Drawing board | activity set:The Original Wooly Willy

The Smethport Specialty Co. of Smethport, Pennsylvania, developed "Wooly Willy" in the early 1950s, and the toy has sold by the millions, essentially unchanged, for 50 years. The toy consists of a drawing of a male face under a plastic covering that traps iron dust. A magnetic stylus allows you to move the iron dust to "draw" hair, whiskers, eyebrows, and other facial hair. This particular example of "Wooly Willy" comes from Patch Products, Inc., which bought out Smethport in 2008, and it carries Smethport's 1974 copyright date, but this Wooly Willy is virtually identical to the 1950s version.