Play-Doh
Did you know, Play-Doh was originally used as a wallpaper cleaner. Further, the compound that eventually became Play-Doh debuted a full 22 years before Play-Doh hit the shelves. It also twice saved a failing company, Kutol, a Cincinnati based soap company. The woman who suggested the idea and name was given no credit in the patent nor any financial compensation. In addition to that, it took the help of one Captain Kangaroo to make it a national hit.
It all started with Kutol about to go under in the late 1920s. Cleo McVicker, just 21 years old, was tasked with selling off the company’s remaining assets, which at the time comprised mainly of powdered hand soap; once that was done, the company would be too. Cleo, however, managed to turn a nice profit in performing his task, the result of which was that the company managed to barely stay afloat. Cleo McVicker then hired his brother, Noah, and they set about trying to make the company viable again.
In 1933, Cleo was at a meeting with Kroger grocery stores when they asked if he made wallpaper cleaner. Wallpaper cleaner was a hot commodity as, at the time, coal was the leading way to heat one’s home, being much more efficient and cheaper than wood. This had the negative side effect of leaving soot everywhere, which was difficult to clean off of wallpaper as you couldn’t get it wet (this was before vinyl wallpaper).
In a bold stroke, Cleo told them they could make the wallpaper cleaner for them, even though no-one at Kutol knew how just then. Kroger subsequently ordered 15,000 cases of it from Kutol with a $5,000 penalty if Kutol didn’t deliver on time, which was more than Kutol had available to pay, if they failed. Luckily for the brothers, Noah McVicker was able to figure out how to make the commonly used wallpaper cleaner and the compound that ultimately would become Play-Doh was born.
Unfortunately for the brothers, though, while this provided the staple income for about a decade, after WWII, sales began to slowly dwindle thanks to the fact that coal heat was slowly being replaced by oil and gas furnaces. These furnaces obviously didn’t produce the soot problem, so cleaning wallpaper regularly wasn’t something that was needed. The sales further dissipated shortly thereafter when vinyl wallpaper became available. This type of wallpaper could be cleaned with nothing but soap and water, so the McVicker’s product was now virtually obsolete.
To make matters worse, Cleo McVicker died in a plane crash in 1949 and Joe McVicker, Noah McVicker’s nephew who was hired to replace Cleo, found out he had a rare form of cancer at the age of 25 and wasn’t expected to survive. *spoiler alert* He did, in fact, survive thanks to a new experimental radiation treatment. Although, even after treatment, the doctors deemed it unsuccessful and told him he would die shortly (in reality he didn’t die until 1992, though his ending was pretty sad all the same, see the Bonus Factoids below for more).
It all started with Kutol about to go under in the late 1920s. Cleo McVicker, just 21 years old, was tasked with selling off the company’s remaining assets, which at the time comprised mainly of powdered hand soap; once that was done, the company would be too. Cleo, however, managed to turn a nice profit in performing his task, the result of which was that the company managed to barely stay afloat. Cleo McVicker then hired his brother, Noah, and they set about trying to make the company viable again.
In 1933, Cleo was at a meeting with Kroger grocery stores when they asked if he made wallpaper cleaner. Wallpaper cleaner was a hot commodity as, at the time, coal was the leading way to heat one’s home, being much more efficient and cheaper than wood. This had the negative side effect of leaving soot everywhere, which was difficult to clean off of wallpaper as you couldn’t get it wet (this was before vinyl wallpaper).
In a bold stroke, Cleo told them they could make the wallpaper cleaner for them, even though no-one at Kutol knew how just then. Kroger subsequently ordered 15,000 cases of it from Kutol with a $5,000 penalty if Kutol didn’t deliver on time, which was more than Kutol had available to pay, if they failed. Luckily for the brothers, Noah McVicker was able to figure out how to make the commonly used wallpaper cleaner and the compound that ultimately would become Play-Doh was born.
Unfortunately for the brothers, though, while this provided the staple income for about a decade, after WWII, sales began to slowly dwindle thanks to the fact that coal heat was slowly being replaced by oil and gas furnaces. These furnaces obviously didn’t produce the soot problem, so cleaning wallpaper regularly wasn’t something that was needed. The sales further dissipated shortly thereafter when vinyl wallpaper became available. This type of wallpaper could be cleaned with nothing but soap and water, so the McVicker’s product was now virtually obsolete.
To make matters worse, Cleo McVicker died in a plane crash in 1949 and Joe McVicker, Noah McVicker’s nephew who was hired to replace Cleo, found out he had a rare form of cancer at the age of 25 and wasn’t expected to survive. *spoiler alert* He did, in fact, survive thanks to a new experimental radiation treatment. Although, even after treatment, the doctors deemed it unsuccessful and told him he would die shortly (in reality he didn’t die until 1992, though his ending was pretty sad all the same, see the Bonus Factoids below for more).
In any event, enter Kay Zufall in 1954, the unsung hero of Play-Doh history and the sister-in-law to Joe McVicker. Kay was running a nursery school and needed cheap materials to have her kids make Christmas decorations. In the process of searching for said cheap decoration materials, she read in a magazine that you could use wallpaper cleaner for this task. Knowing the trouble her brother-in-law’s company was in, she went out and bought a bunch of Kutol’s wallpaper cleaner, to see if it would work for this application. After not only observing that it worked, but that the kids had a blast playing with the wallpaper cleaner, she called Joe and told him they needed to make their now obsolete wallpaper cleaner into a toy. Joe then took a look at the Christmas ornaments made by the kids and agreed it was a great idea. They simply removed the detergent from the dough and added an almond scent and some coloring, as it was originally white.
Joe decided to re-christen the compound which would now be a toy: “Kutol’s Rainbow Modeling Compound”. Enter Kay Zufall to once again save the day, assuring him that that was a horrible name for their product. Her and her husband, Bob, then set about trying to think up a better one. In the course of their discussions, Kay came up with “Play-Doh”, which they both loved and suggested the name to Joe, who also liked it.
Thanks to some connections to school board members formed from selling soap, they initially sold their new product to schools all throughout Cincinnati. They then began trying to market it to stores, with only a small amount of success locally.
While at this point it had saved the company, without money for major advertising, Play-Doh initially seemed to be destined for very slow growth. Joe McVicker though, one day managed to talk his way into an audience with Bob Keeshan, better known as Captain Kangaroo. He showed Keeshan the Play-Doh and explained to him that Kutol had no money for a national advertising campaign nor money to have the product put on the show. However, if Keeshan would agree to use the product once a week on Captain Kangaroo, they’d give the Captain Kangaroo production company 2% of the sales generated, so long as he continued to show it. The Captain agreed and Play-Doh quickly became a national hit, even appearing on other children’s shows thanks to the Captain Kangaroo exposure.
With the national exposure, Play-Doh quickly had about 116 months worth of orders to fill, even with the factory at their then max capacity. Further, even though they still sold the wallpaper compound for 34 cents for a can, they were able to get $1.50 per can on Play-Doh, for the same amount of compound, even though the two products were virtually identical, save the cleaning compound was white and had a small amount of detergent added.
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