WWII brought about shortages of many basic commodities. One of these was rubber. Rubber was needed for military purposes, and there wasn't enough of it.
A Scottish engineer named James Wright was looking for a man-made rubber substiitute. He was trying all sorts of mixtures of chemical compounds at the General Electric laboratory in New Haven, Connecticut.
Wright combined boric acid and silicone oil in one experiment. To his delight, it polymerized into a rubbery substance! He excitedly shared his creation with his employers and they began sending samples to other engineers all over the world, looking for a proposed use of the hard-won artificial rubber.
The results were silence. Not one practical idea for the bouncing putty emerged from the educated minds.
Nobody could think of what you could use the rubbery blobs for, but all enjoyed playing with them very much.
Peter Hodgson, an unemployed advertising man, was the man behind the marketing of Silly Putty. Hodgson had marketed the bouncing putty for a New Haven toy store. It sold well. But the store's owner decided not to market it any more for some strange reason. So he borrowed some cash and purchased a large quantity of the goo from GE for $150. He also purchased a bunch of little plastic eggs and put a dollop of the putty in each one. He sold them for a buck a pop.
At the New York International Toy Fair in 1950, he introduced Silly Putty to the world. It was well received, and sales were steady, but not spectacular.
Then, in August, Silly Putty received a boost similar to the one Yours Truly was fortunate to get earlier this year with the mention on CBS's The Early Show. In Hodgson's case, it was an in The New Yorker extolling the bouncy putty. Within three days, he had received a quarter of a million orders!
Then, the Korean conflict almost killed his thriving business. Government restrictions on silicone usage in 1951 forced him to carefully parcel out 1500 lbs. of Silly Putty. The next year, restrictions were lifted, and production ramped back up.
Silly Putty appeared in television commercials beginning in the 60's, and that caused sales to climb ever higher.
Interestingly, Silly Putty saw the demographic of its customers reverse early in the game. When it was introduced, it was a novelty that appealed to grownups, accounting for 80% if its sales. But within five years, the buyers were 80% children! The ratio has stayed there ever since.
Silly Putty could bounce. It could stretch. It could flow slowly like a thick liquid. And, of course, it could pick up ink, as in images from comic books and newspapers.
It was (and still is) small, cheap, and perfect for lots of imaginative uses. It's also completely useless for any practical purpose other than entertainment. But it's absolutely perfect for that.
And today, an old goat who just turned 48 keeps a container of Silly Putty in his desk drawer to play with during conference calls and the like.
It's as much fun now as it was about 1967.
Comments (2)
I remember getting my first silly putty on a family trip to Jacksonville, Arkansas.
I still remember lifting POPEYE from the local papers' funnies.
The stretching of the image was a rite-of-passage in all childhoods. I believe we all at one time stretched faces with it.
Now computer programs can do the same thing.
I do remember that some kids had a very tactile relationship to the putty...nibbling on it,
pulling it apart like taffy, squishing it into gobs, making fingerprints, even eating a bit of it. I don't remember them ever offering any color other than pink. You would think they would have come up with many colors, but it was always and only PEPTO BISMAL pink. Silly Putty was also a great stress-reliever for kids, much like those cool squeezy jelly-filled thingies for adults to keep on top of their computer. Again, this is one product that never was elaborated upon with extensions or variations of the brand. Always the same pink, just like the industrial byproduct it indeed was. BTW, Play-doe was another great stress-reliever, but for the kiddie-set, and even more tactile. Play-Doe was one product that could only be appreciated fresh out of the can after purchase. I believe many kids got their first "highs" from smelling the unique whiff that eminated from a new can freshly opened. Unfortunately,
it blended with many objects that would get stuck and mushed into it, and would be "goo-ed
out", rendered useless,
after about a week. Actually, used play-doh
was one of the grosser
aspects of childhood.
I will give the manufacturer credit for
creating many colors, and product extensions
like play-doh factories where the "doh" would come out in different shapes. They actually have a version for adults where the "doe"
comes out of a donkey's
posterior. I could actually think of worse than that......
Silly Putty and Play-doh
RULE!!!!!!
Posted by scott | August 29, 2007 1:50 AM
Posted on August 29, 2007 01:50
Silly Putty does rule! The funny papers on Sunday made great fodder for silly putty! Eventually that silly putty would turn a dark grey from all that newspaper ink! Wew made all kind of shapes with the putty and the plastic egg was brilliant! Is todays silly putty still the same mixture?
Posted by Rivers End | June 30, 2009 5:21 PM
Posted on June 30, 2009 17:21