Why Did We Think These Childhood Toys Weren’t Scary?

The original Baby Alive from Kenner in 1973 took doll play to a new level. You could feed her special food packets mixed with water. She had a mechanism in her mouth that let her “eat” the goop from a spoon. Then, a short while later, all that food would come out the other end, soiling her diaper. It was meant to simulate real baby care, but the process of feeding a doll a brownish paste that you knew you’d have to clean up later felt more like a chore.