Making Memories--"Crayola Polar Palette Art Center" and "Play-Doh Sculpting Center": North Pole Series

How Big are the Memories?
Guess!  I dare you!  Just guess!

Dept 56, "Leonardo and Vincent"
56.56801

How many Crayons are sold each year?  Think big.....really big.....

Answer:  3 billion are sold annually worldwide.  I can't even fathom how many Crayons that is.  Want to see a bigger number?  In 1996 Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, made the 100 billionth Crayola Crayon to be manufactured.  I can't image anything that big. (Well, our national debt, but this is NOT a political blog!)  1,000,000,000,000  That's how many Crayons were made between 1903 and 1996.

Dept 56, "More Play-Doh, Please!"
56.56822

More numbers!  How many tons of Play-Doh have been sold since it went on the market?  Hint:  It is less than a "google," and a "google" is a mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeroes. 

Answer:  700 million tons of Play-Doh have been sold since it went on the market!  700 million tons = 1.4 billion pounds.  Now, assume a Toyota Corolla weighs 3000 pounds.  1.4 billion pounds divided by 3000 pounds = 466 million Corollas! Play-Doh equal in weight to 466 million Corollas has been sold since its introduction.

"God gave us memories that we might have roses in December."(J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922
When I think of Crayons, I remember the orange and green boxes, the rainbow of colors inside, and the color-matched labels.  And for Play-Doh, I remember the little round yellow cans with pop-off red, blue and yellow lids, and the soft and pliant dough inside.

But what is most evocative is the SMELL of Crayons and Play-Doh.  When I am around children playing, and I smell Crayons or Play-Doh, I experience an almost visceral flood of memories.  And this doesn't just happen to me.  Yale University reports that Crayola Crayons provide one of the most recognizable scents for adults, ranking 18 among scents!  (After coffee and before bleach.)

Eau de Play-Doh

And in 2006 Hasbro, owner of Play-Doh, announced it was celebrating its 50th anniversary by releasing "Eau de Play-Doh," a perfume designed to smell like the modeling clay.  Hasbro's spokesman justified the produce by saying that the perfume would transport women back to the childhood.

 I don't plan on wearing Eau de Play-Doh, but I do so love being transported back to my childhood, and Department 56 North Pole buildings take me there.

Crayola Polar Palette Art Center

Dept 56, North Pole Series, 
"Crayola Polar Palette Art Center"56.56726

This North Pole building is a testament to the exuberance of North Pole design.  The building is awash with Crayons:  Red and blue Crayon turrets flank the the second story;  Crayons support the front porch and side window headers; Crayon banisters garnish the staircase; Crayons act as door handles; and Crayon posts support the fence.  The whole building flares and slopes and curves, held together by soldiers of Crayons.

A Little History of Crayola Crayons
Crayons were developed by the Peekskill Chemical Company in New York state.  Founded in 1864, the company originally produced barn paints ad black automobile tires. In 1885 partners Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith started creating more color products, like shoe polish, printing inks, and slate pencils.  They recognized the need to create non-toxic coloring toys for children, and in 1903 introduced Crayola Crayons.  The word 'Crayola' was adopted by Binney's wife Alice, combing the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleafinous.)  The first boxes sold for a nickel and included black, brown, red, blue, purple, orange, yellow, and green Crayons. If you would like to see what Crayola Crayons is producing as toys now, you may wish to click  on this link:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=crayola+crayons&x=17&y=20

Play-Doh Sculpting Studio

Dept 56, North Pole Series, "Play-Doh Sculpting Studio"
56.56746

The North Pole Play-Doh Sculpting Studio is extraordinarily whimsical.  It is topped by a turret in the shape of a play-Doh can, and three red banners wave from the roof.  On the right is a representation of a gear belt turning a machine that squeezes out strings of red, yellow, blue and purple Play-Doh.  Oh, how I remember the hours my own kids spent making "The Longest Play-Doh String in the World."  We have pictures of them standing on our porch next to that multi-colored string that stretched from one end of the porch to the next.  It was summer, we had just moved into that house, it was hot, the grass was slightly yellow...and that is the power of Play-Doh memories.

Short History of Play-Doh
More big numbers...since its invention in 1956, over 2 billion cans of Play-Doh have been sold in 75 countries!  In 1965 a patent for the formula was grated to Noah and Joseph McVicker, owners of Kutol Chemicals, for a "Plastic modeling composition," which was originally created as a wallpaper cleaner.  The company began to supply Cincinnati schools with their white non-toxic material, because they had heard that modeling clay was too difficult for smaller children to manipulate.  The response was so positive that the company began to market the dough as "Rainbow Crafts."

Some changes have been made over time.  the Play-Doh elf mascot gave way to a kid named Play-Doh Pete; a variety of colors were added; the formula became softer and more pliable; and the original yellow cardboard can was replaced with a plastic one.  And the popularity of the toy persevered.  If you would like to see what Play-Doh toys there are now, check out this Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Play-Doh&x=0&y=0

The Olde Globe Theatre, Green Grocer, Bluebird Cottage: Thatched, Thatcher, Thatch in Dickens Village Thatchers

The Name Says It All
In the United States today, about 10,660 people answer to the last name of Thatcher.  While not in the top 1000 most popular names in the US, Thatcher is also bestowed as a first name for a boy.  Number 10 Downing Street was occupied by a Thatcher from 1979-1990.  This name is just a reminder of one of the most picturesque and evocative sights of the Victorian era, thatched roofs.

Dickens's Comments on Thatched Roofs
While we can look back on thatched roofs with nostalgia, living with them was not easy, and during the 19th century thatch began to be replaced with sturdier, cleaner materials, such as slate.  Charles Dickens himself commented on this transition in "All the Year Round", Feb. 7, 1863, p 512. http://books.google.com

Dept 56, Thatchers, 56.58297

...the beautiful...will fall before the practical.  I am afraid I must put it on record that the Pictuesque is in a bad way...it is inconvenient and unprofitable....even the old thatched roof is doomed...It harboured insects.  It was dreadfully inflammable, and lo!  The new barns are being built with coverings of slate....slate that is clean, and easily kept in repair....But how beautiful the old roof was!  It was always out of repair--bless it.  Half of it at least was covered with patches of dense green moss...it was the practice of the wooden structure beneath it to give way, and...the thatch would sink...The useful is the enemy of the Picturesque.

Roof Fire of 1613 Destroys the Olde Globe Theatre

Dept 56, The Olde Globe Theatre
56.58501

Despite Dickens's protestation, it is now believed that thatch roofs did not catch fire very frequently or easily.  However, once a fire started, it was difficult to extinguish, and the damage was severe.  Sir Henry Wootton provided an eyewitness account of the 1613 fire that destroyed the Olde Globe Theatre during a production of a play called "All is True."  Sir Henry reports that the scene was Cardinal Wolsey's house. As the character playing King Henry VIII entered the stage, canons were shot.  Hot debris from the canon blasts landed on the thatched roof of the theater and began to smolder.  The audience assumed the smoke was part of the production, and ignored it.  The flames kindled inside the thatch, and then 

...ran round like a train, consuming within less than an hour the whole house to the very ground.....wherein yet nothing did perish but wood and straw, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale. http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-fire.htm

What are Thatched Roofs?

Thatch for roofing was made from whatever materials were locally available and inexpensive, and could include reeds, straws, hedges, and grasses.  In Victorian England, wheat, or rye, or a mixture would be bundled together in bunches about two feet in diameter and staked onto the roof.  Applied by a quality craftsman, the hatch could last for 45-50 years.  Repairs were sometimes made by simply applying a new layer of thatch bundles over the old.  In Southern England there are over 250 roofs, some dating from the medieval period, that are now 6-7 feet thick, because the thatchers never bothered to remove the old roofs before applying the new!  With the advent of railroad and canal systems throughout England, alternative roofing materials, such as slate, became available, replacing thatch.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching

Christmas Village Buildings with Thatched Roofs

Department 56 has created about two dozen Dickens Village buildings that feature thatched roofs, attesting to their popularity in the collecting community.  Not only do thatched roofs provide variety in village settings, but their light roofs create a wonderful contrast with the surrounding gray or brown roofs glazed to look like slate or other stone.

Issued in 1984, Green Grocer was first thatched building in the Dickens Village series.

Dept 56, Green Grocer
56.65153

Bluebird Cottage, issued in Jan., 2011, is the newest thatched roof building in the Dickens series 

Dept 56, Bluebird Cottage
4020185

Characters in My Christmas Village

Every year in December, amid the shopping and wrapping, cooking and cleaning, and entertaining and being entertained, I am careful to carve out one Saturday morning, just after Thanksgiving.  Latte in hand, I settle into our living room early in the morning.  I carefully slit open the tape of one of my Christmas boxes, and then, with the pop and sparkle of a Disney parade, a gaggle of eccentric and lovable friends march back into my life. One by one I greet them as they puff out of their boxes and clamor up into my Dickens Village.

Dept 56, Town Crier & Chimney Sweep,
56.55697

First, there is Village Mayor Major Minor, who has a proclivity to make proclamations in the town green, and while he is a bit pompous, on rare occasions he has something important to say.  I do question whether the frequency of his insight rises to the level of intent, or merely reflects the random occurrence of luck.  Nearby, coming out of White Horse Bakery, is Owner Milly Flower, cradling a batch of Banbury Cross buns in her apron.  Milly is the salt of the earth, overworked, overwrought, and kind and generous to the core.  She is searching frantically for the Banbury Cross recipe to share with you.

Dept 56, A Christmas Beginning,
56.58568

Village Arborist, Hefner Pine, shoulders the responsibility to cut and deliver Christmas trees to every family in the Village, and he does it with the brilliance, efficiency, and understanding incumbent on one who holds a Sierra Club card in his back pocket.  Mr. Ashley Brush, the local Chimney Sweep is elderly and bent, and his job is always difficult.  He is gruff, as one would expect from someone in such sooty clothes who works many hours, and yet, it is Mr. Brush who feeds the village cats, and it is Mr. Brush who is the favorite among the children.  There are many more of these characters, to whom I will introduce you in the course of this blog.  I will also provide you histories of some of the interesting aspects of Victorian culture, so you can better understand these friends.

Over the years, as I executed my annual construction of an English Victorian village, I began to realize the power I was wielding. I am like Plato writing The Republic, Thomas More envisioning Utopia, Thoreau re-imagining Walden Pond.  I may make my village whatever I want, for whomever I wish to invite.  If I want a stream, I shall create water.  If I want a railroad to link my town with the outside world, I shall install a track.  If I want my villagers to nibble Banbury Cross buns, I shall invite Milly Flower to make them.  If I want Dr. Watts to have broadband access, Dr. Watts shall have cable.

Dept 56, Constables
56.55794

Furthermore, I decided that my Dickens Village shall have no catastrophes, like fires or earthquakes, and therefore no Fire Station and no firefighters are necessary …  Likewise, the atmosphere of my village can sustain no citizens with criminal proclivities; therefore I do not require a police station or policemen.  Oh, yes, Sheriff Dudley Dunnit is on staff, but his services are mostly to organize heavy snowfall removal, or to help Milly Flower recover her spilled buns…Dudley is on the right in the picture, along with his dog Ferocious.  The other two gents are retired now, living on big pensions, causing alot of talk in the village right now.

Dept 56, Seton Morris Spice Merchant
56.58308

This year it occurred to me that the animals of the village deserve a Merry Christmas also, and therefore the proprieter of Giggleswick Mutton and Ham went south for better weather, though my own Christmas dinner did feature Chutney Chicken, prepared with spices from Seton Morris, Spice Merchant.  

I hope you come on a visit with me and my cast of characters regularly.  Comments and ideas, in the spirit of Christmas, are most welcome on this blog.  Grinches may be deleted.  Please mark the blog site as a “favorite” so it is easy for you to find: www.christmasvillagefun@blogspot.com

Please email me if you would like to chat about anything Christmas, Village, or historical at my email:

christmasvillagefun@gmail.com