Thornbury's Toys Sponsored Little League Football and Baseball Teams

Look at this young sport getting ready for the big baseball game!  He proudly wears his new uniform sponsored by Thornbury's Toys. I'll bet the games were played at the St. Matthews Community Center behind Ten Pin Bowling Lanes. This picture appears to be taken in the late 50's.

A "Thorny Toy" is a Worth the Money Toy

From 1964 Thorny Club Official Members Book  

Thornbury's Toys was a customer-oriented store.  They strived to make everyone happy with their shopping experience and they stood behind the toys that they sold.  It was very important that they brought in quality toys that would provide many hours of safe play for the kids.  A "Thorny Toy" was a toy that Uncle Jim and staff had decided was a good play value toy and worth what the customer paid for it.  If you were ever not happy with the items that you purchased, the employees of Thornbury's were instructed to return the purchase price of the toy with a smile on their face. 

The Secret Sign-"T" Stands for Thornbury's and Thornbury's Stands for Toys!

Looks like Uncle Jim is holding a booklet about the very popular "Guess Who" children's program while some of the kids are ready to get a prize by showing that they know the secret sign.

The "secret sign" was another of Uncle Jim's promotional ideas.  He and his employees would carry around some trinket toys and if the youngsters would make the "T" sign with their fingers, they would receive a small reward. The "T" sign would mean that they knew that "T" stands for Thornbury's and Thornbury's stands for toys.  Uncle Jim must have stayed up many nights trying to figure out what his next promotion was going to be!

Thorny's Whereabouts "Uncovered"

The video above is an edition of Louisville Uncovered by Cyndy Tandy.  It aired on WAVE3 in February 2015.  In the video, the first picture of Thornbury's Toys was actually at 117 Breckenridge Lane and it opened in 1954. Then, in 1960, they moved to a new, much larger store on Shelbyville Road, which is also in the video.  One more little note: Thorny was last spotted on top of Brundage Jewelers on Chenoweth Lane in the weeks before Christmas 2014 (see photo below, from here). Thanks WAVE3 and Cyndy for featuring Thorny and getting us motivated to tell the Thornbury's Toys story and sharing it with lots of people who have such fond memories of the toy store.

Three's a Crowd WAVE-TV Mid 60's

Look! I found this great photo of the set of Three's a Crowd.  See the blog below for more details of the show.

What's In Your Wallet? It Better Be Thorny Bucks

When you started collecting Thorny Bucks, you had to have this particular wallet to keep them in. The more toys that were purchased, the more Thorny Bucks were accumulated.  It was a thrill to come into the store and open your wallet to buy your very own toy. This picture shows the front and the back of the Thorny Bucks wallet.

Memories Found Online, Part 2: "One Saturday Afternoon"

The image above and narrative below were posted here in October 2014. The program "Three's A Crowd" aired on WAVE-TV in the mid 1960s as this ticket shows. Three people claimed to have the same occupation, such as fireman or lawyer and the kids would have to guess which one was for real and which ones were impostors. Of course, the prizes were toys from Thornbury's!

One Saturday afternoon 

Our teacher received a stack of these tickets with a general invitation to her class to attend a local TV kid game show called Three's A Crowd. The half hour program aired Saturdays at noon on the local NBC affiliate. The format of the program was modeled directly on the CBS network's To Tell The Truth.

My dad and I drove downtown for the show. Once we were all settled in the studio, a random drawing was held to select 8 kids from the audience to serve as on-air panelists for the show's two games. This was shortly before air time. Classmates Gail, Bruce, Sharon and I were picked for the first half of the show. I don't think any of us had time to think about becoming nervous.

Sharon swept that day's first game, correctly identifying the real-life fireman after about ten minutes of interrogation by the four of us. Her prize was a ton of Thorny Bucks, funny money redeemable only at Thornbury's Toys. (This Baby Boomer currency must be very rare by now.)

Thornbury's Toys was owned by Jim Thornbury, a frequent, instantly recognizable guest on local kid TV during the '60s, who was known as Uncle Jim. Thornbury's closed in the early '90s.

In 2001, a Thornbury nephew opened a local, specialized toy store, dealing in high quality and educational toys. [end]
Other posts by the author of above, 'Smiley Derleth', can be viewed here. Included among his many posts are interesting photos, ads, and commentary about vintage toys and children's books.  Derleth, in related correspondence about this post, wrote further that "Thornbury's has a place in the heart of those of us who remember that we will carry with us all our lives." Thanks for sharing those lovely sentiments and your rare "Three's A Crowd" ephemera!

Schwinn Bicycles Were a Win for Thornbury's Toys

In 1956, Thornbury's made the move to Schwinn bicycles as more and more customers were requesting them.  This ad, circa 1968, features Trigger Tom as the salesperson and Uncle Jim's daughter and grandson showing off the new bike.

Thornbury's Toys Didn't Just Sell Bikes, They Repaired Them Too

That's a lot of bicycles to repair!  But Larry Rogers led a great team of service employees to always get the job done right and on time.  Larry ran the service department at Thornbury's Toys for many years. They assembled bicycles, repaired bicycles and wheel goods and also delivered them to your door, if requested.

Memories Found Online, Part 1: "My Thorny"

Found online here is a blog post written by a woman reminiscing about Thornbury's, including a Thorny stuffed animal, an appearance by Thorny at her birthday party, and more. Some excerpts:

Thorny was given to me before I turned a year old. Today my children play with him. Thorny is a monkey that brings back many memories when I look at him. When I was younger my Uncle ran a Toy Store known as Thornbury's Toys...My mom worked a couple of days a week in the office when I was between the ages of 2 and 9 years old. I can remember going there as a child and walking up and down the aisles of toys. I remember going to work with my mom some days...My sister worked at the store and she had a name badge made up for me. I would walk around with my name badge on and pretend that I worked in the store too. I would straighten up shelves and wait for some customer to ask me for help...I always thought it was so funny when we would drive past the store and the Thorny on his bike would be missing from the sign. People would steal him all of the time...It even got attention in the Courier Journal when he was taken. Usually he would turn up... Sure enough he would go right back up on that sign riding his bike...Today Thorny wears my old size 2T toy store shirt and jeans. His ears are starting to fall of and he is pretty ragged....but he is my Thorny. He is many fond and happy memories, and he reminds me to be thankful for the wonderful family that I have.