Lite-Brite
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Lite-Brite is an electric toy introduced in 1967 by Hasbro that allows lighted pictures to be created.
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[edit] Description and operation
Lite-Brite allows the artist to create a "glowing" picture by placing multi-colored translucent plastic pegs through opaque black paper. The light from an illuminated light bulb is blocked by the black paper except though where the pegs conduct the light. When lit, the pegs have an appearance similar to that of LEDs. Most Lite-Brite toys come with a series of pre-prepared patterns. Classic patterns include the "Wizard of Light" (a picture of a wizard with the "Lite-Brite" name above), and the clown.
Denver artist Lori Kanary created the World's Largest Lite-Brite in 1999 with her work "Giant Lite-Brite," setting a new Guinness World Record. It was shown in collaboration with the Redshift Gallery and the Denver Art Museum's Impressionism show that year. Kanary is responsible for establishing the Lite-Brite as art craze in 1996.
The world's former largest Lite-Brite object was certified by Guinness as a rendering of Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" by Malvern, Pennsylvania artist Mark Beekman. The picture took over 15 months to construct and measures 5'5" by 11'. It was constructed with 124,418 pegs, which was over double the previous record. Hasbro sent him the first 100,000 pegs. He had to purchase the rest of the pegs by purchasing individual Lite-Brites from his local area.[1] The picture was auctioned on Ebay[2] (auction no longer active) with the proceeds going to the Milton & Catherine Hershey Heritage Foundation.[3]
This record was beaten October 7, 2008 by ASICS America Corporation in collaboration with Vitrorobertson and artist Lori Kanary. The new sneaker design is 2.74 m (9 ft) by 4.27 m (14 ft) in size and was made with 347,004 original size pegs.
The battery powered Peg-A-Lite by Magic Maker was a similar toy.
[edit] Advertising
The famous Lite-Brite commercial jingle, a staple of US network television Saturday morning cartoons (from about 1971) begins:
Lite-Brite, makin' things with light.
Outta sight, makin' things with Lite-Brite.
Another jingle featured "Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite, turn on the magical shining light!"
Another popular jingle included the lines:
We're making things with light.
Lite-Brite makes them glow so bright!
A steamboat, a chicken, a tropical fish.
A lemonade sign or whatever I wish!
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Davidson, Tracy (20 December 2007). "Worlds Largest Lite-Brite". Philadelphia: NBC 10 - All that & more. http://test.redlasso.com/service/svc/clip/playClip?fid=fc776df4-2c32-4b23-a5f9-9071a6faca72.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "The Hershey Heritage Foundation". Hersheyheritage.org. http://hersheyheritage.org/. Retrieved on 2009-04-07.
[edit] External links
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