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Little People

History

Original Little People

"Safety School Bus" 1959

Little People started in 1950 with the "Looky Fire Truck" and three round-headed fire men (attached permanently to the toy). Following the success of this toy, in 1952 and 1953 Fisher-Price developed the "Super-Jet" and "Racing Rowboat".

Another early Little People precursor, the "Safety School Bus", was introduced in 1959. The set included a school bus together with six independent figures made out of tall skinny pegs of cardboard tubes wrapped in lithographs simulating clothes. The toy gained instant popularity and other sets soon came out.

"Snorky the Fire Engine" 1960

Little People Play Family

In 1960, Fisher-Price introduced two additional toys with removable figures; "Snorky the Fire Engine" and the "Nifty Station Wagon". The Nifty Station Wagon came with two adult figures and one child figure, thus the first "Play Family" was born. Today, the Play Family name is still used throughout Europe instead of the name "Little People". A Nifty Station Wagon in mint condition, in the box, could command up to $600 among toy collectors.

"Original Little People" figures

Body Style Variations

The original Little People went through six major styles of body (base) configurations, and even within each major classification there may be one or more minor style variations. By 1961, the figures were produced with wood; plastic was used for their vehicles and buildings. A few years later, the typical happy face of the traditional Little People debuted in a "straight-body" format. All of the people had a basic cylinder body with the female figures only identifiable by the addition of slanted, oval eyes and eyelashes. By 1965, the Little People consisted of a small cylindrical base and a wider cylinder shape for boys and men and a conical upper shape for the girls. Adult women had a kind of hourglass-shaped upper body.

Little People Playsets

In 1968, Fisher-Price introduced the first Little People playset, the famous Play Family Barn with barn doors that made a "moo" sound when opened. Also at this time, the figures were made with plastic bodies instead of wood. Eventually, the toys encompassed a wide range of playsets, furniture packs, and accessory packs.

In the middle 1970s, Fisher-Price produced the Sesame Street town, with various Sesame Street stores, a bridge with stop lights and Sesame Street characters such as Bert, Ernie, and the only Little People toys that have been modeled after celebrities -- Loretta Long (Susan), Roscoe Orman (Gordon) and Will Lee (Mr. Hooper). Soon after, the Little People Discovery Airport, a hospital and a school would also be released. Little People characters had by then been also produced with plastic products exclusively.

Chunky Little People

In 1991, the Original Little People figures were redesigned for younger children. They were made "chunkier", were more bright and colorful, and were designed so that they could activate motion within the play sets. Most people believe that these figures were developed as a replacement for the original Little People due to the increasing concerns and pressures from parents and consumer-advocacy groups for safer toy designs. A book published in 1986 by Edward Swartz titled Toys That Kill prominently featured a trio of original Little People figures on the cover. After Fisher-Price was bought by Mattel in the 1990s, Little People reappeared on the markets, their figure significantly larger in size from the original Little People characters due to revised toy safety guidelines. These figures are called "chunky" by collectors.

Articulated Little People

In 1997, the figures underwent another redesign. Little People became much more detailed and smaller in overall size in fact, closer in size to the original Little People. For the first time, the Little People figures had arms, hands, more detailed clothing, molded hair and facial features.

In 1999, Little People celebrated their 40th birthday with the reintroduction of the first Little People toy ever: Little People School Bus and characters. The play sets include the school bus, circus train, construction vehicles and other play sets.

In 2000, Little People toys became even more lifelike with the introduction of electronic sounds and movement. The Little People characters were given their own distinct personalities and voices in a series of claymation video and DVD series, with Aaron Neville singing the theme song.

Sources

This Old Toy's Original "Little People History"

Behold the Little People - The Life and Death of America's Favorite Play Family by Mark Simple, in X magazine #7, July 1991)

History of Mattel

Fisher-Price Little People at Retroland

^ Tricia Cruz (2009-03-27). "Celebrating 50 years of "Little People"". WIVB.com. http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/fifty_years_of_little_people_090327. 

External links

Official Little People Website

Little People TV show website on Treehouse TV

Little People Kid Clubhouse Games & Activities

Interview with Bob Jourdian, Director of Product Development at Fisher Price about the history and evolution of the Little People.

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Categories: Fisher-Price
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