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Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Diane McLendon
(800) 851-8923, ext. 6818
dmclendon@amuniversal.com
Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them
Create music that sells a million copies and you're on the cover of Rolling Stone. Write a book that sells that amount and you're on the New York Times best-seller list. Design a plaything that sells over 100 times that amount, and you're—"Who?" Tim Walsh's Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $29.95, November 2005) celebrates these unknowns who gave us—and continue to give us—generations of fun and games.
Timeless Toys is one of the finest documentaries and displays of modern toys ever written. Filled with over 420 color photos of classic toys and 130 additional images of vintage ads, drawings, and archival photos, Timeless Toys tells the stories of the creation of Slinky, Lego, Tonka trucks—just to name a few. In-depth timelines of toy history, insider profiles, and rare interviews with toy icons make this book the ultimate toy guide. Any reader of any age or background will become wrapped up in its insightful stories and personal memories, guaranteed to generate nostalgia:
- • According to Crayola, a typical child between the ages of two and eight spends 28 minutes a day coloring, wearing to the nub 730 crayons by the time he or she turns 10, which is why there's a factory near Easton, Pennsylvania, that makes an average of 12 million Crayola crayons per day.
- • Introduced in 1950, the Magic 8 Ball is a 20-sided polygon, floating inside a liquid-filled tube, fitted within a three-inch-diameter hollow ball. It was the uncertainty of the times during World War II that led Albert Carter and Abe Bookman to create the toy.
- • In 1962, John Spinello was an industrial design student at the University of Illinois when he was given the assignment to design a toy. He scored the highest grade in the class with his electric game where players took a metal probe and carefully inserted it into different holes within an electrified box without touching the sides of the metal-framed openings. Three years later, Spinello's class project became Operation.
Whatever your favorite childhood toy—Silly Putty, 
Cabbage Patch Kids, Mouse Trap, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, Frisbee, Hula Hoop, Play-Doh, Scrabble, Slip ‘n Slide, Radio Flyer Wagon—Timeless Toys is sure to fascinate with its toys' histories, insider profiles, and rare interviews.
About Tim Walsh
Author Tim Walsh is a 15-year veteran of the toy industry and a frequent speaker on toys and games on TV and radio across the country. He is the co-inventor of TriBond ® and Blurt! ® board games, which have combined sales of over four million copies in 13 countries.
Author: Tim Walsh
ISBN: 0-7407-5571-4
Format: Hardcover: 10 7/8 x 9 7/8, 320 pages
Price: $29.95 ($41.95 Canada)
Publicity begins November 2005
