I have this 1967 Creative Playthings catalogue lying around somewhere, but I swear, I never noticed these cardboard play structures until John from Wary Meyers pointed out these photos on a recent eBay auction.
First, yes, a flatpack Creative Playthings playhouse made from cardboard [alright, technically "plastic-coated fiberboard"]. Dig that CP logo cutout. Nice touch.
But that's not important now, because there is a Private Booth™:
The phone is public; the booth is private. That's the way AT&T does it; so that's the way the children want it...Telephones always stimulate verbalization, long conversations with real and imaginary friends. With a private booth added, it creates almost too much excitement to bear!Well, I might not go quite that far, but the rotary design on the outside is kind of cool.
Creative Playthings was charging the equivalent of $83 for a 4' cardboard box. Which might help explain why no vintage survivor phone booths have turned up, and why there's no mention of them online. Because they were so crazy expensive, no one bought any. And so the entire production run is sitting, untouched, in a forgotten warehouse somewhere outside Princeton, NJ.
