Slinky or "Lazy Spring" is a toy consisting of a helical spring that stretches and can bounce up and down. It can perform a number of tricks, including traveling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.

History[link]

The toy was invented and developed by naval engineer Richard James in the early 1940s and demonstrated at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November 1945. The toy was a hit, selling its entire inventory of 400 units in ninety minutes. James and his wife Betty formed James Industries in Philadelphia to manufacture Slinky and several related toys such as the Slinky Dog and Suzie, the Slinky Worm. In 1960, James' wife Betty became president of James Industries, and, in 1964, moved the operation to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1998, Betty James sold the company to Poof Products, Inc.

Slinky was originally priced at $1, but many paid much more due to price increases of spring steel throughout the state of Pennsylvania, and has remained modestly priced throughout its history as a result of Betty James' concern about the toy's affordability for financially disadvantaged customers. Slinky has seen uses other than as a toy in the playroom: it has appeared in the classroom as a teaching tool, in wartime as a radio antenna, and in physics experiments with NASA. Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2000. In 2002, Slinky became Pennsylvania's official state toy, and, in 2003, was named to the Toy Industry Association's "Century of Toys List." In its first 60 years Slinky has sold 300 million units.

Creation[link]

In 1943, Richard James, a naval mechanical engineer stationed at the William Cramp and Sons shipyards in Philadelphia, was developing springs that could support and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships in rough seas. James accidentally knocked one of the springs from a shelf, and watched as the spring "stepped" in a series of banana splits, to a stack of books, to a tabletop, to the floor, where it re-coiled itself and stood upright. James' wife Betty later recalled, "He came home and said, 'I think if I got the right property of steel and the right tension, I could make it walk.'" James experimented with different types of steel wire over the next year, and finally found a spring that would walk. Betty was dubious at first, but changed her mind after the toy was fine-tuned and neighborhood children expressed an excited interest in it. She dubbed the toy Slinky (meaning "sleek and graceful"), after finding the word in a dictionary, and deciding that the word aptly described the sound of a metal spring expanding and collapsing.

With a US$500 loan, the couple formed James Industries (originally James Spring & Wire Company), had 400 Slinky units made by a local machine shop, handwrapped each in yellow paper, and priced them at $1 a piece. Each was 2" tall, and included 98 coils of high-grade blue-black Swedish steel. The Jameses had difficulty selling Slinky to toy stores but, in November 1945, they were granted permission to set up an inclined plane in the toy section of Gimbels department store in New York to demonstrate the toy. Slinky was a hit, and the first 400 units were sold within ninety minutes. In 1946, Slinky was introduced at the American Toy Fair.

Subsequent developments[link]

Richard James opened shop in Philadelphia after developing a machine that could produce a Slinky within seconds. The toy was packaged in a red-lettered box, and advertising saturated America. James often appeared on television shows to promote Slinky. In 1952, the Slinky Dog debuted. Other Slinky toys introduced in the 1950s included the Slinky train Loco, the Slinky worm Suzie, and the Slinky Crazy Eyes, a pair of glasses that uses Slinkys over the eyeholes attached to plastic eyeballs. James Industries' main competitor was Wilkening Mfg. Co. of Philadelphia and Toronto which produced spring-centered toys such as Mr. Wiggle's Leap Frog and Mr. Wiggle's Cowboy. In its first 2 years, James Industries sold 100 million Slinkys (At $1 apiece, that would be the equivalent to $1 Billion, adjusted for inflation, in gross revenue over those 2 years).

In 1960, Richard James left the company after his wife filed for divorce and he became an evangelical missionary in Bolivia. Betty James managed the company, juggled creditors, and moved the company to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania in 1964. Richard James died in 1974. The company he founded and its product line expanded under Betty James' leadership. In 1995, she explained the toy's success to the Associated Press by saying, "It's the simplicity of it."

Betty James insisted upon keeping the original Slinky affordable. In 1996, when the price ranged from $1.89 to $2.69, she told ''The New York Times'': “So many children can't have expensive toys, and I feel a real obligation to them. I'm appalled when I go Christmas shopping and $60 to $80 for a toy is nothing." In 2008, Slinkys cost $4 to $5, and Slinky Dogs about $20.

In 1998, James Industries was sold to Poof Products, Inc. of Plymouth, Michigan, a manufacturer of foam sports balls. Slinky continued production in Hollidaysburg. In 2003, James Industries merged with Poof Products, Inc. to create Poof-Slinky, Inc.

Betty James died of congestive heart failure in November 2008, aged 90, after having served as president of James Industries from 1960 to 1998. Over 300 million Slinkys have been sold between 1945 and 2005, and the original Slinky is still a bestseller.

Other uses[link]

High school teachers and college professors have used Slinkys to simulate the properties of waves, United States troops in the Vietnam War used them as mobile radio antennas as have amateur radio operators, and NASA has used them in zero-gravity physics experiments in the Space Shuttle.

Slinkys and similar springs can be used to create a 'laser gun' like sound effect. This is done by holding up a slinky in the air and striking one end, resulting in a metallic tone which sharply lowers in pitch. This is due to the properties of the metal; higher frequencies travel faster than the lower ones, so as to the listener the high-pitched sound is heard first, then gets progressively lower. The effect can be amplified by attaching a plastic cup to one end of the Slinky.

In 1959, John Cage composed an avant garde work called ''Sounds of Venice'' scored for (among other things) a piano, a slab of marble and Venetian broom, a birdcage of canaries, and an amplified Slinky.

In 1985 in conjunction with the Johnson Space Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Discovery astronauts created a video demonstrating how familiar toys behave in space. "It won't slink at all," Dr. M. Rhea Seddon said of Slinky, "It sort of droops." The video was prepared to stimulate interest in school children about the basic principles of physics and the phenomenon of weightlessness.

In 1992, the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii hosted an interactive traveling exhibit developed by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called "What Makes Music?" Among other things, visitors could examine what makes musical sound by creating waves on an eight-foot-long version of a Slinky toy.

Jingle[link]

Homer Fesperman and Charles Weagley wrote the Slinky commercial jingle in 1962. It became the longest-running jingle in advertising history. :What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound? :A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it's Slinky. :It's Slinky, it's Slinky. For fun it's a wonderful toy. :It's Slinky, it's Slinky. It's fun for a girl or a boy. :It's fun for a girl or boy!"

The jingle has itself been parodied and referenced in popular culture. It is seen in the "Log" commercial on ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' and sung by actor Jim Carrey in ''Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls''. The song is also referenced in the movie ''Lords of Dogtown'', where it is sung in full by Emile Hirsch, and is sung by Eddie Murphy as part of the final routine in the stand-up comedy film ''Eddie Murphy Raw''.

Slinky Dog[link]

Early in the history of James Industries, Helen (Herrick) Malsed of the state of Washington sent the company a letter and drawings for developing Slinky pull-toys. The company liked her ideas, and Slinky Dog and Slinky Train were added to the company's product line. Slinky Dog, a small plastic dog whose front and rear ends were joined by a metal Slinky, debuted in 1952. Malsted received royalties of $60,000 to $70,000 annually for 17 years on her patent for the Slinky pull-toy idea, but never visited the plant.

In 1995, the Slinky Dog was redesigned for Pixar's ''Toy Story''. James Industries had discontinued their Slinky Dog a few years previously. Betty James approved of the new Slinky Dog, telling the press, "[The earlier Slinky Dog] wasn't nearly as cute as this one." The molds used in manufacturing the new toy created problems for James Industries so the plastic front and rear ends were manufactured in China with James Industries doing the assembly and packaging. The entire run of 825,000 redesigned Slinky Dogs sold out well before Christmas 1995.

Plastic Slinky[link]

Plastic Slinkys are also available. They can be made in different colors. Many of them are made with the colors of the rainbow in rainbow order. Plastic Slinkys are more flexible and less deformable, allowing them to be more easily reversed end-to-end without tangling. The plastic spring toy, known as the Plastic Slinky was invented by Donald James Reum, Sr. of Master Mark Plastics in Albany, Minnesota. Mr. Reum, came up with the idea as he was playing with different techniques to produce a spiral hose for watering plants. However, as it came off the assembly line, according to his children, it looked more like a "Slinky". He worked at it until it came out perfectly and then went to Betty James with his prototype. Mr. Reum manufactured the Plastic Slinky for Betty James for several years. Eventually Betty James decided to manufacture the product exclusively through James manufacturing effectively ending the production of the toy by the small Minnesota company. Reum's patent number, 4120929 was filed on Dec 28, 1976 and issued by the US Patent Office on Oct 17, 1978.

Awards and honors[link]

In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a Slinky postage stamp. The Slinky was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2000. A bill to nominate the slinky as the state toy of Pennsylvania was introduced by Richard Geist in 2001 but not enacted. The same year, Betty James was inducted into the Toy Industry Association's Hall of Fame. In 2003, Slinky was named to the Toy Industry Association's "Century of Toys List", a roll call of the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the twentieth century.

References [link]

External links [link]

Category:Educational toys Category:1945 introductions Category:Goods manufactured in the United States Category:Springs (mechanical) Category:Toy companies of the United States Category:1940s toys Category:National Toy Hall of Fame inductees Category:Metal toys

als:Slinky ar:سلانكي zh-min-nan:Slinky ca:Slinky da:Slinky de:Slinky es:Slinky (muelle) fr:Slinky he:סלינקי nl:Slinky (speelgoed) ja:スリンキー no:Trappetroll ru:Слинки sv:Slinky vi:Slinky

colour	orange
name	Ace Ventura
portrayer	Jim Carrey
voice	Michael Daingerfield (credited as Michael Hall)
gender	Male
occupation	Pet Detective
spouse	Melissa Robinson Ventura
children	Ace Ventura Jr.
relatives	Rex Ventura ''(father)'' }}

Ace Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films (''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', released in 1994, and ''Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'', released in 1995.) He was voiced by Michael Daingerfield (credited as Michael Hall) in the animated television series.

Biography[link]

Ace is a Miami-based private detective specializing in the retrieval of missing animals, said to be the son of Ron Ventura and descendant of such as "Ernest Ventura Shackleton" and "Jacques Ventura Costeau". It is not known whether the animated television series was contiguous with the feature-films; but if it was it may take place before them because the only one of his pets to appear in the series is his capuchin monkey, Spike. During the second film, Ace attempts monasticism after a failed rescue attempt of a raccoon; only to be called out of retirement to investigate a missing sacred animal. By the events portrayed in Ace Ventura, Jr. it is established that Ace has disappeared somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, and never appears in the film itself.

Development [link]

Bernstein had wanted to do a comedic version of Sherlock Holmes, and when watching the ''Stupid Pet Tricks'' segment on ''Late Night With David Letterman'', got the idea for a pet detective.

Personality [link]

Ace Ventura is an eccentric self-styled 'pet detective' who forsook regular police work to concentrate on this latter pursuit. Like other fictional detectives, he is notable for extraordinary powers of observation and deduction; and on at least one occasion, he has managed to escape being shot by catching a bullet in his teeth.

Ventura's eccentricities include his persistent vulgarity and exceedingly flamboyant behaviour; but he is nevertheless a dedicated detective, driven by an insatiable adoration of animals and a desire to protect them from human mistreatment. In ''Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective'', it is implied that his abilities, personality, and appearance are hereditary. Although Ace is an animal lover, the second film reveals a deep-seated chiroptophobia.

In most appearances, Ace usually wears an unbuttoned Aloha shirt over a plain white A-shirt, with red and black striped trousers and black combat boots. He lives in an apartment alongside many different animals, all of whom hide from his landlord, Mr. Schickadance, in his absence.

Appearance in ''The Mask: The Animated Series''[link]

In the episodes ''"The Aceman Cometh/Have Mask, Will Travel"'' of ''The Mask: The animated series'', when Milo, the pet dog of Stanley Ipkiss, was stolen by Dr. Pretorius, Ipkiss calls Ace for help. Both Ipkiss/the Mask and Ace Ventura were the animated versions of characters portrayed by Jim Carrey himself. Ace later accidentally wears the mask on his rump, which assumes a face similar to his own and gains the ability to speak, suggesting a joke featured in the original film of speaking while presenting his rump to the listener and moving it in semblance of a speaking mouth.

Reception [link]

Ace was ranked the 60th Greatest Movie Character in a November, 2008 list by Empire Magazine. Cyborg Franky from Japanese anime and manga One Piece is based on the character.

See also[link]

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

External links [link]

References[link]

Category:Ace Ventura Category:Comedy film characters Category:Fictional characters from Florida Category:Fictional private investigators Category:Fictional Buddhist monks Category:Fictional postal workers Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1994

es:Ace Ventura (personaje) it:Ace Ventura ro:Ace Ventura ru:Эйс Вентура fi:Ace Ventura (hahmo)