A new, rapidly growing species has sprouted among us: small, yellow, overall-clad creatures, helpful and hilarious, who love to sing, dance, and laugh. What are they? Minions, the lovable— often Cyclops-eyed—characters from the immensely popular films Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2. While some folks may consider the babbling and singing of minions purely nonsensical, many find it entertaining and endearing. Having seen both movies multiple times, I actually find the minions thought provoking. Yes, thought provoking! Stick with me […]
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Cowabunga!―It’s Turtle Power!
The 1980s produced some totally radical slang terms. If prompted, almost anyone in Generations X or Y can spout off their own concoction of half-surfer dude, half-valley girl lingo. (No duh! That’s gnarly! Psych!) Though these terms were rampant in PG-13 movies of the 1980s, they didn’t make an appearance in children’s books or standard preschool television fare such as Sesame Street or Reading Rainbow. My first exposure to this tubular way of talking was through four animated turtles named […]
Muppets Among Us
It’s time to play the music
It’s time to light the lights
It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight
It’s time to put on makeup
It’s time to dress up right
It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight
Why do we always come here?
I guess we’ll never know
It’s like a kind of torture
To have to watch the show
And now let’s get things started
Why don’t you get things started?
It’s time to get things started
On the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, […]
Properly Packing Puzzles
I’ve always enjoyed working on jigsaw puzzles. I find the challenge of assembling a picture from the mass of jumbled pieces satisfying. Maybe it’s my bent for organization that wants to bring order to chaos and see the task through to a tidy completion. But I faced a different challenge recently when my fellow curator Nic Ricketts and I went to Maine to pack up a collection of 7,500 jigsaw puzzles for The Strong museum.
With a history that goes […]
Hello, Vintage Phones? It’s You I’m Looking For
Do you remember when there was a bit of mystery involved in answering the phone? When you’d pick up the receiver and not know who was on the other end of the line? (An act so intriguing, Lionel Richie even wrote a song about it!) As the youngest of three kids in a busy family, calls were rarely for me, but I never tired of answering the phone. Now many of us have caller ID on both our cell phones […]
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Shirley Temple
On February 11, 2014, the staff at The Strong and the American public learned of the passing of Shirley Temple Black, actor, politician, diplomat, and former U.S. ambassador. Most Americans, however, know Temple as the most popular child star in Hollywood history.
Temple began acting in short films at the age of three. During the worst years of the Great Depression, her dancing and singing, her dimples and smile, and her cuteness and charisma made her the number-one box office draw […]
Jackie Robinson: A First in Baseball and in Toys
Before the 1950s, American toy manufacturers avoided favorable illustrations of people of color on toys and their packaging. But the middle of the 20th century saw the beginnings of positive examples—toys that purposefully utilized constructive African American likenesses. And some of the earliest appearances of this long-overdue imagery bore the portrait and endorsement of Major League Baseball’s first African American player, Jackie Robinson.
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Lunar Travels with Big Loo
Meet Big Loo, your new best friend. If you ever go to the moon, make sure you take Big Loo with you. With him along, you won’t need any other companion.
Advertised as a robot from the moon and perfect for lunar exploration, the 38-inch Big Loo functioned like a one-man, er, one-robot army. Louis Marx & Company, the largest toy maker in America at mid-20th century, introduced Big Loo in 1963. Operating on three D batteries, Loo flashed his red […]
The Best Toys Ever
What’s your favorite toy? I had the chance to talk about some of my favorites from the National Toy Hall of Fame with Gerri Willis on The Willis Report not long ago. The Fox Business network brought me to New York City as part of the lead-in to holiday toy shopping and to remind their viewers about classic toys. The segment’s theme, “Best Toys Ever,” felt like a perfect fit since celebrating toys with enduring play value is what the […]