Posted
on September 16, 2016
Did
you know that Play-Doh was first sold as a substance that can help
clean wallpaper? Of course, it wasn't sold with the name Play-Doh –
and it wasn't sold in a variety of colors, either! Instead, the
compound was a boring off white.
That
was back in the 1930s, before there was vinyl wallpaper, and before
people were heating their homes with clean natural gas. (Heating a
home with coal left a layer of soot on wallpaper, and you couldn't
get wallpaper wet, so it was pretty difficult to clean it.)
In
the 1950s, though, wallpaper cleaner wasn't such a necessary product. Gas-burning furnaces provided cleaner heat, and the new vinyl wallpaper could be cleaned
with simple soap and water.
What would happen to Kutol, the wallpaper
cleaner company?
Enter
someone brilliant: a woman named Kay Zufall. She ran a nursery
school, and she'd read that wallpaper cleaner could be used as a kind
of modeling clay. She bought a bunch of Kutol wallpaper cleaner,
because Kutol was run by her brother-in-law. The stuff worked SO well that she called up her brother-in-law and told him he should
sell his outdated product in a whole new way.
Her brother-in-law was a man named Joe McVicker. He knew a great idea when he heard one, and he experimented with added
coloring and fragrance to his compound to make it perfect for a
sort of modeling clay. Then he sat down to think up a name. This is
what he came up with:
Kutol's
Rainbow Modeling Compound.
Zufall
said something like, “Yeah—no! Bad name! That name sucks!” Only
not those words; she used 1950s words to mean the same thing. But Kay
Zufall put her own thinking cap on and came up with the name Play-Doh.
I
don't know if she ever earned any money for her great idea and/or
name!
Play-Doh
was originally sold in red, blue, yellow, and white. Of course, kids
could mix these colors to create orange, green, and purple – and,
all too commonly, a sort of muddy brown. Nowadays, Play-Doh is
marketed in 14 colors ranging from a nice, chocolaty brown to Rose Red, Purple
Paradise, Green Garden, and Blue Lagoon.
According
to the official Play-Doh website,
if you made a giant ball of all the Play-Doh ever created, it would
weigh almost a hundred million pounds! More than 2 billion cans have
been sold in the 60 years since the compound was first sold, and 7
million Fun Factory playsets have been sold since 1999.
What's Play-Doh made of? Of course, the specific list of ingredients is a trade
secret, but it's mostly flour, salt, and water, with some coloring
and fragrance added. There is also a petroleum additive, to give the
compound a smooth feel, and there is boron to prevent the mixture
from getting moldy.
We
are reminded that Play-Doh is not meant to be eaten!! It is, however,
non-toxic and non-allergenic except possibly to people with a wheat
allergy.
Did
you know...?
Back
in the Stone Ages of TV, a huge children's star was Captain Kangaroo.
He was shown Play-Doh and asked to feature the product once a week,
but Captain Kangaroo loved the stuff and started using it three times
a week! Sales took off, and other old-time kids' shows started
featuring Play-Doh as well.
There
are so many Play-Doh sets – Dr. Drill 'n' Fill, Burger Builder,
Spaghetti Factory, Ice Cream Shoppe, Pizza Party, and many, many,
many more!
There
is a mascot called Play-Doh Pete. He used to be an elf. Then he
became a cute kid in an artist's beret. Finally, he traded in his
beret for a baseball cap – at least, that's what I read; I haven't
spotted a picture of Pete with a baseball cap!
Artist
Lacy Knudson makes mosaics out of thousands of Play-Doh dots!
Here
is a Play-Doh “painting” by Akira Sato:
Also
on this date:
(third Friday in September)
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
Waayy back in the 1980s, there were these toys called the Care Bears. 
