[image clicking] [bell dinging]
[upbeat instrumental music]
[bubbles popping]
This is the bubble gun in action.
[upbeat instrumental music]
I always knew I was gonna be an independent inventor.
And I chose toys.
[upbeat instrumental music]
[teeth chattering]
I got the idea for the chattering teeth.
I saw a magazine ad for a tooth garage.
This was a container to hold your false teeth
on the table alongside your bed.
I went to my dentist and I asked him for a pair
of old teeth that he has around, and he gave them to me.
At that time, that was right after the war,
and we had plastics that we could cast.
I made a mold, then I cast them.
And then I refined them, then I carved them.
It was a big hit right from the start.
[toy cranking]
And this is what it does.
[teeth chattering] [upbeat instrumental music]
Well, I work in plastic mostly, not metal.
I always check that these two are back in their sockets.
When I came back from the Navy
and can finally afford some tools, that’s when I started.
And little by little, I was able to buy machines.
I love buying machines.
[machine whirring]
[saw screeching]
[calm instrumental music]
I was born in Chicago, 1921,
and I grew up like everyone else grew up,
year after year. [laughs]
My father died when I was 12 years old.
Our lives changed entirely.
I was always doing things.
I had no tools.
I had nothing.
Was a big thing for me when I was a kid,
my mother sent shirts out to the laundry
and when they came back they had a cardboard piece in there
and I was able to cut things out and put things together,
you know, like that.
[cheerful instrumental music]
I was interested in physics.
I wanted to be a physics major,
but I knew I would have a hard time going to college.
And my mother said, How are you gonna go to school?
I said, Well, I’ll go to the class
until they ask me for the small tuition.
You know, and that’s what I did.
They asked me for it and I had to leave the class.
[bombs exploding]
A big turning point in my life was the war.
I wanted to do my part.
I was young.
We all were.
And I was also very thankful that my mother and father
both were able to come to this country,
and I wanted to pay back.
I wanted to do my part.
[upbeat instrumental music]
I was really interested in radar.
I applied to the Navy.
They sent me to the University of Houston
to take electronics engineering.
And then from there we were sent
to Treasure Island in San Francisco.
It was all very exciting for me ’cause it’s all technical.
It was all math and science.
Then I could choose anywhere I wanted to go in the Navy.
Then I volunteered for submarine duty.
[calm instrumental music]
I did these drawings while I was on the submarine.
Even looking through these ideas,
I guess I realize I was going from one industry to another.
And if I wanted to make it,
I better pick an industry and specialize in it.
I designed my first three toys on the Batfish.
[upbeat instrumental music]
I draw up the actual models I’m gonna be making.
This is a view looking down on the scorekeeper
for this particular game that I’m working on now.
And the object is to get six marbles before anyone else,
then you’re the winner.
[upbeat instrumental music]
I use a computer a tremendous amount
to do marketing research,
to see if something like my idea is already on.
When I’m a little discouraged or something,
I look up my name and see that I’m still there.
So that makes me feel good.
[traffic whirring]
[bell ringing]
It was after a war, and of course, I was back in Chicago.
Hank and I decided to go to a dance.
Three women passed me
and I really liked the one in the middle
and I liked her back.
I got up chased after her and asked her to dance.
That was Anita, of course.
And she said okay, and we danced that dance
and every dance for the rest of the evening.
I came over the next day on Sunday
and I asked her to marry me.
She kind of looked at me.
She didn’t say no.
She didn’t say yes.
We were married nine months later.
We were married for almost 65 years.
[upbeat instrumental music]
The day before we were married, I quit the job that I had.
Anita and I agreed that she would support us
for at least two years.
And all that time I was inventing the best I could.
Our first toy show was 1949.
There was the chattering teeth,
the chicken that laid the eggs,
[chicken clucking]
and the merry-go-sip, a drinking glass
that when the child drank the milk,
the merry-go-round would spin.
They were all very, very successful,
and so we had a wonderful toy show.
[dramatic instrumental music]
All right, partner. Freeze.
I made the gun in a hat.
A cowboy hat and you took the hat off
as if you’re saying hello,
and you pressed a button on the side of it
and a Derringer popped out and fired.
Roy Rogers.
Say, that’s a pretty tricky hat, isn’t it?
[calm instrumental music]
I wish I could tell you more about the creative process
but it is so much that I do for so long,
I don’t even think of it.
When it comes to toys and games,
anything can give me an idea.
[upbeat instrumental music]
I only patent an item if I placed it.
So every patent that I had was an item
that was on the market.
[upbeat instrumental music]
[shark chomping]
I did my own model work at the beginning
and I was a good half-ass model maker.
Then I was able to hire a full-time guy,
mostly model makers at the beginning,
and then industrial designers, engineers, sculptors.
[upbeat instrumental music]
When I first get an idea of something,
I think I’m very I’m able to visualize it
and even visualize how to make it.
And even today, when I make a new item
I visualize how I’m gonna build it step by step.
[cheerful instrumental music]
[Narrator] What would you call a game
where you have to pull out a stick
but not let any marbles fall?
The more that fall…
KerPlunk.
The first of very many games that we made.
Most of our games were mechanical
and had some kind of gimmick.
[marbles crashing]
And there it is.
♪ Making a bet with a marble ♪
And the winner is
[marble clanking]
me.
[Children] KerPlunk.
[image popping]
Toy industry is a noble industry.
Say you sold a million games for that year,
that meant a million families were playing that game
with their kids.
That was good for the family.
Toys are educational.
[upbeat instrumental music]
A lot of the items were successful.
They made money.
They help pay expenses.
But then there was always this real big item
that made a lot of money,
and I was fortunate enough to have a number of those.
My biggest, biggest, biggest item were the Stomper cars.
[Narrator] Stomper 4 by 4s with raw power
to tackle just about-
These are the little four-wheel drive vehicles
that were copied from the real off-road
four-wheel drive trucks.
[Narrator] Amazing detail in every model.
[Kid] Yeah, power.
The unique features of the Stomper car was its size.
And it’s very, very powerful.
It could climb up steep mountains.
It was a wonderful collector’s item
that they’re still collecting to this day.
[upbeat instrumental music]
[teeth chattering]
[audience laughing]
♪ Look sharp, la la la la la ♪
The teeth turned out to be big.
It was the item that most people remembered.
It got all kinds of publicity.
The chattering teeth.
[audience laughing]
Figures, figures.
[audience laughing]
NBC probably took out the chatter.
[audience laughing]
And some extra teeth.
Be careful, they chatter.
[teeth chattering]
Whoa!
[Data screaming]
Data!
[teeth springing]
[machine whirring]
I think that when you do creative work,
you stimulate your brain
and that helps keep your body healthy.
[upbeat instrumental music]
We’re making lithophanes out of translucent plastic.
A lithophane needs a light behind it.
It could be any source of light.
Right now, I’m making lithophanes of family and friends.
For some reason, the lithophane has a little magic to it.
[machine whirring]
[toys clacking]
Anita and I have been collecting these for many, many years.
I’m interested in because they’re solar powered.
And they’re beautiful.
[toys clacking]
I love solar power.
[pensive instrumental music]
Anita was ill for a long time.
For years, really.
When Anita got sicker and sicker,
I was able to take care of her.
After Anita died, I somehow knew that I had to keep moving
to really exercise.
I started walking one or two miles every morning.
It really helped me.
And I started working on ideas again.
[stepper beeping]
I do it in 10-minute spurts.
[stepper squeaking] [calm instrumental music]
I was always optimistic.
I always believed things are gonna turn out okay.
I annoy people with my optimism, you know,
people who why don’t you face reality and stuff.
Well, I think I’m right.
I think being optimistic helps me a lot.
[Woman] How are you?
[people chattering]
There’s a whole different way of living here.
This is like a bunch of old people thinking
they’re in a live-in high school
and it really helps your attitude
rather than living alone and growing old,
and even growing lonely.
You have so many friends here,
and even as they die off, others fill in so you keep going.
[people chattering]
So many people here came with their spouses
and lost them here.
And they managed to get together with someone here.
[calm instrumental music]
We’ve had this relationship for about six years now.
It’s a very nice relationship at this age.
I started writing 100 word stories
about eight or nine years ago.
I’m working on my second 100.
I get ideas for stories all the time.
A lot of them are personal stories,
a lot of them are fiction.
[cheerful instrumental music]
As I understand it, you’re 93 years old.
Is that right?
Or no, 94.
No. 90 what?
Don’t tell me you’re in your 80s.
97. Get out of here.
You’re 97.
I’m gonna be 98 in a month and a half.
Oh my God. Woo hoo!
Happy birthday. Mazel tov.
[people laughing]
Rising sun.
Every day when I wake up, I thank him, her, or it
for this wonderful new day.
Before going to sleep the night before,
I usually go over the events of the day
and review the problems encountered in my work.
During the night, everything becomes much clearer,
and even some of yesterday’s problems are solved.
I sometimes think that I got a little help
from family and friends that are no longer with us.
Rain or snow, cloudy or sunny,
it’s a new, wonderful opportunity that we are given.
It’s gonna be a big day.
[people clapping] [people laughing]
[upbeat instrumental music]
Siri, what’s the weather outside?
[Siri] Okay, here’s the weather for today.
62 degrees, partly cloudy.
Zero chance of rain.
[hammer tapping]
[upbeat instrumental music]
[Eddy whistling]
[upbeat instrumental music]
[machine whirring]
[Eddy whistling]
[upbeat instrumental music]
