Remembering Mr. Potato Head [Videos]

I used to love Mr. Potato Head when I was a kid.  What a silly idea, but the guy who thought of putting facial features on a spud was brilliant.  His name was George Lerner, a Brooklyn toy inventor, who was trying to capitalize on kids who like to play with their food.

Initially, toy companies had concerns George's idea of jamming body parts into a real potato would be a hard sell to families who had just survived the World War Two era food shortages in 1949.  By1952, though Hasbro saw the genius in it - and a star, or should we say potato, was born. Mr Potato Head was married in the 50's, and by the 70's he exchanged his organic body for plastic. (Courtesy of CNN...  Read more at CNN.com) 

In the 1960's, this TV commercial hit the airwaves:

This spot aired in the '70's:

This commercial is from the '80's:

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were featured of course in the Toy Story movies:

Finally, here's one from Superbowl 45... featuring the spuds for Bridgestone Tires: