Calling all “Readers of a certain age”!
Do you remember the Etch A Sketch? It has been referred to as the “world’s first laptop” and I certainly remember mine.
Bright red, with two dials. Turn them each or turn them together and draw lines across the screen. Turn them in the perfect combination and you get a diagonal. Hours of fun. Technology of the 60′s!
The Etch A Sketch was so popular it has been named among the most popular toys of the 20th century, and I’m not surprised. I’m guessing that at some point, every child of the 60′s crossed paths with an Etch A Sketch.
Sadly, the inventor of this wildly successful toy died last month in a suburb of Paris. Andre Cassagnes was a French electrician who invented the toy after noticing how pencil marks transferred to a decal he pulled from a switch plate.
As often happens with inventions, it seems, the patent was incorrectly attributed to another, but Andre Cassagnes was the actual inventor, and Ohio Art (the Etch A Sketch company) proudly gives him the credit. (They bought the rights from him in 1959 for $25,000.)
Enjoy these samples of Etch A Sketch Masterpieces!
stuffitellmysister
/ February 4, 2013Brings back many memories…though I was never any good with mine! May he RIP ♥
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013I wasn’t very good, either. I remember my diagonals looked like squashed staircases.
stuffitellmysister
/ February 5, 2013haha! Me TOO!
mixedupmeme
/ February 4, 2013Another first for me. lol
The Sketchers I saw never made those pictures.
mixedupmeme
/ February 4, 2013I got here first…..but my comment didn’t.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013I never saw pictures like that either!
barb19
/ February 4, 2013I remember my little sister had one, but neither of us were any good at it! Those ones you put up here are very cleverly done, must have taken lots of practice.
RIP Andre Cassagnes.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013Those “sketches” are real works of art. A bit of googling found several (quite a few) people who do their art on the etch a sketch and then sell prints. Who knew?
Marcia
/ February 4, 2013Oh, I love my Etch-A-Sketch! I was BRILLIANT at it! Yep. I could draw stairs, and…stairs…and, ummm, stairs. But I was versatile. I could draw stairs going up and stairs going down. Hahaha. Okay, so I wasn’t very good. I loved it anyway. And those samples you posted don’t look possible. They can’t really have been done on an actual Etch-A-Sketch, can they? I mean…look at them! Not a stair in sight!
Great post, SC. Thanks for the trip down memory lane and the nod to the real inventor of one of the best toys, ever. May he rest in peace!
Marcia
/ February 4, 2013Make that “LOVED,” of course.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013You are always so funny! Stairs made regular appearances on my etch a sketch, too, although not usually by choice. I just remember that making a diagonal line was nearly impossible and it always ended up looking like a staircase. A squashed one, but a staircase!
SmallHouseBigGarden
/ February 4, 2013Loved my etch a sketch! No self respecting child of the 60s was without one!!
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013I’m sure you are right. It’s an experience many many people share.
Gemma
/ February 4, 2013Had one. I. Opulent even make a proper diagonal. These are wild!
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013Those diagonals were impossible! (as were buttons on a snowman. I remember that frustration, too.
)
cindy knoke
/ February 4, 2013I remember it well. Mostly, I remember being frustrated that I could never draw anything well with it!! These just proved I was right!!!
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013I do remember the frustration. Mine usually resembled the art work of a blindfolded 3 year old.
LuAnn
/ February 4, 2013I loved my Etch a Sketch! Thanks for the blast from the past.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013You’re welcome! I love looking back at things like this. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Long Life Cats and Dogs
/ February 5, 2013Oh I remember these. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face with some great memories
It really was a great toy (I’m sure the kids of today would love it as well)
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013They are still going strong, but I wonder for how long? I hope there is always a place for ‘regular’ toys, and not just the electronic stuff.
argylesock
/ February 5, 2013In 1970, I was a 3-year old in hospital for an operation. The little boy whose bed was opposite mine had this marvellous toy – an Etch a Sketch! He let me borrow it.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013What an interesting memory! I hope it helped your little 3 year old self feel better.
How nice of the other child to share.
Tilly Bud - The Laughing Housewife
/ February 5, 2013Do you remember Will Ferrell using one in Elf? Sublime.
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013I do!
Sumithra Sriram
/ February 5, 2013I could never draw anything more than an awfully crooked house and an elliptical sun on it!!
But these sketches are amazing!! Thank you for bringing the old days back to my memory…
sharechair
/ February 5, 2013“awfully crooked” <<< that sums it up, well! It was HARD to draw good lines and frustrating to get from 'here' to 'there' without an oddly placed crooked line. Frustrating, but fun!
Sumithra Sriram
/ February 6, 2013Yes, definitely a lot of fun!!
elainepelz
/ February 5, 2013One of my favorite toys as a kid. Could spend hours upon hours creating stuff. I remember feeling bummed when inadvertently I lost something I thought was cool.
sharechair
/ February 6, 2013It was fun, that’s for sure. And I think everyone who had one certainly remembers it.
tchistorygal
/ February 6, 2013Ah the memories. Yes I could draw stairs, and circles that didn’t quite touch, and maybe houses, then I would jar it somehow, and poof, some of it would disappear. I can’t imagine how ANYONE could draw the above drawings. Maybe penciled them and photoshopped them onto an Etch-a-Sketch background??? I mean REALLY? I double dare George to come on this site and make himself known and tell us that he ACTUALLY did those drawings on a REAL Etch-a-Sketch!!! Double Dog Dare is issued!!! Come on George V.!!!
sharechair
/ February 6, 2013I remember making houses and being so frustrated as to how to draw a window because you had to connect it to the wall with a line. It always looked like my windows had eyebrows!
tchistorygal
/ February 6, 2013No kidding!! So do you think George really did those on an Etch-a-Sketch? How frustrating it must have been if he did. They didn’t have a memory to go back to last saved document!!!
sharechair
/ February 6, 2013I do think those sketches are very legit. Real talent, there. He’s not alone, either. There are several others I bumped into while googling. Some of them sell prints of their work. Some are even demonstrating on YouTube.
tchistorygal
/ February 6, 2013Amazing!!!! That would be interesting to watch!!!
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
/ February 6, 2013add me to the list of children who had one and loved it. I even got my children one – although my creations did not look that terrific!
sharechair
/ February 6, 2013Hope your children enjoyed it as much as you did!
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
/ February 9, 2013my daughter did, not so much my son…