For Valentines Day my SIL sent me a package that had silly putty. I thought, “Awesome! New post!”. She later told me that she sent it so I would blog about it. She is awesome.
This is one of the best Accidental toys ever.
During WWII, rubber became sparse and thus had to be rationed. So the U.S. government started to ask companies to come up with a synthetic rubber.
In 1943 James Wright, working for G.E., discovered a rubber made of silicone oil and boric acid. After testing, he found that it had a high melting point, wouldn’t mold, could bounce and could stretch. Not knowing what to do with it, he sent it to scientists all over, but they didn’t know either.
Eventually the “nutty putty” began being passed from party to party and had become a novelty item with adults. It ended up in 1949 in Ruth Fallgatter’s toy store. It could be found for $2 and was sold in a plastic tub. Although it was the second top seller for her store, she chose to remove it from her catalogue after a year.
Advertising consultant, Peter Hodgson, saw an opportunity in 1950 to market the putty. Already in debt, he borrowed $147 and got Yale students to separate the putty into 1 ounce balls and put them into red plastic eggs. He then called it “Silly Putty” and sold them for $1. After a writer for the New Yorker found it at a bookstore, he took it home and wrote an article about it. Following this article, orders for the “Silly Putty” began to pour in and the toy became popular among children and adults.
Children loved it as they could bounce it, and stretch it. I know that my favorite thing to do was copy the comics section of the news paper and then stretch the cartoons. You know you did this.
Interesting note from the interwebs: it can be used as a lint remover.
Great Commercial for the uses of Silly Putty
Star Glow from the makers of Silly Putty
Trends of Yesteryear 