CIRCUS TIME: Mattel Circus Playset No. 0506 (1973) - Pt 1

I guess I'm  gonna start another series. Actually a series within a series. For the next whole bunch of days we'll take a look at this fascinating playset made by Mattel in 1973 for exclusive sale at Shell service stations as a premium. The set is a licensed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tie-in and consists of a fold-out tent in vinyl carry-all  fashion and 11 circus acts. Here's the catch: when one purchased the set at the Shell dealer, they got the tent and only 10 of the 11 acts. To get that eleventh act mom or pop would have to go back to the station to see which loose set was available for sale! What a racket! LOL That being said, it is a wonderful circus toy not available at major outlets like Sears or Montgomery Wards or Toys-R-Us. Let's take a peek at this marvelous set. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

The set came packaged in this cardboard box

The softcase measures 9 3/4" (24.76cm) x 6 1/2"(16.51cm)  x  3 1/4" (8.25cm)

When one opens the case, some of the acts are inside of it while the rest are loose in the cardboard outer box

Here's the ten sets that were in mine

Here's all eleven sets in one place

The tent unfolded measures 24 1/2" (62.23cm) W x 9 1/4" (23.49cm) D x 10" (25.4cm) H

The tent has figured prominently in some fun I've been having on my train layout - that will be a whole other set of posts!

The tent is assembled using the tab-&-slot method