RETAIL TRADE: The Christmas Stocking

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"You can't start Basic Space Training too early!" said a Macy's ad in Manhattan last week. For $5.98 Macy's offered a space academy, complete with men from Mars and Jupiter, atomic launchers, flying saucers and disintegrators. From the look of things, Macy's was right. Just 45 shopping days before Christmas, toy counters all over the nation were piled high with mountains of space suits, rocket ships and other gravity-defying devices. Space was the big seller.

There is a "flying-saucer gun" which shoots whirling plastic disks high in the air ($1); a noiseless "space ray gun" of plastic molded around a flashlight ($1.50).

For the moppet who wants to carry his researches further into the mysteries of the universe, there is a chemistry set with an "atomic energy spinthariscope in which disintegration of atomic particles can be viewed racing at speeds of more than 10,000 miles per second" ($21.50).

Thanks largely to a bigger moppet population, toymakers estimated last week that sales will hit a record $800 million this year, up 7% from 1951.

Something Old, Something New. The toymakers have turned out the greatest variety of playthings in history, added many a new refinement to oldtime favor ites. There are Humpty Dumpties for a dime, giant elephants for more than $100, Teddy bears, now celebrating their 50th anniversary, that are chemically treated to keep them free of dust. Dolls do just about everything (eat, burp, nibble fin gers, frown, pucker lips, blow soap bubbles, wet, wail, walk, and recite verse).

New this year are plastic cap rifles ($2.98 to $4). Yo-yos come shaped like basketballs, footballs and baseballs. For electric train buffs, there is a new signal tower; when the train goes by, one man pops out, another climbs down the ladder waving his flag at motorists.

For little girls, Pressman Toy Corp. has a vanity table with ruffled plastic skirt, which comes complete with bench, mirror, comb & brush, and perfume atomizer ($5).

Chicago's Clinton Specialty Works has a toy electric vacuum cleaner that gathers dust ($12.95). One doll has hair that "grows" by means of a winding device hidden in the head; another, "Joan Pa-looka" from the comic strip, is permanently scented, comes with baby powder and soap ($7). A new method of rooting hair in the scalp makes many dolls safe against countless hair-brushings and curl ings — until brother comes along with his toy barber set (39¢).

Fire Fighters. Among the educational toys are light-up maps and the "Magic Speller" ($3) whose picture cards, when inserted in a slot, rack up simple words like "bird" and "bear" for a child to copy on a miniature blackboard. The Tom Thumb typewriter is a real working model ($19.95). Prospective architects can try their hand with "Blockbusters," big, cor rugated-paper blocks capable of holding more than 200 lbs. (twelve blocks for $5.95). Radio hams can assemble their own crystal sets ($2.50). One of the best bargains for budding mechanics: the plas tic "Fix-It" automobile. Its battery, radi ator and gas tank can all be filled; wheels can be removed with the help of a minia ture plastic jack and other tools. Price: $2.98.