Mr. Claus Reports

Businessman Santa Claus had both good & bad news in his reports to small-fry customers last week. Now at the peak of its pre-Christmas hustle, the toy industry is shipping a greater variety of playthings than it has turned out since 1941. On retail toy shelves there is many an eye-catching new number, and rubber and metal toys not seen in any quantity in five years. The bad news is that prices are higher (about 10%) and the supply of some items, such as electric trains and dolls, is far short of demand. (One big store estimated that it would run out of trains by Thanksgiving.)

The toy industry was late getting into big production because retailers delayed orders last spring, waiting for lower prices which never came. When the orders finally began pouring in, toy manufacturers, like everyone else, were slowed up by shortages of materials. As a result, the industry has scant hope of bettering its last year's gross of $250 million.

But if quantity is short, quality is a lot better. There would not be much of the junk that cluttered up counters during the war. Some of the newer gadgets are precision jobs. Samples: a dump truck with a hydraulic lift; a scale model of a concrete mixer that pours real cement out of a hand-operated drain.

Germany has sent over some sleek hand-sized cars, some with gear shifts and brakes, and others with remote-control steering. But they are scarce; foreign toy imports so far this year have been less than $1,000,000. Trickiest U.S. model: an aluminum racer that runs more than 15 m.p.h. on compressed air.

The supply of dolls is 15% under last year. Reason: thousands of composition dolls were ruined in plants last summer; the high humidity prevented the composition from setting. But there are several new dolls. One has a face which can be made to resemble any child's (or adult's) by means of a color photograph reproduced on cloth.

For the musical child, there is a picture-drum phonograph for as low as $9.44. For railroaders, Lionel has a remote-control milkman who delivers cans from a car. For builders, there is a construction set whose aluminum rods and plates can be clipped together into towers, windmills, etc. The carriage-trade ultimate is a British import: a $54.50 horse whose springs, under the weight of the body, will buck and carry a rider across a room.

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