Sentimental Journey

[Monte Davis]

Robby Robot, a completely pre-digital gray & red plastic robot about 18
inches tall. A wire-wound cable led to a pistol-shaped grip with a crank
that drove his wheels, and (I think) a trigger that caused him to turn as
he rolled. As he proceeded, his battery-powered eyes blinked and he chanted
scratchily: "I am Robby Robot, mech-an-i-cal man/ Drive me and steer me
wher-ev-er you can."

Bill Ding blocks: primary colors -- mesomorphic, slab-sided wooden men with
little interlocking notches in the feet, arms and shoulders that let you
assemble them into gravity-defying acrobatic stacks.

And a three-hundred-umpty-leven-piece circus set, cheesy molded plastic
figurines, that I rememeber as even more fun than the real thing, except it
didn't include any cotton candy to get stuck on my chin.