General Mills purchased the company one year later. By 1964, Rainbow Crafts was shipping more than one million cans of Play-Doh per year. The result was the hugely popular Fun Factory that, with minimal force, would extrude Play-Doh into various shapes and designs. In 1960, accessories became part of the Play-Doh line when McVicker hired two engineers to develop a product that could be used in multiple ways. Kenner Products, trade catalog, 1984, from The Stephen and Diane Olin Sales skyrocketed, and Rainbow Crafts struggled to keep up with the overwhelming demand for this new toy. On the most popular children’s television show of its time, Captain Kangaroo catapulted Play-Doh into the national spotlight. Keeshan loved the product and made an arrangement with McVicker to use Play-Doh at least once a week on his show. His creativity prevailed once again when he introduced his new line of Play-Doh to Bob Keeshan, otherwise known to the television world as Captain Kangaroo. McVicker wanted his product to reach a larger audience, not just schools, but he lacked a substantial advertising budget. By 1957, Play-Doh was available in three new colors: red, yellow, and blue. Rainbow Crafts repackaged the product, now known as Play-Doh and marketed it to elementary schools in the greater Cincinnati area. In 1956, McVicker established Rainbow Crafts Company Inc., a subsidiary of Kutol Products. Toy Catalog Collection, The Strong, Rochester, New York. Rainbow Crafts, Inc., trade catalog, 1964, from The Stephen and Diane Olin He returned to headquarters to reformulate and repurpose the product they were already making, using the same heavy-duty equipment and manufacturing space-only this time, the end product was a child’s toy instead of wallpaper cleaner. McVicker traveled to Kay’s school to see the Kutol Products “clay” designs that her classroom had made and was happy with what he saw. Around this time, in 1955, McVicker’s sister-in-law, Kay Zufall, a school teacher, convinced him to think about their product as a handicraft and play object. Following Cleo’s death in 1949, his son Joseph McVicker took over the business and faced the challenge of keeping the company going. After World War II, families often converted coal-based home furnaces to oil and gas, thus reducing the soot residue issues that many homeowners previously battled. The result was a non-toxic, malleable clay-like compound made from water, salt, and flour that kept the company afloat and successful for another 20 years.īy the early 1950s, sales of Kutol Products wallpaper cleaner began to plummet. Although they had never made wallpaper cleaner before, Cleo returned to Kutol Products and his brother Noah, a product developer, came up with a winning formula. The company was close to going out of business when, in 1933, Cleo McVicker negotiated a contract with Kroger grocery stores to manufacture ready-made wallpaper cleaner to be marketed and sold in their stores. Play-Doh was actually in homes for at least 20 years before being considered a “plaything.” In fact, it was marketed and sold solely for another purpose: wallpaper cleaner! According to Tim Walsh’s book, Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers who Created Them, in the late 1920s Cleo McVicker was working for the Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kutol Products soap company. Just, don't leave the lid off.Photograph of girl playing with Play-Doh, ca. We have found the most exciting, most fun Play-Doh sets that are ready for your kids to go wild with. It's open-ended fun that kids can just leap right into. With Play-Doh sets, they're given a structure, but it's more an arrow pointing toward the possibilities than it is a rigid framework, and that's part of Play-Doh's greatness. You can see the absolute wonder that is their imagination working as they work the Play-Doh. ![]() They also note that it also provides kids an entertaining outlet for learning science and math in nontraditional ways.īut the biggest thing, and what we all think about when we're talking about how Play-Doh sets help our kids, is that it stirs their creativity. Researchers at Michigan State University cited that it helps with motor skill development and eye-hand coordination. And there's a real benefit to playing with Play-Doh as well. Play-Doh is an absolute classic, and there's truly nothing else like it. The smell, the feel, the endless opportunities presented by each new container - it's all a gift. ![]() There's something magical about Play-Doh.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |