richard found this site yesterday that lists the 100 best toys from the 1970s and 80s. for anyone our age, this is a fantastic trip down memory lane. it includes most all of the games and toys i adored in my childhood: fuzzy felt, weebles, strawberry shortcake dolls and sea monkeys, to name a few. i think if i dug deep enough through the boxes in our attic, i'd probably still find some of these up there.
the site reminded me, though, of a toy i used to own that wasn't listed: the tootsie roll whistle maker. it was genius. i can't remember anymore what it looked like but what i do remember is that you put in a couple of (soft) standard tootsie rolls, squeezed something and voila, it produced two halves of a working tootsie roll whistle. stick them together and you could play a tune before eating your whistle as your afternoon snack.
when i was a really young child, i took this whistle maker with me on a holiday to chicago, where we stayed with some adult friends of my parents'. i left it there accidentally when we headed home, and by the time my tears and frustration caused my parents to call their friends to ask them to mail it back to us, they had thrown it away. why? i have no idea. i have wondered since if it was a consipiracy and my parents were involved. perhaps those tootsie roll tunes coming from the back seat of the car had proven too much to take.
in recent years i started wondering if i had imagined this toy altogether. no one has ever heard of it, none of my friends owned one. i have mentioned its demise to people a few times during my adult years and even among people of my own age group, i always get blank stares. this list reminded me of it again, so i did a quick search online to see what i could round up. all i found was this posting on a tootsie pop enthusiast site, with no response:
I would really like to find a tootsie pop whistle maker. I had one when I was about twelve years old. No one that I currently know has ever heard of one. I am beginning to think I dreamt having one. Please tell me if/where one can be purchased.
so now i know, they did exist...at least for me and a random woman whose email address now bounces and whose favourite tootsie pop flavour is cherry.
Once you have a child and share the experience of watching "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" together, you can share this memory with them and sing the 'Toot Sweets' song!
Posted by: Michael Murray | November 04, 2005 at 02:09 PM
Count me in. In fact, I came upon your site while doing a search for that very tootsie roll whistle toy, which I seem to think was called "Toot Sweets", though my memory of it is so vague that I also almost wondered if I dreamt it. I thought of it while seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang here on broadway last week [free tickets, okay?]. No one I know remembers the toy and when I did a search for it under 'tootsie roll + toot sweets', oddly almost all the links that came up were porn sites. Ha! Anyway, I had one too and you're right, it was genius.
Posted by: me/nyc | December 07, 2005 at 09:07 PM
Yup...it was called Toot Sweet. My sister had one also. It was like a Play-dough fun factory for tootsie rolls. In addition to the whistle halves, you could also form the tootsie rolls into different shapes, like little tedy bears, etc. You could then push the shape onto the front of the whistle.
I remember that the small tootsie rolls were too fat to fit into the machine so you had to roll them between your palms to thin them out a bit. This also had the benefit of softening them up a bit. If I remember right, our machine broke because we were pressing too hard on it, trying to force a unsoftened tootsie roll through the works. I couldn't find any references with photos to this on my searches either.
Posted by: Ken | May 30, 2006 at 05:01 PM
Hey..I was on here looking for the same toy that I had as a child, also. It did look like a play dough factory. It was bright orange. It had metal plates that you could change in and out. I probably got it in the late 60 or early 70's. I do remember that the tootsie rolls had to be soft or you could not press them into anything.
Posted by: Lei Davis | September 27, 2006 at 03:04 AM
Yes, I had one too. I was asking my mom the other night if she remembered by "Toot Sweet" machine and she said, "Lord, I had forgotten all about that thing!" I searched on Ebay for one, but nothing came up. Wonder why they are so scarce? Anyone had any luck finding one yet?
Posted by: dan | October 10, 2006 at 07:08 PM
Y is it when we have an awesome memory but cant confirm it at first we wonder if it really existed. Well - as you have found out the "Toot Sweet" did indeed exist - I have to actually find any forsale but I did find a site that shows a picture and confirms our memories. Go to the URL listed and page down you will come upon Toot Sweet and click the picture and all of the memories will flash back.
FROM THE SITE - TIMEWARPTOYS.COM
Toot Sweet Candy Whistle Maker - Mattel - 1968 - Inspired by the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." This is a very desirable and highly sought toy. Make real candy whistles with Tootsie Rolls. Set includes 8 molds, a mold making machine, instructions and of course Tootsie Rolls. Of course, you can still buy Tootsie Rolls today to use!
Posted by: Cheryl | November 13, 2006 at 01:03 AM
I have been looking for a Toot Sweet for 10 years and have yet to find one. It was my favorite childhood toy!
Posted by: Kristy | November 27, 2006 at 06:52 PM
Ha! You ALL are going to be SO jealous but I still own a Toot Sweet Machine. Everyone's comments were right on target. I got goosebumps when a few of you said you had to roll the toosie roll between your hands to make it work properly. I went through two machines before I figured this out and the third one I simply put away in my basement where my Mother has been keeping it safe...still in it's original box with instructions. I thought it was made by Willy Wonka but no, it's a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang thing. I also own a Dinosaur creater where you put these square multi-colored plastic discs within the chamber and grow spiders, creatures and of course small dinosaurs. That one didn't work as well as it was advertised because if it got too hot and left in too long, the creatures would sprout and then burn. Can't remember the name of that one right off the top of my head, maybe you guys could help out. No original box for that one.
Posted by: andre piller | December 06, 2006 at 03:13 AM
Ah, I remember now. The Strange Change Machine or as was labeled on the bottom metal red part - the Time Machine. At first I thought it was that creepy crawlers kit I use to have where you pour liquid into molds but these creatures were square colored flat boxes that opened up like a flower into monsters.
I took care of most of my toys and all of them are still in the basement waiting to be played with again by a new generation.
The Toot Sweet machine is being safetly guarded by my Mom back home until I turn 50 which is coming up in a couple of years. She was saving all these old toys of the 60's and 70's for my children but they are MORE interested in computers and gadgetry. Such is the way of each generation to ignore the simple pleasures of the past. Works for me! I get to relive my childhood again in a couple of years. (smile)
Posted by: andre piller | December 06, 2006 at 05:35 AM
Hi,
I just read all the responses about the Toot Sweet machine. I got that for my 4th birthday. My brother who had just turned 2 years old through a major tantrum for my gift. I drew my brothers name for Christmas and thought it would be a great gift. I was going to frame the picture of him crying and give him a Toot Sweet machine. I guest, I not going to have much luck finding one. .....If you know where let me know. ...I loved that toy! I will keep you posted if I find one.
Posted by: Debra Aperfine | December 11, 2006 at 06:16 PM
I had a tootsie roll press as a young lad myself if you have a clue where to find one please let me know.
thanks Matt
Posted by: matt | December 27, 2006 at 04:53 AM
Hi, I was also looking for the tootsie roll whistle maker and mentioned it to a friend. He thought I was crazy. Well my sister still has ours from when we were little and when I visited her this Christmas we made a little video to prove it exists. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_OUXzOAY6Y
Posted by: Cheryl | January 28, 2007 at 10:26 PM
I had one too. You could rotate a dial that would change the pattern that was pressed into the whistle's sides. That machine was magic to me.
Wish I could find one on eBay, but so far, nothing.
Posted by: TallGlassofVino | January 31, 2007 at 12:43 AM
just saw Cheryl's vid - our machine was different! You didn't have to 'spread' out the tootsie roll at all - just unwrapped them and loaded them into a chute, dialed the pattern you wanted pressed, and pressed down on a lever to form your whistle.
Posted by: TallGlassofVino | January 31, 2007 at 12:46 AM
I too was just on Ebay looking for a toot sweet machine. We had one as kids and it was so much fun. I along with everyone else here would like to find one. So please let me know if you find one, maybe someone will pick up on this and start making them again. I can't believe there are so many of us remembering this toy right now.
Posted by: Jeff | February 06, 2007 at 05:50 AM
Oh yes, the mysterious Toot Sweet maker. I too thought it was part of my imagination (along with the films Melody (1971) and Jack and the Witch (1967) until I did a search on eBay and Google. Didn't even know it was associated with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
My Dutch younger-than-me neighbor Agnes had one and I was so jealous. I've never physically seen one since. eBay hasn't had one since August 2006.
Posted by: Devi Luna | February 06, 2007 at 06:39 AM
I too had a Toot Sweet Machine Made by Mattel. I have been looking one for several years now. They do come up on ebay every now and then, but they usually sell for over $200. I think Mattel would do well if they re-released the machine. I know of many people from our generation who would buy the machine "for their kids". But the real question is would the kids ever get their turn to play with it? : )
Posted by: Jessica | February 14, 2007 at 03:13 AM
Here it is....
http://www.timewarptoys.com/toot.jpg
Posted by: Todd | February 18, 2007 at 06:30 AM
I wish I could tell everyone where to look for a Toot Sweet Machine but my efforts haven't even found one for $200 as someone previously suggested, on ebay. Don't think I would pay that much for one anyway. However, I recently visited my Mother and my original machine is still in the basement in it's original box. About all my Mother would let me do is buy some Tootsie Rolls and make a few whistles which I took home and then froze. Sigh! I would LOVE to have my machine back but I think my Mother is going to keep it until she gets old and forgetful - which is when I will sneak in and take back what's mine. (evil laugh - while rubbing my hands togther like a fly) Until then, I will have to be content with my original Jupiter 2 space ship, I Dream of Jeannie Bottle, and Sigmund and the Sea Monster action figure. Ah, well. (smile) One good thing. I was at a toy fair this year and saw an updated model of the VERTI-Bird which should be out this fall. Why can't Matell make a sucession of RETRO toys and redo the Toot Sweet Machine, huh? Maybe we should write them with the hint! Good luck to everyone out there looking for the Toot Sweet Machine! You're going to need it!
Posted by: andre piller | February 20, 2007 at 05:05 PM
I too am looking for a Toot Sweet machine. I remember using it to make cool tootsie rolls with my sister. I was trying to tell my boys about it and wanted to get one. If anyone finds one I'd like to know also! It was one of my favorites!
Posted by: Debbie | February 28, 2007 at 02:05 AM
Hi...I was just doing a google on tootsie roll toys. I had one as a kid (I'm 42 now). It was a press that drove the tootsie roll into a mold. There were a number of funny faces, and the halves of a whistle...I actually even still have it at my parents!
Posted by: Steve | March 02, 2007 at 05:09 PM
I have a toot sweet machine and would like to sell it. It has the original instructions, but only 4 out of the 8 molds. the whistle mold, I only have one half. Don't know what happened to the others, and if anyone could tell me where to get molds, I would sure replenish it... you can e-mail me on e-bay through pink_poodle_intl. I might be listing it soon on E-bay unless someone offers me lots of cash first!
Posted by: Karen | April 11, 2007 at 04:49 AM
me too me too! I want a toot sweet whistle maker!
I have been looking for one for years, to replace the one I had as a kid. I have no clue what happened to mine... it went the way of my "Liddle Kiddles" and "Thing maker/Pickadoo" molds.
Posted by: Julie V. | May 04, 2007 at 08:07 PM
I introduced my kindergarten class to the toot suite machine and they all wrote letters to Mattel to see if they would consider making it again. There is one on ebay for sale now.
Posted by: Ms. Leigh | May 24, 2007 at 06:33 PM
check it out
Posted by: jeanne | September 04, 2007 at 10:54 PM