—From “Christmas and Freud” by David Moller, in the December 7, 1963, issue of The Saturday Evening Post
Since becoming president of the formerly boy-oriented A.C. Gilbert Company, William L. Quinlan Jr. has drawn a bead on this rich market. “Let’s face it,” he says, “a little girl’s future problems are men, and she should be taught how to face and fight them.” He concluded that the most useful and profitable thing for Gilbert to do was to “teach young girls the skills and crafts needed to be good mothers and housewives.” The company has recently introduced My Mixer, which will teach youngsters the culinary rudiments — sample menus: Bunny’s Secret Salad, Peachy Mousse, and Lime Delight — and a miniature version of the Singer electric sewing machine.
This article is featured in the November/December 2023 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.
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Comments
I read the entire 1963 article, but the thing that resonated with me was how television over-promised how “wonderful” the toy in question was, not living up to the naive child’s expectations, more often than not.
Fairly or not, the ads did what they were intended to do: sell the hell out of the products. Disappointed, upset children were/are just ‘collateral damage’ in the cost of doing business.