Rest In Play - 1970 thru 1979

Richard T. James was born on March 27, 1918 and passed away on July 13, 1974. He was an American naval engineer best known for inventing the Slinky with his wife, Betty James. Richard earned a degr...ee from Penn State in mechanical engineering. In 1943, he was trying to develop a way to suspend sensitive shipboard instruments aboard naval vessels, and was working with torsion springs when he accidentally dropped one. He noticed that the spring kept moving after it hit the ground, and it was this moment that he was inspired to create a toy made out of the spring. He bought a coil-winding machine and started the James Spring & Wire Company to mass-produce the slinky. It wasn't until the following year that Betty came up with the name "Slinky," and together they convinced Gimbels department store in Philadelphia to carrying the toy for Christmas 1945. When they were simply perched on a shelf, no Slinkys sold. It wasn't until Richard began demonstrating the toy that it gained traction: it sold out within 90 minutes. The toy became a huge success, particularly after James left the operation and Betty took over. Over 300M Slinkys have been sold since their creation. In 1960, Richard went to Bolivia to join Wycliffe Bible Translators, an evangelical Christian sect. He left behind his wife and six children, a move that wasn't great for the sale of Slinkys. He passed away in Bolivia in 1974 in Bolivia.Show more

Merrill Hassenfeld (19 February 1918 - 21 March 1979) president and chairman of the board of Hasbro, Inc., the toy manufacturing giant that during the 1960s launched G. I. Joe, the first male action ...figure with accessories. The oldest of three children of Henry Hassenfeld, a pencil and toy manufacturer, and Marion Frank, a homemaker, Hassenfeld was born one year after his father and uncles Herman and Hillel founded Hassenfeld Brothers, Inc. After graduating as a business major from the University of Pennsylvania in 1938, Hassenfeld joined the family's firm, which by then had bought a pencil company. Just before World War II, Hassenfeld married Sylvia Kay; they had three children. At that time the company began including in its pencil boxes play stethoscopes and other toy medical equipment, sewing kits, and school supplies. In 1943 Hassenfeld's father placed his sons to lead the company's divisions. Merrill was put in charge of toys, while his brother Harold, headed pencils. Later, his brother's division split from Hassenfeld Brothers and became the Empire Pencil Corporation. The first best-seller made by Hassenfeld Brothers (the name was changed to Hasbro Industries in 1968) was Mr. Potato Head, invented by George Lerner. Introduced in 1952, it was the first toy advertised on national television. At first these toys were only plastic facial parts applied to an actual potato; by 1964 they came complete with a hard plastic body. Mr. Potato Head has sold over 50 million units since its development. (from Enclyopedia.com)Show more