Little People History
The Grand and Glorious History of Little People
Those special guys and gals (and doggies, too) that are referred to by Fisher Price as "Little People" take many shapes and forms. Certainly one of the most successful and well-recognized toy lines ever created, the Little People name lives on even to this day (1999), although it must be admitted that the current line of figures bear only a passing resemblance to their ancestors. Be that as it may, the origins and history of the Little People products is not only interesting, but surely ranks as a classic American success story, and certainly exemplifies the true spirit and character of the company logo "Our Work is Child's Play".
For convenience sake, the figures referred to as Little People can be broken down into four main categories and eras. Further details on each of these eras can be found further below.
The first signs of the Little People concept (the people themselves) really begins all the way back in 1932 with the creation of the #600 Woodsey Cart toys. There were six different version of this toy, with each one basically being a wooden hay-cart harnessed to a wooden circus figure (either an elephant, a bear, a lion, a pony, a dog, or a clown). On the top of the cart is a segmented wooden figure who "drives" the animal/cart unit, and it is this figure that previews the overall appearance of what was to one day become the Original Little People line. Made for one year only....they were obviously not that popular back then!.....they were the only human-like forms that resemble the later Little People that were made by Fisher Price for the next 18 years. Then, beginning in 1950, we begin to see more and more toys introduced that builds upon this original design......the most popular being the #7 Looky Fire Truck. In this very popular toy, you can really see the fundamental shape, size, and facial features of what was to become, almost a decade later, the "Original" Little People. Following the success of this toy, the company quickly developed 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 d