Mold-A-Rama

On a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo, one of my kids spotted a "Mold-A-Rama" machine.  I am usually quick to turn down requests for useless junk but something about the machine intrigued me.  For only $2 and thirty seconds, we could take home a green gorilla made of stinky plastic.  I don't understand why but there is something about it that I just love.  


Most, if not all, of the Mold-A-Rama machines you find today were originally made between 1960 and 1965.  The man who invented it did so out of necessity.  In the early '50s, he wanted to replace a piece of a nativity set but stores did not sell individual figurines.  Not wanting to buy an entire set, he set out to make his own.


The first machine was installed at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and produced a wax replica of the Space Needle for twenty-five cents.  A few changes have occurred since then.  The wax would eventually be replaced with a more durable plastic (polyethylene).  Air is now blown into the figure making it hollow as opposed to solid.  Obviously, the price has gone up.  


The fun has never changed.  Even at my age, it's fun to watch the inner workings of a machine produce a toy so fast.  Then there's the heat.  The plastic melts at 225 degrees and even though a coolant is used to bring that temperature down before being dispensed, it is definitely hot to hold for the first few minutes.  There's a fun in that somehow.


From what I've read, the molds get changed from time to time.  The Lincoln Park Zoo had a yellow lion until earlier this year but they replaced it with the green gorilla.  That might explain why when I checked eBay, some people will pay a lot more than a few dollars for certain figurines.  


Yesterday at the Field Museum, we located the Mold-A-Rama machines on the bottom floor.  There were four of them: red t-rex, blue triceratops, green apatosaurus, and orange stegosaurus.  Oh, how I wanted all four but that would just be crazy.  We voted on the stegosaurus and it now sits next to the gorilla. They are displayed on the mantle like two priceless vases.  "Go, go and get us more friends."  I know that's what they'd say if they could.  Don't worry, I'm already planning a trip to the Science and Industry Museum.  I hear they have a space robot.