Top Ten Toys of Yesterday: 1920s & '30s

The twenties and thirties brought us two all-time favorite games that still play an central part of Family Game Nights across this Country. It was also a time of happening upon the right people in the right place at the right time to bring us toys that have lasted through the generations.

Top Ten Toys of Yesterday: 1920s & 30s:

1. Pogo Sticks

George Hansburg patented the first Pogo Stick in 1919. They were to be sold at Gimble Brothers Department Store in New York City, but there was a problem. The first Pogo Sticks were wooden and during their shipment from Germany they rotted and warped. The department store still wanted to sell the toy, but they asked for an improved version. Hansburg was able to work with a factory to build all metal Pogo Sticks that had enclosed springs.

To promote this new toy, Hansburg taught the Ziegfeld Follies girls how to use it. Ziegfeld followed up the initial stunt by featuring a marriage performed on Pogo Sticks in 1920. Then throughout the 20's, Pogo Stick publicity stunts occurred throughout the Country.

The toy's popularity showed staying power and in 1947, Hansburg upgraded his invention and debuted the Master Pogo with a steel frame and longer lasting spring.

An interesting legend is attached to the creation of the Pogo Stick. It is said that George Hansburg was traveling through Burma when he met a girl named Pogo. She was the daughter of a poor farmer and could not afford shoes to wear through the mud and rocks to the Temple to pray until her father made her a jumping stick. Seeing this interesting tool, Hansburg is said to have created a similar jumping stick and named it after the girl.

In spite of all the newer toy inventions, children still love to play with Pogo Sticks. The simple act of jumping from one place to another keeps generation after generation buying.

2. Magic Slate

Fantastical stories tend to accompany some of history's longest lasting inventions. The Magic Slate is one of them.