Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1764

Remembrances of an Old Codger: Department Store Christmases

I grew up in an age when the department store was a dominant downtown institution and not the anchor of a large mall. Most local department stores were family owned, even in large cities. If a branch existed, it was in a neighboring town.

Macy’s expanded by acquiring other department stores such as O’Connor Moffat & Company in 1945. It became Macy’s San Francisco in 1947. It was not until the 1960s that Macy’s began building “new” Macy’s in New York City. J. L. Hudson’s first suburban Detroit store was opened in March 1954.

My family lived with my mother’s parents William and Elsie Prosser, from 1946 to the fall of 1948 before we moved to the family homestead at 55 West Depot Street in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. The Lehigh Valley Transit System, the local trolley line, connected Hellertown with Bethlehem and Allentown. My father preferred to drive when he needed to go somewhere. I enjoyed taking the trolley, especially if the adventure extended as far as Allentown. I will save my “ride the trolley” stories for another time.

Hellertown is 57 miles from downtown Philadelphia and 91 miles from downtown New York City. Although inconsequential distances in the 21st century thanks to the PA Turnpike and Interstate highways, they were formidable distances in 1948. I have no memories of visiting New York City or Philadelphia until my late teenage years. My early childhood focused on life in the Greater Lehigh Valley, the exception being family and scouting trips to Gettysburg and Harrisburg.

My department store Christmas memories are centered on Bush & Bull in Bethlehem, which did have a branch in Easton, and Hess’s, Leh’s, and Zollinger’s in Allentown. They were not big department stores. Bush & Bull in Bethlehem had a basement and three floors. Hess’s dominated the corner of Ninth and Hamilton streets. An eight-story annex was added in 1927. Hess’s was a BIG department store to a child who had never been to a “Big City” department store.

Some additional information is needed before discussing how these local department stores approached the Christmas sales season. As a young child I had a foot in two very different time periods. The first was the pre-television era. I was privileged to experience the end of the Golden Age of Radio, the Golden Age of Weekly Family Magazines, and an era when large city newspapers had a morning and and evening edition. These impacted how a youngster evaluated the prospects regarding what he/she might find under the family Christmas tree on the morning of December 25. Radio advertising focused primarily on product advertising and promotional giveaways or coupon/label redemption. If seasonal toys were advertised, I do not remember it. My family subscribed to “Collier’s,” “Life,” “Look,” and “The Saturday Evening Post,” a result of aggressive magazine fund-raising campaigns by local clubs, high school, and scouting organizations. Seasonal advertising focused more on household goods than toys. Newspaper department store seasonal advertising was the best source of information about Christmas toys.

Life changed when the Raudenbush family acquired the first television set on West Depot Street in 1949. Their home quickly became a mecca for every youngster between 7 and 10. By 1950, the remaining parents of the West Depot Street youngsters had succumbed to pressure and purchased their own television sets. My family’s Philco, a table top model with matching stand, arrived in 1950.

Memory is an odd thing. We remember so many things long before or after they actually occurred. Early children’s television shows were a golden advertising opportunity for toy manufacturers. I ate Welch’s grape jelly thanks to the Howdy Doody show. I coveted Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia because he was my favorite television cowboy hero. I assumed I was heavily influenced by advertisements for his licensed products. Not true. Television toy advertising did not begin in earnest until the mid-1950s.

[QUESTION: What was the first toy advertised on national television and when did it air?]

In my youth, a department store Christmas consisted of four major elements: (1) holiday-themed window displays, (2) holiday store decorations, (3) Toy Land, and (4) a visit with Santa Claus. In mid-November, the ground level department store windows were covered with thick brown paper as the department store window decorators or outside firms transformed the space behind the windows in scenes of winter enchantment. The theme changed every year. Occasionally elements from previous years were upgraded and reused but always in a new context so the average viewer did not make the past connection.

The department store Christmas celebration began the Friday following Thanksgiving during my youth. The Christmas shopping season determined by the date of Thanksgiving varied in length. Department store owners were always thankful when Thanksgiving arrived early.

Halloween was a child’s secular holiday. Thanksgiving was family oriented. Christmas joined friends and family in a joyous combined religious/secular holiday season.

The unveiling of the Christmas windows coincided with the arrival of Santa Claus and the opening of Toy Land. Hess’s prided itself on keeping up with the times. Santa arrived by helicopter, parachute, and flying saucer. Once on site, Santa settled into “Santa’s Workshop” where he greeted his young admirers.

Department stores maintained a small toy section as a service to parents whose children were born between March and the end of October. Those born in January and February benefited from birthday gifts that were purchased in the previous December and set aside until needed.

In mid-November, most department stores barricaded off a section of one of the floors or an entire floor that was “off-limits” to customers. The existing merchandise was removed and a Christmas Toy Land constructed. Toy Land was magical. Shelf after shelf was stocked with the latest toys, the result of orders placed at the February New York Toy Fair and other spring toy fairs, calls by manufacturer’s representatives, and extensive research of licensed products. Most Toy Lands were organized by toy type, for example, boys vs. girl toys, games, puzzles, riding toys, trains, and more.

Toy Land opened with the arrival of Santa. Most children, of which I was one, felt it imperative that Toy Land was best visited within the first week of opening. Youngsters scurried about making lists. Parent pressuring began on the trip home.

In larger cities, Toy Land contained special features such as an elevated toy train layout or a child’s ride in a car, rocket, or space ship on a track that often was elevated. Herpolsheimer’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan, operated the Santa Express, a miniature monorail train, that took youngsters past the window display.

A visit to Santa Claus always resulted in a gift. A candy cane or other type of candy was considered a copout. The goal was a Christmas holiday book or coloring book. Many featured a Santa Claus story. I did a “Department Store Christmas Giveaway Books” search on WorthPoint.com for a trip down Nostalgia Lane. Although the majority of giveaway books dated from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, I found examples dating back to the early 1900s. J. L. Hudson’s “Christmas Eve in ToyTown” was a 1930s giveaway. I also discovered a wide variety of department store Santa Claus and other holiday themed pinbacks. For a brief moment, I considered starting a collection of ToyTown giveaway items – just for a brief moment.

My parents visited the local department stores to see the elaborate interior holiday displays. Hess’s was especially noted for its use of flowers in its decorative schemes. Decorations often varied from department to department.

The department store expansion of the 1960s, the consolidations of the 1980s through the 2000s, and the growing dominance of the suburban malls, brought an end to the dominance of the downtown department store. Every store I remember as a youth is gone, but, of course, not forgotten.

On a final note, the department store was not the only source for Christmas gifts in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This was the Golden Age of the Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalogs. Every merchant stamp redemption catalog featured multiple pages of toys and dolls, many of which were licensed products rather than generic toys. Local hardware stores, drug stores, and gas stations sold toys, often requiring customers to select merchandise from a wholesaler catalog, place an order, and return to pick it up in time for Christmas.

I would like you to share your department store Christmas memories with me. Email them to harrylrinker@aol.com. Assuming I receive enough, I will use them in a 2021 Rinker on Collectibles holiday column.

[QUESTION ANSWER: Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television. The advertisement ran in 1952. I received one for Christmas that year.]

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Selected letters will be answered in this column. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

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