!

Answer: Thunderbolt/Jane West

Thunderbolt was Johnny West's steed and Jane was his aquamarine uniformed sidekick manufactured by Marx Toys. She had millions of plastic 'leather' accessories as did he. Some fortunate children in suburbia had the entire ranch! We had Johnny and a Viking doll. Poor Johnny West! He had to be the groom in Barbie weddings sometimes because we did not have a Ken. One of the reasons these were such a success is that they were jointed and as the package states, 'she will sit stand kneel and ride a horse'.

Her basic package came with a frying pan and a coffee pot as well as a couple of skirts, a hat and a vest. There was an entire army of figures sold including an African American version.

Answer: Dolls with a little device that made them able to walk and run

"Skediddle Kiddles little Kiddles that can walk and can run" were dolls that you put into a little device or vehicle and scooted them on a surface. They were about four inches tall and their legs attached to the device. Believe it or not, there was a 'Heather Hiddlehorse'! These dolls really had a lot of variation and you can find them all on the internet if you search.

Some of their names are "Lickety Spliddle Skediddle", "Fritzi Frosti Wagon" and "Anabelle Autodiddle". In the storybook realm, I was seized with a wave of nostalgia during my research as I saw the Peter Pan doll riding on an alligator. I had that one for a birthday no doubt. One burning question remains, "Where did Mom put them?"

Answer: Reddish orange with black mane and tail

Fans of the green character and his cast of friends will not be disappointed because the net is the home of several sites where nostalgia abounds for these guys. Gumby was the "can do" guy and Pokey the realist who was a tad pessimistic. As Gumby was an animated clay figure, the creators of the show were able to do just about anything with him. Gumby and his friends were animated by Art Clokey. I wonder if the woolly mammoth named Denali gave the name to the SUV of the same name?

Answer: Tammy

The classic Tammy doll had short brown hair and was much more realistic in terms of body size and proportions to our anorexic Barbie friend. She came with a little blue outfit like a gym suit. Tammy was supposed to be the girl next door type. Midge was Barbie's sidekick, and she was the "always the bridesmaid never the bride" type gal. Tutti was a tiny little sister from Barbie's clan with a brother named Todd. Tammy was marketed with a brother named Ted, and her little sister Pepper which your quiz author received for her seventh birthday.

Some collectors have Tammy's parent dolls available!

Answer: It had an off/on switch

This toy brought back floods of memories when I researched it and I was not alone in recalling the smell of plastigoop wafting around and the hot iron without any on and off switch while heating up those bugs, flowers, dragons, monster heads or other sundry items.

Many of us parents wondered aloud how we'd survived the era with toys like that when our '90s and '00s kids don't even get to play with anything that plugs into an outlet. The edible variety tasted a bit like gummi bears but worse but we ate them just the same! Scores of baby boomers who survived burnt fingers write on websites about old toys about this toy. I think my all time favorite mold was the dragons you could assemble out of the goop.

Answer: Bright green

There was a Suzy Homemaker doll with a beauty parlor and other things to prepare us for our housework drudgery. It's amazing that in a short time, many women of my generation said no to housework! If you chose Bright Yellow, you chose the Easy Bake color, sorry! Easy Bake was by Kenner and Topper made Suzy Homemaker. Both were best selling items though.

Answer: Silly Putty

Silly Putty was made while a scientist was attempting to find a rubber substitute in late WWII. When it was marketed as a toy, it was found that it had many uses and one of them was to secure tools in zero gravity. Many of us would use it on newsprint like comics and stretch it.

When force is applied however, it stiffens which makes it useful for other industries. As many of us kids know, Superballs have 'a high coefficient of restitution' which means that they are made of a substance that rebounds and can actually go over a building. I found this out the hard way as a friend sent one across the street and I tried to catch it and got a fat lip. Wham-O's version was the most popular but you can find smaller versions in gumball machines.

In fact, people have been known to swallow those on occasion thinking they were gum! The Frisbee was developed from pie plates and has been the subject of military research. The Strange Change Machine was a truly interesting toy that used technology as well. If you find yours, it will still work unless you changed the shape too much.

Some of you reading this question may have become physicists because of these toys.

Answer: Topper

Topper was the one. This toy was highly coveted in my neighborhood amongst all the James Bond fans. A similar spy toy was Marx's Sooper snooper, a periscope that kids used to snoop on others from under tables etc. I imagine many a lady screamed when this one was detected! I hope you've enjoyed this trip through Nostalgia lane from Bruyere!