If you were a toy, would you want to be in the toy hall of fame, or would you be afraid success would go to your head? I remember seeing room after room after room of dolls at the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, so perhaps a toy just feels like one of many there.
In November, James Barron of the NY Times wrote about a big hall of fame event at the Strong. “The museum announced that just three toys — the puppet, another generic finalist; the Super Soaker squirt gun; and the game Twister — will join past inductees like the Barbie doll (1998), Mr. Potato Head (2000), Silly Putty (2001) and Lionel electric trains (2006). …
“Christopher Bensch, the museum’s vice president for collections and its chief curator, said the three new inductees easily met the basic criteria for admission. All three long ago achieved ‘icon status’ as playthings that are ‘recognized, respected and remembered.’ They also ‘profoundly changed play or toy design.’ …
“Mr. Bensch said that among the judges, the puppet was the big winner this year. ‘It was one of those “why hasn’t it happened before?” ones, which was like the ball,’ he said, ‘and Jon Stewart gave us hell for that.’ Mr. Stewart, in a segment on ‘The Daily Show’ in 2009, complained that not inducting the ball sooner was like having a ‘heat source hall of fame’ and not inducting fire. …
“[Curator Patricia] Hogan, who specializes in toys and dolls, said she had lobbied for the puppet. After all, she said, ‘Howdy Doody had his own show.’
“But what about Buffalo Bob Smith, the human host who bantered with the puppet that was the namesake of that 1950s children’s program?
“ ‘It was called “Howdy Doody,” ‘ she said. ‘Get over it, Bob. You’re just a puppet to Howdy.’ ” More here.
Photo: Heather Ainsworth/The New York Times
John Neidrauer, left, and Andrea Whitmarsh used Kinect motion control to play with classic toys at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. 
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