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By Janna Bennett, Curator of the American Collection
Wow! That took a lot of energy to be “on” for the camera while we did this video shoot. I don’t know how many times I called Big Loo Moon Robot “Mr. Loo” but enough to be thoroughly confused!
I have a few disclaimers to get out there – that Silly Putty® in the video isn’t really 60 years old for instance. That was new Silly Putty®, but it’s such a classic I had to include it.
A lot of toys take a few years to become really popular so sometimes there’s a lag between when it was first introduced and when everyone had to have them. That’s the case for Cabbage Patch Kids® – first known as “Little People,” Xavier Roberts sold the dolls at craft shows around Georgia in the late 1970s. It wasn’t until the end of 1983 when almost three million Cabbage Patch Kids ® had been adopted with kids clamoring for more.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® were like that too. First starting as a parody in comics in 1984, the toys took off with the animated TV show in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Now what goes around, comes around and the toys and animated TV show are popular with a new generation of kids.
Some games take a little longer to “come around again.” The Game of Life was first introduced by Milton Bradley in 1860. It was reprinted in 1960. Life’s popularity helped Milton Bradley become a popular game company. Also in the ‘60s the company introduced Life, Stratego, Trouble and Operation.
And some toys are so classic, they never go out of style. One of those is the Fisher-Price Farm Set. These barns with the mooing door have been made since the company first opened in the 1930s.
There were so many toys to choose from, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear I didn’t include your favorite childhood toy. So what did I miss?
