The American toy Mr.Potato Head was invented by George Lerner in 1949. The original idea was to apply plastic facial features (i.e. eyes, mouth, ears, etc) made from push pins to a piece of vegetable or fruit to make it a playmate.

George sold the right of the toy to a cereal company for 5000 dollar as premiums in cereal boxes, and later with Hasbro’s help, an American multinational toy and board game company, he spent 7000 dollar to buy it back in 1952. Since then Mr. Potato Head has been manufactured and distributed by Hasbro.

Born on May 1, 1952, the original Mr. Potato Head had two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, ears, hands, feet, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight felt pieces resembling facial hair, and it cost 98 cents. Mr. Potato Head was also the first toy advertised on TV.