Smokey Bear Bendy Figure (Lakeside Ind, Inc, 1967)

Vintage 1967 Smokey Bear Bendy

2019 is the 75th anniversary of Smoky Bear!  Since it's already December, I thought I'd better get this posted now because celebrating the 76th anniversary of Smoky Bear just isn't as exciting.

Smoky Bear was character created to promote awareness of wildfire prevention during World War II.  Because so many of the men who fought wildfires were away at war, the fires posed a bigger threat than usual.  As a result, the United States Forest Service created Smoky Bear in 1944 as the spokesman for wildfire prevention with his famous slogan, "Care will prevent 9 our of 10 forest fires!"  Ok, so maybe they needed some time to work out a good slogan.  In 1947, the slogan changed to the much more familiar, "Remember...only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

Vintage 1967 Smokey Bear Bendy figure

Smoky Bear was so popular that merchandise with his likeness was made for decades.  Ideal  produced Smokey Bear dolls starting in 1952, Little Golden Books had a series of books and coloring books starting in the mid-50s, and his slogan was included in the Beach Boys 1964 song "Drive-In."


Back of Smokey Bear

This Smoky Bear Bendy produced in 1967 by Lakeside Industrial, Inc. is just one of many Smoky Bear licensed pieces.  This figure is 5.5" tall and it's molded in brown, so only the face, hat, and pants required painting.  The rubber is also pretty thick, so this bear has remained in good shape for over 50 years!  I don't know if all of these Smoky Bear Bendys were packaged or if some were sold loose, but I have seen some of these sold on a card that also included a little, red plastic shovel in scale with the Bendy.

Do you collect Bendys?  Which Bendy is your favorite?  Tell me in the comments!

If you collect toys, you should know about Toylanta, the best toy show in the Southeastern United States held annually in Georgia.  Visit Toylanta.com for more information.

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