The Frisbee was one of those near perfect toys when I was a kid. It was relatively cheap, it was relatively easy to use (if you had a sibling or buddy to play with) and being made from space-age plastic it didn't hurt if by chance it konked you on the noggin. The Frisbee is such a simple toy that marketing it can be a hardship I suppose. And that brings us to the "Pluto Platter".
It began with any kind of lid that might serve the purpose, but then pie pans seemed a better option. Later the new technology of injected plastic molding gave birth to the "Flyin' Saucer" or "Pluto Platter". This clearly was intended to take advantage of the UFO flying saucer craze in the late 50's when these things were just getting off the ground. Some folks called them "Frisbees" after a famous pie tin maker and eventually the toy company Wham-O adopted that name as well.
Since that time, the flying disc has been a mainstay entertainment on college campuses and other places young folks seek distractions. As we've seen many times, even lower orders of animals such as dogs can be trained to play. I'm not sure what the aliens think of their famous interstellar designs being co-opted and exploited by the kings of capitalism, but that's the risk they took when they came here.
For much, much more on this important toy check out this link to the Flying Disc Museum.
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I never knew that "frisbee" was the brand-name of a pie tin!
ReplyDeleteThe company lasted around ninety years or so until 1958. Apparently there's a reference to the company and the tin in the third Back to the Future movie.
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