During the entire month of July, Lennon Spiezio of Athens, 11, was happy to know that his vintage collection of pull-string talking toys brought smiles to many faces, young and old alike, while within two glass cases at the Athens Public Library.
About 20 of his pull-string toys, more than half from the 1960s and made by the Mattel toy company, feature the likes of Crackers the Parrot, made in 1962; Mr. Ed the talking horse, also introduced in 1962; Bozo the Clown from 1963; and Tom and Jerry from 1965.
Spiezio’s personal favorite is Woody Woodpecker, made in 1962, a genuine hand puppet that he favors because when Woody speaks, he is clearly heard with statements like “Timber! Time for lunch!” Which, he said, is quite something for a toy more than 60 years old.
Spiezio and his parents — dad Gabe, and mom Ericka — moved to Athens a little more than a year ago from Las Vegas, as they wanted to leave the desert and move to a hilly area with forest.
“And of course, Athens fits that description,” Gabe said, adding that he is a retired teacher turned full-time home-schooling dad, while his wife, Ericka, is also a former middle school teacher who now works for Meta Solutions, an electronic grade book system.
Although Lennon — named for Beatles member John Lennon –—won’t turn 12 until Aug. 12, he has been collecting vintage toys for about five years, give or take a year or so. His library display, done with help from Art in the Library coordinator Todd Bastin, happened because Lennon and Gabe visit APL a lot. They learned that privately owned displays are welcome and take several months of planning.
The process included a well-received Artist’s Reception held July 16, when those attending learned that Lennon has his own YouTube channel, called Maggie Pictures, named after the family dog. Those attending could scan a bar code, which takes them to a 17-minute Youtube video titled “My Vintage Pull-String Doll Collection.”
“Maggie is the name of The Simpsons’ youngest daughter,” Lennon said, his love for the show evident in how he quickly noted its 35-year run on television, and in his owning a Bart Simpson pull-string toy circa 1990.
“It has posable arms, his head moves and he talks,” Lennon said. Demonstrating, he pulled the string, to which Bart responded by offering, “Don’t have a cow, man.”
Each week, Lennon and Gabe visit eBay, as well as thrift stores and antique shops, to look for new toys. As much as Lennon enjoys adding a rare find to his collection, there is one thing he prizes even more. That being, his impressive ability to fix vintage toys that are in various states of disrepair.
But that ability took time to grow over the past several years. Lennon follows YouTube videos from a highly popular fix-anything personality from the United Kingdom, known as My Mate Vince. Vince had one video that explained how he had gone about fixing a vintage pull-string toy.
“But I wasn’t insanely interested in them until we went to the movie theater and I saw Toy Story 4 and he saw the voice box, and I thought, 'So that’s what it really looks like.'"
Through My Mate Vince and his own experiences in becoming a pull-string toy fixer, Lennon discovered that vintage toys are actually simple in some respects, but repairs require dexterity, parts knowledge and plenty of patience. The key moving parts are the voice box that acts like a vinyl record player. It has spirals that resemble the grooves on a record player, and when the string is pulled, the needle can land in any groove — at random, Gabe said. There is also a part called the O-ring, a rubber ring that handles the speed of the dialogue.
Lennon can handle repairs to all those parts, and relishes doing so. An O-ring repair that used to take days or a week or more, he can now handle in minutes. He and Gabe have learned to order the pull strings from those who make strings for blinds and curtains. Even better, no batteries are required.
As to why Lennon loves repairing vintage pull-string toys, he said it has to do with their simplicity and their quality, which is not found today.
“In the ‘60s, they took more time to make them,” he said. “They were built to last. They didn’t rush their toys. They were just made much better.”
An aspiring movie-maker, Lennon also found, and fixed a small Bell and Howell 8-millimeter movie camera, the old-style kind with a wind and crank system that must be wound every 30 seconds with four minutes of footage allowed. He has filmed wildlife, including a baby raccoon and deer.
Gabe said his son often comments that he was born in the wrong period, and should have been born in the 1960s.
“Just today, he was trying to fix a snow globe,” Gabe said. “And Christmas inflatables people have, he fixes those.”
Those who have vintage toys that need a new home or have toys that need to be fixed, may contact him via email at spieziolennon@gmail.com.
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