Meet the TV-land favourites 

22 December 2016 tbs.pm/10290

From Look Westward magazine for 13-19 December 1964

It’s as though Gus Honeybun, Huckleberry Hound, Noddy, Bugs Bunny and all the other favourites had wandered out of TV-land and settled in your child’s playroom!

For many of the best-known TV characters are available as toys this Christmas.

They come in all shapes, sizes and. most important, prices from 1s. 3d. to 49s. 11d. So join me on a shopping spree.

By the way every product I mention is perfectly safe, perfectly hygienic, and all are especially good value.

Let’s begin with those items which could come in so useful if time hangs on your children’s hands during Boxing Day – or, indeed, during wet holidays throughout the year.

Ingenious is Bugs Bunny Twist A Ball. Players have to get a marble from the top of the board to the bottom without letting it fall from plastic channels manipulated with a specially provided button. Price: around 12s. 6d. [£12 in 2016’s money – Ed]

Or your children can play Yogi Bear Swingtime Bagatelle. The plastic-covered board is decorated in a rainbow range of colours. Colourful, time-absorbing, and 6s 11d. [£6.50]

Similar is the Fireball XL5 Bagatelle in which each scoring compartment is represented by one of the characters in this popular series. A ball landing in the Steve Zodiac compartment scores 50 points. Land right in the middle of the XL5 rocket itself and there’s 200 to add to your score. (6s. 11d.)

Another game worth considering is the Supercar Quoit Board. It’s made of hardboard with thirteen hooks and is supplied with 5 rubber rings. 15s. 11d. [£15]

The Wells Fargo Shooting Game provides a very handsome (but harmless) pop gun. Four Indian targets come in gay coloured plastic. (15s. 11d.)

Looking for more time-absorbers? Give your child eight bits of plasticine and tell him, with the help of instructions, to make Mickey Mouse out of them. You won’t get a peep out of junior for hours. A splendid invention for distracted mums! (1s. 6d.) [£1.50]

The glutton for plasticine punishment should receive Mickey Mouse Moulds in which there are instructions on how to make, not only Mickey, but six of his pals as well. (5s. 11d.) [£5.50]

Calling all Supercar and Fireball fans – the range of toys will thrill every juvenile addict. Duck while your child makes the Fireball XL5 Spaceship whizz across your living-room. Marvel as the cunningly concealed gadget is released which enables Steve Zodiac to bale out by parachute. A neat precision toy. (9s. 11d.) [£9.50]

Gus Honeybun, as a cuddly toy, is on sale locally this Christmas. It’s an ideal present at 39s. 11d. for tiny Westward fans

But the Space Patrol Rocket which whizzes at supersonic speed through the air is definitely an out-of-doors toy (6s. 11d.)

Fans – male or female — of Venus, the Fireball puppet can have a model of her all to themselves. She comes complete with strings and cross-bar. Cost: 34s. [£32]

Have-your-own-show-at-home department: Give your Bugs Bunny child fans an extra thrill with the Bugs Bunny projector which comes with a whole selection of slides telling entirely new adventures of Bugs, Sylvester and Tweelie. It costs 29s. 6d. [£28]

Meet the Flintstones! Pebbles, infant daughter of stone-age couple Fred and Wilma, is well-known to all Flintstones followers. She stands 14 inches high with fully jointed arms and legs and movable tilting head. She’s a marvel, and costs 49s. 11d. [£47]

For the smaller TV fan: Cute, tiny models of all the favourites including Barney and Betty Rubble. Stand them on a steep incline and they’ll walk, or, rather, waddle. Automatic choice for toddlers. They’ll fit comfortably into the stocking. From 1s. 3d. [£1.20]