Apes and Christmas Trees

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Mego Apes on sale in an ad for Kings Department Store Portsmouth New Hampshire (October 1975)

Friday Nov 22, 1974:

As a TV series, "Planet of the Apes" has been a major disappointment to Fred Silverman, Program VP at CBS, but it has been a big hit in the eyes of Marty Abrams, president of Mego International. Mego is the company which manufactures those Ape toys, and so far they have made $8 million in retail sales! But how does Mego feel about the possibility of CBS cancelling "Planet of
the Apes"? "We'll get by," says Marty Abrams, "so long as they don't cancel before the Christmas toy season."

More...

[Wee67]

Although I've never seen numbers, I have to assume the POTA line did well for Mego. Maybe not WGSH well, but I do remember seeing a lot of them as a kid. Anyone remember if any of the Mego interviews talk abou tthe success of this line?

[Wee67]

Mike J answered my question with his new, comprefensive gallery-

"Kids did go ape for the figures when they hit store shelves in the summer of 1974. Planet of the Apes was a huge hit for Mego and helped make 1974 Mego's most successful year to date. In both 1974 and 1975 Mego Apes made the list of "top ten best selling toys". Mego was riding the crest of the Ape phenomenon that was sweeping America."

[megoscott]

The new POTA index page is looking great! A good read, too. Can't wait to see more from Mike and Brian.

[palitoy]

Yeah, the line was a smash, Ken Abrams has a gold head that commerorated the one millionth figure sold. The Treehouse in particular was on a lot of top ten lists in industry magazines.

The TV Apes audience was primarily children, which meant that even though the show wasn't a hit, it sold dolls like crazy.

[cjefferys]

"We'll get by," says Marty Abrams, "so long as they don't cancel before the Christmas toy season."

According to the liner notes in the POTA TV set, the last new episode aired December 6th, so it almost made it. I wonder if the network continued to show repeats in that timeslot for awhile after that?

[toys2cool]

man only 2 for $3,what a deal

[david_b]

According to the liner notes in the POTA TV set, the last new episode aired December 6th, so it almost made it. I wonder if the network continued to show repeats in that timeslot for awhile after that?

Yes, the series continued on the Friday prime-time slot until late Spring, then was replaced by a summer show, but I can't seem to recall which off hand.

[david_b]

Actually remembering the '75/'76 era, visiting a lot of malls and hobby stores, the Trek line still seemed to thrive quite a bit, but with Space:1999, Evel Knievel and Six Million Dollar Man, the Ape interest waned. I still saw all the figures and models hanging on the racks for many months.

[palitoy]

While I'm sure the animate series helped sell off the majority of Apes merchandise, I had no trouble finding vast sums of it during the mid eighties. I wish I'd kept more.

I've told the story before but I could find it when I wasn't looking. I went to a store to get a coke once and scored three carded Ziras.

[vulcan2074]

I'll Take 12 Please
Sammy