The Joy of the Toy

Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry dates a girl with a collection of toys from his childhood and feeds her sleep-inducing food so he can play?

Think of The Stamford Museum & Nature Center's new exhibit, Dolls, Toys, and Teddy Bears: Playthings of Yesteryear, as the same thing but for your grandmother and without the possibility of criminal charges. Ok, odds are you can't take them out for a test drive, but the exhibit opens November 7th and features playthings from the turn of the 20th Century to the 1950s.

There will also be a Visions of Gingerbread village of holiday houses beginning with a Members' Preview on November 6th. It includes a silent auction for the little cookie castles, and will not be your run of the mill fare. Organizers say the entries will include "edible replicas of a Roman coliseum, Spain’s Alhambra, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water."

(photo from The Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Scootles, a kewpie doll from 1925 who made her way onto a US postage stamp and who will be on display as part of the exhibit)