1982: 50th Anniversary of the LEGO Company
Posted by Huw,
Matt Hocker has once again been busy scanning old paperwork and has sent me a number of documents related to the 50th anniversary of the LEGO company, which was celebrated in 1982, along with catalogues, adverts and an Ideas book published that year.
I've picked out a few highlights below. You'll find everything in our library.
Ideas book 226
Ideas Book 226 "has been especially designed for use with Universal Building Sets and accessories for children aged 3 to 12" so it's full of things to build with basic bricks and plates, including some neat motorised models.
50th Anniversary song
Matt says "I believe different offices throughout the world celebrated the anniversary in different ways. This sheet music was given to an Enfield employee, they likely sang as a part of their celebration. Songs celebrating LEGO's 50th anniversary are set to tunes from the musical, The Sound of Music. One of these, "My Favorite Things" seems to be a popular one during Christmas....In this version, everything has been LEGO-fied!"
Klodshans & LEGO Review (August 1982)
Matt tells me "This is the magazine published for LEGO employees. As far as I know Klodshans and LEGO Review were printed separately, while remaining one in the same. Klodshans was the title of the magazine published in Danish. LEGO Review was the title of the magazine printed in English. In Germany, there was LEGO Revue. As far as I can tell, they had the same content in different languages.
"Since this was the special 50th anniversary issue, it looks like they fused the Kloshans and LEGO Review names into a singular issue. This was put together to be like a celebration of the company's history or a "birthday card" from LEGO's different offices throughout the world. Because of this, translations were published in English, German, and Danish. If you read page 2, it will give you background information behind the development of the issue. My favorite part is that the different departments were asked to create an anniversary "greeting" without consulting outside advertising agencies. It definitely made for a pretty diverse sample of artwork.
"A couple things worth noting about the back cover: It notes that the print order was 5,500 copies. I'm assuming that means only 5,500 were printed (a very limited run!). Check out where is says "next issue:" It reads, "Deadline for material for the next issue which may well be published in August 2007 will be announced nearer the time." "
50 Years of Play
The 50 Years of Play hardback book was specially printed for the company's anniversary and was given to employees and others.
It's one of the few books published that provides information and images relating to the early history of the company.
The book is highly sought after by collectors and they fetch a high price on the secondary market. There's one on offer on eBay at the moment for $75 that also includes a card signed by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.
Adverts
A fascinating glimpse into how LEGO was marketed 35 years ago.
Catalogues
Matt has filled in a few gaps in our collection including a European Technic catalogue, European Duplo catalogue and a US train brochure. You'll find them filed under '1982' in our catalogue library.
I hope you find it all interesting!
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8 comments on this article
Yea! You are right! ^
I thought you meant 50 years old now!
Thank you for the Ads in particular. I'd love to see a section with all those ads compiled somewhere. I remember reading dutch Donald Duck comics and seeing these ads, and many of the photos in the ads are greatly superior to those in catalogs of the time, and provide excellent ideas for how to stage classic Lego scenes.
I've come across versions of some of those ads in American comics from the 80s quite recently. Love them! :)
Keeping up with the Klodshans
Whoa, the comment section has become spacious... (A little off-topic)
Anyway, thanks for showing the material.
Neat article. I must say, that the Ideas book 226 is simply amazing. A lot of inspiration with rather simple buiding techniques. A lot of inspiration still to this day!
Its actually 85 years of lego this year. Getting close to 100!