Read the full transcript of toy historian Chris Byrne’s talk titled “How Your Childhood Toys Tell Your Life Story” at TEDNext 2024 on October 24, 2024.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
CHRIS BYRNE: Hey. I have a question. Can you come out and play? Does that sound like fun, like exciting, maybe there’s a little bit of adventure? Does that bring back some memories for you? I sure hope it does. I know it does for me.
The Role of a Toy Historian
Now I am a toy historian. You’ve probably never met one before because there aren’t that many of us. The toy industry doesn’t pay much attention to history, and the industry is all about what’s selling today.
So over the past nearly 40 years, I’ve had the opportunity to play with kids in many different ways. And I’ve learned one thing: that toys don’t change. But I love toy history because I think that when we look back, we can see a clear view of our culture and our values at a specific point in time. And it’s more than just what was fun, because toys really help prepare kids to enter a culture as adults at a specific time.
The Evolution of Toys and Cultural Impact
And it all begins with one question. It starts in the imagination when we say, “What if?” Right? So I mentioned that the role of play doesn’t change. The toys, however, do. Widely popular toys are sometimes the first shared cultural experience many children ever have, and they can become cultural events as well.
Think back of the fads of the past decades. We had Rubik’s Cube, we had Cabbage Patch, Zhu Zhu Pets, Pet Rock, right? And now we’re in the middle of Squishmallows. But I truly think that when we look back at what we loved, we can see the seeds of who we were going to become, personally and professionally.
Personal Play Styles
Now I grant you, this is much more an art than a science, but I believe that each of us has an inherent play style that’s as unique as our fingerprints. So very often when I meet somebody, I will ask them, “What was your favorite toy as a child?” I have heard some of the most amazing answers over time, and I think it’s really important that we look at what those are for ourselves, because we grow up and we lose sight of that playful person that was inside us. And I think that person is still there. And when we embrace the sense of play and adventure, we can have joy every day.
Personal Stories and Professional Connections
Now my favorite toy was Matchbox cars. I loved them, I loved collecting them, playing with them, organizing them. And I especially loved the Models of Yesteryear series because I loved the cars but I was also fascinated by the history of the people who might have driven them. So there are two characteristics that I can trace back to that. I love order, and I’m fascinated by history.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a book about the playwright Terrence McNally. And Terrence had a puppet theater in his garage. And he also loved the TV show “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” where Fran Allison, a human, interacted with Kukla, a clown, and Ollie, a dragon, and they were puppets. And Terrence told me that playing with his puppets and watching that show was some of the best theater training he ever had.
Basketball great Sue Bird told me that she was obsessed — obsessed! — with her pogo ball. Now that came out in 1969, but it would have become a fad mid-80s, about the time that Sue would have discovered it. The pogo ball was an inflatable ball, and it had a platform around the middle, and you clenched it between your ankles and you jumped. It wasn’t easy.
Sue went on to become the winningest player in the WNBA, and I believe that her passion for practice and her dedication to mastery served her well on the playground and translated into her careers at UConn and in the professional world.
Artists and Their Toys
Three-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes told me that he loved to play with Barbies, he loved to make clothes for them. But this was in the 1960s when playing with Barbie was taboo for boys. Gregg did it anyway, and later he had a dream-come-true job when he designed the costumes for Barbie and Fairytopia, the tour and the doll.
Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim loved puzzles and games, and especially games like Scrabble. And those of us who love musical theater know where word play landed him.
The Evolution of Barbie
And guess what? This works for us ordinary mortals as well. When you think about the toys that you loved as a child, you didn’t think about, “Why do I love this?” You just did, right? Perhaps you watched the TV show “Blue’s Clues.” Or you played with your Tonka truck. Or you had cuddled up to a Care Bear. Or played that iconic game, Hungry Hungry Hippos.
I grew up in Delaware, and all the girls in the neighborhood played Barbie. Barbie was from Malibu, California, and Wilmington was about as far away from that as you could get. But in the late 1960s, Barbie play all followed the prescribed cultural path for girls: dating, love, marriage.
My nieces and their friends played Barbie very differently. They were inspired by the 1985 commercial, “We Girls Can Do Anything,” that encouraged them to imagine themselves as independent and empowered women. And that was just the time that more and more professional women were entering the workforce.
Today, Barbie has left the beach behind. Sort of. She’s now every girl, and Ken’s there too. Broad cultural representation is now baked into the brand, and our conversations with Gen Alpha kids and their parents indicate that this is a core value for them in their play.