Today is Play-Doh Day. It was introduced today, September 16th,1955.
No matter how many times someone shows me how to make it at home for pennies, I still crave playing with the real thing.
• Play-Doh was first sold as a wallpaper cleaner. People could remove soot and dirt from their wall coverings by simply rolling the wad of goop across the surface. Back when it was a household cleaner, the product came in only one dud of a color: off-white. When it hit stores as a toy in 1955, red, blue and yellow were available.
• We might not have Play-Doh if it weren’t for Captain Kangaroo. When it was just a fledgling company with no advertising budget, inventor Joe McVicker talked his way in to visit Bob Keeshan, better known as Captain Kangaroo. Although the company couldn’t pay the show outright, Mr. McVicker offered them two percent of Play-Doh sales for featuring the product once a week. Keeshan loved the compound and began featuring it three times weekly. After that, it caught on.
• From 1955 through August of this year roughly three billion cans of Play-Doh have been sold.
• That little guy on the box? His name is Play-Doh Pete.
• Do you enjoy the smell of Play-Doh? There’s a cologne that will give you just that, and candles that will put the unmistakable aroma throughout your house.
• The original name was a bit less appealing: “Rainbow Modeling Compound”.
YouTube is filled with new ideas for 2016 Play Doh Fun. This was my favorite.
