This is a 9 inch ceramic piggy bank of Grimace from 1985. Just what every room needs!
This is my favourite item from my McDonald's collection!
A Brief Intro
McDonaldland characters made their debut in 1971. The entire concept for McDonaldland and the characters who lived there came from an unauthorized reproduction of the H.R. Pufnstuf children's TV series created by Sid and Marty Krofft . Ronald McDonald was the only original character to have been created long before these additional McDonaldland cast of characters first appeared.
Not only were the McDonaldland commercials produced without the Krofft's permission, but according to Hal Erickson, author of "Sid and Marty Krofft: A Critical Study of Saturday Morning Children's Television, 1969-1993", an advertising executive from the company that had created the first McDonaldland TV commercial had previously visited the Kroffts under the pretense that they were to form a business deal together. In the end, the advertising executive only wanted to learn the tricks of the trade (how the costumes and puppetry were done) and then he cut the Kroffts out!
As you would expect, the Krofft's took McDonald's to court for copyright infringement and by 1977 had won their case. Erickson states "Since that time, the Kroffts have regularly collected checks from McDonalds".
Unfortunately by the late 1970s the McDonaldland situation had diminished the appeal of the H.R. Pufnstuf TV series and it's characters for the general public. People were confused and upset, believing that the Krofft's had committed a huge taboo of that era, using their children's characters to advertise fast food! In truth however, the Krofft's had not done so, their TV show concept and characters had been copied without their permission. Strangely enough, several of the actors who had performed the Krofft characters on H.R. Pufnstuf also ended up performing the McDonald's characters for the McDonaldland commercials!
Setting aside the unpleasant history of how the McDonaldland characters came to be, having grown up in the 1970s with these fast food commercials I have always enjoyed the McDonaldland characters. I'm especially a fan of Grimace! What the heck is Grimace? LOL He's just a big purple blob! LOL
In 1976 Remco produced a series of seven dolls based on McDonalds characters. Shown above is the 7.5 inch Ronald McDonald doll missing his costume, and the 6 inch Hamburglar doll missing the large brim for his hat. In 2008, Huckleberry Toys reissued several of the dolls from the Remco series, which I've shown at the bottom of this page.
The Remco dolls have a lever on the back to make the head turn side to side. Hamburglar's lever comes through the back of his cape.
Here's a closer view of the lever and the doll's neck.
A small rag doll of Ronald McDonald was made in the 1970s and was very popular. I don't know who the manufacturer was. This doll measures 3 and 7/8 inches. I've shown it below next to the 7.5 inch Huckleberry Toys Ronald doll for size comparison. Several larger sized rag dolls were also made of Ronald, and at least one of Hamburglar.
Here are the plastic bag puppets that were very popular during the 1970s and 80's. These were given out free to customers as the "treat of the week", with a different character available each week. I found the above two puppets on e-bay years ago, while the Mayor McCheese puppet below is the original one I've had since the mid 1980s!
It hard to see against the white background, but this is a 1990's McDonaldland Children's bib that was given out free. It's made of the same type of "plastic bag" plastic used for the above hand puppets. The restaurants used to provide crib seats for infants, with the characters pictured on the table top section. So really the McDonaldland characters were being marketed to infants as well as children! This illustration shows one of the "Fry Guys", which is the green fuzzy thing wearing glasses. The dog next to Birdie is a newer character that I don't know much about. Some of the original McDonaldland characters such as the Professor, Captain Crook, and Mayor McCheese had been phased out by the 1990s.
Here are three of the four "Fast Macs" friction cars still in the original Canadian packaging which is less common than the US packaging. These were sold at McDonalds in 1985 all across North America and they were extremely popular at the time. The complete set is shown below without the packaging.
Here's the back of the cards.
This is the first complete set of friction cars sold through McDonald's restaurants in 1985.
As the first set of friction cars proved to be so popular, McDonalds was quick to offer a second, slightly larger set in 1988. Above is the complete set. Grimace replaced Birdie as the fourth character in the collection.
On the left is Grimace from the "Crazy Vehicles" series released in 1991. This is a less popular set of toy cars. They are not friction cars but still have moveable wheels allowing them to be played with like a typical toy car. I've shown it next to the Grimace friction car for size comparison. The usual four characters were included in the set: Ronald, Hamburglar, Birdie and Grimace.
Here are a few random McDonalds toys. The first item on the left is a small Ty Beanie Babies plush toy of Grimace from 2009. Next is a PVC Grimace figure made in 2000 that looks like it originally came with a straw. The next PVC figure is Grimace wearing a baseball cap. There's no date or copyright info on the figure, it's just marked "Made in China". I suspect it's from the 1980's or 90's. The last item is a Ronald McDonald pen lid that originally had a red pen with it, made in 1980. There were three other figural pens in the set: Grimace, Hamburglar and Big Mac.
These figures of Grimace and Birdie are from two different collections. Each collection had the same four characters: Ronald, Grimace, Hamburglar and Birdie. Both sets are from 1990. The set that Grimace came with is called McDonaldland Carnival, as each character came with a different ride to sit on. Grimace is a hollow figure with posable arms and feet. Birdie is a PVC figure and originally came with a small pink tricycle. Each of the figures in this set had a different coloured tricycle.
Here are some PVC figures of Hamburglar, Ronald, Grimace and Birdie, all made in 1995. Grimace is hollow plastic rather than a PVC figure. All four originally came with a one piece plastic Halloween costume that attached on top of the figure. Grimace's costume is a ghost.
Here are some toys of the Happy Meal puppet characters. In each TV commercial they would say their slogan: "Hamburger, Soft Drink and Fries, all regular size!" The small train car toy is from 1994, and the plastic toy cup figure is from 1988. Both were sold at McDonald's restaurants.
Here are two drinking cups from McDonalds restaurants. The plastic one on the left is from 1996 and the cardboard one on the right is from 2000. I kept them because they featured Grimace!
I rotated the cups to show the complete image on them (shown above and below)
Here is a large 12" plush toy of Grimace that I found at a thrift shop in the 1990s. There is no copyright date on the toy at all. Some time ago I had found a Sears catalogue image on the Sears Canada webpage which confirms that this toy existed in 1988, so it may have been produced that year or the year before. This makes it safe to say with certainty that this toy is from the late 1980's. Originally I had included a link to the Sears Canada website page showing the photo in question, but as the Sears company has since gone out of business they no longer have their website online so the photo in question is no longer available.
I find it funny that this Grimace plush toy's mouth is made with hot pink fabric. No doubt the result of eating so much radioactive fast food! Grimace is wearing a jogging outfit, complete with sneakers, headphones and a headband, because eating fast food is so healthy and energizing that it makes you feel like jogging. said nobody ever! LOL
This plastic Grimace mug doesn't have a date or any copyright info.
The only markings say "Made in China".
Mac Tonight is a newer character. I believe he first appeared sometime in the early 1990s to promote the restaurants being open late. This is a 2 inch square pin that staff wore. There's no date or copyright info on this item, the only markings say that it was made in Toronto.
This is a finger puppet of Ronald McDonald from 2003 that was sold as a fund raiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The doll is 6 inches tall with a plastic head, and came packaged in a small box shaped like a house. The arms of the doll are made to be controlled with your finger and thumb.
In 2008, Huckleberry Toys produced this series of 8 inch McDonaldland dolls, which is based on the Remco McDonaldland dolls but they are not identical reissues. Shown above, L to R, is Captain Crook, Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, Grimace, and Mayor McCheese. The back of the box is the same for all five and is shown below. All of the characters are plastic dolls with removable cloth costumes with the exception of Grimace, which is a stuffed toy.
The back of the box also says "Look for series 2 coming soon" but a second series was never produced. I've seen pictures online that show prototypes for Bic Mac, Birdie (Early Bird), Professor and several Fries Kids which I assume would have been series 2. It's too bad they were never made as they looked well designed. I've also seen pictures online of all the series one dolls on card packaging, but I suspect these are also just prototype images or a collector's hand-made "customized packaging".
It seems however that Huckleberry Toys did produce a carded "1971" version of Grimace with four hands as a limited edition of 500. There is also a 12 inch Grimace made in a limited edition of 300. Both of these limited edition Grimace items are stuffed toys. The original Remco toy set included the Professor and Bic Mac but did not include the Fry Guys or Birdie (Birdie was not introduced until 1980), so they would have been welcome additions to this doll collection.
Here's a look at the complete set of dolls out of the box.
Here's a comparison of the Remco Ronald (left, missing the outfit) and the Huckleberry Ronald (right). When placed side by side it's easy to see how different they are. Of course, one of the key differences is that the Huckleberry dolls do not have the lever on the back to control the heads, which the Remco dolls have (as shown at the top of this page).
Here's a comparison of the Remco Hamburglar, shown on the left (missing the brim for his hat), and the Huckleberry Hamburglar, on the right. It looks like Huckleberry reused the same head sculpt but painted the eyes and mask differently. Huckleberry also made the tie out of fabric and sewed it all around the edge onto the costume, while Remco has a loose tie made of vinyl that is only attached at the top near the neck.
These Fry Guys figures are from 1989. They're from a set of eight figures, all of which are Fry Guys. Each one came with removable plastic head gear of some kind (hat's, bandanas, etc.). The best thing about these Fry Guys figures as that they are the perfect size to go with the Remco or Huckleberry Toys series of dolls, as shown below.
The 7.5 inch Huckleberry Toys Ronald doll and the Remco Hamburglar doll next to the 1989 Fry Guys figures.
Shown on the left is a 8.5 inch plush toy of Ronald McDonald. Apparently, this is a prototype that was never mass produced, so it is possibly one of a kind. I found it at a thrift store in Ottawa, ON. The company that made it is located in Quebec, which Ottawa shares it's Northern boarder with along the Ottawa River. The TY Beanie Babies plush doll of Ronald made in 2009 is strikingly similar in design, so I suspect this is the prototype for that toy. I find the face and hair on this prototype is a lot nicer than the doll that was actually made. I've shown it next to the 7.7 inch Huckleberry's Toys Ronald doll for size comparison.
The tag says Creata Promotion
The other side of the tag says "Prototype dated" with a line to be filled out but it was left blank.
Page created Sept 21, 2024 using content from another page that was originally posted in 2011.
Last updated Sept 22 2024
All text and photos copyright Mikey Artelle, 2001, 2024.
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