Blog Dog Dan: DEAR TABBY

DEAR TABBY: My grandchildren don't believe me when I describe the original Mr. Potato Head toy that I played with as a child in the 1950s. You supplied the actual potato (or any fruit or vegetable) and made a face with the plastic pieces shaped like noses, ears, eyes, and mouths attached to a push-pin. Help me out, Tabby, so they won't look at me like I'm half-baked! MRS. KATE TATE, LOONEYVILLE, TEXAS

DEAR MRS TATE: Just before 1950, a well-known inventor, George Lerner, designed and produced a set of plastic face pieces which could be pushed into fruits and vegetables. However, being in the World War II era, toy companies didn't think that customers would accept the idea of wasting a piece of food as a child's toy. Determined, George finally sold the toy to a cereal company, who planned to use the pieces as a giveaway in cereal boxes.

In 1951, Mr. Lerner approached Henry & Merrill Hassenfeld, who owned a company that sold toy-filled pencil boxes, to fill their boxes with his toy face pieces. They loved his idea and bought the toy from the cereal company. It was a purchase that would become their first huge toy hit, and help boost their company, later called HASBRO, into the ranks of toy legends!

The Hassenfelds introduced their new Mr. Potato Head Funny Face Kit to the world on April 30, 1952, and began one of America’s greatest toy stories. The original price for this Mr. Potato Head was under one dollar! In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was introduced, and as you can guess, this sprouted even more characters and accessories in the sets.

This continued for almost 12 years, but beginning in 1964, brown plastic potato heads with predrilled holes were included in all Mr. Potato Head sets. One of the reasons for the change were the sharp points on the face pieces. Government regulations forced Hasbro to round off the points, and they just didn’t puncture food very well after that. This also meant new "Tooty Frooty Friends" for Mr. Potato Head which included Oscar Orange, Pete the Pepper, Cooky the Cucumber, and Katie Carrot.

In the later 1960s, kids wanted more action toys, so in 1966, Mr. Potato Head became Jumpin' Mr. Potato Head. With a slightly larger body and a wind-upwindup mechanism, he could fish, use a jackhammer, fly a kite, or just plain jump for joy. Mrs. Potato Head could use a duster, a floor cleaner, and ring the dinner bell!

The 1970s were not kind to Mr. Potato Head and bizarre changes were made. His head size doubled and the face pieces were made even larger due to stricter government regulations. What worse is, he lost his hands and body! He only had two stubby feet and the holes in his head became horizontal and vertical slots. This only allowed the pieces to be inserted in one direction, so you could no longer make funny faces with crooked mouths or twisted ears!

The 1980s saw a rebirth to Mr. Potato Head. His shape and color were changed to basically the shape he is today. He was given bendable, non-removable arms, and a trap door backside for storing extra parts. In addition, the round holes returned AND on February 11, 1985, Baby Potato Head was born! The toy was popular again through the remainder of the '80s, and the Saturday morning cartoon My Little Pony & Friends featured a regular segment with the all new Potato Head Kids in 1986.

Mr. Potato Head's appearance stayed basically the same through the late '80s into the '90s. In 1992, Hasbro introduced the Soft Stuff Potato Head, but in 1995, Pixar Pictures and Disney released a groundbreaking movie called Toy Story, and with the success of the movie, the lovable Mr. Potato Head was on shirts, ties, posters, games, puzzles, postcards, and hundreds of other products. In the fall of 1998, the Fox Kids Network began airing the live action TV show, The Mr. Potato Head Show. This show featured a puppet version of a muscular Mr. Potato Head and a gang of his kitchen friends. In 1999, he joined Mrs. Potato Head in the sequel Toy Story 2, and in 2010, in Toy Story 3!

Mr. Potato Head turned 50 in 2002! Mr. Head traveled in his "Spudmobile" to 250 birthday parties at Wal-Mart stores all over the country. This 50 Years of Smiles tour included a $25,000 giveaway and charitable donations to OPERATION SMILE. WHAT A SPUD!

The Rhode Island Legislature gave their "peel of approval" in 2002 to a state auto license plate featuring Mr. Potato Head, all to raise money for charity, and a patriotic edition Mr. Potato Head was released to help raise money for the children effected by the Sept. 11 attacks.

No more couch tater: In 2005, Mr. Potato Head got Healthy and became the national spokesman for the United States Potato Board and made his debut as a giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Currently, his popularity shows no signs of slowing down. The most successful licensed products so far are the Sports Spuds. They are smaller team-specific versions of Mr. Potato Head from over 100 collegiate and pro teams!