“What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, And makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, Everyone knows it’s Slinky…
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, for fun it’s a wonderful toy
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, it’s fun for a girl and a boy!
That classic coil of cheap steel which you could get started and walk around, especially down stairs. That’s all it could do, mind you, and over time it got knotted up faster than a yo yo string. But what kid didn’t have a slinky? It was one of those toys that could be the dictionary definition of easily amused entertainment.
The interesting part of the Slinky story is it’s genesis. A naval engineer working a meter for monitoring horsepower in battleships, dropped a spring and saw how it just kept walking. A toy was born. Richard James went home and told his wife, and for around $500, they created the first line of Slinkys which debuted at Gimbels during the 1945 Holiday season And today, the popular kids toy is still being made with the original equipment that winds 80 feet of steel wire into over a quarter billion Slinky’s. And the springy metal Slinky was only the beginning. Now, there’s Slinky Jr., Plastic Slinky, Slinky Dog, Slinky Pets, Crazy Eyes (glasses with Slinky-extended fake eyeballs) and Neon Slinky.
All fun for a girl and a boy. For about $9.00 from Amazon.
Hat Tip – About.com
Enjoy the commercial!