A Bargain Christmas

For parents pouring through the festooned toylands of the U.S. last week--and caching away their finds on high closet shelves--the shopping had seldom been easier on the budget, or the variety of toys greater. Toys were bigger, more complex, better made and, believe it or not they were cheaper. Manufacturers' retail prices were a catalogue fiction; price-cutting was the fact everywhere.

Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward 3 selling toys 30% to 40% off. Manhattan's Macys, was moving bestselling new toys below cost. Even venerable F.A.O. Schwartz, "Tiffany of the Toy World," was discounting for the first time in 98 years, had marked some lines down 30%. Surprisingly enough, it was the best toys that often carried the biggest markdowns, e.g., Marx's sturdy, battery-powered go-kart, list-priced at $30 sells for as low as $15. Says the Toy Guidance Council's Melvin Freud: "The retail discounting has stretched the toy dollar 25%. Toys are the biggest bargain in the stores this Christmas."

Though trains and dolls are still selling strong, some past Christmas favorites are lading The junior cowboy is riding off into the sunset. With the exception of ideal's hot-selling Astro Base, which simulates a landing on the moon, space-age toys are far out. Not science fiction but science do-it-yourself kits, which may baffle father but delight junior, are now the big sellers. Science Kit Maker A. C. Gilbert says that do-it-yourself kits have jumped from 1/3 to 2/3 of Gilbert's total sales, with sales of astronomy kits alone up 25% over sales last year. Even babies can now get science right from the start: new, eye-catching mobiles, usually fluttery birds or butterflies, designed for cradles, have been given a scientific touch by Science Materials Center with its Whirling Worlds. Its mobiles depict the solar system, with the planets and sun all in relative proportion.

Another emphasis this year is on realism, from talking dolls with a vocabulary bigger than some of the little girls who will cradle them to Aurora's 1960-model electric-powered cars. Scaled down to 2 in. in length, the cars can be raced around a miniature track, need a deft touch on the controls to keep them from flipping over. Gilbert makes a bigger, stock-car racing set. Sales of multi-detailed plastic hobby kits are burgeoning, enable boys and girls to produce in miniature everything from auto engines to a transparent Visible Woman, complete with interchangeable parts for pregnancy.

Among this year's new, bestselling toys: P:Chatty Cathy, a 20-in., blue-eyed, freckle-faced doll that talks, made by Mattel. When a string on Cathy's back is pulled, she can say "Will you play with me? "Tell me a story," "PIease brush my hair," "I love you," or any of eleven different sentences in random sequence. List price: $18.

P:Mr. Machine, made by Ideal, a windup, clear-plastic robot that walks swinging his arms, opening and closing his mouth, emitting a burping siren and ringing a bell. His innards are not only visible but can be taken apart. List price: $12.

P:The Fighting Lady, Remco's 3-ft.-long battleship, a realistic battery-powered model that fires shells and ejects their casings, also can catapult a plane from the rear deck, has a separate launch carrying a seven-man assault force. List price: $12.98.

P:A giant bulldozer, made by Louis Marx, weighing 7 Ibs. The bulldozer has two separate battery-powered motors, climbs 50DEG grades, can actually pull 200 Ibs. List price: $15.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.