Dori nominates low-tech toys to National Toy Hall of Fame

With the holidays approaching and parents vying for deals on the many hi-tech toys on the market, it came as a surprise when the National Toy Hall of Fame inducted Star Wars action figures and Dominoes into the Toy Hall of Fame. These low-tech toys joined classics such as jump rope, kite, and Legos. Dori thought he could add his own nominations to the list of classics.

Dori and producer Jake scanned the list and agreed with most of the past odd Hall of Fame selections, like ‘stick,’ ‘blanket,’ and ‘cardboard box.’

“My kids, we would get them the big Fisher-Price kitchen set and it would sit unused in the rec-room,” says Dori, “and the box where Dad would cut the door out was the fort that they used.”

News anchor Maura Gallucci’s favorite toy growing up was a life-size ballerina doll that would spin around at the touch of a button.

“It was, for me, at five, the coolest thing in the world and she had point shoes – toe shoes,” says Maura.

Listener Alexis called in and said she’d pick Cabbage Patch dolls for the National Toy Hall of Fame.

“When cabbage patch dolls came out,” said Alexis,” they came with a birth certificate, a name. She had a birthday, every year I’d get a card from the Cabbage Patch company for her birthday.”

Others nominated toys like the Hoppity Hop, the giant bouncy ball with the ring on top and bubbles. On Facebook, listeners nominated toys as varied as the Roy Rogers cap gun, pogo stick, Transformers, and paddle ball toys.

Dori agreed with listener Kent, who nominated the super ball as one of the best toys of all time.

“What happens every frickin time with the super ball is, you bounce it as high as you can – no matter how far away you are from a structure – and it goes onto the roof and you go running over hoping it’s going to bounce off of the roof,” says Dori. “And then you see it: bounce, bounce, bounce, and it trickles into the gutter. And then you hear the saddest sound in the world, when it goes down the down-spout into oblivion.”

In the end, they concluded that super balls and bubbles were two best suggestions for their list.

“Anybody who doesn’t like bubbles has a heart and a soul as dark as the blackest night,” says Dori. “Everybody likes bubbles.”