MOLDVILLE is not affiliated with Mold-A-Rama, Inc. of Brookfield IL
Some History . . .
J.H. Miller (aka "Tike"), inventor of the machine made by Mold-A-Rama, Inc. of L.A. made a business of making statues about 3" to 5" high. In 1938 he started his business making hand-painted nativity statues out of a plaster called "chalkware." In 1950, still working with plaster, he made a number of hand-painted plaster Korean War soldiers, and filed a US Patent to his development of flexible molds to make such statues with spaced legs: US Pat. No. 2,660,776.
Around 1955 J.H. Miller began experimenting with plastic injection, making a number of jungle and forest animals, and dinosaurs, as represented by the original 1957 J.H. Miller brochure shown below. A nice website explaining some background of the mid-1950s plastic figures made by J.H. Miller, which also identifies Ruth Dudley and Frank Dutton as retained sculptors of the figures, is found at: www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/Miller.htm
Here's a happy fellow with his family (and JH MILLER T-Rex) circa 1958!
1950s Miller brontosaurus on top; 1964 Sinclair Oil brontosaurus on bottom (from a machine identical in design to mine, also at the 1964 New York World's Fair.) Note the functionality of the base of the later figures: it provided the ability to reduce the evacuation holes to just two. (There has to be at least two: one input and one ouput.) Without a base, each lower extremity of the large JH Miller animals required its own outlet hole. (Note there is even an evacuation hole in the tail.)
In September 1957, the fellow who invented the Mold-A-Rama, Inc. of L.A. machine, J.H. Miller (left) filed a patent application to his new injection polyethylene plastic molding technique - the base patent listed on the machine made by Mold-A-Rama, Inc. of L.A.: US Pat. No. 3,068,518 (note serial tag of Mold-A-Rama, Inc. of L.A. at the very top of this page.) The Miller Aliens were obviously formed by a two-part bottomless metal mold (based on the visible seam in the figure).
It naturally follows that the prototype machines must have been used for J.H. Miller's production the following year (1958) for his line of 18 different earth invaders, now known as "Miller Aliens". One of those eighteen Miller Aliens, the PURPLE PEOPLE EATER shown above-right, dates the set in 1958, being inspired by the June 1958 hit song of the same name (...It was a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater...) J.H. Miller figures are highly collectible!
But the Miller Aliens, perhaps the most creative and influential figures they made, would be their last product line. By April 1958, J.H. Miller Manufacturing was struggling financially. To keep the company afloat, J.H. Miller himself, and his wife Shirley, both personally guaranteed a series of fifteen notes totaling $21,000 to one company alone, but a year later bankruptcy for J.H. Miller Manufacturing became inevitable. The last company advertisement appeared in 1960.
The smaller J.H. Miller animals (elephant on right) used only two evacuation holes in bottom, just like the Mold-A-Rama of L.A. re-molded version of the same figure, indicating it was most likely formed on a prototype machine at J.H. Miller.
These are the cow and donkey from the J.H. Miller plastic Nativity scene. J.H. Miller made a good business out of selling his chalkware nativity sets from 1938 through the mid-1950s, but sometime in the late 1950s they manufactured a blow molded, hollow plastic version. Pieces from this plastic nativity scene, obviously manufactured on an early version of the Mold-A-Rama of L.A. type machine, rarely show up.
In fact, the nativity figures appear to be the figures which bridged the gap at J.H. Miller Mfg. between the chalkware plaster era and the Mold-A-Rama of L.A. plastic era. Can you tell which of these is made of plastic?
The sheep figure from the same respective plaster and plastic nativity sets. It's a shame that painting of the MOLD figures isn't more predominant, though it would be hard to live up to the hand-painted works of art sold by J.H. Miller Mfg.
My "Earth Invaders", aka Miller Aliens: PURPLE PEOPLE EATER, CERES, 2-eyed MOON MAN, NORTH STAR, & MILKY WAY.
Obviously the 1958 Miller Aliens were manufactured on a machine similar to mine! (I like the 15c marking on the bottom of the Purple People Eater larger Miller Alien, and 10c on the bottom of the Milky Way smaller Miller Alien!)
It's hard to believe that cave people would have looked like this, but there you go. J.H. Miller's take on a caveman, cavewoman, and baby. What is most interesting about these hollow figures is that the injection holes in their feet are smaller than those of a Mold-A-Rama of L.A., and that there is no base, inferring that they correspond to the 1955 era of J.H. Miller Mfg. The cave itself is closer to the 'modern' Mold-A-Rama of L.A. methodology (with the exception of the two large, extra eva
1964: Machines on location at the Sinclair exhibit of the New York World's Fair. This photo upper left (closeups above and left) comes courtesy of David at Gorilla's Don't Blog. The machines used are the 'standard' baby blue with the grey 'atom' front door. The backglass can be seen in closeup to the left.
These two images above are screen shots of a Jam Handy film taken at the NYWF in 1964. MOLDVILLE.com owns this exact moldset for the BACKWARDS FACING BRONTOSAURUS - I don't mean the same figure, i mean this exact moldset (the paint scratches match up perfectly!)
1965 (below): Machines at the same location - the Sinclair exhibit of the New York World's Fair, but one year later than the image above. This image is copyrighted to Bill Cotter, used with great thanks and permission! In this image (and the closeup below it), you can see ALL SIX Sinclair machines. Interestingly, it appears that the machines from the '64 season, which were 'standard' baby-blue machines in '64, were changed to all-green machines with Sinclair decals on the front and side.
Here's a closeup from another GREAT shot at the 1965 NY World's Fair, again from the collection of Bill Cotter. One operator told me that these Sinclair machines were so popular and continuously vending that they when they refilled them with polyethylene plastic supply, which is usually put into the machine in hard pellet form, the operator came with hot vats of pre-melted green plastic and poured the hot plastic into the vat in the machine.
This saved probably a couple hours or more of down time while the new plastic pellets melted. Some years later one operator designed an auxiliary supply vat off the upper back of the machine that would extend the time between required resupply visits.
Another 1964 NY World's Fair photo from the fantastic collection of Bill Cotter. This one shows two Disneyland Toy Factory machines outside the Billy Graham Pavilion (closeup below). The machine on the right appears to be vending a Donald Duck figure. Nearby was a sign that read: MOLD YOUR OWN UNISPHERES, MOLD-A-RAMA, THE WORLD'S SMALLEST PLASTIC FACTORY.
August 1965, NY World's Fair: These Sinclair brontosaurus' (right) were hot off the press! Perhaps these kids, who would now be in their late 50s, still have these ubiquitous souvenirs? Below is another style machine glimpsed at the NY World's Fair in 1964. (photos courtesy Bill Cotter)
