There are a handful of toys I owned in my youth that I wish I could still play with...Hugo is certainly one of them. He arrived on the toy shelves in 1975. I was 8 years old when Hugo appeared under my Christmas tree. I never asked for Hugo, but I think my obsession with horror films made my parents realize that Hugo's presence would be welcome in my life.
Dig for a second Hugo's vacant stare.
Have you ever seen such malevolence? I don't think there has been a toy before or since that has had such an eerie countenance as Hugo.
Look at his disguises:
What are we to make of the grotesque, swollen, stitched eye, the eye that is glazed over and sickly white, the astonishing selection of scars and the ridiculous Beatle wig? These are not the accouterments of a wholesome puppet. What ever situation this puppet gets into we can be assured that it will be nefarious and awful.
Of course, Hugo was not the only one who would sport a plastic scar. I'm assuming every kid did finally resort to sticking them on his own face. I know I did.
The Wikipedia entry has a complete list of all the delightful items that came with Hugo. I forgot about the bandage (with fake bloodstain!).
One amazing fact I discovered was that Hugo was designed by Alan Ormsby!
Alan acted in and co-wrote this film with the late, great Bob Clark:
He directed this:
He wrote this:
It took a man like that to design I wondrous, horrifying toy like...HUGO.
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