MR. POTATO HEAD LIVES!

Back in 2021, a friend of ours found all the makings at a craft store for re-creating MR. POTATO HEAD characters for when her niece and nephew visited over the Christmas holidays----they were entertained for hours and this has now become an annual tradition.  That always reminds us of the original toy--MR. POTATO HEAD AND COMPANY! And now without further ah-doooo:

Yes it's true...we still like "old fashioned" toys...and it's clear that even in a digital toy world, there are some that have real generational "staying power"--like yo-yos and Etch-A-Sketch and....Click on the photo above for Hasbro's Mr. Potato Head and company...There he is...all original--with the boxes no less!---joined by Katie the Carrot, Oscar the Orange and more--all of which were featured in a previous auction at SERIOUSTOYZ.

Are you smiling yet? Your editor is.  A little backstory first.....In the 1940s, George Lerner of Brooklyn came up with the idea for a "funny face man," a character that would be made by putting pronged body and face parts into a fruit or vegetable. Lerner received a lukewarm reception when he pitched the concept to toy companies, in part because it was less than a decade after the end of World War II, and food rationing was still a recent memory. (Click on the second photo.) He  eventually convinced a company to add plastic facial parts to cereal boxes as prizes and sold his idea to them for $5,000.  READ MORE AT---IT'S NATIONAL MR. POTATO HEAD DAY.

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television (1952) and it is still being produced today (Click on the third photo.)  AND.... 

In 1995, Mr. Potato Head made his debut in Hollywood with a leading role in the Disney's Toy Story (Don Rickles provided the original voice) and was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2000.

And just for fun. Not all Mr. Potato Head "spin-offs" have been successful... check this out...

DUNKIE Donut Head! (click on the photo). The rarest Mr. Potato Head Toy EVER!

Made by the Hasbro/Hassenfeld Brothers in the early 1960's, the "Dunkie Donut Head" is considered to be the rarest of the "Mr. Potato Head" Family of Toys! Another Rare Vintage Toy review by Mike Mozart (Youtube) and you can see it right here.

And on another note, there was an attempt in 2022 to "cancel" the "Mr." (and "Mrs.") in Mr. Potato Head in the name of inclusivity (or something), but that happily went nowhere.  LONG LIVE MR. POTATO HEAD!

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