Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970 [Hardcover]

Susan Waggoner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Filled with more than 100 illustrations—nostalgic art, vintage photographs, and evocative advertisements

When? Can’t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting—and wondering. What’s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree?

Who doesn’t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn’t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can’t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang’s It’s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was.

Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore—all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who’s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

SUSAN WAGGONER has written numerous fiction and nonfiction books. She is the author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang’s Classic Household Hints and, with Robert Markel, Make Mine Vodka, Cocktail Hour, Vintage Cocktails, and It’s a Wonderful Christmas. She lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584796413
• ISBN-13: 978-1584796411
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A rather small bag of Santa's goodies, October 27, 2007

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970 (Hardcover)

'Under the Tree' is Susan Waggoner's second dip into the festive market. I thought her previous book: 'It's a Wonderful Christmas' was much better because it covered the overall Christmas experience rather than just toys. The text in this latest book is a rather generalized historical view of toys and the magic of seeing them all under the tree on the twenty-fifth. What gives the copy a lift are the frequent Santa's Shopping List panels throughout the book. These list toys with a brief description and the prices and just wait until you see some of those prices. For twenty bucks you could get a pretty good train set in 1954 or a Radio Flyer wagon for $7.29 in 1950 or how about, in 1947, a Betsy Wetsy sixteen inches tall doll for Sis at $8.79.

Nostalgic as all this might be I thought the real disappointment was the picture content and the design. Most of images are bits of pages from mail order catalogs showing generic toys and many of them have been reproduced too small and badly cropped making them look rather like something just to fill some page space. Overall I thought the picture content very poor. There are a couple of whole page ads included, Schwinn bikes and Brach's candy, and they really stand out from the other pictures. It would have made the book much more interesting if there were lots more festive toy ads from the past. None of this is helped by the bland page design which is the same as Waggoner's 'It's a Wonderful Christmas' book but at least that one had a much wider range of vintage illustrations and photos.

Considering the subject matter of 'Under the Tree' it really should have sparkled visually to capture everyone's nostalgic Christmas imagination.

Branded toys like Barbie, Lionel trains or Revell model kits get a mention but I think I much better toy book is Tim Walsh's Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them a beautifully designed three hundred page historical survey covering toys from 1900 to 2000. A second choice might be The Story of American Toys: From the Puritans to the Present. Though neither of these are hung round a Christmas theme like 'Under the Tree' they are both wonderful celebrations of the goodies that filled Santa's sack.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sit and reminisce, December 14, 2007

By 

T. Chambers "Grammy" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970 (Hardcover)

Baby Boomers should enjoy sitting down with a cup of coffee to read this book. Why is it, the days gone by are always the best?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Under The Tree, December 8, 2007

By 

Mary Jane Gresser (Rhinelander, Wi USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970 (Hardcover)

Wonderful book I remember a lot of the things in their. Thing you thought you forgot about when you were a kid. Show your grandchildren what you had as a child.