A Popeye and Peanuts Christmas – 1959

Here's wishing all of my readers and fellow local history buffs a most Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! After all the activity here for the last few weeks, I'll be taking a much-needed break from blogging between now and New Year's Eve.

In the meantime, here are a couple of memories from Christmas 1959 direct from the Brady photo album.

Above is a shot of my older brother and sister (sorry Ed, you weren't born yet) and me on Christmas Day 1959. I'm holding a Popeye toy while my Charlie Brown Hungerford doll stands guard. (By George, I'm beginning to understand my preoccupation with cartoons and comics – it started when I was less than a year old!)

Below is my older brother and his Popeye Punch-Me bag. I remember playing with that thing in our basement, (although I was reluctant to punch a character that I liked).

By 1959, the theatrical Popeye cartoons had been shown on television for a year or two, and thus the spinach-eating sailor had enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. I'm sure that's why we received Popeye toys that Christmas.

That particular style of Popeye punching bag toy is hard to find. I did locate one shot of it online (below). 

As for my Popeye toy, it seems to be even harder to locate a photo of it on the internet. I did find a 1950s Popeye squeeze toy on Ebay that seems to match up color-wise (the yellow pipe, can of green spinach and blue pants) with what I yam holding. It looks like Popeye has a five o'clock shadow.

The Charlie Brown Hungerford doll (below) is much easier to find. It seems to show up on Ebay frequently, as well as the Hungerford dolls of the other Peanuts characters.

The Peanuts dolls came in two sizes, one just slightly smaller than the other, and it is difficult to assemble a full set.

Courtesy WorthPoint