History: The device was invented in the late 1950s by Arthur Granjean, who first called it ‘L’Ecran Magique,’ or ‘The Magic Screen’. He tried selling it to toy manufacturers and eventually got the Ohio Art Company interested. Through television advertising in the 1960s, it became a popular toy.

Remember the commercial for the Etch-A-Sketch? Kids were drawing houses, trees, rockets, animals, etc. When I got the toy as a kid, all I could do was draw a house, and even that looked awkward. I never could make a damn circle without it looking like a raggedy oval, so I’d shake the toy and start over again.

After about an hour of shaking and starting over, I dropkicked my Etch-A Sketch across the room. I wanted my money back, because I couldn’t produce the masterpieces that the kids were creating with their Etch-A-Sketches in the commercial.

I mean you’d have to be either Rain Man or the Unibomber with a degree in Calculus and Quantum Physics to master this damn toy. And to add insult to injury, I have a damn degree in Art & Design, yet to this day, I still can’t get draw with this toy without my creations looking like I was suffering from Palsy on the right side of my body.