The Man Who Invented More Than 800 Iconic Toys — Eddy's World — The New Yorker

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: This is the bubble gun in action. I always knew I was going to be an independent inventor. And I chose toys. I got the idea for the chattering teeth. I saw a magazine ad for a toothed garage. This was a container to hold your false teeth on the table alongside your bed. I went to my dentist and I asked him for a pair of old teeth that he has around him. And he gave them to me. At that time, that was right after the war, and we had plastics that we could cast. I made a mold, then I cast them. And then I refined them, then I carved them. It was a big hit right from the start. And this is what it does. But I work in plastic mostly, not metal. I always check that these two are back in their sockets. When I came back from the Navy and can finally afford some tools, that's when I started. And little by little, I was able to buy machines. I love buying machines. I was born in Chicago, 1921, and I grew up like everyone else grew up. [00:02:06] Speaker ?: Year after year. [00:02:07] Speaker 1: My father died when I was 12 years old. Our lives changed entirely. I was always doing things. I had no tools. I had nothing. It was a big thing for me when I was a kid. My mother sent shirts out to the laundry, and when they came back, they had a cardboard piece in there, and I was able to cut things out and put things together and, you know, like that. I was interested in physics. I wanted to be a physics major. But I knew I would have a hard time going to college. And my mother said, "How are you going to go to school?" And I said, "Well, I'll go to the class until they ask me for the small tuition." And that's what I did. They asked me for it, and I had to leave class. A big turning point in my life was the war. I wanted to do my part. I was young. We all were. And I was also very thankful that my mother and father both were able to come to this country. And I wanted to pay back. I wanted to do my part. I was really interested in radar. I applied to the Navy. They sent me to the University of Houston to take electronics engineering. And then from there, we were sent to Treasure Island in San Francisco. It was all very exciting for me. Because it was all technical. It was all math and science. And I could choose anywhere I wanted to go in the Navy. And I volunteered for submarine duty. I did these drawings while I was on the submarine. Even looking through these ideas, I guess I realized I was going from one industry to another. And if I wanted to make it, I better pick an industry and specialize in it. I designed my first three toys on the batfish. I drew up the actual models I'm going to be making. This is a view looking down on the scorekeeper for this particular game that I'm working on now. And the object is to get six marbles before anyone else. You're done the winner. I use the computer a tremendous amount to do marketing research to see if something like my idea is already on. When I'm a little discouraged or something, I look up my name and see that I'm still there. So that makes me feel good. It was after the war and of course I was back in Chicago. Hank and I decided to go to a dance. Three women passed me. I really liked the one in the middle and I liked her back. I got up and I chased after her and asked her to dance. That was Anita, of course. And she said, "Okay." And we danced that dance and every dance for the rest of the evening. I came over the next day on Sunday and I asked her to marry me. She kind of looked at me. She didn't say no. She didn't say yes. We were married nine months later. We were married for almost 65 years. The day before we were married, I quit the job that I had. Anita and I agreed that she would support us for at least two years. And all that time I was inventing the best I could. Our first toy show was 1949. There was the Chattery Teeth. The Chicken L.A. The Eggs. And the Mary-go-sip a drinking glass that when the child drank the milk, the Mary-go-round would spin. They were all very, very successful. And so we had a wonderful toy show. [00:07:19] Speaker 2: I made a gun and a hat, a cowboy hat. [00:07:28] Speaker 1: And you took the hat off as if you were saying hello. And you pressed a button on the side of it and a derringer popped out and fired. Roy Rogers! [00:07:40] Speaker 3: Hey, that's a pretty tricky hat, isn't it? [00:07:51] Speaker 1: I wish I could tell you more about the creative process, but it is so much that I do for so long, I don't even think of it. When it comes to toys and games, anything can give me an idea. I only patent an item if I placed it. So every patent that I had was of an item that was on the market. I did my own model work at the beginning, and I was a good half-assed model maker. Then I was able to hire full-time guys. Mostly model makers at the beginning, and then industrial designers, engineers, sculptors. When I first get an idea of something, I think I'm very lucky I'm able to visualize it and even visualize how to make it. And even today when I make a new item, I visualize how I'm going to build it step-by-step. [00:09:17] Speaker 2: What would you call a game where you have to pull out a stick but not let any marbles fall? The more that fall... [00:09:24] Speaker 1: The first of very many games that we made. Most of our games were mechanical and had some kind of gimmick. And there it is. And the winner is... Me. The toy industry is a noble industry. Say you sold a million games for that year, that meant a million families were playing that game with their kids. That was good for the family. Toys are educational. A lot of the items were successful. They made money. They helped pay expenses. But then there was always this real big item that made a lot of money. I was fortunate enough to have a number of those. My biggest, biggest, biggest item were the Stomper cars. [00:10:27] Speaker 2: Stomper Fun Black Bores with raw power to tackle just about... [00:10:30] Speaker 1: The little four-wheel drive vehicles that were copied from the real off-road four-wheel drive trucks. [00:10:39] Speaker 2: Amazing detail in every month. Yeah! [00:10:41] Speaker 1: Power! The unique features of the Stomper car was its size. And it's very, very powerful. It could climb up steep mountains. It was a wonderful collector's item that they're still collecting to this day. [00:11:01] Speaker ?: The teeth turned out to be big. [00:11:10] Speaker 1: It was the item that most people remembered. It got all kinds of publicity. The chattering teeth. Figures, figures. NBC probably took out the chatter. [00:11:26] Speaker 2: And some extra teeth. Be careful, they chatter. Go! [00:11:31] Speaker 1: I think that when you do creative work, you stimulate your brain. And that helps keep your body healthy. We're making lithophane out of translucent plastic. A lithophane needs a light behind it. It could be any source of light. Right now, I'm making lithophanes of family and friends. For some reason, the lithophane has a little magic to it. [00:12:14] Speaker ?: And I have been collecting these for many, many years. I'm interested because they're solar-powered. And they're beautiful. I love solar-powered. I love solar-powered. I love solar-powered. I love solar-powered. I love solar-powered. [00:12:19] Speaker 1: Anita and I have been collecting these for many, many years. I'm interested because they're solar powered and they're beautiful. I love solar powered. Anita was ill for a long time, for years really. When Anita got sicker and sicker, I was able to take care of her. After Anita died, I somehow knew that I had to keep moving to really exercise. I started walking one or two miles every morning, it really helped me and I started working on ideas again. I'd do it in a ten minute spurt. I was always optimistic, I always believed things are going to turn out okay. I annoy people with my optimism, you know. People who, why don't you face reality and stuff like that. I think I'm right. I think being optimistic helped me a lot. There's a whole different way of living here. This is, this is like a bunch of old people thinking they're in a living in high school. And it really helps your attitude rather than living alone and growing old and even growing lonely. You have so many friends here and even as they die off, others fill in. So you keep going. So many people here came with their spouses and lost them here and they, uh, they managed to, uh, get together with someone here. And we've had this relationship for about six years now. A very nice relationship at this age. I started writing a hundred word stories about eight or nine years ago. I'm working on my second 100. I got ideas for stories all the time. A lot of them are personal stories. A lot of them are fiction. [00:15:13] Speaker ?: a lot of them are fiction. [00:15:20] Speaker 3: As I understand it, you're 93 years old. Is that right? Or no? 94? No. 90 what? Don't tell me you're in your eighties. 97. No. Get out of it. You're 97? I'm going to be 98 in a month and a half. [00:15:37] Speaker 2: Oh! Happy birthday. The model time. What is that? [00:15:41] Speaker 1: Rising sun. Every day when I wake up, I thank him, her, or it for this wonderful new day. Before going to sleep the night before, I usually go over the events of the day and review the problems encountered in my work. During the night, everything becomes much clearer and even some of yesterday's problems are solved. I sometimes think that I get a little help from family and friends that are no longer with us. Rain or snow, cloudy or sunny, it's a new wonderful opportunity that we are given. It's going to be a big day. [00:16:28] Speaker ?: It's going to be a big day. It's going to be a big day. It's going to be a big day. 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