Rigbee’s Bargain Town Toy Ad – Dec. 5, 1968

Rigbee’s Bargain Town U.S.A. has shown up on this blog a few times over the years.

The Lorain store  – which also advertised under the name Rigbee’s Kiddieland – had roots dating back to the 1920s to an Elyria auto supply company (which I discussed here). The Elyria store later added hardware and toys, which proved so popular that a store in Lorain focusing on baby toys and furniture was added in the 1950s.

Above is a Christmas-themed ad for the Downtown Lorain store that ran in the Lorain Journal on Dec. 5, 1968 – fifty years ago yesterday.

There’s all sorts of fun items in the ad. Most interesting to me is the choice of the Remco Tricky Tommy Turtle or Tricky Doodle Duck for $7.96 (roughly $57.84 in today’s wampum).

The gimmick was that you could summon either of the two creatures with a tweet of a special whistle.

Tricky Tommy Turtle looks cute with his red hair and freckles.

And I like the Hanna-Barbera-ish collar and tie that Tricky Doodle Duck is wearing.

Courtesy vintagedollrepair.weebly.com

I’m not sure how I would react, though, if I was a kid and the whistle failed to stop Doodle Duck when he was coming right at me in full feathery fury. This is the stuff nightmares are made of (below).

Don’t believe me? Take a goosey gander at this video to see the malevolent mallard in action.

That Doodle Duck needed a helping hand to get rolling. Here’s one (below) that actually responds to the whistle.

Perhaps a better choice of gift for an easily rattled tyke would be the Rocky Bear Platform Rocker – although how much fun could you have with a chair?

Courtesy Worthpoint.com

Anyway, many of the other toys in the 1968 Rigbee ad are fairly easy to find today in good condition on Ebay or Worthpoint.com, proving that Baby Boomers are reluctant to get rid of their toys.