He Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins!

My son has developed a rather large cache of "stuff." He has a toy chest in the living room that is full. My son and I are both rather organized so the various drawers, cabinets and main compartments are arranged by type of toy. (You laugh, though my son is but 2 years old, give him a pile of matchbox cars and he will line them up perfectly. I love my child. He also will help clean - run the swiffer around the room, pick up with the dustpan, wipe the table where he has been eating, makes me proud). But I digress.

There was a recent article in the new Life Magazine supplement that comes in the paper. I know, I know, I have already disparaged this attempt at reviving a great magazine and how Luce is surely rolling over in his grave. Nonetheless, it provides good blog fodder. The article talked about the explosion of toys for America's youth. A New York City photographer documented the phenomenon in the "Pink and Blue Project."

The article also had a side piece on the "Brief History of Toy World's Citizens."

• the View Master, 1939 - Had one of those. I remember reels littering the room and as noted in the description, the View Master really took off, when Disney adapted its films for it. The Aristocats! Over 1.5 billion reels have been produced.
• the Slinky, 1945 - Started out to help stabilize nautical equipment. But when they saw it "walk down stairs, alone or in pairs - everyone knows its Slinky." I have one of these now but had a couple growing up as well, contributing to the more than 300 million that have been sold.
• Mr. Potato Head, 1952 - I don't remember having one, but I do remember having the poor-man's version - a real potato. Of course, it is now forever linked with Don Rickles and the Toy Story movies.
• Frisbee, 1957 - The pie plate turned toy, I remember in high school and college, the "Ultimate Frisbee Tournaments," which evidently still is around. I can still bounce a Frisbee off the pavement with panache. More than 200 million have been sold in its 50 years.
• Hot Wheels, 1968 - I still have Matchbox cars that my brother played with and he is 14 years older than. My big thing growing up was going to Williams Variety and spending a portion of my allowance on a new Matchbox car. My son has a bunch, but the ones of my youth are up on a high shelf for display for the time being. In 2006, more that 60 million cars were bought - nearly FIVE TIMES the number of real cars sold in the US last year.
• Rubik's Cube, 1980 - Getting close to the end of my high school days now and I had one, but I believe it still exists somewhere, unsolved, sigh. More than 300 million are out there, but how many are done?