The practice of sticking googly eyes on inanimate objects is one that I wholeheartedly support - in principle. In practice, the results can be somewhat disappointing. Enter 'Squiggles'.
Sometimes, a bit of fake fur and some googly eyes can conjure up a winsome little character. But Squiggles... is a strip of fake fur with some googly eyes stuck on top.
As a source of fun, the possibilities are extremely limited.
I love your phrase 'undulates gracelessly' -- perfect.
ReplyDeleteSquiggles!! Thank you so much for confirming that I have not lost my mind! I though that was the correct name.
ReplyDeleteJust a couple of days ago I brought a few boxes down from our attic, thinking of all that "stuff" we have that we really, really do not need. When I opened one of the boxes, I was so surprised to find my Squiggle, which is red like the one you have here. Mine no longer has the tag on the underneath. I remember loving it, even though it is not much of a toy, or "pet", or whatever. My 36 yr. old son was here at the time & said "What the heck is that?"
I'm thinking I got this in the early to mid 60s. Do you have any idea if that would be the correct time period?
And, yes, there was lots of "stuff" I didn't need in those boxes, but my Squiggle is a keeper.
Do you mind if I link to this blog post?
Pretty late commenting - but of course these were not fake fur but real sheepskin, dyed. It was a craze in grammar school in the mid-60s, along with troll dolls, yo-yos, tops, marbles etc. I had them in several colors. There were other sort of non-sequitor novelties around that time, but not all of them caught on.
ReplyDeleteThanks tragicgnat. Never too late to comment! I expect you're right about the sheepskin - possibly it just felt more like fake fur after all these years. I don't have Squiggles to hand to check. I have a lot of old toys and collections, and amazingly poor old Squiggles didn't make it into the permanent display, and is languishing in a box. You might appreciate another craze of this era that I blogged about - the gonk http://curiousobject.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/gonks-and-glooks.html
ReplyDeleteI had a white Squiggles. Its wiggly eyes were glued to red felt hearts and it had a red tongue. It was a special Valentines version. Perhaps it was the sheepskin, but my cats carried it around until it finally fell apart. I've discovered that miniature versions made out of fake fur are a huge hit with my current generation of felines.
ReplyDeletePoor old Squiggles is probably a much better toy for cats than it was for humans! Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteI have been wondering what these toys were called that I so vividly remembered from the 60's!!
ReplyDeleteI never owned one, it was a toy that belonged to a playmate of mine, and I loved it!
Would love to own one now...
I wish I still had mine. It was turquoise and adorable!! My old toy chest was given away when my father died and out went Mr. Squiggles. I cannot find one anywhere. It was great seeing this!! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone found a remake of this? I loved mine!
ReplyDeleteCarol it would be super easy to cut a strip of faux fur and hot glue googly eyes to it! Lots of fun!
DeleteMine was made of REAL FUR! And I lived in Southern California in the 60's.
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