Toys+~+S.B.'s+ver.+(Planning+and+research)

The Plan
 * Some bits is different from what is in the story as i don't usually stick to what i plan out.

Back to "Toys ` S.B.'s ver."

Story is set in Great Depression era. Father was from a rich, affluent family; he had played with great and expensive toys in his childhood. Now, however, he’s been retrenched, and cannot afford a single, expensive toy. It pains him greatly that he cannot let his child experience the same pleasures of simply playing with a well-made toy now. ====//Expensive hand-painted soldiers have always had a certain fascination among serious collectors, but the cheap, mass-produced variety sold in enormous numbers just pennies. Most were crude and not terribly realistic,but that did not seem to deter boys intent on staging backyard battles against their friends’ collections. Perhaps it was the threat of a new world war that spurred the popularity of infantrymen, tanks, cannons, and other martial miniatures. ---//====

**The 1930s By William H. Young, Nancy K. Young (it’s a book)**
He eyes the battalion of expensive, hand-painted soldiers (describe their appearance in a humourous way, yet highlighting the fact that they were very well-done, and that their cheap substitutes would not do for his son). Just then, a rich family (seen from their manner and their clothes) comes into shop. Murphy’s law, the rich family’s son eventually demands for the tin soldiers. (make him, heck, the whole family, obnoxious little squits) Father has no choice; doesn’t know what to say to his son. He leaves the shop, and decides to splurge in a restuarant to celebrate his son’s birthday instead. However, he spot a piece of paper on the steps to the door (when he leans against the doorway in resignation), picks it up and pockets it without a thought. (he wanted to use it to write down his expenses .( he gotta plan for the restaurant dinner and how far it will set them back financially!!!)- à it’s actually a lottery ticket, and he finds out later. The rich father dropped it when the family rushed in from the cold and tried to squeeze in through the narrow doorway simultaneously all three at once. A few days later……………. He wins the lottery! //During the Great Depression, there was a flurry of proposals for lotteries at both the state and federal levels to fund unemployment relief, and during World War I, members of Congress introduced lottery bills to help defray the costs of the war. Public support for these proposals was usually high, with every poll taken after 1938 showing more support than opposition He’s listening to the radio while he scribbles on his paper. The weekly broadcast comes on and he listens to it with envy, with his son wondering innocently about why free money could be handed out to other people, ‘whuile the garment don’t give us any at all when all we eat everyday is poor man’s casserole (there are several other winners)
 * ---**// **[|//http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1126.html//]**

“Where’d you hear that, son?” I murmured distractedly, my head aching as more numbers filled my vision. “I don’t know. Miss Jenker next door keeps saying that it is. Pa, why are we poor?”

Suddenly, the numbers being read out catches his attention; they correspond to the numbers on the paper! //During the Depression, this self-sufficiency carried over into their social life. One-dish suppers and church potlucks were important ways to have fun and share food. On radio and in women's magazines, home economists taught women how to stretch their food budget with casseroles and meals like creamed chipped beef on toast or waffles. Chili, macaroni and cheese, soups, and creamed chicken on biscuits were popular meals.//

//End:// I felt my mouth burst into an unbecoming grin. I gazed him happily and he stared interestedly back, fascinated to see his normally stoic father beam like a blooming flower. “Well then, son, what about it?”

Or something like that. Try for something that ends with toys as well.

Some more research info: //The most popular program format of the late twenties was the sponsored musical feature. It could be a large symphonic group, a dance orchestra, or a song-and-patter team -- and it would usually carry the sponsor's name. The A&P Gypsies, for example -- a large, genre-crossing orchestra conducted by Harry Horlick. The Ipana Troubadours -- a hot dance band directed by Sam Lanin. The Goodrich Zippers -- a banjo-driven orchestra conducted by Harry Reser, when he wasn't leading the same group under the name of The Cliquot Club Eskimos. Everyone remembers The Happiness Boys, Billy Jones and Ernie Hare -- but what about Scrappy Lambert and Billy Hillpot, who performed exactly the same sort of material as Trade and Mark, The Smith Brothers. The list is endless...//
 * http://www.midcoast.com/~lizmcl/rfy.html**