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MEMORIES:
falconbridge remembers...I loved mine. I remember using all their papers and then just putting them on without the black papers behind ... More »
Posted on 10/03/09
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For those whose artistic tastes lean away from the traditional and more toward the cool, look no further than a child’s bedroom. Disregard the crayon drawing on the refrigerator. Put the coloring book down. This sort of artwork is so good, it can only truly be seen in the dark.
In 1967, Hasbro gave us the Lite Brite. Seen under the bedroom lights, it wasn’t that impressive: A plastic housing (not unlike a television) with a black plastic grid of holes where the screen should be. Behind this grid sat a light bulb which, when activated, threw light through the umpteen different holes before it. These holes were covered, however, by a piece of black construction paper. The artwork came in the form of colored pegs – blue, clear, green, orange, pink, purple, red, and yellow – that one punched through the construction paper and into one of the grid holes. Kids could either invent their own patterns or follow the very helpful color-by-letter sheets that came with the Lite Brite. One way or the other, the scientific result was the effect of light passing through the holes and into the myriad of translucent pegs, producing a picture of twinkling color. The artistic outcome, however, was one of glowing coolness.
The Lite Brite had a surprising number of possibilities despite its small size (about a foot square). Over the years, Hasbro created dozens or color-by-letter patterns to fuel the creative mind (or slake the lazy one) which could be purchased separately. Merchandising made its way to Lite Brite, and soon kids were making luminescent masterpieces of Scooby-Doo, Darth Vader, My Little Pony, Mickey Mouse, and Mr. Potato Head. And because of the tendency to misplace very small things, Hasbro also made it possible to buy refills of colored pegs.
Surely there are those who still prefer “Starry Night” over the likes of Lite Brite. But those will never know the cool of electric artwork.
