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| Mr. Potato Head in a Macy's Parade |
If you’re alive to read this column, 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 children could design themselves. Each set consisted of plastic body parts and accessories attached to pins. Children could transform a simple potato or other vegetable into a colorful, unique character all their own by arranging eyes, noses, mouths, glasses, hats, and pipes.
Coming out of the shortages of the Great Depression, followed by food rations during World War II, Lerner’s idea initially met with resistance. Why would anyone 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 reveled 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 into 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.
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 discovering rotten potatoes under their kids’ beds. Rather than simply discontinuing the toy, Hasbro innovated 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. This year, he landed a minor role in my newly released novel, The Last Piece, when a boy receives a much-longed-for Mr. Potato Head kit for Christmas in 1957. Of course, he needs to ask his mom for a potato in order to play with the creative toy. You can watch a vintage TV commercial for it HERE.
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