The Toys That Built America

Gross-out humor is as old as human society itself, and so are the toys designed to capitalize on it. From a 1st century Roman Emperor who created an early version of the Whoopee cushion, to cutting edge, modern materials that emulate human body fluids, gross equals big bucks for toymakers. These are the stories of America's most innovative, groundbreaking, and profitable toys designed to shock--and how they grew to claim a bigger piece of the 100-billion-dollar toy industry than you would think.

The Christmas crazes that helped transform holiday shopping into the frantic, no-holds-barred $1.1 trillion frenzy that it is today. From a hit doll in the Great Depression, to a $5 plush reselling for a thousand times its value, each season's 'must-have toy' makes the top of Santa's list for its own improbable reason... and sends desperate shoppers to unbelievable lengths just to buy it.

After the U.S. videogame crash of 1983, a Japanese electronics company single-handedly resurrects the industry with a game featuring a jumping plumber. But a rival rises to challenge their dominance, setting off a two-way war between video game superpowers. In the process, the two companies will humiliate a third, transforming the fight from a two-player matchup into a three-way brawl...that will change the video game industry forever.

In the 1980s, groundbreaking technology doesn't just improve adult life, it redefines classic toys. For the first time, childhood staples are reimagined by innovators pushing the boundaries of entertainment technology. A former amusement park employee combines his animatronic knowledge with the cassette tape to create the world's first realistic talking toy, while a NASA engineer invents an entirely new toy segment stemming from the boring old squirt gun. It's an era when technology redefines how we live, and these toy innovations are at the forefront.

After failing to make a living selling lithographs, Milton Bradley creates one of America's first board games, which will go on to become one of the biggest of all time. But the Parker brothers threaten Bradley's reign. But it's a game about Monopoly that will upend the business. And in its earliest days, it might have been pirated from its true creator, who has been largely lost to history--until now

As car culture cranks up in the early 1950s, a young machinist in England invents one of the world's most successful toys when he creates a toy car small enough to fit inside a matchbox for his daughter to take to school. In Los Angeles, Elliot Handler creates one of the biggest toy rivalries in history when he brings on a former missile designer to make a toy car behemoth of his own.

As the post-war baby boom creates unprecedented demand for toys, Ruth Handler turns her greatest gamble into the most recognizable toy in the world. Meanwhile, rival Merrill Hassenfeld, at the reigns of a company that will one day be one the most famous brands in the world, tries to capitalize on Handler's success to launch a military doll for boys--which is brilliantly rebranded as the world's first "action figure," and eventually spawns a tv series and a movie franchise. For decades, these two companies battle each other to dominate the toy industry. But when the cultural landscape shifts, they are forced to make desperate choices that ultimately earn their toys immortal status.

During World War II, a naval engineer accidentally creates an iconic spiral toy that walks downstairs. At the same time, an engineer is trying to invent a synthetic rubber for the war effort and instead creates a strange putty that becomes another world-famous toy.