Ben Cooper Batman Jiggler

This is one of the weakest, most pathetic excuses for a toy ever...and yet, it's one of my favorites.

This is Ben Cooper's Batman Jiggler from the very early Seventies...I'm guessing around 1971 or 1972. Ben Cooper's claim-to-fame was children's costumes but it appears that the company delved into "toys" now and again. There were several Jigglers released. I know there were also Superman, Spiderman, and Hulk Jigglers produced.

Nothing to see here, Bubba. Move along...

Just what exactly is a Jiggler? A Jiggler is a toy at it's most basic form. It's basically a 6" rubber figure with an elastic cord attached to it's back. So, you would hold the cord and "jiggle" the figure. That's about all you could do with it. These were REALLY cheap toys that were produced without packaging. These are a lot like the rubber spiders and bats that were plentiful around the same time. When new, each Jiggler had a hang-tag attached to it's elastic cord to let the buyer know the price and what figure they were buying. These were most likely sold at the counter by the cash register to tempt children into goading their parents to buy them something just one more time before leaving the store.

Why is it one of my favorite toys? This is the first Batman toy I can remember ever having as a child (this isn't my original in the photos....long gone). As a six year-old, I remember once asking my Aunt Carol (an artist) to draw Batman for me. She used my Batman Jiggler for reference and did a "spot-on" drawing of Ben Cooper's Batman Jiggler. However, I was hoping for something that looked a little more like a Neal Adams Batman. At any rate, I'd love to have that drawing today.

Just look at the sculpting and paintwork on this exquisite figure!! What a thing of beauty!!

In all honesty, this makes cheap foreign Batman bootleg figures look like something from Hot Toys or Medicom. It's that bad... or good, depending on your point of view.

Why?