Christmas in The Post-War United States - Toys

Toys

The post-War Christmas toy extravaganza had its seed in Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas. There, Saint Nicholas is depicted not as the thin, somewhat forbidding, charity dispensing character of European lore but as a dimpled, "jolly old elf" whose stomach shakes like "a bowlful of jelly" when he laughs, and who enters a dwelling through the chimney with a pack of toys on his back.

In the nineteenth century, Germany was the toy making capitol of the world, but high importation costs made German toys relatively expensive in America. Toy costs were lowered when German toymakers began mass-producing toys under the direction of Frank Woolworth and shipping their products to Woolworth's warehouses for packaging and distribution.

With the loss of German toys on the American market during World War I, toy manufacturing in the United States began in earnest. The Great Depression was a temporary setback but WWII proved a catalyst. In the aftermath of the war, American couples were eager to settle down, have kids, and lavish the sumptuous Christmases they never had on their offspring.

The post-War years saw the creation of toys that are still in production today and include Candy Land, Cootie, the hula hoop, Barbie, and Etch A Sketch.

Television cultivated the American Christmas toy extravaganza. Manufacturers sidestepped the parent in selling a toy and went directly to the child. Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television and retail sales topped $4 million in the toy's first year. Play-Doh's sales skyrocketed after being advertised on influential children's television programs such as Ding Dong School and Captain Kangaroo.