1963 Newspaper Clippings

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Note: This article was composed when I was simply gathering evidence for the archive, far before I'd began proper research or committed facts to page. I've left it generally as is, as it is an excellent reflection of my mindset as well as our ground up approach to information on the site, wherein we let the evidence lead us to the conclusion rather than lead the evidence to our conclusion.

Also note this is not nearly all the newspaper clippings we have onsite. The rest can be accessed via the Gallery.

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1963 marked the release of new wheel parts and two new sets for North America: the 905 Doll Set and the 605 Wheel Toy. Below, from Mt. Vernon Register News, December 12th, 1963, is a great example of the vast majority of ads:

Star Phoenix, December 4th, 1963. This one caught my eye as it's being sold at an office supply store. Also, it uniquely cites "train and station sets", assumedly referring to the images on the front of the flat box basic sets. Also, the continuation of higher prices for Canada:

Star Phoenix, October 25th, 1963. Here is a 1961 reprint, nothing new except that this is the same newspaper as above and the 725 Town Plan is $29.95! I know it's a Canadian ad, but what happened?

Winston Salem Journal, December 12th, 1963. Another very common ad, new for 1963, features a new tagline "LEGO IS A WAY TO PLAY". Not "a new way" or "a fun way", just "a way":

The Holland Evening Sentinel, October 16th, 1963. Similar to the ones above, but cites a set starting at 98 cents. I'm not sure which one this would be:

The Province, October 26th, 1963. Speaking of unknown sets, this Canadian newspaper features the flat box front on a 725 sized box and it still has roadsigns:

The Sault Star, December 10th, 1963. 1961 ads are still being printed, here is one variant:

The next three are the only known surviving photographs of several large LEGO models commissioned to depict local landmarks. My favorite, from Morning World, October 19th, 1963:

The Cleveland Press, October 10th, 1963. This one was featured at May Co. and is a result of rampant short-sighted urban renewal of the 1960s:

The Fresno Bee, December 15th, 1963. Sorry for the quality, but this is the only one I could find. A Gottschalk's city display, I cannot find any other source that references this or why it exists. Notice some of the trees are still the European versions, as well as the building in the front is the exact same one from idea books(I counted and cross referenced all windows, it matches perfectly except it now sits on a base):

Laurel Outlook, December 11th, 1963. Speaking of large models, this one features the 605 Wheel Toy's waving man made of bricks. It's likely it legitimately was an actual constructed model in North America, though this example may be a drawing:

The San Francisco Examiner, December 8th, 1963. This one Gives an extremely rare view of a new in box 711 Basic Set. Also note the $1 discount:

Rapid City Journal, January 3rd, 1963. Speaking of discounts, here are some more post-Christmas markdowns:

The Kellogg Evening News, January 17th, 1963. Speaking of January discounts:

Waterloo Region Record, November 14th, 1963. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the $4.50 markup of the 725 Town Plan in Canada continued into November:

The Sunday News, December 29th, 1963. LEGO is being sold out of a bicycle repair shop:

Along with that, the next few are other stores announcing their stock of LEGO by Samsonite. From Auburn Journal, October 31st, 1963, this one is almost a one-to-one copy of the The Herald Journal's column from November 19th, 1962:

The Standard Fox, August 17th, 1963:

The Daily Sentinel, April 25th, 1963:

The Atlanta Journal, August 1st, 1963. More sales representative jobs, though these were not nearly as numerous in 1963 as they were in 1962. Still worthy of note:

The Grand Rapid Press, January 27th, 1963. Additionally, a few mechanical design jobs were posted, all of which from the region between Indianapolis, IN and Grand Rapids, MI, though the work is in Denver, CO. This could be early recruiting to account for the 1965 Loveland plant, but remember Denver is the home of the Shwayder Brothers' operations:

And last but not least, we have something I find subtle, but telling. Check out this suitcase ad from The Ottawa Citizen, December 7th, 1963:

They are so proud of the Lego System it has began to appear on unrelated advertisements. Granted its Samsonite of Canada, who have a bit more of a right to be proud in this regard, but interesting nonetheless.

Also worth noting is the deliberate lack of piece counts for sets again for 1963, when it was relatively common in 1961. Later we will get shipping weights, which is where the real confusion begins.