Itty Bittys Circus Characters

Circuses were big entertainment in the mid-20th century, so Diener jumped on the bandwagon by creating erasers that look like clowns and circus animals. The Itty Bittys circus line includes three unique characters: a clown balancing a ball, a “Happy Clown” pencil-topper head, and a circus horse rearing up on two legs with a feather headdress. McDonald’s first-ever Happy Meal, launched in 1979, was a Circus Wagon box that carried a Diener eraser along with a burger. Diener used display boxes that looked like circus wagons too. Circuses fell out of favor as times changed and animal-rights activists exposed abuses, but no animals were harmed in the making of the erasers.

Walt Disney Erasers Catalog Page – 1975