DARKER THAN THE AVERAGE BEAR...

When I was around 5 or 6, my mother one day bought

me a YOGI & HUCK ramp walker (made by MARX TOYS)

from WOOLWORTH's.  If you placed it at the top of an incline,

it would toddle down to the bottom in a hypnotically comical way.

It had a loop on the front through which a weighted cord could be

tied, allowing the toy to walk on flat surfaces too.  If you hung the

weight over the edge of a table or ledge, it gently pulled the toy

along as the cord descended to the floor.  (Later versions

were released without the loop at the front.)

The toy you see in the above photo is a replacement I

acquired over 20 years ago.  I stripped off what remained

of the original paint and completely repainted it - to a higher

standard than when it left its Hong Kong factory in the '60s.  I

used medium brown for Yogi, who has has worn many shades

of the colour in various incarnations over the years, but my

original toy had such a dark shade of brown that I often

used to wonder as a lad if it was black.

Over the years I sometimes wondered if my memory

was accurate about the colour, but recently I saw one for

sale on eBay which was of the exact same colour as the one

I had as a boy.  I trust the seller won't mind me using two of his

pics to show you what my original looked like, in comparison to

its replacement acquired back in the '90s.  Most other versions

of the toy I've seen (and I now have 5 of them) have been of

the medium brown variety, but Marx toys always had vari-

ations in the colour schemes.  Maybe one day I'll buy

a darker one to complete the set.

(Or repaint one of the toys I already have.)

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