eveloped the #415 Super-Jet and the ever-popular #730 Racing Rowboat toys, both of which were for sale during 1952-53. More toys followed, developing upon the same theme and style, all of which culminated with the introduction, in 1959, of the #983 Safety School Bus, which not only carried on the same tradition of human character features, but also, for the first time, had figures that were removable from their vehicles, thus greatly increasing their play potential and possibilities. The rest, of course, is history!
The Original Little People went through six major styles of body (base) configurations...and even within each major classification there may be one or more minor style variations. You can get more information on the Little People Body Styles page for the complete low-down on this subject, but for right now here's the basic breakdown:
The base is all wood or rolled cardboard, tall, and has a paper lithograph around the base. This style of person was used only on the #983 Safety School Bus.
The #168 and #169 Snorky Fire Engine firemen. All wood body and head, plastic hats, and plastic arms.
Wide base tall people used both on the #234 Nifty Station Wagon (60-62), and the #984 Safety School Bus (61-62).
Straight-sided people and dogs. All wood (always), they have no narrow "peg" on the base. First used on the #932 Amusement Park (63-66), and on other sets of this era #979 Dumptruckers (65-70), #969 early ferris wheel (66-72), etc.
Geometric-shaped base people, used with the #151 Goldilocks & Three Bears set (67-70), the #136 Lacing Shoe (65-70), and #146 Pull-A-Long Lacing Shoe (70-75).
The most prevelant of "little people" body styles is the wide body/narrow "peg" base version. This is what most people are referring to when talking about "little people". This style was introduced in 1965 in the #192 School Bus set, and was used until 1990.
The Chunky Little People....more commonly referred to as "Chunky People" or just "Chunkies"......were introduced in 1991. Most people believe that these figures were developed as a replacement for the Original Little People due to the increasing concerns and pressures from parents and consumer-advocacy groups for safer toy designs. There were many incidents of small children choking on small toys (or toy parts) during the 1980's that led to "watchdog" groups that evaluated and informed parents of the dangers involved with certain toy designs. The Fisher Price Original Little People products were no exception. In fact, a popular book of that time that dealt with these issues was titled "Toys That Kill" and prominently featured a trio of Original Little People figures on the cover. Published in 1986 by Edward Swartz (it's now out-of-print), it most certainly provided the motivation for Fisher Price to re-design their most popular Little People line to something more "acceptable"........and thus the Chunkies were born!
And finally there are the current version of the Little People line, alive and still kicking as the 21st century begins. Smaller in size than the Chunkies, but slightly larger than the Originals, these "soft" hard-rubber figures have a great level of detail and color to them, making them a worthy replacement and continuation of the Little People heritage. With their colorful appearance and greater level of anatomical detail, they will proudly carry the Little People into the new century with pride and success; after all, they are still Little People!
For more information on the Little People figures and other character figures made by Fisher Price over the years, please zoom on over to our Fisher-Price People types pages to see and read all about it!
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Identifying and Dating Your Toy
Here's a real can of worms........are you ready?
If you're trying to determine the identity of a particular toy, there are a few tricks that you can use.
First, you must determine the Fisher Price Model Number of the toy. The model number is either printed on one of the lithos, or is cast or stamped into the bottom of many wood or plastic base toys, and can be up to a 5