Posted on 11/13/2005 5:16:29 PM PST by Cagey
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Forget the fancy toy: The box it comes in can be much more fun. Spaceship, castle, haven to daydream in, the cardboard box was enshrined Friday in the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Jack-in-the-Box and Candy Land.
No kidding, grown-ups.
"I think every adult has had that disillusioning experience of picking what they think is a wonderful toy for a child, and then finding the kid playing with the box," said Christopher Bensch, chief curator of the Strong Museum. "It's that empty box full of possibilities that the kids can sense and the adults don't always see."
Low-tech and unpretentious it may be, but the cardboard box has fostered learning and creativity for multiple generations - a key qualifier for inclusion in the museum's seven-year-old hall of fame. And its appeal as a plaything or recreational backdrop is universal.
All over the world, "packaging is something that's accessible to kids, whether that's cans or tins or wooden crates," Bensch said, and the cardboard box "makes a point that you don't have to spend a lot, have a certain income level or charge it on your credit card to have your kids have a great play experience."
The museum, which boasts the world's largest collection of toys and dolls, acquired the hall in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore.
So far, 34 classic toys have been enshrined, from Barbie to Mr. Potato Head, Legos to Lincoln Logs, Slinky to Play-Doh and Crayola crayons to marbles.
Candy Land, a board game decorated with a sweet-treats trail and destinations such as Gumdrop Mountain, was created in the 1940s by a San Diego polio victim, Eleanor Abbott, who wanted a pastime for children recuperating from illness.
Jack-in-the-Box, the jester who bursts open his box lid when a compressed spring is released, appears to have originated in the 16th century. The toy is loosely based on Punch, the dynamic puppet in the "Punch and Judy" show.
The corrugated cardboard box, which quickly came to dominate the shipping industry in North America, was invented by a Brooklyn printer, Robert Gair, in 1890.
Strong Museum, the second-largest children's museum in America, is aiming to wrap up a $33 million expansion next summer that could double its attendance to nearly 700,000 visitors a year. The 23-year-old museum contains more than 70,000 toys and dolls and features circus memorabilia, children's books, household furniture, miniatures and various objects of American culture dating from the 1820s.
If I had a dollar for every time I've gotten my cat something nice for Christmas and found her playing inside an empty box...
In the interest of full disclosure, I know (again, from my daughter's research and paper) that Mr. Potato Head was a nationwide craze for a couple of years.
There were a Mrs. Potato Head (had one), a couple of potato kids (one, I remember, was "Spud"), and a couple of potato pets that followed him as a result of his success. There was even a Mr. Potato Head toy travel trailer (the vacation-y kind to pull behind a toy car) -- I vaguely remember that from commercials or from a friend's house.
According to several toy history sources, the first TV commercial for a toy was for Mr. Potato Head -- although while earning her degree at Silly Putty University (www.sillyputty.com), my daughter watched a REALLY old commercial for Silly Putty that I'd bet gives Mr. Potato Head a run for his money.
Also, Mr. Potato Head was, according to the THOF, the only licensed toy in the movie, Toy Story.
I guess it is iconic and has lasted for several generations, two of the criteria. I just don't see that it changed the way toys were made, or that children learn (at least not in any significant way) from playing with it.
When I match Mr. Potato Head against marbles, bicycles, Monopoly, Tinkertoys, rollerskates, etc., I don't see him being one of 34 toys of ALL TIME deserving of the special recognition. Obviously, I've spent too much time thinking about this over the last three months -- but we have a tendency to get fully immersed in the kids' annual Social Sciences project at the Scoutmaster household.
Again, I'm proud to be a tuberphobe. Mr. Potato Head has no business in the Toy Hall of Fame. It's time somebody took a stand against underserving tubers.
I can just see it now. The Star Wars lobby, emboldened by the success of the Ragged Ann petition campaign and using the money they save by living in their parents' basement, will team with the Governor of Idaho to put out a contract on me. The hit will be accomplished using . . .
. . . one of those great old Spud Guns, the kind that fired little pieces of potato.
Tuberphobes unite!
Didn't Mr. Potato head come out in a plastic version with the holes already there? I seem to recall getting one of the "modern" ones as a kid and thinking "what's the point?"
One week later the box is still in our den complete with a camping light and blanket inside.
'The point' is exactly the point. The original facial features for Mr. Potato Head had sharp points on the back so you could stick them in a potato. Federal safety guidelines for toys changed, and the prongs on the back of the facial features could no longer be sharp.
To compensate for this, Hasbro made the plastic "potato" with the holes already drilled for the facial features and put blunt pegs on the back of the facial features. Of course, this limits the creativity factor of the toy -- kids can only put facial features where the holes already exist.
Like I said, we've been living the Toy Hall of Fame for three months at the Scoutmaster household.
"Federal safety guidelines for toys changed, and the prongs on the back of the facial features could no longer be sharp."
I just KNEW this thread would become a CONSERVATIVE issue. (other than the obvious of making your OWN fun your OWN way using your OWN cardboard box! (Caution - staples may be sharp. Rough edges may cause abrasions. Sitting in a box in the middle of a road you are not visible to drivers. They may run over you.)
That last one SHOULD have been printed. Many years ago I debated whether to hit the box or not. Even just clipping it to send it off the road. Then figured it might still have the appliance in it so i swerved around it. Looked in the mirror and out climbs a kid!!! I turned around and told him how lucky he was. Then took his box.
When she was a child, some very young twin boys in her neighborhood were playing with a cardboard box in the middle of the road. The details are hazy, but apparently they were taking turns squeezing into the box while the other pushed the box down a steep hill in the road.
A passing car saw the box in the middle of the road and elected to run over it, killing the boy. None of the kids in her neighborhood played in cardboard boxes much after that. Thanks for swerving.
And it's a great sneaking tool too!
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