Tag Archives: Toys

Baby Boom Toys (Part Two!)

A few weeks ago, in honor of the season, we looked at inductees to the National Toy Hall of Fame, which is at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. (Worth a visit – you should go!) We focused ourselves on Baby Boom toys, released no earlier than 1946.

But I’ll make an exception for the SLINKY, introduced for Christmas in 1945. The manufacturers brought their first batch of 400 to demonstrate at Gimbels in Philadelphia, and sold out the stock in minutes.

I well remember being flabbergasted by the thing in the mid-fifties, as it “walked” its way down the stairs. Clearly it wasn’t magic, but it darned well looked like it. The down side was that Slinkies easily got twisted or tangled. (Still do, I suppose.) But the lifelike movement was compelling.

I was about 13 when G. I. JOE burst onto in the scene, so I didn’t get caught up in the enthusiasm. My younger cousin did, though. And so did millions of others.

G. I. Joe was sort of a male counterpart to Barbie, with all the changes of costume and paraphernalia. He was billed as an a-c-t-i-o-n f-i-g-u-r-e, and not as a (heavens!) d*o*l*l, so boys could enjoy him with impunity. And they did! He became the progenitor of acres of action figures, from Star Trek to Star Wars to He-Man and She-Ra, and he himself is still going strong.

Not without a few hiccups along the way, especially as Vietnam provoked Americans to re-evaluate their love affair with war. He disappeared for five years or so beginning in 1978, and he shrank in size from 11 ½ inches to eight inches to 3 ¾ inches. He also diversified, becoming an astronaut, an explorer… an adventurer. Even today, he’s always ready for the next mission or the next challenge, and the next kid with dreams.

I also had only a nodding acquaintance with the EASY-BAKE OVEN, originally available in such modern designer colors as turquoise and pale yellow. It’s very fondly remembered and still sells up a storm. The elementary-school girls in Jimmy Gownley’s Amelia Rules graphic novel series speak of it with awe as the “holy grail” of Christmas gifts. Hats off to the designers who discerned the brilliant and elegant simplicity of a pair of hundred-watt light bulbs making a safe yet functional oven for kids.

Oh, yes, the SKATEBOARD, or, in the early parlance of the day, the “sidewalk surfer.” Not being very good (even today) at fine-motor coordination, I couldn’t use the thing for beans. But they sure were popular! And still are today! And good for them (assuming you take safety precautions), for giving the kids fresh air and exercise.

Kudos also to the BIG WHEEL, first introduced by Marx. By the time it came out I was far too hulking to use it, but it transformed the venerable tricycle into a far safer (but even faster!) vehicle, mainly by lowering the rider, lowering the center of gravity, and replacing sharp-edged, unyielding metal with molded plastic. More fun, more safe. Love ’em both.

Even adding this second blog doesn’t exhaust the Baby Boom contributions to the National Toy Hall of Fame! We’ll add some more another time.

Baby Boom Toys (Part One!)

One of our neatest amenities here in western New York is the Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester. Our younger son went three time last spring, and he’s almost 40! We accompanied him on one of those trips, and we’re way MORE than 40!

And one feature of the museum is the National Toy Hall of Fame. From the cardboard box to the yo-yo to Nintendo and Star Wars… and even the humble, simple stick… the Hall of Fame applauds and commemorates the playthings of many lifetimes.

The Baby Boom generation is perhaps the FIRST generation of kids to which our society paid a lot of systematic attention, AS KIDS. So as a certified card-carrying Boomer I thought we’d take a spin down memory lane to see the toys we grew up with… introduced no earlier than 1946. Do you recall…

PLAY-DOH. It was actually invented as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s, and remarketed to kids twenty years later. They sold two billion cans in fifty years.

The FRISBEE and the HULA HOOP. These gargantuan plastic fads were both marketed by Wham-O in southern California. I suppose that the name of the hula hoop was inspired by the approaching statehood of Hawaii. Using the hula hoop seems like a frantic, even frenetic activity, while the slow glide of the Frisbee cultivates serenity.

After some hesitation, Ohio Art paid what for them was a record price for a European creation that they euphoniously named ETCH A SKETCH. They started production on July 12 in 1960, and orders ran so high that they didn’t stop until noon on Christmas Eve. Like Pay-Doh, Etch A Sketch embodied creative, imaginative play. You could create almost anything you liked, and imagination made it twenty times more so.

BARBIE was controversial from the start, and indeed was somewhat based on a highly sexualized German doll. But that was opportunistic – when she found “Bild Lilli” on a European trip, Ruth Handler was already planning an adult plaything with a wide array of fashions – a 3-D paper doll.

Soooo… Barbie presented an unrealistic, and even ridiculous, body form. She also provided opportunity for imaginative play and unbounded aspiration, especially when Mattel presented her in an endless array of occupations and avocations both traditional and ground-breaking, AND in time adding non-white characters (including non-white Barbies) to the line.

MR. POTATO HEAD was originally (1949) a set of accessories and facial features to pin onto a potato. In 1952 Hasbro started providing a styrofoam head, and in 1964 moved to plastic. Coming from Rhode Island (Hasbro’s home) as I do, I note that Mr. Potato Head was once the official state tourism spokesman. I’m not sure that having a spokesman named Potato Head is the best marketing move, but at least he provided immediate recognition.

TONKA reportedly means “big” in Dakota, and it fits the memorable line of toy trucks! I imagine that most Boomers enjoyed Tonka Trucks immensely someplace along their way. I know I did.

Silicone-based SILLY PUTTY was developed as a potential rubber substitute doring World War II, and soon got used for goofing around at parties. It was first marketed on a small scale to adults as a party toy in 1949, almost died out due to rationing in the Korean War, and therafter was sold with ads aimed at kids. THAT turned out to be a big success.

We’ll look at more in a future blog, but for now… how many do you remember? How many did you have? Which ones would you love to have right now?

Good Memories at Strong Museum, and the National Toy Hall of Fame

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What toys do you like best? What toys do you remember best? What toys do your kids spend most of their time with?

*Every couple of years we visit the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, and on any given visit, it seems like we get through about half of the place. (It’s big!)

*Earlier this month, I committed to spend some time on the upper level, in the Toy Hall of Fame, which showcases 62 toys (so far) that have been selected for the honor.

*One of the great things about the Toy Hall of Fame is that it takes a very broad view of toys and playthings. So honored inductees include the stick (inducted 2008), the blanket (2011), and the cardboard box (2005).

*There were three inductions last year: Dungeons & Dragons, the swing, and Fisher-Price Little People. That makes a good picture of the breadth. The granddaddy of modern role-playing games, an ancient low-tech plaything, and an enduring, well-loved proprietary set of toys.

*When you wander the Toy Hall of Fame, you wander through a memory gallery that ranges from A (alphabet blocks, 2003) to almost-Z (View-Master, 1999).

*I have to say that I no longer remember any specific story on my View-Master. But I certainly remember pressing down that little button on the right, the satisfying “clunk” as the disc advanced, and the exciting 3-D effect, which I now know mimicked the old-time stereopticon.

*And how I loved my Lincoln Logs (1999), building anything imaginable, often in combination with my plastic dinosaurs or my little green army men (2014). Each Christmas, I used Lincoln Logs to make up a Nativity scene.

*My grandfather taught me checkers (2003), but my father taught me chess (2013). My mother taught me to ride a bicycle (2000). We bought our kids G.I. Joe toys (2004), and Star Wars action figures (2012). When I was at a very low time in my life, shortly before we came to Bath, our younger son bought me a jar of bubble water (2014), and I spent many calming hours on the steps, making bubbles and watching them float on the breeze, and thinking about what an insightful guy he was.

*Nowadays at our house we don’t go in much for Atari (2007), Barbie (1998), skateboards (2008), Easy-Bake Ovens (2006), or Rubik’s Cube (2014). But we DO spend time with Scrabble (2004), and with jigsaw puzzles (2002).

*Besides the main Toy Hall of Fame, the Strong is also home to the Toy Industry Hall of Fame (honoring people), the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and the D.I.C.E. Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

*Near the Toy Halls of Fame is the America at Play gallery, a chronological look at three centuries of play and recreation. I was thrilled to find a full-size fishing diorama here, complete with a Penn Yan Boats “Cartop” boat from the 1950s. I was intrigued to see one of the early circular Monopoly boards, hand-drawn by Charles Darrow.

*Since I’m a big fan of comics and cartoons, I enjoyed spotting playthings of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Popeye, Barney Google, Spark Plug, Peanuts, and Dick Tracy.

*We also took in Reading Adventureland; American Comic Book Heroes; and the Berenstain Bears “Down a Sunny Dirt Road” space, besides catching the last day of a dinosaur exhibit, and poking around the Field of Play room. And that still left almost half the museum untouched. Which just means we have to go back! And we will. You might like it, too.