Play–Doh was first marketed as such in the 1950s, but it was based on a wallpaper cleaner that had been created in 1933 by a company named Kutol Products – a soap and cosmetics manufacturer based in Cincinnatti, Ohio. Kutol had been in danger of being wound up by its Chicago–based parent company, but in a last–ditch attempt to keep it afloat, 21–year–old salesman Cleo McVicker signed a contract with Kroger, a grocery retail giant also based in Cincinnatti, to supply it with a product to clean coal residue from wallpaper. All he had to do was persuade his brother Noah – Kutol's plant manager – to come up with such a product!
Noah McVicker created a pliable, putty–like substance, made essentially from flour and water, which was manufactured as Kutol Wall Cleaner.
It was the market leader in the USA for 20 years. But by the 1950s, homes were being heated by natural gas rather than coal, and wallpapers were being manufactured from more easily washable materials such as vinyl. The market for wallpaper cleaners was shrinking fast, and Kutol Products was once again struggling to stay afloat.
Cleo McVicker had died in a plane crash in 1949, and his widow had brought in her son Joe to save the company from bankruptcy. Joe's sister–in–law, Kay Zufall, ran a community nursery school and had seen a newspaper article about the wallpaper cleaner being used as a modelling material. It was she who persuaded the McVickers to manufacture it as a child's toy, and she and her husband Bob came up with the name Play–Doh. (The McVickers had favoured Rainbow Modeling Compound.)
It was in 1956 that Noah McVickers and his nephew Joe formed a subsidiary company, named Rainbow Crafts, to manufacture Play–Doh. They adapted the product to be non–toxic, and introduced bright colours.
It was an immediate success, and soon began to exceed their expectations. The McVickers had seen their main market as being in schools, but after the product began to be featured regularly on TV it became evident that the product had unrealised potential. By 1957 they made improvements to prevent it from drying out and losing its colour; and in 1960 they split Rainbow Crafts away from Kutol – leaving Bob Rhodenbaugh, Cleo McVicker's son–in–law (and Joe's brother–in–law), to run the soap manufacturer.
In 1964 they began exporting Play–Doh to the UK, and the following year the McVickers sold Rainbow Crafts for $3 million. Today, Play–Doh is manufactured and marketed by Hasbro, which is reportedly fighting to keep its market share, and the rights to its brand name, in the face of home–made alternatives. By 2005, more than two billion cans of Play–Doh had been sold around the world.
When I first heard this story, my immediate reaction was "Hadn't they heard of Plasticine?"
I've been around long enough to have been too old for such things when Play–Doh was introduced in the UK, but Plasticine was a favourite from my earliest years.
Wikipedia actually has two versions of the story of Plasticine's invention – in the same section. First of all it says it was invented in 1880 by Franz Kolb, who owned a pharmacy in Munich. Kolb (according to this version) created an alternative to clay for his sculptor friends, who found that the natural material dried too fast. Wikipedia then says that plasticine was "formulated" (for the same purpose) in 1897 by William Harbutt, an English art teacher – based in Bath, Somerset. Harbutt received a patent in 1899 and started production in 1900.
Plasticine is 65% bulking agent (principally gypsum), with the other 35% being made up by petroleum jelly, lanolin and stearic acid (10% each) and lime (5%). It's famously used in the stop–motion animations of Nick Park, and has also been mentioned in popular songs by the Beatles ("plasticine porters with looking–glass ties"), Oasis, Placebo and Thom Yorke (among others). Plasticine is owned today by a company called Flair Leisure, which licensed it from Humbrol (famous for its enamel model paints and owner of the Airfix model kit brand) in 2005 and acquired it outright the following year when Humbrol went into administration.
According to Wikipedia, "The Colorforms company was the major American licensee of Plasticine from 1979 until at least 1984. The use of a different chalk compound caused a product inconsistency, and the U.S. version was considered inferior to the original mix."
So, what are the main differences between Plasticine and Play–Doh – and which is better?
There are plenty of comparisons online. Here's one, from someone called jimpjorps on a website called HiNative: "Plasticine is oil–based (it is made of gypsum powder and petroleum jelly), while Play–Doh is water–based (it is made of flour and water). Plasticine holds its shape better and doesn't dry out, but Play–Doh is easier to form into shapes, can form permanent sculptures if allowed to dry, and doesn't leave oil stains on surfaces. Plasticine is a more 'professional' material and Play–Doh is more appropriate for small children."
My main source for the story of Play–Doh was a book entitled Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them, written by Tim Walsh and published in 2005 by Andrews McMeel. I found it on google books (cited by Wikipedia).
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