Obsessions
Mr Potato Head
Dennis Martin, a TV director from Birmingham, Alabama is obsessed with Mr. Potato Head.
“I get emails from people all the time asking questions,” sighs Dennis Martin, “One of the top ones is, ‘Where can I get a bride and groom Mr. Potato Head?’”
Born in Alabama 41 years ago, Dennis has found himself the global source of information about all things Mr. Potato Head due to his website and massive collection of related memorabilia. A jovial fellow, married with five children, Dennis was even going to publish an illustrated book on the subject at one point
“I had a publisher and was ready but [Mr. Potato Head manufacturers] Hasbro and the publisher got into a disagreement and I was caught in the middle,” he remembers, “I decided it was too much trouble, and just published my research as a website. I get several emails every week from new collectors seeking advice.”
Over the years Dennis, who also collects Oscar Mayer Weinermobile toys, Magic Eight Balls, and little stickers on fruit, amongst other things, has watched his main offbeat hobby gradually gather interest.
“It’s still relatively small and fun,” he enthuses, “Also, there are literally hundreds of Mr. Potato Head items to collect as he’s been around for over 50 years. If you search for Mr. Potato Head on eBay, anywhere from 400 to 1000 auctions will come up, but most people think he is just a child’s toy with one or two varieties. That lack of information is really what inspired my website.
When I started collecting Mr. Potato Head, I did some research to learn what was out there but quickly found there wasn’t any source of information. Thus I collected information as well as the toys. I’ve interviewed dozens of people over the years including an assistant to the late George Lerner, who was actually in the room when the toy was pitched to Hasbro in the late 1940s.
I’ve spoken with Mr. Potato Head executives, marketing personnel, the people that worked on Mr. Potato Head TV commercials, even the director of the Mr. Potato Head TV show in the 1990s, along with lots more.
Maybe with this information available, and the recent popularity of the toy, there will be more collectors, and even a World Potato Head Collecting Convention some day. On a trip to Disney World in Florida last March, I met with a Mr Potato Head collector from Japan that I’d been emailing. We traded items and took pictures, so I guess you could say that was the first international Mr Potato Head convention.”
When he started, however, Dennis found he was leader in a field of one.
“I’m a collector by nature,” he admits, “I collected PEZ dispensers for about ten years back in the early 1990s, before it was really a popular collectible. I started going to PEZ conventions and met other collectors that collected a wide variety of things so I then bought all kinds of toys at flea markets and garage sales as trade items. Then, in my search for toys, I began seeing older Mr. Potato Head items and a connection was made because Mr. Potato Head came out the same year PEZ did in the USA – 1952.
PEZ got really too big too fast. The hobby developed an ugly side and just wasn’t fun anymore. When I looked for something else to collect I saw a 1960s Mr. Potato Head with a Pete the Pepper toy in an antique shop, and I remembered the PEZ connection. I bought the toy, and that’s what started it all. I sold all of my PEZ about eleven years ago and converted my basement PEZ room into a Mr. Potato Head room. We call it ‘The Root Cellar’.”
Dennis happily reels off an extensive history of Mr. Potato Head that would fill a few pages by itself (check his site for the full story) but, in brief, toy inventor George Lerner designed noses, ears, eyes and mouth parts that could be pushed into fruits or vegetables. They weren’t an immediate hit so he sold the idea to a cereal company. Willing to give it another go, however, he approached New England manufacturers Henry and Merrill Hassenfeld who loved the idea and bought the toy from the cereal company.
The Hassenfeld Brothers (Hasbro – geddit!) introduced their new Mr. Potato Head Funny Face Kit to the world on April 30th, 1952. For a dollar you got almost 30 parts and it became a huge success, boosted by the first toy-related TV adverts. Government safety regulations forced Hasbro to provide brown plastic potato heads with predrilled holes in 1964, along with face pieces that had rounded off the points. Mr. Potato Head was soon joined by Mrs. Potato Head and then new ‘Tooty Frooty Friends’, including Oscar Orange, Pete the Pepper, Cooky the Cucumber, and Katie Carrot. A few years later Frenchy Fry, Mr. Soda Pop Head, Mr. Mustard Head, Willy Burger, Franky Frank, and Mr. Ketchup Head also appeared. In 1973 the heads doubled in size and, due to stricter safety guidelines, face pieces were also made larger and, finally in 1983, Mr. Potato Head’s shape and colour became the basic the shape they are today.
Mr Potato Head in the ’50s
Surely, though, of all the developments, ‘Toy Story’ must have had the hugest impact on Mr. Potato Head’s fortunes?
“Mr. Potato Head was the only existing toy of all of the main characters when the movie was released,” Dennis reveals, “Also, because Toy Story was released through Disney, everyone thinks that Mr. Potato Head is owned by Disney but it’s not. The success of the film really brought Mr. Potato Head back into the public eye and boosted his popularity beyond expectations. Hasbro released a special edition Mr. Potato Head like the one in the movie. The ‘Toy Story’ Mr. Potato Head had a unique look that had never been seen before, with a black hat, orange nose, orange ears, and eyes with eyelids, a new look that launched products such as french fries, pyjamas, games, Christmas ornaments, Birthday cakes and so on.”
Mr Potato Head ’60s Style
Such ever-expanding interest must make the Mr. Potato Head collecting market increasingly expensive, surely?
“Once you have collected for a long time you concentrate on the rare items, and we all know what that means – more money!” admits Dennis, “But there are plenty of new items coming out every year to keep me busy without breaking the bank. Actually, I don’t spend too much on it. I still just do it for fun. The collection is definitely worth thousands of dollars, but I don’t keep a running tab of what I have spent, and I have never tried to value it. Each item usually has a story or a memory of where I got it, which is what I value the most. As far as individual items go, I’ve spent $100, $200 or more on a single item, but that isn’t the norm, most items can be purchased for $5-$30.”
Picnic Pals
As if to prove that it’s not faintly about the money, Dennis has part of his collection devoted to Mr. Potato Head bootlegs and rip-offs.
“Oh yes,” he enthuses, “I have a whole section of my website dedicated to Mr Potato Head rip offs. They’re called things like ‘Mr. Funny Face’, ‘Mr. Spud Head’ and ‘Mr. Make a Face’ and are usually very cheaply made.”
Some Fake Examples
On the other hand, his own favourite official Mr. Potato Head items are foreign ones in different boxes and, while he has some from Japan, Mexico, England, Greece, Canada, and Italy, he’s keen to ask, “If any Beatmag readers find non-US Mr Potato Head items, I’d love to hear from them.”
(drop Dennis an email)
Which bodes the question whether there’s a Holy Grail for Mr. Potato Head collectors.
“There were some Mr. Potato Head potato chips produced by Seyfert’s Foods in 1996,” ventures Dennis, “I have never seen them, and would love to find a bag or wrapper or something. Also two designs of Mr Potato Head Air Cushions – like pool rafts – that were released by Hasbro International in 2005 and aren’t sold in the USA. I would love to have them.”
With collectors being famously precious, are his children allowed to play with the collection.
“They always want to play in there,” Dennis confirms. “They understand that these toys are Daddy’s toys and are not to be played with. I do, however, have hundreds of extra Potato Head parts and bodies that we dump out on the floor from time to time and we all try to make the funniest face. A lot of times when other children come over they don’t ask my children to play, they say ‘Can we go in your Potato Head room, Mr Martin?’”
Which makes one wonder how his wife reacts to it all.
“She didn’t always love the collecting,” he laughs, “but has learned to accept it. I finally wore her down and now she thinks it’s kind of fun that I do it… except when I tell her I want to expand the Potato Head room into her part of the house. She’s learned that a collector is who I am and she loves me just like I am. She enjoys taking her friends down to see the room, even though she would never admit it. She even calls me sometimes from the store and says ‘Do you have this Potato Head I just found?’ She has never been a collector herself, but she supports my efforts to hunt them down.”
Perhaps Dennis wife should have taken a look at his father to see what she was getting herself into…
“My Dad has been a collector all of his life,” agrees Dennis, “so it all seems normal to him. He has a whole room in his house filled to the brim with antique cameras and Kodak collectibles. He and I could easily open a museum!”
Now THAT is a museum Beatmag would certainly go to.
Words: Thomas H Green
Hello, also love the Shrek movies, awesome movie!
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