Toys of the 1950’s Chelsea Slahtovsky

Slinky History In the 1940’s, Richard James was a naval engineer. While he was working a tension spring fell to the ground, he realized how the spring kept bouncing around and he realized the new idea for a toy, now called a slinky. Richard and his wife Betty then started the company of James Spring & Wire. Today, Slinky’s are made in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania Betty James replaced the blue-black Swedish steel with silver colored American metal, the metal we see Slinky’s in today.

Hoola Hoop History A light multi-colored plastic hoop that is whirled around the body for play or exercise is a hoola hoop. Arthur K. Melin often called “Spud” invented the Hoola Hoop. Before hoola hoops people were doing the exact same movement with grape vines and stiff grasses. More than three thousand years ago, children in Egypt played with large hoops of dried grapevines. The word hula became associated with the word hooping, then an Australian company began making wooden rings for sale in retail stores. Although the craze died out in the 60’s hoola hoops are now still very much with us.

Mr. Potato Head Mr. Potato Head was invented by George Lerner in 1952. He was a well known inventor and designer. In the late 1940’s, George invented a set of plastic face pieces. The toy was not an immediate hit in the beginning. After a while, the toy sold to a cereal company for 5,000. Although this was an improvement, George thought his new toy deserved a better chance at fame. George and the New England manufacture bought the rights to the cereal company for 7,000. In today's century, Mr. Potato Head is very well known and popular to all children around the world.

Etch-a-Sketch Arthur Granjean in 1959 created L'Ecran Magique , now known as Etch-a-Sketch. Arthur first sketched a drawing of this toy and took it to International Toy Fair in Nuremburg, Germany. His first shot at making the toy famous was shut down. But, he tried again, and that time Ohio Art decided to take a chance on the toy. L'Ecran Magique became the highest selling sketch toy in the business. It was then renamed Etch-a-Sketch. The selling of the toy was so remarkable that they manufactures decided to continued selling the toy until noon on Christmas eve.

Frisbee In Bridgeport, Connecticut there was a business that made pies called The Frisbie Baking Company. College student once realized the empty baking pan could be used as a game, being tossed and caught for hours. In fact, many colleges now are claiming to be the inventor of the Frisbee. In 1948, Warren Franscioni and Walter Frederick Morrison invented the first actual plastic version of the Frisbee. Morrison then on his own created a plastic Frisbee called the Pluto Platter.

Silly Putty In 1943, James Wright discovered an odd result of boric acid and silicone oil being combined together. He then did a number of tests on the goo discovering it could bounce, stretch, didn’t collect mold and had a high melting point. In 1949 Ruth Fallgatter had come upon this “nutty putty”.’ He then put the product in a magazine advertising it for 2 dollars each. The product outsold every other item in the catalog.

Pick-up Stix This game was a simple physical game. The only rules included picking up a stick while not bumping or moving the remaining sticks around it. When and who invented Pick-up Stix’s has been unclear, but it has always gone back to the Native Americans.

Works Cited Page 1) "History of the Slinky Toy - Richard James and Betty James." Inventors. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/slinky.htm>. 2) "Hula Hoop History - Invention of the Hula Hoop." The Great Idea Finder - Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/hulahoop.htm>. 3) "Mr. Potato Head History - Invention of Mr. Potato Head." The Great Idea Finder - Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/mrpotatohead.htm>. 4) "Etch A Sketch History - Invention of Etch A Sketch." The Great Idea Finder - Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/etchsketch.htm>. 5)"The History of the Frisbee." Inventors. Web. 01 Mar. 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980218.htm>. 6) "What Toys Were Popular in the 1950s - Articles." Fabulous 50th birthday gift ideas Woodstock Candy - fun gifts for birthdays. Web. 01 Mar. 2010. <http://woodstockcandy.com/toys-popular-in-1950s.html>. 7)"Pick Up Sticks : Retro." Retro Skooldays : Old Memories. Web. 01 Mar. 2010. <http://www.skooldays.com/categories/toys/ty1056.htm>.