Compared to today’s electronic tablets, it may seem archaic. And, it kind of is. But, in its day, this flat gray screen in a red plastic frame with two white knobs on the front was mind-blowing.
I am, of course, referring to the popular Etch A Sketch toy. And, with Christmas quickly approaching, this seems like a good time to look back at this wondrous device.
André Cassagnes of France invented the Etch A Sketch in the late 1950s and called it “L’Écran Magique,” which means the magic screen. And, how magical it was. This mechanical drawing toy was later manufactured by the Ohio Art Company and is still being produced and sold today, now by Spin Master of Canada.
Turn left. Turn right. Shake to erase. I would like to claim that I mastered this and created works of art with my Etch A Sketch. I didn’t. I knew the left knob would move the stylus horizontally, and the right one would move it vertically. And, I figured out that turning both knobs simultaneously made diagonal lines. Still, all I could muster were stairs and squares. This toy was clearly created for kids with more patience than I had. For some reason, though, I really enjoyed the shaking process to erase everything, except when I did it accidentally.
Do you ever wonder how an Etch A Sketch works? Much like the answer to how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know — unless you took one apart as a child, like my brother and I did. We found a stylus in there, along with some aluminum powder and 10 pulleys, six cables and two rails. Putting it back together didn’t go as planned.
The Etch A Sketch was introduced in 1960 and sold for $2.99. More than 600,000 units were sold that year, making it one of the best-selling toys of the era. Its accolades continued. In 1998, it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named it one of the 100 most memorable toys of the 20th century. In total, more than 100 million units have been sold worldwide, and they are still going.
If you are old enough, you may have had an Etch A Sketch with a plate glass screen, which was apparently easily broken and a danger to children and barefooted parents. By 1970, the toy was redesigned, replacing the glass plate with, you guessed it, plastic.
I am not sure how popular the Etch a Sketch would be with today’s kids, but I know it kept my attention for short periods of time while I drew those stairs and squares, and it continues to make me smile today.
Have a great week, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
