Now You See It, Now You Don't!
TellzAll's subject for May is the Slinky!
Have you ever wondered what sort of toys that your grandparents or parents played with when they were your age? Well one of the toys that your grandparents and parents probably enjoyed playing with was the "Slinky." Invented in 1943, the Slinky, while still available today, was especially popular during the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
The original Slinky consisted simply of a tension spring with crimped ends for safety. The spring consisted of eighty feet of wire. The spring was flexible, and gravity caused the Slinky to "walk" down steps and other types of declines. In reality, the Slinky did not walk; instead, tension in the spring caused the slinky to flip end over end.
Richard James invented the Slinky while serving in the United States Navy. His wife, Betty James, chose the name for the toy. In 1945, they introduced the Slinky to consumers for the first time. The couple held a demonstration at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Within ninety minutes, James sold all four hundred of the Slinkys that he had with him. Since the Slinky was introduced in 1945, consumers around the world have purchased more than 300 million Slinkys.
In 1962, James introduced a Slinky jingle to promote his product. The Slinky jingle remains one of the most popular product songs in the history of advertising. The words to the jingle are:
What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it's Slinky. It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy. It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy.
Betty James eventually introduced other types of Slinkys, including ones made out of plastic. She also created Slinky pets, including the Slinky dog, and Crazy Eyes, glasses with eyeballs dangling on the end of springs.
Illustrating the Slinky's popularity, in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp. The Slinky dog also had a starring role in the movies "Toy Story" and "Toy Story II." In 2001, the Slinky was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. That same year, the State of Pennsylvania made Slinky its official toy. Since its discovery, the Slinky has been manufactured in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
