Collecting -- and collecting information 24

Putting together information from first-hand sources can be challenging. But it can also be fun. And sometimes it's taken me in umexpected directions.

I have a couple of examples of this Haji-brand truck (see Expressing Change in the 0-Gauge Zen Garden). And I've been searching for other variations on this design that Haji offered -- I'll share the results of that search in a future post.

The problem with these inexpensive Japanese toys is that they were always meant to be disposable. Branding is minimal. I assume that was because the Japanese companies who made these toys back in the postwar era were supplying them to American importers, who placed their own brand on the packaging.

And because these were dime store toys, the packaging was seldom saved. So I was very interested to find this example of new-old stock. The truck -- as all Haji vehicles in this series -- is modestly branded "Haji" on the truck body. But the buyer would have thought this was a product of the  Toy Merchandising Corp., as it clearly states on the card.

I wasn't able to find out a lot about the Toy Merchandising Corp. of New York -- save that they ran afoul of the FCC in 1965. As you can see from the ad that they ran in various papers, one could make a fortune stocking "Toy Shop" displays in five-and-dime stores and drug stores. The Toy Merchandising Corp provided the products, and for a small initial investment of $298, you could be in business.

In the complaint, the representation of the business in the ads was brought into question, as well as the earning potential. According to the complaint, "it is impossible for a distributor to make a profit from the initial purchase of the respondent's products."

What I found most interesting was that there seemed to be a some bait and switch going on. Such as:
"Samples of products shown to prospective distributors were indicative of quality or value of the products which would appear on racks or available for placement." And most telling: "Respondents' products were of domestic manufacture."

As the complaint states, "In most instances respondents failed to clearly and conspicuously disclose to prospective purchasers that a substantial amount of their merchandise was of foreign origin."

Like the Haji truck. There's nothing on the packaging that indicates the toy was made in Japan.

So what happened to the Toy Merchandising Corp.? I'm not sure. An extensive Internet search only turned up their ads in various newspapers of the day -- none of them later than 1965.

Another mystery.

Diabelli Project 105 - Marimba Solo

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.


Just to review, the "rules" for my flash composition exercise are pretty simple. Just write for 10 minutes; any style, any instruments (or combinations thereof), any length. And stop after 10 minutes. I try not to prepare for the exercise, just seeing what comes out when the clock starts.

This week, another solo marimba sketch emerged. (See previous installments here.) It's time to start stitching these segments together.

Of course, if you see some possibilities here, don't wait for me to flesh out this sketch. As with all the Diabelli Project posts, you're welcome to use this in your own work. Just be sure to share the results!

We'll return in April

Personal circumstances forced me to take a short hiatus from this blog. That turned out to be a good thing. I'm taking the time to re-think the direction of "Off Topic'd."

In addition to revamping the editorial focus, I'll also be doing an overhaul of the blog's appearance.

Look for new content to appear beginning the first full week of April 2016.

Lio -- Literally

The November 23, 2015, sequence of Lio shows one of the strengths of a comic strip. In such a visual medium, one has to represent everything as a drawing, as creator Mark Tatulli did. (click on image to enlarge)

The joke, of course, is that the figurative has become literal. The scissors and matches are both animate rather than inanimate objects. And note how that last panel is set up. 

Reading left to right we first see Lio with his two friends, and then the sign. If you reverse the order, the joke falls flat, as we know what to expect. As Tatulli set it up, though, we're briefly wondering what the significance of those two objects is, preparing us for the punchline contained in the rules. Coming up with the gag is one thing -- but knowing how to properly set it up is the real talent of a comic strip artist.

Collecting -- and collecting information 23

As I've said before, my interest in postwar Japanese tin toys isn't really focused on collecting them. Rather, it's more collecting information about them. Some aspects are well-documents, such as the space and robot toys of the early 60s, and the deluxe car models of the 50s and 60s. But the cheap toys sold in drug stores and five and dimes? Not so much.

Linemar was the Japanese subsidiary of the American firm Louis Marx Co. Perhaps that's why Linemar vehicles had lithographed markings that more closely represented actual American prototypes (sometimes, anyway).

I've written before about the 10-car set Linemar offered in the late 1950s. I've often wondered if the vehicles in that set were ever offered for separate sale. Recently, I came across two examples that don't necessarily answer that question but do provide some additional background. 

Prominent in the set is a beverage truck with Coca-Cola markings. It's one of the vehicles that's accurately depicted on the box's cover (see Collecting -- and collecting information 13 for one that isn't).

The Linemar Coke truck.

Was the Coke truck ever sold separately? I'm not sure -- but similar trucks were. Not quite as common as the Coke truck is the Pepsi truck.

The Linemar Pepsi truck -- version 1.

Initially, I thought it was the same toy with different markings -- but I was wrong. Take a close look at the two: the  Coke truck's cab is bigger and more rounded. And the top brace across the body is wider on the Coke track as well. Plus, the chassis is different. The Pepsi truck has a more labor-intensive (and therefore, I suspect, earlier) crimped chassis, while the Coke truck has a flat chassis.

The Coke truck chassis. Just two tabs hold this to the body.

The Pepsi truck chassis. Crimped all the way around to the body.

So different designs for different companies. Seems straightforward -- and then I found a variation of the Pepsi truck. It has a green body rather than the Pepsi corporate blue. Some of the lithograph body details are different.

Version 2 - why the color change?

And curiously, it also does not have the Linemar logo on the rear as the Coke truck does.

Why no logo?

Did Linemar make this version as a subcontractor for another toy importer? Hard to say. But my quest for information continues.