Write Stuff

Dear Editor:

Your editorial “The Pogo Principle” made me want to stand up and cheer. As an independent inventor of girls, preschool and infant products, aka “the soft side of life,” my business partner and I are struggling to keep afloat in the current climate.

Between us we have a lifetime of industry experience and are continually frustrated by the disconnect between current toy products and the consumer, and the fact that “innovation” now seems only to mean technology, the reintroduction of some old successful product, or a new licensed property with a dumb feature.

Innovation is seldom a new product category. As a mom and an old fashioned “gut” toy person, my toy career tombstone is likely inscribed: “Kids don't start where we have ended, they start at the beginning.”

Of course, we can't get arrested with this notion as small-time creative people in this business climate, but we loved, loved, loved that you put your finger right on it. It takes a woman with guts.

—Roseann Radosevich, RRStudios, New Bedford, Mass.

Dear Editor:

The Q&A with Michelle Ebanks in the July issue blew me away with such startlingly fresh insight. What she is sharing with the toy industry is extremely important to its future. Great job reporting. It's exactly the kind of information the toy industry needs. Bravo!

—Kathleen McHugh, Executive director, ASTRA, American Specialty Toy Retailers' Assn.

She's not falling “flat”

Dear Playthings,

Out of sight, out of mind, huh?! How could you forget me, Flatsy, in Playthings.com's recent poll asking which girl toy should have a retro come-back?

To refresh your memory, I am including some “family” pictures from the old Ideal “family albums.”

As you can see, I was the most stylish, most fashionable, hippest, coolest doll around in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I had my own world! I came in picture frame room settings. Some of my friends came in their own townhouses and I even had my own game called Candy Mountain. My slogan was “She's Flat and That's That!”

But, that's not that! I'm back! Ruth Golden-Morace of Kidzart and Dick Keats of Kaywood have brought me back and I am making the scene again, looking for a marketing partner.

My adorable flat form, portable pocket size and timeless fashion heritage make me a natural for the 21st Century! I'm sure I'll see you around the store shelves soon. Until then, if you want to know more about me, contact Ruth or Dick at Keats2@optonline.net. See ya!

—Flatsy, Kidzart, Arlington, Texas/Kaywood, Sands Point, N.Y.