MATTELHISTORY

"Mattel was founded in 1945 by Harold Matsen. In 1946 he sold his interest to Ruth and Elliot Handler. Until 1959, Mattel was known for the simple and conventional toys that they produced. All this changed with the success of the Barbie Doll (which Ruth designed after a German cartoon character named Lilli and released in 1959. From this point on, and with the help of the enormous income from the Barbie, Mattel developed cutting-edge toys with the help of master electronic engineer Jack Ryan (who headed a large Research and Development staff). Ryan brought the pull-string, talking voice boxes for Mattel's dolls to the company. Mattel was the first toy company to take full advantage of modern technology in the Sixties. This combined with Mattel's willingness to take risks with greater technology, has kept the company in business as the only remaining survivor of the "Big Four" toy giants (Marx, Ideal, Mattel and Remco) that dominated in the 60's. Beany and Cecil was an animated cartoon series that ran from 1962 to 1967. The original series title in 1961 was "Matty's Funnies" (for "Matty Mattel" the animated spokesperson for its primary sponsor Mattel Toys)which was later retitled "The Beany and Cecil Show" which aired Saturday mornings on ABC Television. The newer cartoons replaced the famous studios cartoons of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Audrey among others packaged under the previous title Matty's Funday Funnies. Beany and Cecil was created by Bob Clampett. Clampett created Cecil as a boy after seeing the top half of the dinosaur swimming from the water at the end of The Lost World. Clampett originally created the series as a puppet show called Time for Beany, which ran from 1949 to 1954. Time for Beany featured the talents of veteran voice actors Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. Clampett revived the series in the 1960s in animated form, though Freberg and Butler did not reprise their roles. Beany and Cecil, the animated version, ran in prime time during the 1962 TV season, and the 26 shows (including 78 cartoons) were then repeated on Saturday mornings for the next five years. The cartoon featured Beany, a boy, and Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent embarking on a series of adventures, often to discover ancient civilizations and artifacts. These escapades were ripe with cartoon slapstick and countless puns..."