ter.ri.to.ri.al.i.ty n. The behavior of a male animal that defines and defends its territory. cu.ra.to.ri.al.i.ty™ n. The behavior of a curator that defines and defends his collection and its history.
REVOLUTION: 1961-1970
We’re starting to reach eras that many of us actually experienced firsthand, so I’m not going to belabor the 25-cent history tour of the 1960s. Suffice it to say the warm and fuzzy domestic America of the 1950s — or at least the version we see in all those old “duck and cover” film shorts — received quite a revolutionary jolt in the form of a societal sea change that would open whole new realms of pop culture. It’s the Sixties, man… can you dig it?
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Our centerpiece for this room is Batman, a character that was introduced two decades earlier but arguably reached a popularity high point through the success of the eponymous campy 1966-1968 TV series. Granted, the imposing fellow you see standing guard in this room is definitely not representative of Adam West’s paunchy portrayal, but he does capture the Neal Adams-illustrated version of the character that redefined the Dark Knight in the wake of the TV show’s pop psychedelia. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
But while Batman and the DC mythos were still going strong, another legendary pantheon of superheroes emerged in the 1960s. While the Marvel Comics characters had not yet infiltrated the public consciousness enough to become ubiquitous icons in their first few years of life, there were still some toys and tie-ins to be found. Perhaps my favorite item in our Sixties superheroes display is a genuine, accept-no-substitutes “No Prize” envelope. And for the story behind that, I need to slip into Stan-Speak™…
Y’see bunky, back in the old days, Stan and Co. used to get a lot of letters from fans pointing out continuity problems or mistakes in the plots of their favorite Marvel mags. So Ye Olde Editors turned the tables on those eager missive scribblers and charged them with not only pointing out an error but explaining it themselves! Fans who did so with style would receive a special award – a “No Prize” mailed right to their home! The printed envelope was actually empty (except for that solid gold pin rendered transparent by the Invisible Girl herself), but ah, what a treasure that envelope would become as the years passed and the halcyon days of the Marvel Age receded further into the…sorry, it’s hard to shake that Excelsiorific approach to hyperbolic writing. Moving on…
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This gallery also showcases one of the items we’re proudest to feature at the museum — the original, one-of-a-kind, hand-carved and hand-painted prototype G.I. Joe figure created by Hasbro’s Don Levine in 1963. While markedly different from his mass-produced plastic cousins, the original Joe was the template upon which the toy line was based. He’s joined in this display by some of the early Joe dol…sorry, figures (mustn’t use the “D” word), including the 1965 African-American Joe that was initially marketed only to the northern states.
Besides Joe, you’ll meet Barbie and her friends, the Flintstones clan, and even the intrepid explorers from the U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. Just like the Marvel characters, the Starfleet adventurers were hardly iconic figures at this point – some of the earliest Trek toys weren’t even accurate to the series at all, but merely repurposed plastic guns with hastily applied logos for a quick cash-in on the show’s visibility. And if you’re talking toy weapons, look no further than an item that will surely shock many modern museum-goers — the realistically colored Pez-firing pistol. Yes folks, we were encouraging children to fire tasty pellets of hard candy into their mouths with a gun. Ah, the innocence of youth.
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But while G.I. Joe and Pez took up arms, folks here and in the UK grabbed guitars and sang songs of brotherhood and peace. From the arrival of the Beatles on our shores at the beginning of the decade to the festivals that ended it, the 1960s were a time of revolutionary music that defined a generation. While the tunes tripped through transistor radios, though, a Cold War fought by secret agents and subterfuge raged in the shadows. Our tribute to all those Sixties spies — James Bond, the Man (and Girl) from U.N.C.L.E., Honey West, Harry Palmer, even Maxwell Smart — features items from television, film and even one-off oddities like the frankly disturbing SixFinger, a plastic finger-shaped gun with a variety of tiny projectiles. But I ask you — a board game based on the Michael Caine vehicle, The Ipcress File? Who gave that one the go-ahead at Milton Bradley?
Next time, the pop culture universe expands as a galactic phenomenon enthralls a generation and a saga from a long, long time ago ushers in a new age of entertainment and mass marketing. Join us and we will rule this pop culture empire, side-by-side!
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This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.
