By Ben Marks — When "The Muppets" storms the world’s multiplexes this holiday season, there will no doubt be lots of little kids who, thanks to “Sesame Street,” will associate the wide-mouthed cloth puppets with learning to count to 10 and reciting their ABCs. But for many of their Gen-X parents and Baby Boomer grandparents, “The Muppets” will conjure school lunch boxes, flannel pajamas, and brightly colored board games, all inspired by "The Muppets Show," a variety-style hour of family-friendly TV that...

The Underappreciated Magic of Puppets

By null — When I was in second grade, I had a friend who had traveled the world with her military father. In her room were dolls from around the world and a puppet stage right out of “The Sound of Music” movie. Being a showoff even then, I had already acquired a ventriloquist doll. Now I knew I had to have my own marionettes. Then, like today, you cannot just go to any store and find these dolls. Mom began her hunt and found my first one, a Hazelle Fairy marionette, at a thrift store. It was not long...

Attack of the Vintage Toy Robots! Justin Pinchot on Japan’s Coolest Postwar Export

By Lisa Hix — Everyone is always looking for the next big thing. In the 1960s, it was going into space. In the '40s and '50s, the frontier was technology, with a particular focus on "What's going to make our lives easier?" For the very first time, you had cars with automatic-transmissions, automatic washing machines, and perpetually cooling refrigerators. I mean, we were coming out of an era when you scrubbed your clothes on a washboard and cooled your icebox with a big block of ice. Even the first...