Since the early 1950s, Mr. Potato Head has been for several generations not only a spud, but a toy legend with many faces. He was first introduced as a normal potato with bits and pieces of funny looking faces made up of fruits and vegetables added by George Lerner (the inventor); later he turned into a plastic figure sold in stores by the company manufacture, Hasbro. Mr. Potato Head has gone from the kitchen, to appearing in commercials, to starring in the movie “Toy Story” and in to history as one of the best selling toys of all time.
In the beginning, George Lerner knew he was on to something when he invented Mr. Potato Head in 1950. It was during the WWII era, when the general mentality was to conserve resources and not waste a piece of food as a child’s toy. Lerner would first sell his idea of the Mr. Potato Head toy figure to a cereal company that would place them in cereal boxes. Then, he took his work and presented it to Henry and Merrill Hassenfeld in 1952 who would go public and sell the Mr. Potato Head including some toy face pieces. It marked the birth of the first Mr. Potato Head product (Mr. Potato Head Funny Face Kit) in history to hit the toy shelves. The Mr. Potato Head Kit sold for less than a dollar. The Kit included up to 30 plastic pieces for kids to create their ideal looking Mr. Potato Head.
For marketing purposes, Mr. Potato Head had appeared as a TV commercial in attempt to reach out to the children in America in hope to make sales. It worked! It resulted in millions of sales in the first year alone. The first toy in history to be advertised on network television was the Mr. Potato Head.
It wasn’t until 1953 when the Hassenfeld’s introduced Mrs. Potato Head. It was an instant success! Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were to become the toy industry’s hottest couples. They appeared as a happy wedded couple and were sold as a set. Soon after, came brother Spud and sister Yama. All of the toys would become ads placed by Hasbro in LIFE magazine.
In the early 1960s, Mr. Potato Head acquired additional plastic heads: “Oscar the Orange” and “Pete the Pepper.” These were only a few of many others added by Hasbro as play sets throughout the 1960’s.
Throughout the years, Mr. Potato Head has appeared in commercials, TV programs such as in “Potato Head Kids cartoons” (in the 1980s), in a movie “Toy Story” (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), as well as featuring its own show, called “The Mr. Potato Head Show,” that appeared on the FOX Family Channel (in 1998). In 2000, Mr. Potato Head was placed in the Toy Hall of Fame. Lastly, for three straight years, ending in 2007, New Yorkers have seen and enjoyed the Mr. Potato Head balloon fly over the skies in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
