Documentary film on Toy Inventors
Documentary film on Toy Inventors
For the past three years, I have been flying around the country as the Creative Consultant on a new film project by director, Ken Sons. On the west coast we interviewed Milt Levine, inventor of the Ant Farm and Eddy Goldfarb, inventor of Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth. In Chicago it was a trip through the Radio Flyer wagon headquarters and then a tour within the inner sanctum of BIG MONSTER TOYS, the nation’s premiere toy inventing firm. Burt Meyer took us up in his private plane after sharing tales from toyland and the invention of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Mouse Trap, Lite Brite and other childhood favorites. In New York, we had back-stage access to TOY FAIR and the Toys ‘R’ Us flagship store in Times Square. We interviewed newbie inventors, fresh out of the toy program at Otis College of Art and Design, and we even traveled to a pleasant town called Hollidaysburg and spoke to the endearing developer of Slinky, a 89 year-old kid named Betty James.
We can’t wait to show you the finished film, but until
then, allow us to share a few pictures of some of the
amazing people we interviewed in a place called...
TOYLAND WORLD PREMIERE, SPRING 2010
“I said, ‘Rainbow Modeling Compound!? You can’t call it that!’ Neither Bob nor I can remember who thought of it, but when we hit on the name, we were sure. We phoned him back and said, ‘Call it
PLAY-DOH!’”
Kay Zufall
Developer of Play-Doh