Historic Toys: Born of Creativity, Tragedy, Necessity

Everyone remembers some wonderful beloved toy that gave countless pleasurable hours.

The crooked-nose bunny whose furry bottom went bald from stroking, the sleek Lionel assembled with Dad, or the red Radio Flyer that tore down the driveway--all conjure up joyful memories, according to Traditional Home magazine.

Even now, children can unwrap fresh experiences with many of these toys, because they’re still being made today. The shiny paint and sleek packages of the newly produced items, however, belie their deep and fascinating origins.

Balls, for example, date to prehistoric times when children rolled stones around on the cave floor. Other historic toys grew out of sparks of imagination, tragedy or plain necessity.

John Lloyd Wright, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, imagined a toy in 1916 while observing construction techniques on his father’s “earthquake-proof” hotel in Tokyo. Wright’s Lincoln Logs went on to challenge budding architects for generations.

A tragedy ironically brought joy to millions in the form of a faceless old rag doll. In 1914, 8-year-old Marcella Gruelle showed a doll she had found in the attic to her dad, who drew a face on the sad little creature. Her mother restuffed it and attached the heart-shaped inscription “I Love You.” Dubbed Raggedy Ann for her shabbiness, the doll figured in many adventures invented by John Gruelle to entertain his terminally ill daughter. After Marcella died in 1916, Gruelle wrote the Raggedy Ann stories in her memory.

The tragedy of Depression-era unemployment motivated Charles B. Darrow to develop a game modeled after the unrestrained capitalism of the 1920s. Parker Brothers rejected it in 1933, citing “fundamental errors” in the idea. But in 1935, the company took a new look at Monopoly.

Necessity inspired Stone Age Philippine tribesmen to tie a long thong to a rock for hunting. The hunter could get it back if he missed. Greatly evolved, the yo-yo arrived in America in the 1920s. Today, it is a national sport in the Philippines.

Needing to sell some toy bears he was displaying in his shop, Morris Michtom wrote to then-President Theodore Roosevelt. Michtom asked if he could name the bears “Teddy’s Bears” in honor of the President’s refusal to shoot a bear on a 1902 hunting trip. Permission was granted and teddy bears have been hugged nightly ever since.

From Traditional Home magazine