The Poor Nauga - 1967

[jocelmeow.livejournal.com]

A  series of ads for Naugahyde. 

Comments

[ali-jayne.livejournal.com]

Aww, I think the Nauga is cute!

Thank you for sharing :)

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I remember reading a piece in Ben Is Dead magazine about a guy that had a Naugahyde doll when he was a boy. He was able to get a replacement from someone as an adult.

[misstia]

omg! i use to read Ben Is Dead magazine!

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

I remember this ad campaign, but I never had any idea that Naugahyde came in any other style than faux leather. I wonder what happened to the other fabric treatments. Bamboo?

[antifrenzy.livejournal.com]

THIS.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

We eventually figured out that bamboo is cheaper than vinyl. I mean, have you ever seen a bamboo thicket in America? It has no predators -- it's like kudzu that turns into furniture.

It was also the mid-sixties. Hippies hadn't become commodity yet.

Think about it this way: people wore varieties of plastic clothing back then. Cotton only sold as dungarees. The cotton industry was on the brink of collapse.

Now a lot of us only wear cotton. There are brown and green jeans that aren't dyed: the cotton can be grown in a couple different colors. There is enough money in cotton that the stuff can be grown weirdly.

Naugahyde became pleather, which we still sit on but we don't discuss.

[versailles-rose.livejournal.com]

When I got my first apartment, my parents gave me a Baldwin studio piano covered in Naugahyde - white with gold flecks. I often wonder what happened to that piano and what was under all that Naugahyde.

[moonwalker.livejournal.com]

It looks like a cousin of the "Bumble" in the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer show.

Mary MMM

[misstia]

agreed....

[afranjes.livejournal.com]

I love his toes.

[mystical-chickn.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of an '80s Garfield comic I read as a kid:

http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=naugahyde

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

I thought of that comic, too. It's from waaaaay back! It's good to know that naugas shed their skin and were not murdered. I can sleep at night now.

[nerdycellist.livejournal.com]

So many memories! I was born when my dad was in college so we didn't have a lot of money. Instead of a teddy bear, I was given the Nauga that came free with a sofa (I'm sure it was some friend's sofa - I can't imagine my parents buying it). I slept with it and carried it around just like your average 3 year old would with a plush teddy bear.

My parents sold it for 5 cents when I was 13 and we were moving and taking pretty much nothing with us. About 15 years ago I bitched about this, and what appeared in my mail a couple of weeks later? Mom had found a couple of Naugas at a local thrift shop for much less than the $125 people were charging on ebay. Now that I have a dog who thinks anything stuffed is fair game, the Nauga has to stay up in the closet.

I'm pretty sure the promotional Naugas are worth more than the sticky furniture!

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

I'd give my eye teeth to find a Nauga doll!

[lachupacabra.livejournal.com]

there used to be tons of them on ebay all the time.
i had one when i was a kid & had forgotten about it til a saw
a vintage ad for them as an adult. went looking on ebay & found
they were worth quite a bit. when i checked (about 6 yrs ago)
they were going for up to $400 apiece for the crazier giant ones!

[jocelmeow.livejournal.com]

You know, I think the Nauga was the original Uglydoll (http://www.uglydolls.com/). There is definitely a family resemblance!

[lachupacabra.livejournal.com]

holy cats!! yr absolutely right!
my best gf collects uglydolls.
ill have to show her the naugas now!
:)

[jena.livejournal.com]

They are selling them on the Naugahyde website! http://www.naugahyde.com/promoitems_nauga.html

[lachupacabra.livejournal.com]

OMFG! thank you for posting that!!!
:D

[baron154.livejournal.com]

Very very Sendak, indeed.

[bzul.livejournal.com]

"...the luggage you buy is stronger than dirt."

"Stronger than dirt" was an Ajax laundry detergent slogan -- very well known, long-used, and a bit of a catch-phrase at that time.(Morrison even punctuated the Doors song, Touch Me, with the phrase in '68). I wonder why the Naugawriters would borrow it. Akin to saying something like "Got Nauga?" in more recent years.

[beetle-breath.livejournal.com]

I want a Nauga doll! He looks so delightfully insane

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Of course, someone has one for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-original-1967-Naugahyde-Nauga-/290522527709?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a47df7dd

When I saw close up photos of the little beast, it triggered something in my brain. I know I have seen one of these up close and I get a strong feeling I chewed on it's little hands and feet. I turned 1 in 1967 so it's possible I had one. I'll have to ask my dad.