Christmas Made in New England
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Hey, Merry Christmas, Ray. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, Jeff. Oh, thank you so much. You know, I adore this time of year, whether you're celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, Yule, Midwinter, Hanukkah, Festivus for the rest of us, or even if you skip it all together, the winter solstice is a spooky time, a time to come together, make merry feast, and give gifts because we're going to need each other to get through the long winter ahead.

Wow, look at that tree. Beautiful. And oh, check out all the presents. We go pretty big here at the Belanger household. I blame my mom. Oh, I get it. What's the worst present you ever got as a kid?

All right. So I can't give you specifics, but it was clothes, right? So maybe it was a shirt, maybe it was a sweater, but I can promise you all I really wanted were toys. Clothes. Yuck. I mean, who wants that? Okay. Well, I have good news for you, Ray. Okay. See all the presents under the tree? I sure do. There's nothing in those boxes but toys, toys, toys. Woo-hoo! So for this holiday special, we're going to unwrap some toys invented and made right here in New England.

Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger. Welcome to episode 377, the holiday special episode of the New England Legends podcast. And I'm Ray Ogier. Thank you for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England, one story at a time. We usually cover ghosts, monsters, aliens, roadside oddities, and the just plain weird.

But this time, we're going to explore some legendary toys. That we are. And if you visit our website, you can find out so much more about us, like links to buy my holiday book, The Fright Before Christmas, Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, dates to see my one-man Fright Before Christmas show, dates to see Ray's band, The Pub Kings, and everything else we have going on. We'll get to the gift unwrapping right after this word from our sponsor. This is it.

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So there's a lot of wrapped gifts here. Yeah, there are. And what could be better than toys?

You know, Albert Einstein once said, play is the highest form of research. When we play, especially as children, we're problem-solving, tinkering, opening up possibilities in our brain, and engaging with the world around us. Play is so important for all people, but especially children. Well, author Jesse Schell wrote, a great toy should be 10% toy and 90% child. That rings true to me. And did you have a favorite toy as a kid? Okay, so when I was a kid, Legos were my jam. Oh, yes. You know, you can never go wrong getting me a Lego set for Christmas.

So first I'd always follow the instructions and build whatever it was, you know, usually like a spaceship. Then I'd take it apart and I would build something else. My parents, my grandparents, they all thought I was going to grow up to be an engineer because of how many hours I used to spend with Legos. Your family must be so disappointed today. So disappointed. They wanted an engineer. They got a collector of spooky legends. But, you know, them's the breaks. How about you? Favorite toy? I got a Mickey Mouse magic set for Christmas. Oh,

Nice. Was that to launch your career as a stage magician? Well, I definitely thought so at the time. I mean, I can remember performing for my family. Favorite trick? Well, they were all pre-programmed tricks, but I think his card tricks were my favorite. Yeah, there was like 20 tricks all in one little set. And instead of being a magician, you went into broadcasting as a job. So I don't know. Maybe your family wasn't that disappointed. Yeah, I guess one washes the other out. That's a trade-off there, yeah.

So look, hey, I've seen you make beer disappear many times, so you still got your magic chops. Yes, hey, and I can make pizza and wings disappear too, so I'm not a one-trick pony. No, definitely not. All right, should we get to the presents? Yes, I am ready. Okay, go ahead and unwrap that one.

Oh, nice. Yes, we've all played with this one. It's a classic. Way back in 1953, former semi-pro baseball pitcher David Mullaney of Fairfield, Connecticut, was watching his 12-year-old son and friend trying to hit a plastic golf ball with a broomstick. His son was trying to throw a curveball with the plastic golf ball, but it wasn't working out. So Mullaney grabbed some scrap plastic containers from a nearby cosmetics manufacturer, started experimenting with the designs. I

Eventually, he figured out that if you cut eight oblong slots into one half of the ball, it would naturally curve when you throw it, making it difficult to hit. You'd swing at it and, well, you'd whiff.

And the wiffle ball name was born. Oh, there it is. Okay. He filed a patent, then started producing it in Woodbridge, Connecticut in 1953. It's been manufactured in Shelton, Connecticut for more than 50 years now. There's over 60 million wiffle balls out there today. Oh, I love that. And of course, if you hit one into a window, generally the window does not break.

Did you play a lot as a kid? Oh, absolutely. Played with my daughter too. Do you still have a wiffle ball and bat somewhere in your house? Guaranteed. I do too. Yeah. It's crazy. Even if you're not playing, you need that toy somewhere in the house just in case. And if you had a group of adults and you're outside like in the summer and you're like just like having a beer or whatever, if you brought that out and said, does anyone want to play? Who wouldn't be like,

Yes. Absolutely. Of course I do, right? I can't remember if it's somebody I know or somebody I know of that has a replica Fenway Park in their backyard to play wiffle ball games. That is kind of awesome. Yeah, yeah. It might be a legend we might have to explore soon. We could go play wiffle ball, yeah. And there are tournaments. Oh, yeah. It's not just for the backyard. There are actual wiffle ball tournaments. But yeah, love that right there in Connecticut. All right, here, Jeff, you open this one. Okay. Okay.

Oh, man. Now, this is one spooky and dangerous board game. Yeah, it is. And I won't allow this one in my house. Okay, I can tell you this. The board game is a household name. It was produced by Parker Brothers in Salem, Massachusetts for many years. Now, Salem only adds to the game's mystique and darkness. Now, some people think this game unleashes pure evil and it's a doorway to something sinister. Love it or hate it, it's one of the top-selling and most popular board games of all time, where, of course...

talking about monopoly yes yes and nothing starts a family fight like a game of monopoly so the game was first published by parker brothers in 1936 and it's gone on to as much success as a board game can possibly have of course there's all those spin-offs there's like you know star wars opally and you know milford has one milford opal every town every town has got like a fundraiser yeah something opally um

I love that. We've all played it. We have a digital one, which I am much happier with because you don't have to do math. The trick, I think, is to just buy. Just keep buying, buying, buying. And don't hold out for the really expensive row. Buy up the other stuff, get hotels on them, and just bankrupt everybody around you. Yeah, I agree. Much like real life. Much like real life. It's cutthroat. It's a cutthroat world and a cutthroat game. Every time... My family used to play it, and I remember...

At the end of the game, nobody was really smiling but one person. Everyone else was like, that wasn't even fun. I'm just mad. See, we had it, and I don't think we played it because as adults, my parents were like, this is going to take way too long. Let's play Sorry instead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's part of it. Yeah, we could be in for hours, right? Oh, yeah. Before everyone's finally completely broken angry. Have you ever flipped a board? I've seen it done. I've never done it.

I must have. Like, I can't imagine not. That's when the game is over. It's over then, too. You're like, how long are we going to? It's over relationships. Right. Yeah. You're just like, oh, you landed on my hotel. Game over. Game over. That's that. Dangerous. Dangerous game. Okay, Ray. Here. This one's for you.

Oh, this one takes me back. All right. One day in 1911, Alfred Carlton Gilbert was riding on a train in his city of New Haven, Connecticut. Gilbert was staring out the window when he saw some power lines getting installed near the railroad tracks.

I remember.

remember playing with my dad's erector set from like the 1940s i mean i love building stuff with that all right so i got this as a christmas gift as a kid and i hated it worst gift ever why because i could only make a sword with with your set and then they had the sets that came with the gears and like it was electronic and i could never really build anything of value it was just a sword

And maybe a square once in a while. I remember my dad's set, and I did indeed build the Ferris wheel. Oh, wow. Yeah, because it had a little motor that would just go around and around. And that motor had this plug that I was just, I mean, it was 1946 or something, right, when it was made. It's all for all the wires are frayed. It comes right out of the box like that. It's warm. You touch the wire, you're like, ah, hot. This doesn't seem safe. Never a good sign. But yeah, A.C. Gilbert, that's an iconic toy from New Haven.

All right, Jeff, this one's a small gift. Go ahead and unwrap it. Okay.

I guess we're not leaving New Haven, Connecticut just yet. So let me pop this open. Yeah. Okay. It's what I thought. So back in 1943, chemist James Wright was working for the General Electric Company during the height of World War II. Now, Wright was trying to make a rubber alternative. So he mixed some boric acid with silicon oil, and he came up with this unique material that was bouncy. It was squishy. It was stretchy. And it didn't get moldy. And it has a high melting temperature. There was only one problem. What's that?

He couldn't find any use for it. So he'd bring it to parties and people laughed and thought it was, well, silly. But then Wright met a marketing man named Peter Hodgson who put a quantity of this silly putty into a plastic egg and sold it for $1 each. Once New Yorker magazine mentioned silly putty, sales took off. They had orders of a quarter of a million units and an icon was born.

Now, I think that growing up, this is probably something I purchased at least once a month. As far as toys go, the most purchased in my lifetime. And you'd squish them together, the multiple sets. Oh, yeah. One super silly putty. Do you ever chew on them? I mean, it's kind of a neat consistency. You just keep looking at it. You're like...

It looks so tasty. Just staring. Like, it's like taffy. And talking about it, I can actually taste it. I can actually, I would, if it was here right now, especially, I mean. Gotta put it, you gotta try it once. And think of all the dirty hands that touched it and we still did it. So I remember, remember you'd squish it on the newspaper funny, the comics. Oh yeah. And if you flattened it out, you could peel it off and the comics would be on one side. Yeah. And then it would disappear. You'd roll it, you'd squish it and.

the image would disappear eventually and you could start over. It's really a cool concept and a cool toy. Yeah, but I love that he's like, I'm going to invent something that's going to change the world. And meanwhile...

But still, how cool is it that you invented something that its only use is play? Yeah. You should be proud of that. And unfortunately, the only thing I can make with it, a snake or a sword. A sword. Or a snake. Right. Just bend it a little bit. And now it's a snake. Oh, man. Oh, man. You're not an engineer. Fair enough. All right. Here's another one. This one's for you. Okay. Okay.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This one's a classic from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Then I think I know who made it. Hasbro? You got it. The Hasbro company began in 1923 in Providence, Rhode Island. They started by selling textiles and then school supplies. They began making toys in the 1940s, and eventually they moved manufacturing to Pawtucket.

So back in 1966, Burt Meyer from the toy design company called Marvin Glass and Associates. They brought us such classics as like Rock'em Sock'em Robots, Mousetrap, Operation. That's right. That's them. Yep. So Burt Meyer is walking down the streets of New York City, heading to the 1966 Toy Fair when they walk past a Fifth Avenue window display filled with colored lights.

Meyer was mesmerized, inspired. He came back to Pawtucket and developed a game to mimic the lights he saw on Fifth Avenue. So he built a box, illuminated it with 25-watt light bulbs, included some clear plastic pegs, and Lightbrite was born. Oh, yeah. The toy went on sale in 1967. Ever write a swear word with the pegs? Absolutely. And you know the only thing I can make with it? A sword. I'm kidding. No, I did love Lightbrite. That was a staple in our house.

So I remember it came with a bunch of, you could use a sheet of black construction paper. That's right. Because it was pretty much eight and a half by 11. Yeah. And then you could just do your own thing, but it also, they had patterns, right? Yep. That you'd have little things like use the red pegs here, the blue pegs here, and it would be like a flower or something. Which I gotta be honest, I think I used the patterns more than I just freestyled it. Well, right. It came with however many. Yeah. And then you could buy more. Sure. But the, but yeah, for the most part you were writing words and like I remember doing a

lip sync show for my parents once and i think i wrote jeff like in the pegs like that was my name and i knew who was singing yeah so they're like oh who's this performer oh oh jeff his name is jeff our son who lives here and is making us sit through this horrible lip sync of weirdo yankovic

I found one recently at an antique store and I thought it would have more value. I brought it home. The box was all torn up and it's just a piece of plastic. Yeah. That's all. I mean, it meant more as a kid, I think. Sure. And now they make them. They still make them. It's just not the same as that original. And...

That light bulb was like 5,000 degrees, too. Talking about the plug in the wall, the light bulb itself. And we were so dumb as kids. We'd take the thing off, and you're looking at the bulb, and your finger gets closer and closer. You're like, it can't be that hot. Ow! And then you've got like a second-degree burn on your finger. Thanks. All right. Go ahead. Grab this one, Jeff.

Okay. All right. Oh, oh, oh, yes. That's what I'm talking about. Finally, a video game. Okay. So we actually covered this one way back in episode 281. So in the 1950s and 60s, Ralph Baer was working for a large defense contractor called Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire. Now, in 1966, Baer began looking at the television and wondering, you know, what else could he do with it?

His employer gave him a $2,500 budget and the loan of two engineers so Bear could develop a computer that would use the TV as a monitor. He called his computer TV Game Unit Number One. Flashy. Yeah, pretty good, right? His first game was a tennis type of game where you moved a line up and down to hit a pixelated ball back to the other side where your opponent tried to hit it back until one of you missed.

Bear's brown box would go on to be called the Magnavox Odyssey and his first game called Pong. Awesome game. Yeah. And today, Ralph Bear is considered the father of the home video game console. There's even a statue of him sitting on a bench and playing with his console in a park in Manchester, New Hampshire. I remember that. Yeah. So, by the way, he also invented the game Simon. Oh, that's cool. Based on Simon Says, those frantic four lights...

Oh, yeah. That was a fantastic game. Yeah. So, you know, this guy from New Hampshire, well, born in Germany, but living in New Hampshire, gave us a couple of wonders. But I love that. I love that he was... Like, we've all played Pong. I think I had it as a kid. You know, you play throughout your lifetime. Which made you popular. Oh, absolutely. Kids are like, oh, let's go play Pong. Right. And then Atari shows up, obviously, and you're the house to be at. But Pong, it's funny looking back and thinking how...

amazing technology was that we could play a video game at home. Right. And it was really just a ball bouncing back and forth. And how could it get better than this? And every few years, you'd be like, Atari blew your mind. Oh my gosh. Now we have this. It went from Pong to this. 16-bit, right? Or whatever it was. I think it was 8-bit. And then Nintendo. And you know what kids today will never know?

That's right. Blowing on the cartridge because it's not working. Because everything is online now. You've got to buy the game online. You download it online. There's no... To get the game working. Thanks, Ralph Baer. We miss you. All right, go ahead and pick the next present, Ray.

Oh, it's another board game. Yep. Now this one hails from Springfield, Massachusetts. It's one we've all played as kids. So back in the 1940s and 50s, polio was an epidemic. Polio is a viral infection that could leave people, especially children, paralyzed or even dead. Yeah. So thankfully, the polio vaccine all but eradicated this problem in the United States. And during the worst years, parents kept their healthy children inside so they wouldn't catch the illness. Yeah.

One person who did contract polio was a school teacher, Eleanor Abbott. While recuperating in the hospital, she started planning out a board game full of tons of colors and room to move through a magical landscape. She called her game Candyland. Oh, yeah. The game still sells over one million copies annually. So that's one of those. That's like the first game I remember my daughter being able to actually play.

Yeah, it was so simple. It's just, it's like when they're young, like they can actually play a game. I would say that and Chutes and Ladders. Yes, Chutes and Ladders is another one. Two of the simplest games, but at the same time, full of visuals, colorful and fun for adults. I mean, I remember playing it. Yeah, a little boring. I remember, so because once she could play the game, she's like, let's play it because I know how to play. And sometimes I win and sometimes I don't win. I remember letting her win once. But the other day.

But the only way to let someone win is to cheat. Like you have to like not go the spaces you're supposed to go or whatever. What's that over there? And only go three instead of five. My daughter caught me letting her win and she was furious. Was she really? And honest to God, when she was like two or three, that's the last time I let her win at something. Oh my gosh. Like if we're in a foot race, I'll beat you. Although not anymore. I mean, there was, but there, you know, you know, that span where you're like, yeah, I can outrun you. I mean, I can't now, but you know, but, but,

any game we've ever played since. I never forgot it. It was one time and she knew it. And she's like, you let me win. She's furious. She's like, don't ever do that. I'm like, and I never let her win anything since. So is there a color you would choose for your, what do they call them? It was my favorite color. Yeah. What's the piece called? Oh, I forget. Cause it's the same with every cardboard stand. Oh, yeah. But they call it a token. Maybe a token. Yeah. Green. I was always green. You were green. All right. Yep. I was always blue. And that's, um, yeah, something beautiful about it. Uh,

Fun games, and there's so many others that we could have included made in New England. I mean, Hasbro alone gave us a bunch, like G.I. Joe action figures, right? Furby, you know, and countless other games. Yankee ingenuity applies to everything up here, toy making among them. So maybe it's the long winters where we have more time on our hands to tinker. But either way, we make toys and we play because play is so important. And if a gift-giving holiday can remind us of that, then I say, God bless it.

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Thank you to all of our legendary listeners. And our theme music is by John Judd. Until next time, remember, the bizarre is closer than you think. Ho, ho, ho. Ah. Ha, ha, ha.