Скачать или смотреть Mattel Crank Guitars, video #2

This video demonstrates the internal music making device of a Mattel Cowboy Ge-tar. When cranked it plays "Oh Susanna." In the late 1950's this model was coming with a gold-foil western applique and was available in black, red or white plastic bodies.

YouTube has limits to the length of a video description, but here here are some excerpts from an article by Steve Evans which was printed in Antique Trader Magazine, April 17, 2013 issue, and in Nightflying Magazine May 2013 issue:

In the early 1950's Mattel began to leave behind the Hawaiian theme of the Uke-A-Doodles and went to work designing new models called "Ge-tars." When a small child held the Uke-A-Doodle, it did in fact look more like a guitar than a ukelele, when compared in proportion to an adult holding a real guitar.
The "Cowboy Ge-tar" of 1951 featured decals showing a bucking bronco, a cowboy playing guitar, a steer's head and a pair of six-shooters. It came in four different colored plastics and a choice of either playing "Red River Valley" or "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." The Cowboy Ge-tar went through several cosmetic changes over the years, but continued to be a popular model for three decades.
The Mattel toy guitars were equipped with steel strings up through the 1955 Davy Crockett model, but from that point on, all ge-tars came with nylon strings, beginning with the Mickey Mouse ge-tar of 1955. This signaled the start of a fantastic line of character ge-tars. Here is the long list, in order of age: Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Casper, Beany and Cecil, Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Barbie, Porky Pig, Tom and Jerry, The Monkees, Flipper, Doctor Dolittle, Buzzy Bear, Captain Kangaroo, Bumble Bug, Snoopy, Mother Goose, Winnie-the-Pooh, Cat In The Hat, Smurfs and, last but not least, the Garfield the Cat model of 1984.


Today these Mattel crank guitars are fun to collect and are also very affordable, usually just $10 - $50 each. They have great art work, and since they all match in size (14" tall), can make a nice display when hung side by side.
After all these years, the music crank may no longer be in working order. Sometimes the rubber belt has snapped or is even missing, but often the belt is just slipping. To help the belt along, stick the eraser end of a pencil through the sound hole and help move the rubber belt as the crank is being turned. The good news is that 50% of these old music makers still work just like new, which can really be a treat.

An almost complete collection (still looking for Garfield) of Mattel crank guitars can be seen at the Jacksonville Guitar Museum, 1105 Burman Drive in Jacksonville, Arkansas.