Hobbies And Interests
Born in Wartime
Faced with a rubber shortage during World War II, the U.S. government asked scientists to try to find an alternative. In a GE lab, engineer James Wright mixed boric acid with silicone oil. He was so pleased with the result that he threw some of the substance on the floor and discovered that it bounced. It wasn't to be a replacement for rubber, but it would still take a place in history. After failing to come up with a use for the invention, GE relinquished it to toy store owner Ruth Fallgatter and her marketing guru, Peter Hodgson.
The Early Years
"Bouncing putty" was a big seller for Fallgatter, but, inexplicably, after one year she decided not to market it further. Hodgson made the fateful decision to take the putty and run with it, naming it Silly Putty in 1950 and packaging it in plastic eggs. Other toy producers scoffed at Hodgson's product, but he managed to persuade a few retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Doubleday bookstores, to carry it. In August 1950, when a "New Yorker" magazine writer discovered Silly Putty and wrote about it; the orders started rolling in.
Success
By the end of the 1950s, Silly Putty's target audience became 6- to 12-year-olds, and Hodgson began one of the first TV commercial campaigns aimed specifically at children. In the '60s, Silly Putty became a global success with its debut in Europe, but even that wasn't the pinnacle. Its universal appeal was clear when the pink goo traveled with the Apollo astronauts into space in 1968. Not only would it help pass the time on the spacecraft, but it also fastened tools into place.
A New Owner
In 1976, Peter Hodgson died, and the next year Silly Putty was sold to Binney &Smith, the maker of Crayola products. Interest in the toy waned but picked back up in the late 1980s, when sales soared once again. Over the years, Crayola has introduced innovations, including Silly Putty that changes colors when it warms up in the hands and, for its 50th anniversary, metallic gold Silly Putty.
Part of the Culture
In 2000, Silly Putty became part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., featuring objects from the 1950s that are part of the American fabric. Two early eggs, an antique cutting tool and a Silly Putty scientist's notes from the mid-1960s are in the museum's Archive Center.