Doll-A-Day 8: Mike Hazard,One of the Best Presents I Never Asked For

  Today's doll is Mike Hazard,Double Agent by Marx toys.

The International Top Secret Operative! As long as nobody reads this box!

  Of course these days he would be called an 'action figure', but the term hadn't been invented yet back when he was made.  Mike is 12" tall, and has the same type of hard plastic jointed body as the Best of the West figures, like Johnny and Jane West. My cousins had them. But Mike was better!
  I got Mike for Christmas, I think. He's one of my favourite things I got as a kid that I didn't actually ask for. At least, I don't remember asking for him. He's just the type of thing that I would have asked for though. If I didn't ask for him, whoever picked him out did a great job!

'Blow up luggage'! Who could ask for anything more?!

  From what I can find, he was made from 1966 to 1968.So I was somewhere between 4 and 6 when I got him. It's amazing that I still have his box, and as many of his "Over 50 pieces of equipment" as I do.

He had so much cool stuff. There was a  false beard,a mask,a wig, glasses,a false nose with attached glasses,various hats...

Anybody remember Michael Caine as the spy, Harry Palmer?

Corn Flakes? I guess even a spy has to eat.

...a bullet proof vest, guns, a bazooka!,a transistor radio that transforms into a gun!, a camera, hand grenades, a key ring with detachable keys,a stiletto that fitted into a secret holder on the back of his tie!,a gun you could put together that had a telescopic sight, a secret listening device,and two, count 'em,TWO exploding cases!

There was a brief case and a Gladstone bag. Both used real caps and 'exploded' when thrown or dropped.(Setting the snap on that brief case could take off a finger! It was like a mousetrap! I loved it!)

Ok. I've got a gun! Somebody set the snap on this briefcase right now!

  Actually it was really hard to set that briefcase, especially without snapping yourself. I usually asked Mom to do it.

  The briefcase concealed another knife. And he even had a tape recorder in the inside of his hat!

    And of course, the obligatory trench coat, (with hidden pockets!).There was so much stuff, and much of it was so tiny, it was almost impossible not to lose at least some of it. Those bazooka missiles particularly were hard to find once you'd shot them off.

Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and a really cool attache case booby trap!

  I was a child of the 60's, and spies and secret agents were all the rage. My sister and I watched The Avengers, Mission Impossible, The Man from Uncle, and even The Girl From Uncle. We played spies. I even had a tiny trench coat,which I called my 'spy coat', and which I paired with an old felt fedora that came from who knows where, which scratched my forehead, (and occasionally drew blood), with the loose wire in it's band. In my fedora and Spy Coat I went on many a mission in the confines of my house and yard. I also have to confess to going on secret missions in first grade. I would ask to use the restroom, which in my tiny school of only 4 classrooms, (Two kindergarten and two first grade.), was in the basement, along with the tiny 'cafeteria room'. Alone in the basement I would peer sneakily around corners and use my communication device: a metal coin holder. Mike Hazard was right up my alley.
  Of course, they wouldn't make a toy like this for kids now days.All the guns and knives and exploding cases with dangerous caps and super snappy devices a kid could get hurt with. Plus Mike even smoked, and came with cigarettes, a lighter, and a pipe, which also transformed into a gun. But you know, I grew up with these kinds of toys, and I still have all my fingers and have never killed anybody or smoked in my life.
  Fuzzy loved Mike Hazard. When he was very tiny he asked, "Can I play with your Kazard?" Whaaat? "Your Kazard.Can I play with your Kazard?" It took a while to figure out he was asking about 'Mi - KeHazard'. (He thought I had called him 'my kazard'.) He played with him carefully and I think we may have lost the last bazooka missile, but that was it.
   Emma and Fuzzy both wore the Spy Coat on their missions too, when they were small. It still had (and has), in the pocket, a plastic bubble gum machine key on a necklace that I used on my missions. Ivy alone remained free of the 'Spy' trap. I have since reclaimed the Spy Coat and packed it away, in case any future agents want to go on a mission.