The Brow is a bank from 1971 . Vann believes this is Bert from Sesame Street. I think the intent of the manufacturer was to confuse the buyer. As you can see the skin is flesh toned and not yellow. The Brow is painted blue as opposed to the shirt Bert wears. Also the Brow is wearing a “bib” instead of a turtleneck shirt. He is a little creepy.
This bank comes
from one of my favorite stores as a child- Grants. Back in the 70’s there was a variety of 5 & 10 stores that we no longer have in this country. Another favorite place was Treasure Island. The great thing about these stores is that you could get some really neat toys with little money. Also you would find items that were manufactured to resemble characters like Bert until the copyright owners sent a cease & desist letter or filed suit. I remember after Star Wars came out there were at least 8 different types of light sabers, “light swords,” or“laser swords”
Here is another example.
This is a Batman bank from 1974. It is Officially licenced from DC Comics. As you can see his expression and coloring is left over from the 60’s TV show. By 1970 the Batman comic book sales had plunged due to the overexposure of the TV show. Batman returned to his roots and became the Dark Knight-a throwback to his 1930's appearance. However, with the Batman TV show in syndication a number of products still focused on the Superfriends cartoon/Adam West Model.
Anyway, most of these stores began to die out by the early 80’s with the expansion of Wal-Mart & Target. I have just read that Woolworth's DVD division may be bought by the BBC in Great Britain. Woolworths appears to be headed for the scrap heap in that country after they abandoned the good ole USA.
It’s a pity.
I was really depressed today and I thought it would be nice to go to Toy R Us to see if there was anything neat.
The only. . . .
ULTRAMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
