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Mr. Potato Head is a popular children's toy, first sold in 1952 by Hasbro, consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with attachable plastic parts, such as a mustache, hat and nose, to make a face. more...

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History

Mr. Potato Head was invented by George Lerner in the late 1940s. Lerner was born into an underpriviledged family whose meager income came from the family’s dairy farm. Even as a young boy, Lerner was quite imaginative and it was while working on the farm that he created the original Mr Potato Head.

Lerner would often take potatos from his mother’s garden and using various other fruits and vegetables as facial features, he would make dolls with which his younger sisters could play. The grape-eyed, carrot-nosed, potato-headed dolls became the principle idea behind the plastic toy which would later be manufactured.

The original plan was to have it be a prize in breakfast cereal so that the separate parts could be distributed as cereal package premiums. But later, Lerner showed the idea to textile manufacturers Henry and Merrill Hassenfeld, who did business as the Hassenfeld Brothers (later shortened to Hasbro). and they loved it, so they bought back the rights.

When the toy was first manufactured, it came with 30 accessories. A number of the original accessories reflected certain features of the members of Lerner’s own family. Sporting a green baseball cap and a thick moustache, Lerner’s father -Adam Lerner- was no doubt the inspiration behind two of Mr Potato Head’s most recognized accessories.

When it was first sold to the public in 1952, it became the first toy to be sold through national television advertising and netted Hasbro more than $4 million in its first year of production. In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family. Although originally produced as separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable, a plastic body was added to the kit in 1964.

In 1973, the main potato part of the toy doubled in size and the dimensions of its accessories were similarly increased. This was done mainly because of new toy child safety regulations that were introduced by the U.S. government. Hasbro also replaced the holes with flat slats, which made it impossible for users to put the face pieces and other body parts the wrong way around. In the 1980s, Hasbro reduced the range of accessories for Mr. Potato Head to one set of parts. The company did however reintroduce round holes in the main potato body, and once again parts were able to go onto the toy in the wrong locations. In 1987 the smoking pipe was discontinued.

In 2006, Hasbro also began selling individual pieces as sets to add to a collection instead of having to buy an entire Potato Head set with a body. Some of these themed sets included Mermaid, Rockstar, Pirate, King, Princess, Firefighter, Construction Worker, Halloween, Santa Claus, Chef, and Police Officer.

Read more at Wikipedia.org