(part of a series on the advertising character toys of German shoe maker Salamander AG)
Allow me to introduce (at least to my blog) Lurchi, the fire salamander and main advertising character for the German shoe company Salamander AG (get it? get it?).
Introduced in 1937 as a way to distract children during their parent’s potentially protracted perusal of the proprieters products (cough), Lurchi is the alpha dog of a motley crew of animal characters whose tales are told in small booklets entitled “Lurchi’s Abenteuer” (Lurchi’s Adventure); humorous, sometimes moralistic tales written in simple rhyming couplets for a target audience of primary-school children.
I first caught site of Lurchi in the never-endingly disturbing and amazing Flickr photoset of toy-collector extraordinaire, JetJimbo, then had the opportunity to behold it in person when he brought an extra he had to a toy-enthusiast get together in San Francisco earlier this year.
Beyond its stature (approximately 13 inches tall), and composition (cheap, stinky vinyl, baby!), I was attracted to its relative obscurity (German shoe advertising chracter?!?), sculpt, and … those dang shoes! I mean, he’s unabashedly naked but for his shoes – brown oxfords!
Of the six toys produced in this series, Lurchi remains my favorite and, to my eye, stands out not only as the main character but also via its styling and presentation, which seems more sophisticated than the others; the lines are cleaner, more graceful, the attitude of its stance and expression more alive, less basic.
Maybe it’s just me, though; that it was the first of the series I saw and took home for my own. I mean, really, can you ever forget your first Salamander?
– maybe it’s cause he doesn’t see us …
Wi kan ich das kaufen?
Deutsche ebay! http://www.ebay.de
[…] Lurchi, the Hopps sculpt is a clean sculpt – unexciting, perhaps even unremarkable but nicely done. […]
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What company manufactured the Salamander Lurchi and Friends squeeky toy figures? Was it Goebel? I have a set of the smaller 10cm figures, but there is no manufacturer’s mark. Can you help? Thanks!
Hey Thomas – sorry for the late reply, I just saw this.
That’s a great question. The only makers mark I can find on them is on the sole of one foot and it simply reads “AG Salamander” – so no real help there.
BTW – these aren’t soft-rubber squeak toys but hard vinyl figures, similar to most Japanese kaiju.
Good luck in your quest for knowledge!
cae