FRISBEE (1957)

“Frisbee Flying Fun”“Frisbees” first flew onto the scene when students at Yale University are said to have played with empty tins from the Frisbie Pie Company.

Years later, after UFOs were allegedly spotted in Roswell, New Mexico, toy companies took advantage of that mania by launching a range of flying-saucer–like toys, including a plastic disc known as the “Pluto Platter”—which toy company Wham-O renamed “Frisbee” in tribute to the Connecticut bakery.

SUPERBALL (1965)

“Super Fun!”Chemical engineer Norman Stingley accidentally createda highly compressed rubberlike material, eventually called “Zectron,” that he couldn’t stop from bouncing. He sold the formula to toy company Wham-O, which used it to form the Superball. Advertising claimed that the Superball could bounce over a house!

One of the zaniest fads of 1965, the Superball sold more than 7 million units in its first year.

GUMBY (1955)

“Bendable, Twistable, Poseable, Lovable Gumby!”In 1953 animator Art Clokey released a short “clayma-tion” film titled Gumbasia. The project’s popularity led to the development of a green character named Gumby that made a television debut on The Howdy Doody Show in the mid-1950s. Gumby got a series in 1956 and received a loyal pal and sidekick, a pony named Pokey, shortly after.

Flexible toys based on that show didn’t hit store shelves until 1965, around the 10th anniversary of Gumby’s debut.