It’s a little hollow wooden barrel with a spring plunger in the base; on the top, there’s a figure (usually a man or a horse) made from threaded beads; when you press the plunger, the threads go slack and the figure goes limp and falls over, when you release it, the threads are pulled tight and the figure stands up again smartly.
But what is it called?
I know just the toy you’re describing. I had at least one such item in the 50’s and it may have been of Mickey Mouse or Goofy, although I can’t even remember that much about it. I can’t recall seeing one since those days. I suspect flea markets and antique shops might still have an occasional one.
Not one clue as to its name, however. A stab at a guess would be Johnny Jump-up, but that was extracted from my nether regions.
They are still in production - I see them from time to time in toy shops and other places that sell small novelties, but they’re never boxed or labelled; they’re usually just in a big heap in a box.
Coincidentally enough, I saw one of these toys in an Oxfam shop just the other day, and, recalling that someone on the Chris Moyles show on Radio One had asked just the same question as Mangetout (I wouldn’t go so far as to accuse MT of listening to Chris Moyles :eek: ), I actually picked one up and looked at the label to see if it had the toy’s name on it. And it did. Unfortunately, however, bugger me if I can remember it.
This would suggest, at least that either the name wasn’t very memorable, or that I guessed it wasn’t the correct name and so dismissed it from my memory. Or I have a bad memory.
Hope that’s helpful!
The question must be in the aether, as I didn’t hear the programme. I did listen to Chris Moyles once, but I didn’t inhale.
Zeldar:
“Please do not insert Johnny Jump-Up, or any other fine Irwin Toy into your nether regions. Reduced play value may result.”
Thanks for the cautionary alert. I did try searching for “Johnny Jump-up” after that post and learned (to my dismay) that it’s some kind of flower that I must have heard about long ago. I have also not been shoving flowers up there either. 
All I can find are collapsible finger puppets. Regard: http://sacc.disneyana.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=104&cat=3&page=1
Could somebody have invented a toy and neglected to give it a name?
I can find one site selling one of them as a fall down/stand up toy and another where they’re just called traditional wooden pushing toy or some such, but there must be some name for them, mustn’t there?
Or is it a case of That’s the beauty of it; it isn’t really called anything?
Nice! Surely though there must be some way of identifying these things. Else how would the person who makes sure there are some on display in whatever shop sells them know how to order more when they run out? It’s like the experience I had with trying to find the name of the disco ball. I called an outfit that sells party supplies and asked what they call those mirror balls that spin around and reflect little blobs of light all around the room. He said, “Disco ball?” And I said, “Well, yeah. But what were they called before the days of disco?” The line went dead.
These toys just have to have some name. Just have to.
And what’s their origin? Europe? Switzerland maybe?
They are still around… plastic instead of wood these days.
HERE ya go.
So… to answer the OP… they are just called “Push Button” toys - boring.
Weren’t disco balls just called mirror balls before disco?
Before the invention of mirrors, they were just called balls - I know that much is true.
Verily. I suspect that before the invention of mirrors they were called rocks.
Back to the OP:
IF you’re in the U.S., and have a World Market franchise nearby, you can still buy wooden push-button toys. I bought one last summer for my 2-year-old daughter. There was quite a selection available, too … it wasn’t like one lonely little bin.
Those plastic ones are really pathetic. They just have two positions: standing up, and fallen over in a heap. With a nice wooden one, they’re like puppets. Pushing the button in certain parts slacks individual strings, and you can make the figure perform various contortions. I had a horse one as a kid and there were at least a half dozen poses you could do.
In the UK this company, Tobar call them ‘press-base’ toys. The link is to a ‘press-base clown’.
They’re one of the main UK suppliers of small toys and novelties like these (and many other pocket money toys, as you’ll see from their catalogue).
There is a variation of the toy with an acrobat on the highbar swinging around too, IIRC they are made pretty well the same, just that when you push the button the acrobat swings instead of collapses.
Good work. I meant to mention these before, too. I prefer “press base toy” as being more descriptive of the names thus far. I would love to know the history of these toys. Since I know they were around in the 50’s, there’s a good chance they’re much older. The wooden beads and string construction could have them going way back. Germany, Switzerland, Austria would be my guess as to where they originate. Just guessing though.