A shiny red and white plastic Santa. Waving, riding on a sleigh, or simply standing there – they were all cute back in the middle of the 20th century. They’re very collectible today. The sensational plastic Santa was the delight of the 1950s decade and even much of the 1960s during the Christmas season. The jolly elf of that particular era was produced in a seemingly endless variety by a likewise seemingly endless line of American plastic molders.
Santa – usually no more than three or four inches tall – could be found riding a pair of skis, blowing a horn, standing in a two-wheeled cart, or teamed with assorted numbers of reindeer. The plastic Santa served as a candy container, a table decoration, or even an ornament on the Christmas tree.
It wasn’t until long afterwards did the once lightly regarded plastic figure become a fond memory and a doggone nice reminder of Christmas past.
During the 1980s author Robert Benner suggested in the book Christmas Revisited that Santa figures manufactured from plastic during the 1950s and 1960s were thus far “totally unexplored” as a holiday collectible. Brenner, who would go on to write volumes on vintage Christmas treasures, foretold at that early date: “These plastic Santa figures will become more attractive as individuals realize the rarity of these items due to the times.”
Plastic toy novelties, including variations of Santa, were made in great numbers by American firms as the newness of the process traveled from plant to plant. But being inexpensive and in abundance, relatively few were saved away.
There was tinkering with forms of plastic during the 1930s, but most historians agree that it was the technology developed during World War n that made the process available commercially in the latter 1940s.
So-called styrene molding allowed for the production of brightly colored hard plastic toys and other novelties in the years that followed.
“The new material was easily molded and colored,” noted Lissa and Dick Smith in the book Christmas Collectibles, “consequently any pose was now possible and could be mass-produced. The Santa market was forever altered.”
Taking advantage of that ‘altered’ market were companies like Irwin Plastic Corporation, Knickerbocker Plastic Company, Reliable Plastics, Plaxal Inc., Modem Mittex Corp., M. Pressner and Company. N. E. Plastic Company, Rabar Plastics, and the very prolific E. Rosen Candy and Tico Toys.
Some of the E. Rosen creations of the late 1940s had Santa going down the chimney or riding a motorcycle. Red plastic was dominant but some examples incorporated green plastic for contrasting wheels or other accessories.
By the early 1950s the Rosen company was offered boxed sets of plastic toys around the Christmas holiday season. The box of Four Beautiful Plastic Toys included a red plastic Santa, a snowman, hobby horse, and a Santa boot. The “with pops” on the side of the box assured each container would be filled with lollipops. A variation was Santa’s Five Star Candy Special, also boxed. Also from Rosen it included “a jolly skater,” Santa’s helper on wheels (basically Santa in a blue coat instead of the traditional red), Jolly Saint Nick riding a sleigh, and finally Santa on snowshoes.
A number of leading mail-order catalogs of the 1950s, including Sears, also offered individual and boxed groupings of plastic Santa figures. One 15-inch boxed set from Sears included a candy container Santa and eight reindeer.
Additionally Santa was offered with other varying numbers of reindeer pulling his plastic sleigh. Santa also rode assorted vehicles from carts to wagons.
Still another variation, also produced by Rosen, involved a plastic Santa as a Christmas tree ornament. Sometimes called the Tool Santa series these four-inch plus figures were shown with an array of tools. One might be holding an axe, another a hammer, another a shovel, and so forth. Moreover such Santa figures might be clad in blue, green, purple, yellow or red outfits.
At times the Tool Santa was produced individually attached to a wheeled platform and thus became a pull-toy rather than an ornament.
Combinations of the plastic Santa and the sleigh or other elements might be titled Special Candy Wagon. Others might include a holiday greeting such as, A Very Merry Christmas Greeting to You. But most offerings presented without salutations.
There were occasionally larger plastic Santa figures as well.
The King Santa Bank Lite stood more than seven inches tall. During the 1950s the boxed light was manufactured by Harett-Gilmar Inc. of New York. Hard plastic Roly Poly Santa figures were produced by Kiddie Products Inc. and others. These oversized figures were four to five inches tall with round-rolling bases. Most came with a bell inside.
Going into the 1960s there were at times even more elaborate takes on the basic plastic Santa. In one version a lever moved the Santa figure up and down, and in another the figure came with a suction allowing it to be attached to a window or other glass surface. Still another drove a plastic automobile with the message, Here I Come, along the side.
Mickey Mouse dressed as Santa appeared as a 15-inch molded vinyl lamp in the 1960s authorized by Walt Disney Productions.
The oddly spelled Surprize Santa appeared in the marketplace during that decade from M. Pressner and Company. The package offered a “special surprise inside Santa’s back” and assured the three and a half inch red plastic Santa would serve as a tree trim, table decoration, or stocking stuffer.
More and more plastic Santa figures were being manufactured in places other than The United States as the 1960s evolved. Many basic figures were made in Hong Kong and marked accordingly. Friction-powered plastic Santa figures also came from Hong Kong, while versions of plastic Santa on a metal bike were made in Japan.
While there were some complaints in the 1950s and 1960s that certain hard plastic items tended to shatter when mishandled, they were in fact much more durable that previous Christmas items of paper, glass, or combinations of cotton and other materials.
Recommended reading: Holiday Plastic Novelties, The Styrene Toys by Charlene Pinkerton (Schiffer Publishing).
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