Probably Germany, depicting a boy with plaster-composition head, articulated eyes, eyebrows and lower lip riding an ostrich with articulated neck, beak, tail and illuminated eyes, the boy with papier-mâché body, hands holding shield and spear, the ostrich's torso containing 220-volt electric motor, boy 37 in. (94 cm), ostrich 74 in. (188 cm) high, boy's lower legs unobtrusively replaced. Working condition. – "Babaloo" turns and nods his head, raises his eyebrows and moves his lower lip as "Oswald" cranes his neck, flutters his tail and snaps his beak open and shut. – This automaton was part of a collection of life-sized characters offered by the Hess Brothers department store in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for Christmas 1953. – References: "Ogden Standard Examiner", 17 December 1953, p. 4. – "The kids are having a circus at the Hess Brothers' big Toyland in Allentown, Pa., where a collection of life-sized imported circus characters is on display – and for sale at non-budget prices. Parents all over town are reaching for their headache remedies as the children clamour for the animated creations, which are said to make up the only collection of its kind in this country. If Daddy has a few dollars left over after paying the rent and groceries, he can buy Junior a room-filling elephant, "Sultan," complete with Maharajah, for only $4,895. If that's a little steep, "Oswald," the ostrich, can be had for a mere $1,250, and if you're really tight for cash, "Frosty," the polar bear, can freeze your spending money at $850". – A rare and humorous advertising automaton.