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Play-Doh
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Play-Doh is a modeling compound used by children for art and craft projects at home and in school. Composed of flour, water, salt, and other ingredients, the product was first manufactured in Cincinnati as a wallpaper cleaner in the years following World War II. When a classroom of children began using the wallpaper cleaner as a modeling compound, the product was reworked and marketed to Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s.
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Encyclopedia
Play-Doh is a modeling compound used by children for art and craft projects at home and in school. Composed of flour, water, salt, and other ingredients, the product was first manufactured in Cincinnati as a wallpaper cleaner in the years following World War II. When a classroom of children began using the wallpaper cleaner as a modeling compound, the product was reworked and marketed to Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s. Play-Doh was demonstrated at an educational convention in 1956 and prominent department stores opened retail accounts. Advertisements promoting Play-Doh on influential children's television shows in 1957 furthered the product's sales. Since its launch on the toy market in the mid-1950s, Play-Doh has generated a considerable amount of ancillary merchandise such as The Fun Factory. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Play-Doh to its "Century of Toys List".
History
Origin
The non-toxic, non-staining, reusable modeling compound that came to be known as Play-Doh was originally a pliable, putty-like wallpaper cleaner concocted by Noah McVicker for Kutol Products, a family-owned Cincinnati-based soap company. Following World War II, McVicker's nephew, Joseph McVicker joined Kutol and discovered the wallpaper cleaner was being used by nursery schoolchildren to make Christmas ornaments. With his uncle and brother-in-law Bill Rhodenbaugh, Joseph reworked the product in 1955, named it Play-Doh, and formed Rainbow Crafts to manufacture and distribute the compound in single-gallon containers of red, yellow, and blue to Cincinnati-area schools.
Launch
Joe McVicker took Play-Doh to an educational convention for manufacturers of school supplies, and Woodward & Lothrop, a department store in Washington, DC began selling the compound. By 1956, a three-pack of 7-ounce cans was added to the product line, and, after in-store demonstrations, Macy's of New York and Marshall Field's of Chicago opened retail accounts. In 1957, chemist Dr. Tien Liu reduced Play Doh's salt content (thus allowing models to dry without losing their color), and Play-Doh ads were telecast on Captain Kangaroo, Ding Dong School, and Romper Room. In 1958, Play-Doh realized nearly $3 million in sales.
Subsequent developments
In 1964, Play-Doh was exported to England, France, and Italy, and, in the 1980s, its cardboard can (with a prone-to-rust metal bottom) was scuttled for a more cost effective plastic container. In 1996, gold and silver were added to Play-Doh's palette to celebrate its 40th anniversary. In 1965, General Mills purchased Rainbow Crafts and all rights to Play-Doh for $3 million, placing the compound with its Kenner Products subsidiary. In 1971, Rainbow Crafts and Kenner Products merged, and, in 1987, the Tonka Corporation bought the two. In 1991, Hasbro became Play-Doh's owner, and continues to manufacture the product today through its Playskool division.
Mascots
Play-Doh packaging was briefly illustrated with children in the mid-1950s, but replaced by an elfin mascot which, in 1960, was superseded by Play-Doh Pete, a smock and beret-wearing cartoonish boy. In 2002, Play-Doh Pete's beret was replaced with a baseball cap.
Ingredients
Play-Doh's current manufacturer, Hasbro, reveals the compound contains water, salt, and wheat flour. while its 2004 US patent indicates its composed of water, a starch-based binder, a retrogradation inhibitor, salt, lubricant, surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance, and color. A petroleum additive gives the compound a smooth feel, and borax prevents mold from developing.
Usage
Play-Doh is a nontoxic, easy-to-use, easy-to-clean up modeling compound packaged in a variety of colors used principally by children for arts and crafts projects at home and in school. Besides being hand-molded into animals, flowers, and other objects, Play-Doh can be sent through extruders created for the purpose to produce ropey strands of different shapes. Besides molding and extruding, children simply enjoy squashing, mashing, and rolling the compound.
In addition to children's projects and play, a replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello has been constructed with more than 2,500 bricks of Play-Doh, and, to celebrate Play-Doh's fiftieth anniversary in 2006, a larger-than-life birthday cake with more than 40 pounds of Play-Doh as its main ingredient was "baked" at New York City's American International Toy Fair by Warren Brown, host of Food Network's Sugar Rush.
Related merchandise
In 1960, the Play-Doh Fun Factory (a toy press that extrudes the compound in various shapes) was invented by Bob Bogill and Bill Dale. The Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper Barber & Beauty Shop of 1977 featured a figurine whose extruded "hair" could be styled. Making its debut in 1996 for computer-savvy young modelers was an educational software CD-ROM game, Play-Doh Creations, and, in 2003, the Play-Doh Creativity Table was made available. Play-Doh related merchandise introduced during the 2007 anniversary year included the Play-Doh Birthday Bucket, the Play-Doh Fifty Colors Pack, the Fuzzy Pumper Crazy Cuts (a reworking of the 1977 Fuzzy Pumper Barber & Beauty Shop), and the Play-Doh Creativity Center.
Cultural impact
More than two billion cans of Play-Doh were sold between 1955 and 2005, and, in 2005, Play-doh was being sold in 75 countries around the world at 95 million cans a year.
To mark Play-Doh's fiftieth anniversary, Demeter Fragrance Library created a limited-edition fragrance inspired by Play-Doh's odor for "highly-creative people, who seek a whimsical scent reminiscent of their childhood."
In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Play-Doh to its "Century of Toys List", a roll call of the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the twentieth century.
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