Friday, June 26, 2020

McDonald's Memories

The 1970's were the golden age of fast food, and the toys of the era reflect that.  From Pizza Hut playsets and ovens to Pepsi fountains to Kentucky Fried Chicken playsets.

But the fast food king is, and has always been, McDonald's.  As a child, we went so infrequently, to me, it was a magical experience when we did.  One Christmas in the early '70's, my cousin received a Playskool McDonald's playset. I was so envious.  I recently came across some home movie footage of my aunt handing it to my cousin.


Then years later, I found one at an estate sale.  It was still magical.

I love the era-correct uniforms on the little cooks and cashier.



It came with the famous "Billions Served" sign, a merry-go-round and cars.  My set was missing the base for the sign which included a picnic table.

I'll take a burger, fry and a chocolate shake. Oh, and a fried cherry pie.
 




Of course there's a shrine to the man, er, clown himself, Ronald.

I like that they included Rest Rooms.  Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to relieve yourself against the wall.

I don't recall outside tray returns, but they may have had them when there was outside dining.




As I said, it did include a merry-go-round to emulate the then outside playground McDonald's had before they went to the inside hampster tubes.  It would have been cool if they had included replicas of the actual McDonald's playgrounds of that era.

McDonald's didn't get a drive-thru until 1975, so this playset pre-dates that.  These cars were strictly for pretending to drive to and from the restaurant.

There was a brief period in my teenage years when I had my first job and first car that I ate at McDonald's fairly regularly.  That dropped off significantly in later years and I only find myself there a couple times a year when we're on the road.

8 comments:

  1. As a child we ate McDonalds infrequently like you and yes, I thought it was such a treat. How times of changed! I have not eaten it for years.

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    1. Not sure if the food has changed or I have, but I do still like their fries.

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  2. Ahhh! I had one of these! Does the cash register on your set still "ding" when you press it?

    Did you ever get any of their coloring calendars they sold at the end of the year? They had detachable coupons for each month. Like you, we didn't go all that often, but the coupons provided a good excuse to stop by.

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    1. The cash register does still ding. I don't recall the calendars. I do remember the gift booklets. Occasionally, a family, friend or teacher would give me one of them (good for one hamburger or one order of fries or something like that), but I don't recall ever getting to use them.

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  3. I like the square versions of Fisher-Price Little People...But their facial expressions strike me as malevolent! Are they about to throw McNuggets at me?

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    1. You don't want to know what they did in the pickle barrel.

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  4. wow, i don't remember old-school Playschool figures being so blocky. i totally remember this set, though. the outside tray return is great, as is the inclusion of restrooms -- back when they were outside, like a gas station, haha.

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    1. At least the real McDonald's had toilets.

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