NWA Democrat-Gazette / LYNN ATKINS Bruce Fox will be signing copies of his second book about Fisher-Price toys after he speaks at 2 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Bella Vista Historical Museum.
Bruce Fox has always been a collector. Growing up, he collected arrowheads and baseball cards. As an adult, he was working at a Woolco store in Texas when he found himself gravitating toward the toy aisle. That was where he met the salesman for a growing company. It was the start of a career as well as a collection.
“Fisher-Price was the Cadillac of toy companies,” Fox says. He went to work in sales with only a pad and a pencil and traveled all over the southwest. Eventually, he worked with nearly every account Fisher-Price serviced, received two lifetime achievement awards and became the company historian. He has published two books about the company.
FAQ
Collector Bruce Fox:
Fisher-Price Toys
WHEN — 2 p.m. Dec. 15; exhibit through January
WHERE — Bella Vista Historical Museum
COST — Free; books will be for sale
INFO — Email [email protected]
“It was a lot of fun. I loved the job,” Fox says.
Fox’s collection started not long after he started work. He was visiting a wholesaler who had a wall of Fisher-Price toys on display when he noticed he was still displaying a toy that was no longer produced. The wholesaler took the toy out of the display, and Fox offered to buy it. He paid the price that any small dealer would pay for that toy, and it became the cornerstone of his collection, which now numbers more than 500. He used to have more, he says, but he downsized by limiting himself to only the wooden toys.
Fox had only worked for the company for eight years, but he had developed a reputation as a collector when he was asked to do a slide show for Fisher-Price retirees. He photographed his collection and arranged his slides chronologically. He was a hit.
“I had a career-long side job after that,” he says. He was asked to work on a book along with a professional photographer. In 1987, he signed 3,000 copies of the book in three days. It took another three days for his hand to uncramp.
In 2005, he was asked to be the spokesman for the company’s 75th anniversary. After a short course in public relations, he spent a morning doing 17 live television spots that showed all over the country.
Fox was senior director of sales in a territory that included Walmart when he and his wife, Becky, moved to Bella Vista in 2003. By the time he retired in 2009, they loved the area and decided to stay. And now, a portion of his collection is on show at the Bella Vista Historical Museum for Christmas.
“There’s no such thing as a new toy,” Fox says, looking over the exhibit. “There’s just new technology.”
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