
The first toy commercial to appear on television was for Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head in 1952.
Unlike today’s version of the popular toy, the 1952 version required children to use a real potato and affix plastic eyes, mouths, and ears.
It wasn’t until 1964 that a plastic potato came with the kit, thus sparing homes of the effects of rotting potatoes that were discarded into toy boxes and under beds.
More than 100,000,000 Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads have been sold in the past sixty years.
The Big Flub Called Flubber
Hasbro introduced a toy in 1962 called “Flubber” (tied to the movie Son of Flubber). It was made from synthetic rubber and mineral oil. It had all of the qualities one would want from a toy. It was fun, unusual, inexpensive, and versatile. It also made kids sick. One of the first rules of product…
Check Out These Wacky Board Games
Admittedly, the Commonplace Fun Facts staff is not really big into board games or games in general. It probably has something to do with the “Does not play well with others” notation that kept showing up in our grade school report cards. Even so, we find ourselves wondering how some board games ever made it…
Thank the Creator of the Headless Horseman for Your Favorite American Christmas Traditions
There are certain people who figure prominently in the development of Christmas traditions. What would Christmas be like without Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” Thomas Nast’s depiction of Santa, or Clement Moore’s immortal poem, “The Night Before Christmas”? When listing those responsible for your Christmas looking the way it does, don’t overlook one prominent name: Washington…
I can’t help feeling that making your own Potato Heads would have been more fun than buying them ready made!
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