Transcript

SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

From Stuff You Should Know · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 40 min · 7,353 words · 158 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW", an episode of Stuff You Should Know published December 14, 2025 (40 min, about 7,353 words). It mentions 79 people, works and ideas, including Princess Etch Sketch, Ohio Art, Etch a Sketch, metal lithography, plastic injection molding.

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the popular drawing toy, Etch A Sketch, highlighting its unique features, nostalgic value, and its impact on childhood creativity. The hosts engage in a lighthearted conversation about the toy's mechanics, as well as sharing memories and insights about various classic toys they have covered in previous episodes.

Key takeaways

  • Etch A Sketch: The French export with love for Americana and zero calories.
  • Shake it to make it: Embrace Etch A Sketch's existential art form.
  • From vintage nostalgia to digital detox; Etchers still captivate in Bluetooth times.
  • Etch A Sketch's power: No apps, sounds, or Wi-Fi, just pure creativity.
  • Simple toys like Etch A Sketch keep us grounded in a complex age.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Princess Etch Sketch, action figures, Bluetooth, Easy Bake Oven
  2. – 10:00: Princess Etch Sketch, Andre Casagnes, artificial leather, Lancusta Company
  3. – 15:00: Princess Etch Sketch, plastic injection molding, aluminum powder, Arthur Grin
  4. – 20:00: Ohio Art, metal lithography, Princess Etch Sketch, Dr. Henry S. Winsler
  5. – 25:00: Ohio Art, Princess Etch Sketch, Jerry Burgerer, metal lithography
  6. – 30:00: Princess Etch Sketch, Etch a Sketch, Democrat, donkey
  7. – 35:00: Princess Etch Sketch, Etch a Sketch, Ohio Art, Spin Master
  8. – 39:40: Jim Cooper, Princess Etch Sketch, aluminum powder, Etch a Sketch

Notable quotes from "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

  • Hey everyone, it's time for our episode on Etch a Sketch. The little tablet that you could draw on using two dials for some reason and then when you made a masterpiece, you would shake it up and start over again. Or if you're a real.
    about Princess Etch Sketch · at
  • And this guy had some dough cuz he owned a plastic injection molding company.
    about plastic injection molding · at
  • But the underside of this screen here has what's known in the patent as a pole virulent material such as aluminum powder.
    about aluminum powder · at
  • And every toy maker at the place said no, including a little toy maker called Ohio Art. everybody turned it down and Cassan went home from the toy fair empty-handed, but he…
    about Ohio Art · at
  • Mhm. Yeah. so they use something called metal lithography, which is a type of printing. And I think the metal refers to like the medium that you're using to print with, like the like you carve a picture.
    about metal lithography · at
  • So, he is once he's on board with Ohio Art he gets together with their chief engineer Jerry Burgerer and says and Burger is Listen here, Frenchie. You need to drop the joystick.
    about Jerry Burgerer · at
  • So they sold Etchas sketch off to Spin Master. Spin Master is That's fine with us, baby. Thanks for all these licenses. an Etcha Sketch, a Frozen branded Etcha Sketch is it's might as well just be like a printing.
    about Spin Master · at
  • Right. Here I'm going to mention this is about Jerry and her eating. And this is from Kim Cooper. Did you see this, Jerry? She says no. hey guys, I noticed that you often mention what Jerry is eating a lot during the podcast.
    about Jim Cooper · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Princess Etch Sketch — Person · 32 mentions · first at
  • Jerry Burgerer — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Jim Cooper — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Andre Casagnes — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. Okay. So that's Lin Cresta and that's where this guy worked. His name was Andre Casagnes. Casagnes, I bet you with Well, if it's French, wouldn't it be Cass?
  • Arthur Grin — Person · 1 mention · first at
    This where things get a little confusing historically because the man who his accountant his name was Arthur Grin you are nailing the French today try to run French people you…
  • Dr. Henry S. Winsler — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. They started out in 1908 founded by a man named a dentist named Dr. Dr.
  • Jane Labowitch — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Amazing portraits of Muhammad Ali, Barack Obama, and LeBron James. There's a an artist named Jane Labowitch or Labovich maybe. She calls herself Princess Etch Sketch. She's…
  • Ryan Burton — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Princess Etch Sketch. She's done some amazing like architectural detail with it. And then there's a guy named Ryan Burton who does erotic Simpsons art.
  • Charles W. Chuck Bryan — Person · 1 mention
  • George Vlosich III — Person · 1 mention
  • Jerry "the delicious dish" Roland — Person · 1 mention
  • Paul Chaze — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

  • Etch a Sketch — Product · 10 mentions · first at
    Hey everyone, it's time for our episode on Etch a Sketch. The little tablet that you could draw on using two dials for some reason and then when you made a masterpiece, you would shake it up and start over again. Or if you're a real.
  • aluminum powder — Product · 2 mentions · first at
  • joystick — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    Again from the patent, a movable tracing stylus. although initially it was a joystick, isn't that right?
  • Slinky — Product · 1 mention · first at
    I'm sure I've missed something, but it did help me think of some more that we should do. Slinky.
  • Hot Wheels — Product · 1 mention · first at
    I'll I'll cross check that. Hot Wheels.
  • Easy Bake Oven — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Easy Bake Oven. Mhm. play-d do silly putty, right?
  • Silly Putty — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Easy Bake Oven. Mhm. play-d do silly putty, right?
  • Yo-yos — Product · 1 mention · first at
    I knew Hula Hoops was after yo-yos. I just knew it.
  • Hula hoops — Product · 1 mention · first at
    I knew Hula Hoops was after yo-yos. I just knew it.
  • frisbee — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Cuz yeah, we made that joke about calling it a novelty flying disc cuz Frisbee like used to sue everybody who called anything else a Frisbee. Maybe I'll have to look, but that there's probably more out there, but that's a solid, you know,.
  • la magic — Product · 1 mention · first at
    What an sketch is. Unless you go to France and then they'll say, Oh, you mean la magic, right? And you might say well, why would they have anything to say about the Etcher sketch in France?
  • artificial leather — Product · 1 mention · first at
    That is one of the two things that this company made in the 50s. LRUA wall coverings and artificial leather. That is really neither here nor there. But I could I was with you. I was what kind of a name is that for a company?
  • plastic beads — Product · 1 mention · first at
    And then to keep that from clumping up, there are little tiny plastic beads.
  • Lacron Majik — Product · 1 mention · first at
    It is still called Lacron Majik in France because they had a different licensing deal over there from the get-go.
  • Doodle Sketch — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. there have been other variations. They had the doodle sketch.
  • Plug-and-Play — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Plug-and-play allows you to draw on the TV screen. That's just asking for trouble as a parent.
  • Smartphone — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. So, what you can do is it's kind of fun. you can upload or take a photo on your smartphone, plug it into the app, and then it will instantly etchify it.
  • miso paste — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Do you ever eat just miso paste?
  • boomerang — Product · 1 mention
  • Etch A Sketch Animator — Product · 1 mention
  • Etch a Sketch mobile app — Product · 1 mention
  • Ken — Product · 1 mention
  • Lincrusta — Product · 1 mention
  • Play-Doh — Product · 1 mention
  • Teddy Ruxpin — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

  • metal lithography — Concept · 6 mentions · first at
  • plastic injection molding — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • action figures — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Did we just specifically do a G.I. Joe one or an action figures one?
  • flying disc — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's out there and I just didn't or maybe it's under flying disc or something.
  • Bluetooth — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Mhm. commented and I totally agree that like it's amazing that today in the digital world and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and video gaming as it is that this little lowfi toy that…
  • video gaming — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Like it's amazing that today in the digital world and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and video gaming as it is that this little lowfi toy that doesn't even have batteries in it much less…
  • movable tracing stylus — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And then, the two knobs control, again from the patent, a movable tracing stylus. although initially it was a joystick, isn't that right?
  • rocket ship — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Toy. and this toy has animation in it to where like they would etch a sketch a little rocket ship and then that rocket ship that rocket ship would animate and take off. And…
  • donkey — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Sticker, which I'm I'm assuming that they printed on their metal lithography presses of a donkey and an elephant like playing tug-of-war on the front of the White House lawn.
  • flip book — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And then you'd press like I guess play or something like that and it would just kind of run it like a flip book over and over again. So your Etch a sketch drawing like came to…
  • millennials — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Dark times because well, for one thing that like a sketch isn't landing with the millennials, I get the impression like it used to with the baby boomers. That was one thing.…
  • Mona Lisa — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. I mean everything from like the Mona Lisa to just like portraits of people to landscapes. what's really fun is you can go on YouTube and look at time lapse renderings at your sketch renderings.
  • time lapse — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    People to landscapes. what's really fun is you can go on YouTube and look at time lapse renderings at your sketch renderings which when you're seeing it done super fast like…
  • bitmap — Concept · 1 mention
  • cupid — Concept · 1 mention
  • electrostatic attraction — Concept · 1 mention
  • Etch — Concept · 1 mention
  • umami — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

  • West Coast — Place · 1 mention · first at
    That, as legend has it, they were manufacturing up until noon on Christmas Eve just to get them to the West Coast in time for Christmas morning.
  • museum — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Turned. Then you have an etch sketch masterpiece that you can hang in a museum.
  • grocery store — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Well, go try some miso, Kim. you can buy it at like any grocery store.
  • Archbold, Ohio — Place · 1 mention
  • Bryan, Ohio — Place · 1 mention
  • Nuremberg — Place · 1 mention
  • Seine River — Place · 1 mention
  • Vitry-sur-Seine — Place · 1 mention
  • zoos — Place · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey everyone, it's time for our episode on Etch a Sketch. The little tablet that you could draw on using two dials for some reason and then when you made a masterpiece, you would shake it up and start over again. Or if you're a real jerk, you could shake up someone else's masterpiece when they weren't ready to shake it up yet. This is a good one. I guess all of our toy episodes were good ones, so that goes without saying, but it is a good one. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from how stuffworks.com.

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chucky Bryant. And there's Jerry, uh, the delicious dish Roland. And this is stuff you should know. The vintage nostalgia edition that went off to China and then got sold to a different company edition.

So, do you wanna I I have a rough list of classic toys we've covered. You want to hear it?

Oh, lay it on me, Charles. I'm sure I've missed something, but it did help me think of some more that we should do. Uh Slinky.

We did Slinky. Oh, yeah. We did Slinky. Okay. Yeah. Uh Lego. Oh, yeah. Of course.

Barbie. Sure. her boyfriend, G.I. Joe. Yeah, that was a good one. Sorry, Ken. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm sorry. Did we just specifically do a G.I. Joe one or an action figures one?

I think both. We definitely did action figures. Although maybe not. Okay, go ahead.

I'll I'll cross check that. Hot Wheels. So So this is a madeup list is what you're saying.

Hot Wheels. Easy bake. Yeah. I'm glad you didn't you didn't call it Hot Wheels.

Uh Easy Bake Oven. Mhm. Uh, play-d do silly putty, right? Do you count boomerangs?

Sure. Do you count Monopoly? Yeah. Yo-yos, of course. Hula hoops. I I knew Hula Hoops was after yo-yos. I just knew it.

Uh, Teddy Ruxbin, we we covered him in our Christmas show this year. Oh, yeah. That's a deep cut right there. And then I that's all I have. But um I could have sworn we did on frisbes, but I cannot find it.

I Yeah, I feel like we did frisbes, too, because I think we talked about like Fro or something at some point.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's out there and I just didn't uh or maybe it's under flying disc or something.

Oh, that's possible. Uh cuz yeah, we made that joke about calling it a novelty flying disc cuz Frisbee like used to sue everybody who called anything else a Frisbee. Maybe I'll have to look, but that there's probably more out there, but that's a solid, you know, 12 or 13.

That's pretty good. Which leads us to Edge Sketch. Yes. One of the hundred top hundred toys of the century according to um I want to say not the toy hall of fame, it's just in the toy hall of fame.

I think according to some snotnos kid who makes lists online, right? Uh, this is the hund best toys of the century. This is the hund best guitar solos of the 70s.

Oh man, I'd love to do a show on that. That would be pretty cool. I can't remember who named that that who made that list. But it's a high honor. It's a high accolade even if we can't remember who came up with it. Like the sketch, it's a ubiquitous toy. Everybody knows what an sketch is. Unless you go to France and then they'll say, "Oh, you mean la magic,

right?" And you you might say like, well, why would they have anything to say about the Etcher sketch in France? Turns out, buddy, the Etcha sketch is actually French in origin. Did you know that before this?

I did not. I didn't either, cuz it seems like super American. You know, it looks like a TV and just feels like pure Americana.

So, when I realized it had some French stank on it, uh, my dreams were dashed. You're like, "It smells like champagne and cheese," which is kind of pleasant. No, I didn't really care. I thought it was I thought it was great. Sketch, erase, and sketch again. Uh the the log line that will forever be tied to this really interesting little toy. And um I I can't remember who it is in this article, but they were interviewing different folks. I think it was someone from the company.

Mhm. commented and I totally agree that like it's amazing that today in in the digital world and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and video gaming as it is that this little um lowfi toy that doesn't even have batteries in it much less hook up to the internet is is still like super popular and still has a little bit of mystique. And I agree with him. And I think the reason why one of them is like you look at it and you still are kind of like, how does this thing work?

Right. Well, we're going to ruin that mystique for everybody because we're going to explain how it works actually in this episode.

That's right. But hopefully it won't affect etch sketch sales because we love Etcha Sketch, you know.

All right. Should we go to France? We will go to France sometime. It's apparently not clear whether it was 1955 or 1956, but in a little town called Vitri Sin, which means Vitri on the Sin River, there was a company called um Oh, what was the name of the company, Chuck?

Uh, Lancusta Company, right? Terrible name. It is a terrible name. But the reason they call themselves that is because lin crusta is a type of wall covering that was really popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. You know, like have you ever been into an old creepy abandoned house and like the walls are covered in what looks like dimpled tin with like some weird patterns to it or whatever?

No, but keep going. Okay. So, where if you you could rub your hand over it's very much it's like heavily embossed.

Okay. Sometimes it's painted and it's it just imagine that as like Wayne Scotting in the house. That is Lrusta. And so that is one of the two things that this company made in the 50s. LRUA wall coverings and artificial leather. That is really neither here nor there. But I could I was with you. I was like, what kind of a name is that for a company? And I looked it up and they just it'd basically be like if you and I called our podcast P podcast because that's what we did was make podcasts or

called Crust. Podcast Crusta. Just the name Crust. Anyway, I think I know what you're talking about because I have uh

uh we have a pie that has that metal tin stuff, but it's I've never seen it on a wall, but I bet it's about the same thing.

Virtually the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's Lin Cresta and that's where this guy worked. His name was Andre Casagnes. Casagnes,

I bet you with Well, if it's French, wouldn't it be Cass? Is that G pronounced?

Yeah, I think you just nailed it actually. Andre Cass. Well, that's what we're going to call him. And we have gone back in time. You didn't know 55 or 56. I say we go to 54 just to

play it safe, set up shop in France and maybe get some emails done. All right. For a couple years.

Sure, why not? We could use a break. Um because you know podcaster burnout's a real thing.

It really is. As we've talked about, we're dropping we're dropping like flies. Uh all right. So he's working in this factory. It's north of Paris and they are making these uh wall coverings like you're talking about. And he This is a little confusing how this actually happens if you ask me. Or at least the way the the first article put it, it's confusing.

Oh. Oh, you're leaving it to me. I noticed by your by your pause after that. Well, I mean, no, let's I'll I'll start it, but I just still don't quite get it. He marked up uh with pencil on a uh see-through decal. So, like he was putting on an electrical plate

um like a light switch. And on that plate, like many things, has like a little see-through plastic that you peel off.

Um, so he was writing on that. He peeled it off. But then that's where it loses me as to exactly what magic took place.

So, okay, remember this is Link Crusta, and they make metal wall coverings, which means there's metal dust in the air, metal shavings everywhere.

Yeah. And he's breathing that stuff in. Right. All of them are. Um, what's crazy is this guy made it to that ripole age of 86 after breathing that for years. But, um, so there's there's metal dust everywhere, including on this electrical switch plate that he's installing and I guess the decal against the plate. And I think what happened was when he marked on the decal

and pulled the decal off, he'd seen that he had disturbed the metal shavings that were stuck to the underside of the decal. Oh,

you see what I mean? So, like he he had disturbed the shape. So, so there was like the whole decal is coated in a a metal dust.

He marks on it with a pencil and the impression that he makes like gouges out lines on the backside of the decal. I know it's really tough. It was magic. Basically, this man witnessed a a feat of magic that still cannot be explained to this day, and that's where he got his idea for the uh Etcha sketch.

Amazing. So, a big big moment. He has that that literal light bulb that goes off of his uh or not literal, of course, light bulb above his head. Although, you never know. There may have been a light bulb in that factory right above his head.

Why not? uh and he said, "All right, this is uh this this can be something." He however did not have a lot of money to uh sink into this weird idea. And so he had to partner with somebody with money, a man named Paul uh Chase, C H A Z, or maybe Shaw if he's French.

Oh, that's good. Uh and this guy had some dough cuz he owned a plastic injection molding company.

This is like early on. I wonder if we could count that as a toy. The uh the the little plastic uh machines that spit out little plastic guitars in Chicago and at zoos.

Oh, yes. Moldama. That would definitely count. Yeah, that goes on the list. Yeah.

So, he didn't It wasn't Moldorama, but it was plastic injection molding that this guy made his money from. Uh and this where things get a little confusing historically because uh the man who his accountant his name was Arthur Grin

you are nailing the French today try to run French people you can't Chuck is pronouncing your words just beautifully

so his accountant uh is actually given credit a lot of times because he filed the patent uh under uh his name which I'm curious about how that works legally. Uh he so he was do you remember the first time we did South by Southwest and on the sign it it had like somebody I can't remember whose name it was but whoever had like filed the application to get us into South by Southwest it said that like that's who was performing in the room that day.

I don't remember that at all. I think this is the same basically the same thing where as like the US government bureaucracy the patented um trademark office basically said whoever's name is on there that is who is the patent holder and since um Gran who was the accountant of Shaes who was the partner of Cassand um since he was the one who actually filled out the application and paid for the application for the patent As far as the government was concerned, he was the the person who patented the etcha sketch in the United States. Even though Gran Gene made no claim on it whatsoever, immediately transferred the title over to Shaes. He's for for decades everybody thought Arthur Gran was the guy who invented the Etch Sketch.

Interesting. All right. So that was July 23rd, 1959 was when this patent was granted. And um I guess we should just look at the the little guy itself, the little TV looking that iconic red frame with the two dials uh which it didn't have initially. We'll we'll get to that. But um the underside of this screen here has what's known in the patent as a pole virulent material such as aluminum powder.

Is that French as well? I don't know. Uh, and then to keep that from clumping up, there are little tiny plastic beads. And then, uh, the two knobs control, um, again from the patent, a movable tracing stylus. Uh, although initially it was a joystick, isn't that right?

Yeah. Yeah. Basically like an Atari. Um, but it it served the same purpose and it was it it was um held together the same way through an intricate system of pulleys and gears that that moved the stylus either upward or downward. And then if you combine the upward and downward together, you could make diagonals and circles and stuff like that. But it's if you it's really tough to describe what's going on in in an etcha sketch, but there's an a house of works article from years back called inside an etches sketch where the people at house of works like took one apart and photographed it and explained it step by step and it really becomes much simpler and ruins any bit of magic there is to it when you see inside an etches sketch but it's still kind of wondrous you know like the engineer in you is like wow that's pretty cool. Yeah, it's sort of like um I mean it's not a negative image, I don't think, but

what's going on when you're moving those knobs? Uh there's a stylus that's actually removing like the screen is coated with this powder. So, it's actually removing powder, not adding something to the screen.

Yes, exactly. And of course, if you want to uh get that away and start a new picture, you just shake that thing up and that recotates the screen once again with that powder. Yeah. So, like you know how your TV screen always has tons of dust on it no matter how often you dust it?

Sure. So, that's because like that dust is attracted electrostatically through an electrical charge to the glass. That's they they take advantage of that same thing with the underside of the um etches sketch and that aluminum dust which sticks to everything like it wants to stick to the glass because I think it's missing some electrons or something. And then when you move the stylus through it, you're just removing that that dust like you said. It's not a negative. It's the removal of dust. And that's an etch sketch like at its at its core. And what's interesting, Chuck, is like that is how an etch sketch today works. That's how an etch sketch worked in 1962. Like the uh two meaning like also. Sure. But that that that dude Andre Cassagana said this is how this is going to work.

And it's it's basically the same thing. That's pretty awesome. Uh let's take a break.

Yes, we're going to come back and and talk about uh coming stateside right after this.

All right. So, Chuck, so how did we agree on his last name? I think I I'm butchering it still. And I even took years of French in high school.

I think he said casserole. All right. Andre Casserole. That seems that seems wrong.

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm still going to go with uh Cass. Okay, there you go. Andre Cass. Um he knew he was on to something. Like this guy was an electrician. He was like, "This is a great idea. This is a prototype I made. This is this is worth something. So he um and Cruz I guess funded a trip to the Nermberg Toy Fair um in 1959 and uh it was there that Cassan was walking around saying check this thing out. It is yours for a mere $100,000 which at the time was a lot of money or I think it was $870,000 today. And that's what this guy wanted for the for the right to produce this.

Um, and every toy maker at the place said no, including a little toy maker called Ohio Art. Um, everybody turned it down and Cassan went home from the toy fair empty-handed, but he he didn't give up. He still persisted, but that was a a big strikeout for him right out of the gate.

Yeah. So, Ohio Art eventually uh settles on a number of 25 grand for the rights to make this thing in the United States. Uh it is

still called Lacron Majik in France because they had a different licensing deal over there from the from the get-go.

Um and Ohio Art Company is pretty interesting. It started Did you see that thing?

I did. Yeah. They started out in 1908 founded by a man named a dentist named Dr. Dr. Henry S. Winsler in Archabald, Ohio. He gets out of dentistry because he's like, "Hey man, toys is the future." Toys is the future.

There's no future in teeth in in a decade. No one in America is going to have teeth. It's just a losing trade to be in is dentistry.

Yeah. So, he uh saw the way forward. He rented a um a musical, hired 15 women and they were making metal picture frames at first to great great success.

Mhm. Yeah. Um, so they they use something called metal lithography, which is a type of printing. And I I think the metal refers to like the medium that you're using to print with, like the the like you carve a picture out of metal and you put ink on it and then you print on whatever you want. But they were printing onto metal. Like they had like these um picture frames and pictures that were like a huge seller of a cupid. It was a pair of like oval plates basically, but they were metal printed printed pictures on them of like a cupid hanging out and then the same cupid sleeping and it's just kind of like whatever. Like these days it seems kind of it's got a tinge of oldtimey creepiness. But in the first half of the 20th century, there were 50 million sets of those things sold in the United States, which is an astounding amount.

That's basically every house in America had a pair of this. And that really kind of made Ohio art like a very viable business. But they eventually got into things like sand pales and little trucks and that kind of thing. Anything that was printed with metal before the time that plastic toys came along, they were into. So it wasn't a huge leap into the edge of sketch, but the etches sketch was definitely different than anything that they'd ever kind of messed around with before.

Did you know I've done metal lithography? No. Yeah, it was one of our uh in industrial arts it was, you know, in at least at my school each quarter you did a different medium or whatever

and uh lithography was something we did one quarter. Do you remember what you printed?

Uh I'm trying to remember what I printed. It's funny. I can remember that because we also one quarter was uh screen printing

and I remember the t-shirts. I did monkeys t-shirts with like the see no evil here no evil monkeys.

No, the band the monkeys. Their their their logo with the guitar spelled out as monkeys.

Like wow. Did you draw it yourself? No, no, no, of course not. Um, but we did metal sheet lithography. I don't remember all of the process, but what I do remember was it essentially was like burning chemically burning images onto metal plates and then that metal plate was used to print.

Okay. So, so the metal and metal lithography does it talks about the metal press that you're using to print with.

Like at the end of there may be different processes, but in my class we would um do this thing and apply this like uh image with like this gel onto a metal sheet and use this combination of chemicals that would burn that into like make it part of the metal. And then all of a sudden you would have a metal sheet with a thing on it, like a negative image, and then you would use that in the printing process to print a positive image,

right? And you could print use that to print onto anything, including other metal right?

Well, hey, man, that's where my knowledge. And again, this was ninth grade me, so I've I've forgotten a lot of things over that time period,

right? And I'm sure I just butchered that, but that's my one little dance with metal lithography. Well, I'll tell you who would be able to tell us exactly how you could um how metal lithography works. It's anybody who works at Ohio Art because not only was that their bread and butter before the etches sketch, it still is today actually. So, so Ohio Art like I guess gets in touch with um Andre Cassan and and either he got in touch with them again or they got in touch with him. I I think it was the latter of the two and said, "Hey, we heard you're selling this for 100 grand. it's way too rich for our blood. How about either 15,000 or 25,000 depending on who you ask in the future? And Cassan is like, "What are you talking about?" They're like, "Just take the money." And so they either got it for 15,000 or 25,000, which is still substantial. I mean, it was like around 100k or um 200k, something like that, depending on which

one it was. And Cassan was quite a happy man. There was a a story where um the guy who was running the show at Ohio Art and his wife went over to meet Andre Cassan and just kind of have like an initial meeting and like shake his hand and all that and buy the license from him. And Cassan was like, "Welcome." and had like this huge spread of baguettes and champagne and everything at his house, which is pretty cute because he was just like this humble guy who came up with a really great idea for a toy and was finally like selling it for a wad of cash.

Interesting. a little on the nose too. What? The baguettes in Champagne. Yeah, but you know what are you going to do?

Well, when in France, right? So, he is uh once he's on board with Ohio Art uh he gets together with their uh chief engineer Jerry Burgerer and says and Burger is like, "Listen here, Frenchie. You need to drop the joystick. It's all knobs these days." And he said, "What is a knob?" And he was like, "Well, let me show you." and he he introduced the idea of um the same system like you were talking about, but knobs instead of a joystick to move that little line horizontal or vertical. Or as you pointed out, if you're really talented and you can master both at once, you can actually do um rud well, if you're really good, you can do very nice curved lines, but I'm

Yeah, beyond rudimentary. Yeah. No, neither am I. I can make a a line go up and a line go to the left or right.

Yeah. We'll get you can't even make it go down. We'll get to the art of it. Um maybe at the end, but because there are some serious uh artists out there doing some cool stuff.

Uh but at any rate, Etcha Sketch, it was rebranded as Etch a Sketch in the United States.

Ohio Arts producing them for the 1960 holiday season, and they sold about 600,000 of these um that year, which is a That's a lot.

Yeah. And they sold it for a lot of money, too. They they um went for sale at $2.99 a piece, which is 25.64 in today's money.

Um but I mean, if you go buy an extra sketch today, it's between 10 and 15 bucks. So that was a lot of money, especially to sell 600,000 of these things,

especially if you were selling like creepy, you know, metal waste baskets with an unsettling clown painted on it or printed on it like right before this. This is a huge this was it was a good move by the people at Ohio Art to buy the license to this thing. In other words, and they say, Chuck, that it coincided really perfectly with television. So much so that that they believe like that is one of the reasons why Jerry Burgerer was like, "You need knobs. This thing needs to look like a TV set because that's what's all the rage with the kids right now."

Yeah. And he um it was one of the first toys uh to actually do a TV commercial. And so

if it's 1960 and you're a a a child watching, first of all, your mind is blown because you're watching a television to begin with.

It's just like I can't believe this. I can't believe what's going on right now.

Uh then a TV commercial comes on for a toy. Uh and this toy has animation in it to where like they would etch a sketch a little rocket ship and then that rocket ship that rocket ship would animate and take off. And this was like these kids might have I mean keep in mind kids in 1960 were idiots but they might as well have been dosed with LSD.

You know they just kept fainting over and over again throughout the commercial because they could not believe what they were seeing.

Mind's blown. And it's just it's just an etch sketch, you know. Yeah. But it's genius. I love it.

It is. But it really I I think the the point was though that like the taking advantage of the novelty of TV and also now having a way like if you we just tried to explain an Etcha sketch over a podcast prior to TV if that sketch had come out during like the little orphan uh radio era they would have had to have done the same thing. It wouldn't have landed quite as well. The fact that a a kid could see this happening on their TV screen was pretty awesome. And then also to say and then you just shake it, turn it upside down and shake it and coat the the um glass screen again and your your drawing is gone forever. Like to be able to see that TV made the etches sketch what it was like for sure. It definitely ushered it into a um a position where it could become like a a a cultural icon of nostalgia.

Yeah. I mean, you know, they perfected it by the time they started rolling off in 1960. Um, prior to that, like any product like this, it was a lot of R&D. Um, one of the people who worked there talked about the mountain of red frames behind the factory while they were trying to get it right. Um, and it was such a huge smash hit out of the gate that, uh, as legend has it, they were manufacturing up until noon on Christmas Eve just to get them to the West Coast in time for Christmas morning.

Yeah, that's pretty that's pretty cool. I mean, they really wanted those kids to have those etcher sketches. They really wanted that money.

Should we take another break? Yeah. All right. We'll talk about some uh some ways Etcha Sketch has ebbed and flowed in popularity and pop culture over the years right after this. Chuck, I don't know if we said it or not, but from what I've seen, more than 175 million etches sketches have been sold since uh 1960.

And we should point out, we're not just like ticking off a list of pop culture references. Like every time this happened, uh, Etch a Sketch sales would go up.

Yeah. Like the Mitt Romney one increased sales like 30%. I guess everybody was like, "Oh, it's a sketch. I forgot about that. I think I'll go buy one right now."

Well, they actually branded after that um, Republican and Democrat etches sketches though, didn't they?

Yeah. So, you could buy a red one or a blue one, but both of them came with a sticker, which I'm I'm assuming that they printed on their metal lithography presses of a donkey and an elephant like playing tug-of-war on the front of the White House lawn.

Yeah, that's just crazy. It is, but it's also that's smart, you know? That's how you That's how you make the the money. Um and then of course in the movie Toy Story from Pixar,

uh there was um one of the characters name was Etch and had the fastest knobs in the west.

Yeah. And that was uh that was always a very fun uh character, I think, to see him drawing things out really fast to communicate.

Yeah. And you know, you said something earlier. you were you were talking about how like despite the fact that it doesn't even have batteries, it it's had the staying power for, you know, 50s something years, almost 60 years it's been around. Um, and it's a really simple thing that that the design hasn't changed. And I think even more of a testimony to, you know, the um the the staying power of the Etcha Sketch is the fact that they have tried stuff with batteries and like like things that connect to your computer over the years and nothing has managed to improve on the original Etcha Sketch like there was do you remember the Etcha Sketch animator?

No. So I I I couldn't quite place it either, but I went and watched an old ad. It was big in the 80s and it was basically like an etch a sketch but there was nothing mechanical about it. It was digital. You're creating like a bit mapap digital picture

and um then you'd press like I guess play or something like that and it would just kind of run it um like a flip book over and over again. So your Etch a sketch drawing like came to life. But kids were like, "N, I'd rather have the original Etch a Sketch because the Etch Sketch Animator went away." And the Etch a Sketch is still available today.

Yeah. I mean, there have been um other variations. They had the doodle sketch. Um the the plug-andplay,

which this sounds like a bad idea. Plug-and-play allows you to draw on the TV screen. That's just asking for trouble as a parent.

Sure. Um and then the mobile app, which I've been playing with today. Oh, how's it going?

Well, I mean, what do you think of this picture? Oh, that that's not bad. It looks kind of edgy, sketchy, you know.

Yeah. So, what you can do is it's kind of fun. Um, you can you can upload or take a photo um on your smartphone, plug it into the app,

and then it will instantly etchify it. And what I've learned is that it's um the the more basic like a picture of your face works much better than something with a lot of stuff in the background. Uh, but it's fun,

right? Yeah. You know, I like it. I was reading reviews of the app. I didn't try it myself like you, but it's it did say like if it's a basic picture, it'll look way more etch sketchy.

Yeah. So, my official review is Yeah. Not bad. So, three stars out of six. Sure. I mean, for something that downloaded in 30 seconds and was free, right?

I'm gonna give it a a half a thumb up. There you go. So, um, one of the things that, uh, that has kind of kept Etcha Sketch alive for like the younger kids, if I read this article about, um, Etch a Sketch, and it was right before they sold. So, a lot of people don't know Ohio Art doesn't make etches sketch anymore. They sold it to a brand called Spinmaster in Oh,

I didn't I didn't see that. Yeah. It's not It's not Ohio Art. Ohio Art said, "We're going back to metal lithography." And that's what they did. So they sold Etchas sketch off to Spin Master. Spin Master is like, "That's fine with us, baby. Thanks for all these licenses." Um, I mean, an Etcha Sketch, a Frozen branded Etcha Sketch is it's might as well just be like a printing press for money, right?

Yeah. So, it was probably a pretty good buy for Spin Master and Ohio Art was like, "This thing is it was great. It was a good run while it lasted, but they also had to oversee it through some really dark times because um well, for one thing that like a sketch isn't landing with the millennials, I get the impression like it used to um with the baby boomers. That was one thing. Um and Ohio Art al almost went bankrupt because of it uh back in like 2001. They managed to get some more money back into the business and and stay afloat. But part of that also was they had to send the um manufacturing of the etches sketch off to China, which they were really unhappy about because they lost like 35 jobs in tiny little Brian, Ohio. But eventually, like 15 years later, they said, "You know what? We're getting out of the etch a sketch business and sold it off to Spin Master,

which is a weird name, but the but the one of the things it's a little weird. Ohio art's a little weird, too. You don't associate Ohio with art, you know.

Oh, uhoh. You just don't. I'll say it again. Tell that to Chrissy Hind in the Black Keys.

No, Chrissy Hind gets what I'm saying for sure. Um, so, uh, the thing the one of the things though that is keeping Etch Sketch relevant. The the reason why, like if you walk up to like a 17-year-old and say, "What do you think about Etchas Sketch?" They say, "Oh, yeah. I've heard of that." because every once in a while you'll see on um the the internets a photo or two of somebody who is really really good at etch a sketch and it just kind of makes the rounds on social media.

Yeah. I mean everything from like the Mona Lisa to just like portraits of people to landscapes. Uh what's really fun is you can go on YouTube and look at time lapse

um renderings at your sketch renderings which when you're seeing it done super fast like that you kind of think like I feel like I could do that but you really have to be a a master with those knobs like um what I found is the thing you really need to master to do everything um that you want to do is being able to retrace well because as everyone knows it's not like a pencil you can't pick it up off the paper and start somewhere else.

You have to if you want to go somewhere else, you have to retrace as closely to that original line as you can all the way back to that point that you want to be at.

Or else it's just going to look like something you're that I did, which looks like something a toddler did.

Yeah. And I mean, like that's a that's a really good point. When you're making a good etcher sketch drawing, it is all one single line. It's frequently doubled back over. And etch sketch artists will use like that frame. They'll create a line frame around the edges that they can travel back out to and move around the picture like that.

Pretty brilliant. Yeah. There's a guy named um George Velocic III who's known for some pretty amazing portraits of Muhammad Ali, Barack Obama, and LeBron James. There's a an artist named Jane Labowitch or Labovich maybe. She calls herself Princess Etch Sketch. She's done some amazing like architectural detail with it. And then there's a guy named Ryan Burton who does erotic Simpsons art.

There you go. With the etches sketch. And all three of them are like really good at the Etch a sketch drawings.

Yeah. The fanfic of uh etch a sketch or artists. Interesting. And then apparently if you when you're very satisfied with your etches sketch and you don't want anything to happen to it, you drill a hole in the back and get the aluminum powder out and then you lock the knobs to keep them from being turned. Then you have an etch sketch masterpiece that you can hang in a museum.

Oh, so that makes it permanent. Yeah. So when the little uh So when a kid comes in the museum and rips it off the wall and shakes it, nothing happens.

No. No. And I think by law you're allowed to pick up that kid and shake it. Yes. I think so. As long as it's not a baby. Don't shake,

right? No. Never shake a baby. Come on. Yeah. I would never advocate shaking a baby. Everybody. I just want to go on record as saying that.

There was uh you know the comedian Nate Bargotsi? No. He has a He's great. He's got a very funny bit about shaking babies.

Oh, yeah. Believe it or not, it takes a lot to turn that into something funny. Yeah, he he did it, man.

Good for him. Nate Nate Bgatsi, huh? Nate Burggati, dude, you would love him. He's great.

So, Nate Bgatsi just became a cultural icon cuz we did not see him coming up in this episode.

That's right. Uh, well, if you want to know more about Nate Burggatsi, you should go check him out on the internet like I'm going to. And uh since I said Nate Bgatsi, it's time for listener mail.

Man, I hope someone tells Nate. We're plugging him. Plug I'm plugging away. Plugging Nate. Uh all right. Here I'm going to mention uh this is about Jerry and her eating. And this is from Kim Cooper. Did you see this, Jerry? She says no. Uh hey guys, I noticed that you often mention what Jerry is eating a lot during the podcast.

A lot. I don't know how close to you she uh how close she is to your microphones. Well, I'll go ahead and say that from your side over there, she's about 5T.

I like all I have to do is lean in my seat a little bit and I can touch Jerry's miso soup.

That's right. You could dip your thumb in her soup. And sometimes I threaten to.

Uh I don't know how close she is to your microphones, but I never hear her eating. Uh which is good for your fans with misophonia, but I'm curious why she chooses this time to eat.

Uh do you guys spend all day podcasting and that's the only time she can fit it in? No,

no. Uh, silly question that popped into my head listening to this week, uh, this week after Josh said, "And there's Jerry eating god knows what."

Um, anyway, guys, she's got me interested in trying me. So, tell her she's doing a great job cuz I don't know. Um, because I know she doesn't get too many shout outs. And, uh, Josh and Chuck, you guys are pretty great, too. That is from Kim Cooper.

Thanks, Kim. That's funny. She went all the way around to just basically say, I guess what I'm trying to say is I've always wanted to try miso. Yeah, pretty much.

Well, go try some miso, Kim. I mean, you can buy it at like any grocery store. Just go get a tub of it. Get a big old spoon, try your first spoonful, and go from there. Do you ever eat just miso paste?

No. It's good. If you're craving something salty and savory and umami, let's just say, um, it's good, but you can't you can't eat very much of it. I'm just teasing Kim. Like, a spoonful is a lot of miso paste.

Okay. What what do you just add that to? Is it an ingredient? Yeah, for like soups, stuff like that. Yeah, but you can just eat the paste.

Okay. And live to tell about it. I'm I'm proof. Well, if you want to get in touch with us to talk about Jerry, we're always fine with that. Um you can go to stuffyou know.com, find out all of our social links, and you can always send us an email. Attention everybody, we have a new email address.

Wowee. Wow. Wow. Woo. It is stuff podcast at iheartpodcastnetwork.com. How about that for more on this and thousands of other topics? Visit houseuffworks.com.

Questions about this episode

What is "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

The discussion focuses on the popular drawing toy, Etch A Sketch, highlighting its unique features, nostalgic value, and its impact on childhood creativity. The hosts engage in a lighthearted conversation about the toy's mechanics, as well as sharing memories and insights about various classic toys they have covered in previous episodes.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

79 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Princess Etch Sketch, Ohio Art, Etch a Sketch, metal lithography, plastic injection molding, aluminum powder. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 40 min; the transcript is about 7,353 words in 158 timestamped sections.

More from Stuff You Should Know

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated December 15, 2025.