Toys for the Memories: Old Stuff is New Again

www.newsday.com By Zubin Jelveh Staff Writer

The soft, golden-brown teddy bear sitting on the shelf brought a warm smile to Maria Clarkson's face last week at FAO Schwarz on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The Westchester grandmother of three wanted to buy a birthday gift for her 6-year-old grandson.

"I had a whole room full of stuffed animals when I was a child,” Clarkson said.

Like many parents and grandparents nationwide, Clarkson buys into her memories of the toys of yesteryear. And as the Toy Fair celebrates its 100th anniversary this week, the Toy Industry Association is commemorating the 20th century's most memorable toys -- from Mr. Potato Head to Beanie Babies.

Despite the industry's fascination with the next big technology toys, a surprising number of 100-year-old playthings are still selling and sometimes well. Some experts say that with all the worries about terrorism and war, parents and grandparents may keep buying into nostalgia and buying Ouija boards, Chutes and Ladders, tiddlywinks and other old-time toys.

"There are certain categories that will last forever,” said Jim Silver, co-publisher at The Toy Book, a trade journal based in Manhattan. "Great board games are very simple, and yet every time you play them the outcome is different.”

Parcheesi, based on Pachisi, the ancient game of India dating from at least the fourth century, was introduced in the United States in 1867 and eventually went onto become Bay Shore-based Selchow & Righter Co.'s best seller for decades.

"Sales have been very steady every year. That in itself is an accomplishment,” said Mark Morris, spokesman for Hasbro, which owns the Parcheesi trademark. He declined to provide specifics on sales.

And like the little engine that could, Lionel trains also have been a mainstay. At the end of the 1890s, Lionel LLC founder Joshua Lionel Cohen invented a miniature engine and decided to use it to move merchandise in his store's window to attract customers. But shoppers found the little trains more amusing than the products carried, and in 1901 Lionel made his first train, the Electric Express.

While Lionel trains often are purchased by hobbyists, they experienced a spike in sales after, and some experts say because of, Sept.11, 2001, said Maria Weiskott, editor in chief of Playthings, a Manhattan-based trade journal. "They are reminiscent of the past and better times.”

Lionel spokeswoman Cara Orchard said sales have grown 40 percent since the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Crayola Crayons, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, "brought affordable color to children and allowed them to enhanced their creativity,” Weiskott said. .Binney & Smith rang up $500 million in sales last year, with crayons its main product, spokeswoman Stacy Gabrielle said.

Generic games such as tiddlywinks have also stuck around, said Chris Byrne, an independent toy consultant. First popularized in English pubs, tiddlywinks made its way across the ocean and became a children's game in the United States by the dawn of the 20th century. It achieved another heyday in the 1950s and '60s, especially in academic centers such as Cornell and Harvard. Today, a dedicated core of players competes in tiddlywinks associations in the United States and the United Kingdom.

"It's a combination of chess and billiards. The strategy is comparably complex,” said Larry Kahn of Washington, D.C., the world's top ranked tiddlywinks player.

Probably the most famous of all old toys, the teddy bear, was introduced in the United States in 1902. Attesting to Clarkson's memories, Byrne said grownups recall the comfort and the emotional bond to their teddy bears and help companies such as Gund and Steiff stay in business.

"What makes a toy a classic, not exclusively, is that parents have fond memories of some toys and want their children to have the same good experience,” said Patricia Hogan, curator of toys and dolls at the Strong Museum in Rochester, which houses the Toy Hall of Fame.

Toy companies see them as a classic way to make a profit, since the old toys need little advertising or research and development. The Toy Book's Silver said, "It's like printing money.”