George Lerner clearly did not listen to his mother’s advice about not playing with his food. And his inventions – molded plastic eyes, mouth and ears that could anthropomorphize vegetables and fruits – made sure many kids would not, either. The toy companies did not like his characters, however — the rationing spirit of WW II was anathema to the frivolity of wasting food — and Lerner could not gain much traction with getting out to the wider market. Until he teamed with a toy box maker named Merrill Hassenfeld.

On this day, April 30th, in 1952 Lerner and Hassenfeld introduced their new Mr. Potato Head Funny Face Kit, as a box set. The Mr. Potato Head #2000 box featured vegetable-faced torsos on the cover, with the instructions on turning “any fruit or vegetable” into “a funny-faced man.”

Selling price was set at 99 cents, and sales volume the first year alone reached $4 million. Hassenfeld also made sure Mr. Potato kept up with the times — by the early 1950s he was joined by a Mrs. Potato Head, and the two bean acquiring, in separate additional box sets, the middle class trappings of their human counterparts: new appliances, newer outerwear, pets and eventually, yes, kids. Mr Potato Head #2006 introduced for the first time his progeny, Brother Spud and Sister Yam.