The History of Mr. Potato Head

By Terrie Todd

 

 

If you are alive to read this post, chances are you’ve had a Mr. Potato Head in your home at some point—if not, you’re at least familiar with the toy. Did you know the original Mr. Potato Head came with no head? In 1949, inventor George Lerner conceived a toy that children could design themselves. Each set consisted of plastic body parts and accessories attached to pins. Children could then transform a simple potato or other vegetable into a colorful, unique character all their own by arranging eyes, noses, mouths, glasses, hats, and pipes.

George Lerner

Coming out of the shortages of the Great Depression, followed by food rationing during World War II, Lerner’s idea initially met with resistance. Why would anyone want to sacrifice a perfectly good potato by turning it into a plaything? According to a 2019 article by Mary Bellis on ThoughtCo.com, a cereal company eventually bought Lerner’s concept for $55,000 and placed the plastic parts into cereal as free prizes for kids to collect.


By 1951, the world was reveling in its post-war abundance. The Rhode Island Hassenfeld Brothers toy manufacturing company paid the cereal company to stop production and purchased the rights to Mr. Potato Head for $7,000. Later, the company changed its name to Hasbro.

Those first sets provided hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, and four noses. Accessories included three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight pieces of felt suitable for beards and mustaches. The move turned out to be a great investment for Hasbro, who earned more than $1 million their first year.

In 1953, Hasbro added Mrs. Potato Head, their children Yam and Spud, and the children’s friends Kate the Carrot, Pete the Pepper, Oscar the Orange, and Cookie Cucumber. Children could even ask Santa for a Mr. Potato Head car, boat, or kitchen. The toy was the first TV ad targeted at children in 1960. You can watch it on You Tube HERE.

In 1969, the United States passed its Child Protection and Toy Safety Act, enabling the Federal Drug and Safety Administration to ban toys it deemed unsafe. Mr. Potato Head’s small pieces of plastic with sharp pins fell into that category. Parents had also complained about finding rotten potatoes under their kids’ beds. Rather than simply discontinuing the toy, Hasbro got innovative once again. In 1964, they began making hard plastic potato-shaped bodies and larger body parts. Another twenty-two years would pass before Mr. Potato Head surrendered his pipe-smoking habit in the interest of better health.

With the release of the first Toy Story movie in 1995, Mr. Potato Head again stepped into the spotlight, his character voiced by Don Rickles. He’s appeared in every Toy Story movie since. Earlier this year, Hasbro dropped the “Mr.” to make the toy gender-neutral.

Ray Matthews dreams of being an artist, but never of selling his work to a jigsaw puzzle maker—especially the portrait of his sweetheart, Sarah. When compelled to break his oath, Ray speaks a prophecy over the puzzle—that no one will be able to finish it before he and the love of his life are reunited. During the next 80 years, the puzzle passes through four different households. Though all are profoundly affected by Ray’s girl at the wishing well, none are aware of the connection between them—until one decision unleashes a peculiar chain of events.



Mr. Potato Head makes a guest appearance in a scene from 1957 in Terrie Todd’s newest release, The Last Piece. Terrie is the award-winning historical fiction author of The Silver Suitcase, Maggie’s War, Bleak Landing, and Rose Among Thornes. She also writes a weekly “faith and humor” column for the Graphic Herald called Out of My Mind. In 2020, she published a collection of her favorite columns in her only nonfiction book, Out of My Mind. Terrie is represented by Mary DeMuth of Books & Such Literary Agency. She lives with her husband, Jon, on the Canadian prairies.

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Mashed Potatoes: Creamy Deliciousness or A Taste of History?

 

Basket of Potatoes
Free Image by Christos Giakkas from Pixabay

  

By Alanna Radle Rodriguez and Judge Rodriguez

Hello Friends!

Thank you for joining us once again as we delve into the history of this great state we call home, Oklahoma.

First allow us to say: we wish to pay our respects to the brave men and women of our military, first responders and police and let them know our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families, particularly those currently on deployment outside our country and away from their families.

Last month, we covered the differences between costuming, garb and cosplay. This month, given the tradition of Thanksgiving, we decided to discuss something of a more—flavorful?—nature. While we were discussing the content of one of the books we are collaborating on, the subject of potatoes came up.

After a minor amount of discussion, it was decided to go ahead and write about one of the more talked about topics during the month of November, traditional foods. You see, most of the foods we Americans normally consume during Thanksgiving are not natively European.

 

Turkey leg drumsticks
Public domain photo

Wait, what? You mean the turkey legs at our local medieval/renaissance fair aren't historical medieval England food? Fair from it! Actually, across the ocean from it. Turkeys, along with corn and potatoes, are New World--or North American--food.

In this article, we will focus primarily on the potatoes, or "tubers".

When most people think of Ireland, they think two things, potatoes and potato whiskey. In particular, the Irish Potato Blight of the 19th century. Did you know that potatoes weren’t in Europe, England, or Ireland until the Spaniards led by Columbus brought them over?

So, potatoes as we know them of the species Solanum brevicaule were domesticated between 5,000 – 8,000 BCE in Peru and Bolivia. It is in the nightshade family, much like that of tomato, belladonna, eggplant and hemlock.

It was the Columbian Exchange that introduced the potato to Europe. They provided seedlings and full tubers at most ports they stopped by. It took years for the plant to be accepted by the farmers of Europe, due, most to their dependence on the cereal plants, (i.e. Wheat, Rye, Sorghum and Oat). Once the plant had been accepted, however, the crops were mostly contained to smaller, garden plots, as the crops were heavily proscribed by tradition. Even during the first Thanksgiving in America, the potatoes were not considered one of the favorites of the European settlers.

However, once it was discovered there was a serious nutritional value to the tuber, it became much a staple of the diet of most of Europe. In fact, it is credited with being one of the deciding factors in the population growth of the 19th century. That is to say, in Ireland, before the potato blight, there were as many as 8,000,000 Irish.

Even after the introduction and acceptance of the poisonous plant to Europe, it was still considered the food of the peasantry until the mini ice-age of the mid-17th century, when many of the cereal plants just would not grow in the sufficient quantities to Europe. Once the crop became a staple, however, things changed, and the potato become food for all.
 

Bowl of Mashed potatoes
Public Domain photo

            So, the next time you dig in to a nice big bowl of mashed potatoes, a dish of yams at your favorite holiday meal, a carton of french fries, or even have hash browns with your eggs of a morning, keep in mind you are eating an undeniable part of history that has literally changed the world.

Thank you for joining us in this journey through, shall we say gastric history? Join us next month as we go back to our regularly scheduled program of articles about buildings in Guthrie, Oklahoma!

Photo by Kathy Harris
Used with permission

Born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, Alanna Radle Rodriguez is the great-great granddaughter of one of the first pioneers to settle in Indian Territory. Judge was born and raised in Little Axe, Oklahoma, the son of A.F. Veterans. Judge and Alanna love the history of the state and relish in volunteering at the 1889 Territorial Schoolhouse in Edmond. Her second published story, part of a collaborative novella titled 18 Redbud Lane, is now available. Alanna and Judge live with her parents in the Edmond area. They are currently collaborating on a historical fiction series that takes place in pre-statehood Oklahoma.

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