INVENTOR OF ETCH A SKETCH DIES IN FRANCE AT 86

[Ichingcarpenter]

(AP) — Andre Cassagnes, the inventor of the Etch A Sketch toy that generations of children drew on, shook up and started over, has died in France, the toy's maker said.

Cassagnes died Jan. 16 in a Paris suburb at age 86, said the Ohio Art Co., based in Bryan in northwest Ohio. The cause wasn't disclosed Saturday.


Then an electrical technician, Cassagnes came upon the Etch A Sketch idea in the late 1950s when he peeled a translucent decal from a light switch plate and found pencil mark images transferred to the opposite face, the Toy Industry Association said.

Ohio Art saw his idea at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1959. The toy, with its gray screen, red frame and two white knobs that are twisted back and forth to create drawings, was launched in 1960 and became the top seller that holiday season. More than 100 million have been sold worldwide

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ohio-art-says-etch-sketch-creator-dies-france



I had one growing up and so did my kids
it was a timeless great toy even used
in political campaigns in the next century.

[RudynJack]

1. Cause of death?

Somebody turned him upside down and shook him.

Farewell, M. Cassagnes. You brought countless hours of fun and frustration to my childhood.

[graham4anything]

2. a conspiracy theorists favorite toy

it enabled all conspiracy theorists to drop the breadcrumbs themselves, and end up at just the point they wanted everyone to end up at

until someone knocks a little logic into the conversation and shakes it up,
thereby seeing a totally different picture than the one the conspiracy theorist thought they saw so perfectly before

BTW,Andy and the gang are crying. Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Mr. Potato Head and his wife,
slink dog, the little green army men, little bo-peep, are all in mourning.

Did he also invent that filmy paper you took that special pencil too and drew something,
then when you picked up the paper it disappeared. Can't recall the name of that one.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. The art in Mitten's collection

just increased in value.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Etch a Sketch taught me there was no art in my future

But it was irresistable anyway. RIP M. Cassagnes.

[MineralMan]

5. Mitt Romney is deeply saddened. nt

[GoneOffShore]

6. And if you want to see whether you're still as bad at the Etch-A-Sketch

as you were as a kid http://ohioart.com/lets_sketch.jsp

L'Ecran Magique.