Saturday, December 26, 2009

History of Christmas Toys...


LAST QUIZ...#33-T
Ruth Handler watched her kids play with many of their toys and noticed that most were based on little babies. During a trip to Europe with her son, Kenneth, and her daughter, Barbara, she came across an exciting German toy based on a popular comic strip character appearing in a German newspaper. She bought 3 of these toys and brought them back to the U.S.
Today, these toys are sold in over 150 countries at the rate of 1 every second!
ANSWER...THE BARBIE DOLL (Yes, 'Barbie' and 'Ken' were named after her kids)

TODAY'S QUIZ...
In 1959, Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr begin to market a toy, after getting the idea from a friend who saw schoolchildren in Australia playing with a bamboo toy for exercise. This was a toy that was probably used as long ago as 1000 B.C. in Egypt, and, later, in ancient Greece and Rome.
In the first 6 months of sales, 20 million of these toys were sold for $1.98/each. Japan once banned the use of this toy in public for being "indecent."
NAME TODAY'S TOY...