Toy inventor Burt Meyer, who dreamed up Lite-Brite and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, dies age 99

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: msn/AP

12h


Burt Meyer, who invented toys like Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, Lite-Brite and MouseTrap in the 1960s that delighted generations of children, has died. He was 99.

Meyer’s creations arrived in the postwar boom, when plastic molding and mass production transformed how American kids played. That shift opened the door for more dynamic toys, and Meyer seized the moment with designs that would stay on shelves for decades.

Meyer died on Oct. 30, said Rebecca Mathis, executive director at King-Bruwaert House, a retirement community in Burr Ridge, Illinois, where he lived. Meyer succeeded by straddling two often conflicting worlds, carrying a boundless childlike imagination alongside a pragmatic understanding of machines.

The idea for Lite-Brite came in 1966 when Meyer was walking in Manhattan with Marvin Glass, who owned one of the largest toy design companies at the time, and the two men passed a window display featuring hundreds of colored lights. Engineers at the company doubted that electic lights could be safely adapted for children, according to Tim Walsh, who interviewed Meyer for his 2005 book “Timeless Toys.”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/toy-inventor-burt-meyer-who-dreamed-up-lite-brite-and-rock-em-sock-em-robots-dies-age-99/ar-AA1R9syC

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Damn. Had ALL of those!

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

1. We had Lite-Brite and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots when I was growing up.

My brother, sister and I got a lot of enjoyment from both of these toys. And my children had them as well.

RIP Mr. Meyer and thank you for your imagination and creativity!

[BumRushDaShow]

3. He did "Mouse Trap" too

and it wasn't until decades later when I learned the name/principle of something like that - a "Rube Goldberg Machine".



(and only now discovered that Goldberg was a cartoonist)

[mdbl]

2. I never knew if Mouse Trap had a game with rules

but we would just build it on the board and let it run for fun.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. ...

[Aristus]

4. My brother and I had the Rock-'Em-Sock-'Em Robots.

I always played the blue robot. Foreshadowing my future political beliefs.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. And "you knocked his block off"!!

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. So, my mother recently found a picture of me during one Christmas with Rock/em Sock/em Robots beside me.

So, she bought me another one as a joke gift. She was so happy that she did this, as she wanted to give my brother and myself a connection back to those days.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that the Robots were my brother's gift. I am holding the gift I loved the most that Christmas.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Did you "knock his block off"?

[OldBaldy1701E]

12. Repeatedly.

So much that he stopped playing it with me.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. LOL

[Bengus81]

7. I installed carpet for a 100 years and we would find those light-brites all over the place

in kids bedrooms once we got the furniture out. Picked them up by the handful.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. LOL

Those pegs probably accumulated like Legos!!

[MustLoveBeagles]

11. I had a Lite Brite when I was a kid

RIP Mr. Mayer.

[kimbutgar]

14. I have that book and watched on the History channel a documentary about these toys

I loved Lite-Bright and Mouse Trap. I even brought a Lite-Bright for my son that might still be in a closet somewhere in my house!

[Clouds Passing]

16. Burt

Thanks for making this world a better place.

[littlemissmartypants]

17. ...

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Never Had The Robots Or LiteBrite

But, my little sister had the latter and a friend in grade school had the robots. So, I've played with both.
I might have had mousetrap. Don't remember for sure.
RIP TOYKING.