THE MAGIC SCREEN

“As new as 1960!” That was the slogan on Uncle John’s first Etch A Sketch. It provided hours of mindless fun (just like TV), even though he couldn’t figure out how it worked (he still can’t).

A HUMBLE BEGINNING

In 1958, a Parisian toymaker named André Cassagnes invented an amazing new toy. He called it L’Ecran Magique—the Magic Screen.

The Magic Screen was an unusual toy for its time—it didn’t have a lot of little pieces that could get lost and didn’t need batteries. Cassagnes felt sure his creation would interest someone at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. But everyone passed on it…until executives from a small American toy firm, the Ohio Art Company, convinced their boss to take a second look.

That did it. Ohio Art bought the rights for $25,000 and renamed it Etch A Sketch. Then they advertised it on TV—just in time for the 1960 Christmas season—and sales took off. The response was so great that they kept the factory open until noon on Christmas Eve, desperately trying to fill orders.

A CLASSIC TOY

How does Etch A Sketch work? There’s a stylus, or pointer, mounted on two rails behind the screen. Using a system of wires and pulleys connected to the knobs on front, one rail moves back and forth, and the other moves up and down. The gray stuff is powdered aluminum mixed with tiny plastic beads. The powder sticks to the glass screen because aluminum powder sticks to everything. The beads help the powder flow easily. When the stylus moves, it touches the glass and scrapes the aluminum powder off. Shake it, and the aluminum is redistributed evenly. To prevent it from breaking, a clear plastic film covers the glass. The basic Etch A Sketch design hasn’t changed since 1960, although variations have been introduced:

• Pocket-size models, travel-size models, and glow-in-the-dark models (only the frame glows).

• The Zooper model makes weird noises—beeps, boops, squeaks, and squawks—as the knobs turn.

• There’s also an Etch A Sketch “action pack,” which offers various puzzles and games printed on overlays placed on top of the screen.

• To celebrate the toy’s 25th anniversary in 1985, Ohio Art came out with an Executive model made of silver. The drawing knobs were set with sapphires and topaz. Price: $3,750.

ETCH A SKETCH TRIVIA

• How many? Eight thousand Etch A Sketches are sold every day.

• World’s largest Etch A Sketch. Steve Jacobs created it at the Black Rock Arts Festival in California in 1997. He placed 144 regulation-size Etch A Sketches in a huge square and surrounded them with a huge red Etch A Sketch frame, including huge white knobs. It qualified for a Guinness World Record.

• Robot Etch A Sketch. A Canadian computer programmer named Neil Fraser pulled the knobs off a standard Etch A Sketch and hooked it up to two motors that were attached to the port of his computer. The motors worked by remote control, enabling Fraser to draw pictures without ever touching the toy. Other robotic components tilt the Etch A Sketch upside down and shake it.

• Extreme Etch A Sketch. George Vlosich was ten years old in 1989 when, on a long drive from Ohio to Washington, D.C., he brought along his Etch A Sketch. On the way home, he drew a sketch of the Capitol that was so good his parents photographed it. An artist was born. He soon began sketching portraits of his favorite sports heroes, then waited after games to get them to autograph his Etch A Sketch. The “Etch A Sketch Kid” started getting so much media attention that in 2000, Ohio Art sent someone to his home to see if he lived up to his reputation. They were so impressed by his talent that they’ve been supplying him with free Etch A Sketches ever since. It takes George between 40 and 60 hours to complete a single Etch A Sketch masterpiece. After it’s done, he carefully unscrews the back and removes the excess aluminum powder to preserve the picture forever. His Etch A Sketch artworks sell for up to $5,000 each.

• Political Etch A Sketch. In 2012, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was nearly erased by an Etch A Sketch. After Romney handily won the Illinois primary, his senior campaign advisor, Eric Fehrnstrom, was asked by CNN whether the former Massachusetts governor’s stances were too far to the right to win over moderates in the general election, to which Fehrnstrom replied, “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.” Democrats and Republicans pounced on the statement, saying it proved how flip-floppy Romney’s stances were. It was dubbed “Romney’s Etch A Sketch Moment.” Fellow GOP candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum even mocked Romney by playing with the toys at their rallies (but Romney still won the primary).

A top table-tennis player can hit a ball as fast as 70 mph.