Hassenfeld brothers biography of mahatma gandhi

It’s hard to remember a time when television, especially children’s television, wasn’t rife with commercials for various toys, all geared to get children to pester their parents into making a new acquisition.

That wasn’t always the case, however. Not only were toys NOT advertised on television in TV’s early decades, but when toys were advertised, that marketing was geared toward the adults who would be making the purchases.

Big Commerce notes that it wasn’t until the 1950s that one toy company had the genius idea to start advertising on television and to market a toy to the children who would receive it, changing the entire face of marketing products geared toward children and tormenting many a beleaguered parent.

That company was Hasbro, and the toy was Mr. Potato Head – the first children’s toy to be advertised on network television.

Mr. Potato Head was first designed in 1949, by George Lerner, according to historyofdolls.com. During the wartime era, Lerner gained something of a reputation as an inventor and designer.

He originally conceived the toy as a “funny face man” for his younger sister, and he used parts of fruits and vegetables from their mother’s garden to make his creations.

He tried to market his idea to toy companies but got a lukewarm response, particularly since fresh produce was still scarce in the immediate postwar era, and wasting it on a child’s amusement was seen as irresponsible and wasteful.

That’s when Lerner decided to design the familiar plastic pieces with pins on the back that would allow the various parts to be attached to an actual potato.

He managed to get a food company to pay him $5,000 for his idea, and they began putting his plastic pieces as prizes in cereal boxes. It still wasn’t a huge hit, since it still used actual potatoes which would eventually rot, but Lerner really believed he was onto something if he could just get the right break.

That break came

An early salesman: Mr. Potato Head

America’s love for plastic was also seeded through toys. Consider Hasbro, a toy company founded in 1923, in Providence, Rhode Island, by the Hassenfeld brothers. They first entered the market with things like a Junior Air Raid Warden Kit, leveraging the impact of World War II, and toy doctor kits.

The brothers found their first big hit in 1952 with a substantially more goofy toy: Mr. Potato Head.

The original Mr. Potato Head was literally a potato: The kit was a set of plastic parts that children would stick into an actual tuber. It was the first toy to be advertised on television, with the commercial showing kids using turnips and carrots to make silly faces.

“They soon realized the potato part was not so smart. The potato would roll under a couch and rot,” said Wayne Miller, a reporter with the Providence Journal and the author of two books about Hasbro. “They went to all plastic.”

Hasbro later felt the downside of plastic. In 1963, it introduced a polymer blob that kids could squish between their fingers. They called it Flubber, a tie-in to “The Absent-Minded Professor,” a popular Disney movie at the time starring Fred MacMurray as the title character who invents a fantastically bouncy substance.

“Kids started playing with it, and started breaking out in all-body rashes,” Miller said. “There was something in that material that caused a toxic reaction. They recalled it, and it nearly sank the company. It was such a horrible mistake they had made.”

Hasbro yanked Flubber off the shelves, but had a hard time getting rid of it. No municipality would allow it to bury or burn tons of toxic plastic. Hasbro attempted to sink it in a lake, but Flubber floats. Hasbro hired boats to skim the lake surface of the stubborn stuff.

Ultimately, Hasbro dug a deep hole on its own property in Rhode Island, dumped in tons of the Flubber, and paved it over as a parki

American businessman (1942–1989)

Stephen David Hassenfeld (January 19, 1942 – June 25, 1989) was an American businessman best known for being the chairman and chief executive officer of Hasbro from 1980 until 1989.

During his tenure, Hassenfeld restored the reputation of Hasbro and surpassed Mattel as the world's largest toy manufacturer.

History and early life

Stephen was born in Rhode Island to Sylvia Grace (née Kay) and Merrill Hassenfeld.

He was the oldest of three siblings, the others being his sister Ellie and the youngest child, Alan.

Hassenfeld brothers biography of mahatma gandhi

They lived in Providence's east side. He attended Moses Brown School where he was well known as a skilled debater.

Accomplishments

Stephen's grandfather, Henry Hassenfeld, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who, with his brother

What are you waiting for?

Whether you’re dreaming about starting a business, learning about

■ A newly established and popular way to learn about and to practice

If you want to learn about entrepreneurship in a way that emphasizes action,