Lee Presson and the Nails

Lee Presson and the Nails

Lee Presson and the Nails or LPN is a Goth swing big band that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in October 1994.
The band differentiates itself from other bands of the late '90s swing revival by their wacky stage antics and the sinister appearance of bandleader Lee Presson.

They won a California Music Award in 1998 for best Swing/Cabaret act and have released four CDs to date, three of which are still available. Lee Press on and the Nails disbanded temporarily when Lee Presson divorced his wife and moved to Hollywood. During that time Lee was the keyboard player for the Oingo Boingo tribute band Dead Man's Party. After a two-year hiatus, Lee Presson and the
Nails performed a reunion show in San Francisco on 17 September 2006 at the DNA Lounge. After that they decided to get back together.

Amazing how popular they are from such small roots.

Corgi Cars

Corgi Cars
Corgi Toys is the name of a range of die-cast toy vehicles produced by Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. in the United Kingdom. The Mettoy company was founded in 1933 in Northampton, England
A market a range of toy vehicles was planned for the Corgi Toys company as competition to Meccano's Dinky Toys model vehicles which had dominated the British market for many years.
Corgi Toys were introduced in the UK in July 1956 and were manufactured in Swansea, Wales, for 27 years before closure of the company in 1983. The range was exported worldwide and sold in large numbers. Some of the best known and most popular models were of cars made famous in film and television

Our top 3 Corgi cars of all time are
  - The Batmobile Car
 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Car
 - The James Bond Aston Martin DB5

They knew that to copy the Dinky product range would not be enough to guarantee the success of the range. So, it was agreed that all the vehicles in the Corgi range would have windows. "The First with Windows" became one of the early selling slogans. December 1956 was the launch of the Corgi Model Club and a newsletter was published on a regular basis.

Corgi Toys Limited was formed on 29th March 1984 from the assets of the former Mettoy Company. The new company decided to concentrate its efforts on producing and selling high quality die cast models. At the time of purchase, Corgi was rated number two in the UK die cast market. In the first year, Corgi set about winning back the confidence of the toy trade. The company appointed consultants to create a new corporate image with new packaging, a new road wise logo and a revamped imaged.

Toys of the 90s

Toys of the 90s
There are many toys of the 90s though a few are more typical than others. We could talk about Digimon virtual pets, Beanie Babies, Micro Machines, Tickle Me Elmo, Monster in My Pocket, Sega Game Gear, Stomp rocket, Tazos, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures
 or even Water Talkies and Zbots.

For a full article and list of 100s of toys from the 90s
But here are our top 5 toys of the 1990s

1. Furby
Furbies were an electronic robot toy, made by Tiger Electronics. It rose to fame immediately grabbing headlines in 1998 when mothers almost killed each other to get them for their kids. Furby sold 1.8 million units in 1998, and 14 million units in 1999. But it left almost as quickly as it came.

2. Pogs
Who would believe that a piece of cardboard similar to the ones found on the base of a smarty tube or a party popper would prove to be a big toy of the nineties. Pogs was that toy The word "pog" refers to the discs used to play the game. The name originates from POG, a
brand of juice made from passion fruit, orange and guava; the use of the POG bottle caps to play the game pre-dated the game's commercialization. The game of pogs possibly originated in Hawaii in the 1920s. Pogs returned to popularity when the World POG Federation and the Canada Games Company reintroduced them to the public in the 1990s. The pog fad soared in the 1990s before rapidly fading out.

3. Cabbage Patch Kids
Cabbage Patch Kids are a doll brand created by Debbie Morehead and Xavier Roberts. The original dolls were all cloth and sold at local craft shows, then later at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland. The doll brand went on to become one of the most popular toy fads of the late eighties and early nineties.


4. Pokémon
Pokémon is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world, behind only Nintendo's own Mario series.
The Pokémon as a commercial brand is now merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and other media.


5. Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet created in 1996 by Aki Maita and sold by Bandai. Over 70 million Tamagotchis have been sold as
of 2008. The Tamagotchi is housed in a small and simple egg-shaped computer. Three buttons (A, B, and C) allow the user to select and perform an activity, including: Feeding the Tamagotchi a piece of food or a snack. Playing games with the Tamagotchi. Cleaning up a Tamagotchi's waste. Checking its age, discipline, hunger, happiness and other statistics. Connecting with other friends. Marrying other tamagotchis, ah!


Worth a visit : the main site section http://www.skooldays.com/decades/toys_1990s.htm

Sabrina the Animated Series

Sabrina the Animated Series

Who remembers Sabrina: The Animated Series. This cartoon was based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. It was produced by DIC Entertainment, which was owned by Disney at the time.

Characters included Sabrina Spellman, Salem, Uncle Quigley, Chloe Flan, Harvey Dwight Kinkle, Gemini "Gem" Stone, Hilda and Zelda,

Sabrina Spellman has a secret: she's a half witch/mortal. She doesn’t become magically empowered until she's sixteen, but it’s possible to borrow spells from her aunts Hilda and Zelda, which she often does. She finds her meddling turns the situation from bad to worse. Her friend Chloe is aware of Sabrina's magic but Harvey Kinkle, another friend and her romantic interest, isn't.

Hilda is more carefree and reckless than her cautious sister Zelda but although they do butt heads sometimes, they're still sisters!. Salem, Sabrina's cat with a big attitude. There was also Chloe Flan, that is Sabrina's best friend. She's the only mortal besides Quigley who knows Sabrina's secret.

The characters make this programme a very popular animated series. Do you remember watching Sabrina the animated series?

Silly Putty

Silly Putty

This may sound a silly question, but what was Silly Putty originally called?
The answer, Nutty Putty

As with most beginnings, they often happen by accident. Silly Putty is marketed today as a toy for children, but was originally created by accident during research into potential rubber substitutes for use by the United States in World War II. Credit for the invention of Silly Putty has been attributed to Earl Warrick. He discovered that reacting boric acid with silicone oil would produce a gooey, bouncy material with several unique properties. The non-toxic putty would bounce when dropped, could stretch farther than regular rubber, would not collect mould, and had a very high melting temperature. By 1945 it was ready for the toy market.

It has found to be useful in many other diverse areas as well as a toy. For example it is used in large
quantity by physical therapists for rehabilitative therapy of hand injuries. Silly Putty as a material is also used therapeutically for stress reduction.

Slinky

Slinky



Who remembers the Slinky?
Back in the 50s and 60s the Slink was a toy every kid was proud to have. Most remember the Slinky as a loose spring that can travel down stairways. Slinky wasn't overly expensive and so was easily achievable for kid’s pocket money.

Richard James demonstrated it at a toy department in Philadelphia back in the 1940s. In 1946, Slinky was introduced at the American Toy Fair. The toy was a massive hit for the Mr. and Mrs. James. In 1998, Slinky was sold to Poof Products, Inc. Slinky became Pennsylvania's official state toy. In its first 60 years Slinky has sold 300 million.

Anyone remember the Slinky toy commercial jingle in 1962.
It became the longest-running jingle in advertising history.

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvellous thing! Everyone knows it's Slinky.
It's Slinky, it's Slinky. For fun it's a wonderful toy.
It's Slinky, it's Slinky. It's fun for a girl or a boy.
It's fun for a girl or a boy!"

The Slinky was originally was made from steel. There are versions made from plastic. (not the same in my mind even if they do have a rainbow of colours)

It’s still available in the modern computer world we live. Though it may only be seen today in science and physics lessons rather than as a toy. Still the Slinky lives on.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Blast from the past today - Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos is a board game made for young children originally designed in 1966 and released by MB in 1978. The purpose of the game is to collect as many marbles as possible with the hungry hippos.

The Hippos were in four colours, they were also named! Lizzie Hippo was the purple one, Henry Hippo the orange one though some versions he is blue, Homer Hippo was green, and Harry Hippo yellow.

Who remembers the Hungry Hungry Hippos adverts?
Tthey featured a series of brightly-colored cartoon hippos dancing in a conga line and singing, "Hungry Hungry Hip-pos!" to the beat. They sang a song saying "If you wanna win the game you've gotta take good aim And get the most marbles with your hippo Playin' Hungry Hungry Hippos Hungry Hungry Hippos"

More on our Hungry Hungry Hippos page

Magpie TV Series

Magpie TV Series

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told
Ma-a-a-ag-pie was a children's television programme shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s mainly based on pop-culture of it's day. Magpie was a full on competitor to BBC successful Blue Peter. In a similar way rivals grew. Were you a Magpie or a Blue Peter watcher? Magpie was a magazine format show lasting 25 minutes twice a week.



Why the name Magpie? Magpie as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items, and because of "mag" being evocative of "magazine", and "pie" being evocative of a collection of ingredients.

Thames Television produced Magpie and many will remember the show gave you an insiders knowledge of what Television Studios looked like in there day,

The show ran from 1968 to 1980. Many will remember presenters such as Mick Robertson, Susan Stranks, Jenny Hanley and Tommy Boyd.

Do you remember the Magpie TV Series?

Mister Magoo

Mister Magoo

Mister Magoo, a nearsighted grumpy old duffer, who turned up on our screens in 1949. His first name is Quincy.

Quincy Magoo was patterned after several real-life people. It seems the main inspiration for the character was the screen presence of comedian W. C. Fields, though it's claimed the character was the collaborative efforts of the UPA staff who worked on those first films. Mister Magoo was UPA's first popular success and went on to appear in numerous theatrical shorts, full-length movies, TV specials, TV commercials, and three TV series.

Mr Magoo was voiced by actor Jim Backus who died in 1989 . Much of his voice is made up of mublings and ad-libbing parts to give it the reality factor. Backus was best known as millionaire Thurston Howell in the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, and as his voice in animated versions, New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet.

Famous Magoo episodes include 1954 When Magoo Flew and Mr. Magoo's Puddle Jumper from 1956 both winning awards. By Magoo's 1977, he was licensed for a half-hour Saturday morning series, What's New, Magoo?

Other articles on Mr Magoo

Gold Key Comics

1970 series, Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics were a very colourful compilation of Hanna-Barbera characters from the 1970. Each Comic was jam-packed with several stories from all the characters kids loved on TV.



Characters included Dick Dastardly & Muttley, Penelope Pitstop, It's The Wolf stories, Cattanooga Cats, MotorMouse & AutoCat all under the "Fun-In" title. These comics were closely linked to the Whitman version which produced favourites like The Hair Bear Bunch stories. Dick Dastardly & Muttley were generally in there flying machines, though from time to time they appeared in other classic cartoons such as Whacky races in later years along with other favorites such as the Ant Hill mob who originally appeared in the Hooded Claw cartoons. Hanna-Barbera characters were so strong they could mix and appear with each other and it was all part of the thrill as they were so famously recognisable. This is what the Gold Key Comics used to there advantage

Gold Key Comics were incredibly popular as they gave kids a greater insight into there favourite characters life and also were so very colourful.

Do you remember Gold Key Comics?