Making Toys the Chicago Way

Lincoln Logs, Beanie Babies, Radio Flyer Wagons and Operation—classic childhood toys—were not formed in some mystical place called Toyland.

In fact, these famous items relished by American children were invented by people and companies in the Chicago area. Elmhurst Historical Museum is paying tribute to these local inventors and their toys of yesterday and today in a new exhibit, Toys in the 'Hood, through Sept. 18.

Patrice Roche, the museum’s marketing and communications specialist, said the project was lead by Lance Tawzer, the museum’s curator of exhibits. He collaborated with Tim Walsh, author of Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them.

Visitors will see not only prototypes of classic toys and games but also learn how Chicago became the epicenter for toy invention and production.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that there were iconic toys created in the heyday of when the marketing of toys via television really took off in the 1950s and 1960s,” Roche said. “The growth of the toy industry also happened during this heyday. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, this is when this idea of toy invention came from sort of a cottage industry to being a big business, where marketing was strongly involved.”

Toys in the exhibit have their history on panels or video screens. Roche pointed to the lasting and durable Lincoln Logs, which were invented in the early 1900s by John Lloyd Wright, son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The logs were indeed named after President Abraham Lincoln.

Though the toy was invented at the turn of the 20th century, its popularity didn’t skyrocket until much later.

“Lincoln Logs, as a commercial toy, really didn’t take off until the 1950s, when they became [popular] through the nostalgia of the West, the prairie and television and radio shows such as ‘Daniel Boone’ and Disney movies in that day,” she said. “That was when the logs became known as ‘America’s national toy.’ ”

In the toy invention section, the spotlight focuses on Chicago-based trail blazers, such as the defunct Marvin Glass and Associates. Roche explained that Glass, a toy inventor, wanted to make his own creations but realized it was difficult to capitalize on the production side. He envisioned the idea of taking toy concepts such as Rock’em Sock’em Robots and Simon, a computerized game, and licensing those to larger companies such as Milton Bradley or Hasbro. Thanks to his idea, many employees have built their own toy invention companies such as Big Monster Toys in Chicago.

Glass was responsible for bringing concepts like Operation to life. Players use forceps to remove items from a person such as a funny bone and water on the knee. Bloomingdale resident John Spinello invented the game and lent his prototype for the exhibit.

Spinello, Roche said, was a University of Illinois student taking industrial design courses in the early 1960s. One particular assignment was to create a toy. He built a metal box with grooves and a forceps attached to it. If the forceps touched the sides, the player received a “shock.” Spinello’s uncle was a model maker for Glass and encouraged his nephew to show his idea to the boss.

“At first glance, Glass is extremely underwhelmed,” she said. “Within 10 minutes after John showed him how the concept worked and received the electric ‘shock,’ Glass told him that he wanted to buy this. Glass paid John $500 and promised him a job when he graduated from college.”

Roche added that Glass then sold the concept to Milton Bradley and the idea eventually morphed into Operation.

Spinello, who now is the owner of a Chicago-based trucking company, didn’t receive that job until 1977. He said that for unknown reasons, Glass did not want to hire him. Spinello kept in touch with a fellow graduate and a company partner who eventually hired him. After a year as a designer, Spinello left the company and worked in various industrial design positions.

He never thought that his concept would become the beloved Operation.

“When Milton Bradley produced the finished Operation game and it hit the marketplace, the response was very strong and I felt very good about it,” Spinello said. “To predict that it was going to continue on for 40 or 50 years, I could never in a million years have predicted that.”

The upper floor of Elmhurst Historical Museum contains a hands-on product testing gallery, where participants can play with such classics as Mousetrap and Tinker Toys. There’s even a life-sized version of Operation, featuring Cavity Sam.

Other related exhibit events include a drop-in kids craft on Tuesdays, from June 21 to Aug. 16; a Tea Time lecture with author and toy inventor Tim Walsh Thursday, June 23; and a Toy Fair Extravaganza on Sunday, June 26.

For more information, visit www.elmhursthistory.org or call 630-833-1457.