Whatever Happened to the Green Plastic Window You Pasted On Your TV Screen?

Tic Tac Toe

Secret Codes. X-Rays. Angry Birds. Whatever Happened to the Green Plastic Window You Pasted on Your TV Screen?

Linda remembered a time, when she was a little girl, when she carefully pasted a sheet of green plastic over the surface of her television screen, just in time for the children’s show, Winky Dink and You.

She wondered if her grandchildren had as much fun when they played their electronic games as she and her brothers had then.

They drew on the plastic screen, as instructed by the show, saving the main character from danger over and over again.

Winky Dink and Angry Birds

When you watch your grandchildren playing Angry Birds, virtually pulling back a slingshot and firing it, do you remember helping out a cartoon character by drawing a bridge on your tv screen so he could cross a river?

Did you ever draw on a green plastic window pasted to your tv screen?

You could read secret messages.

You could help Winky Dink by drawing him an ax so he could chop down a tree or a cage, so he could trap a lion.

For fifty cents, you could order the green plastic window that stuck to your tv screen with static electricity.

And, you got the crayons to draw, when you got directions on the Winky Dink cartoon show.

Who Invented This?

A graphic designer, Harry Prichett, who used grease pencils to draw and redraw sketches on acetate, was part of an advertising team.

His client wanted to know how much of a commercial was visible on a screen, so the designer pasted a sheet of acetate on a tv screen, then drew around the edges to show what was visible from their advertisement.

He realized that children would also enjoy drawing on a screen and co-created the Winky Dink and You series that aired on CBS stations from 1953 to 1957.

The 50-cent kit came with green plastic vinyl and Winky Dink crayons.

What Happened?

Two issues ended Winky Dink.

There was already concern about x-rays coming from television picture tubes. The Winky Dink set encouraged children to get close enough to draw on the screens.

Parents complained to CBS that children were drawing directly on the tv screen with their crayons.

But, the excitement of having something of your very own to watch tv with remains.

The anticipation of using this plastic screen to reveal a secret message or a fill-in-the-dots character mirrors that of waiting for the Angry Birds sling shot to knock down bricks and boards.

What interactive games do you share with your grandchildren?

Do you play checkers? Chess? Card games? Jigsaw puzzles?

Have you taught them tic tac toe?

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To you and the fun of playing with grandchildren and teaching them the games of life.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

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