The Art of the Scrappy Pull Toy

I’ve said that the Scrappy puppet theater is the greatest Scrappy toy of them all. Happily, it’s not the only candidate. Another prime contender is the Gong Bell Toy Company’s Scrappy pull toy, circa 1936. Pull it along, and Scrappy plays his xylophone while Margy, in grass skirt, pirouettes. It’s a thing of joy for sure — and so cool that there are modern knockoffs, the first new Scrappy products since the 1930s.

Recently, my friend Craig Yoe alerted me to a Hake’s auction which made my eyes pop. It was for the original art for the Scrappy toy. Most of it, at least: Scrappy and Margy’s front. (It didn’t include Margy’s other side, or Yippy.)

I crossed my fingers and placed a bid…and when the hammer fell, I had won.

I’m not sure who drew these. Not Dick Huemer, who left the Mintz studio well before the toy was released. But they do look like they’re the work of someone at the studio rather than a Gong Bell staff artist. They capture the characters’ personality as well as any actual Scrappy cartoon ever did.

I’m pleased to own this art because…well, because it’s fantastic. But also because it proves that there’s still remarkable Scrappy stuff out there to be found. If this artwork survived for seventy-six years, who knows what other treasures will show up sooner or later?