Hall of Famers:
Easy-Bake, Lionel
By Staff
ROCHESTER,
N.Y.—The classic
Easy-Bake Oven
and Lionel
Trains were
inducted today
into the
National Toy
Hall of Fame at
the Strong
National Museum
of Play.
The hall
displays
historic
examples of
America’s
beloved toy
classics,
toys that
have
inspired and
engaged
multiple
generations. Criteria
for
induction
include:
icon-status
(the toy is
widely
recognized,
respected,
and
remembered);
longevity
(more than a
passing
fad);
discovery
(fosters
learning,
creativity,
or
discovery);
and
innovation
(profoundly
changed play
or toy
design).
Inspired
by New
York
City
pretzel
vendors,
Kenner
introduced
the
Easy-Bake
Oven in
1963
with two
100-watt
bulbs
for a
heating
element
and a
unique
design
that
minimized
the
possibility
of burnt
fingers.
Accompanied
by
mixes, a
recipe
book,
utensils,
and
three
slide-thru
pans,
the oven
debuted
in
turquoise
and pale
yellow.
Since
then,
its
design
has
undergone
numerous
changes,
including
the
addition
of an
LED
display
after
Pawtucket,
Rhode
Island-based
Hasbro
bought
Kenner
in 1991.
In the
product
line’s
history,
more
than 23
million
ovens
have
been
sold and
more
than 140
million
mixes
have
been
baked.
According
to
Strong
Museum
curator
Patricia
Hogan,
“The
Easy-Bake
Oven
had
a
distinct
advantage
over
other
toy
stoves:
it
actually
baked
foods.
It’s
safe,
it
works,
and
the
best
part
is
that
the
play
makes
its
own
reward.
Fifteen
minutes
in
the
oven
and
a
slurpy,
gooey,
doughy
concoction
becomes
a
delicious—okay,
edible—confection.”
Lionel Trains was the creation of engineer and entrepreneur Joshua Lionel Cowen, who built his first electric train as a store-window attraction around 1900. When customers asked to purchase the train instead of the product it advertised, Cowen realized the toy’s potential and, in 1902, started the Lionel Manufacturing Co. Lionel train sets were noted for their authentic detail, smooth-operating three-rail tracks, and transformers that allowed kids to control the speed of their trains. Shrewd marketing made every boy think of Lionel trains each time Christmas came around. “Everybody is happy when it’s a Lionel Train Christmas,” proclaimed one advertisement.
 “For more than a century, Lionel trains have idealized the cheerful, prosperous middle class family life of American childhood,” observes Hogan. “Generations of boys and their fathers bonded over the Lionel trains set up around the Christmas tree and the family room. In its heyday in the 1950s, Lionel accounted for two-thirds of all the toy trains sold in the United States.” The company remains a player in the electric train market.
To date, 35 toys (and one other plaything: the cardboard box) have made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame: Alphabet Blocks, Barbie, Bicycle, Candy Land, Checkers, Crayola Crayons, Duncan Yo-Yo, Easy-Bake Oven, Erector Set, Etch A Sketch, Frisbee, G.I. Joe, Hula Hoop, Jack in the Box, Jacks, Jigsaw Puzzle, Jump Rope, LEGO, Lincoln Logs, Lionel Trains, Marbles, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, Radio Flyer Wagon, Raggedy Ann, Rocking Horse, Roller Skates, Scrabble, Silly Putty, Slinky, Teddy Bear, Tinkertoy, Tonka Trucks, and View-Master.
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