Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

Pranks have been around forever.

In the 1600s, King Frederick of Denmark

had a trouser-watering chair

that would soak anyone that sat down in it.

Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company,

invented the Model T,

revolutionized the automobile manufacturing industry,

and also happened to love pranking his colleagues

with a Joy Buzzer.

(buzzer buzzes)

[Narrator] But when it comes to classic gag toys,

two prank pioneers are a cut above the rest.

Irving Fishlove and S.S. Adams.

Fishlove found that he could create a lot

of these goofy toys, pranks, and people wanted them.

The joy buzzer is ubiquitous,

and it gets the S.S. Adams Company through the Depression.

[Narrator] While their creations are unforgettable,

their decades-long war is even more memorable.

This rivalry was deep, like who was gonna be the best?

And S.S. Adams wasn't gonna

let Irving Fishlove outprank him.

[Narrator] The toys of S.S. Adams and Irving Fishlove

go head to head for over 40 years,

creating a multimillion dollar arms race,

for prank toy domination.

S.S. Adams and Fishlove created

this incredible prank toy industry.

And as technology advanced, the prank toy advances.

As long as there are human beings on this earth,

there will be prank toys.

(dramatic music)

[Narrator] While pulling pranks may go back

thousands of years, gag toys don't really become popular

until the early 1900s,

(balloon popping)

thanks to a young Danish immigrant named S.S. Adams.

S.S. Adams, he was always kinda a prankster as a kid.

He loved pranks so much,

that early on he put a live fly,

in his girlfriend's soup and she left him.

(hand slaps)

Yeah, he lost his girlfriend, but he found his calling.

[Narrator] Adams looks for inspiration,

everywhere around him, including his day job.

In 1904, S.S. Adams is working at a coal company,

when he discovers a byproduct

to one of the industrial ingredients they use.

And it makes people sneeze.

(people sneezing)

And he thought to himself,

"That's really kind of funny."

And so he decided to take some

and put it in places where it would be dispersed naturally.

And people started sneezing like crazy.

(people sneezing)

And he thought, "Well, maybe I can sell this stuff."

[Narrator] Adams dubs his jar of magic powder "Cachoo."

He bottles up 15,000 vials of it,

and sells every single last one, immediately.

He unleashes upon the

world, sneezing powder.

(people sneezing)

And you can imagine, you know,

1904, what else are

you doing, right?

This is when people were saying,

"We used to play kick the can."

It wasn't a whole lot going on.

So if you actually had some of this stuff,

I mean, that's fun for days, weeks, right?

(people sneezing)

[Narrator] After earning the equivalent

of over half a million dollars today,

the popularity of sneezing powder starts to fade.

So Adams looks for another way to mess with people.

(person sneezes)

(playful music)

He goes on and he creates something

called "Itching Powder."

So this comes from a weed from India.

You take a little bit of it, put it on human skin.

They itch like crazy, but keep the cows away.

It will drive them mad and they will have to be put down.

(cow moos)

Fortunately for Adams, his lifelong interest

in funny business creates

a perfect actual business.

So after the success of his sneezing

and itching powders in 1906,

he starts the S.S. Adams Company

and dedicates his life to

the production of prank toys.

[Narrator] It's around this time,

Adam stumbles upon ammonium sulfide,

which has a pungent side effect

and is the key ingredient in one of his most legendary gags.

The stink bomb is an instant success.

They were made from a chemical

that smelled like rotten eggs.

So if you open it up,

it literally would clear out a room,

and it was hysterical.

I have been both a

victim and a victimizer,

utilizing the stink bomb.

It is the most foul thing you can ever experience.

[Narrator] To prove he's not just a mad scientist,

Adam's pivots to more physical pranks,

like the dribble glass.

And in 1910, an all-time classic.

The snake nut can was a can that when opened

would launch forth a giant spring-loaded snake.

Salted mixed nuts.

Oh! (laughs)

I didn't know what it was, I seriously didn't.

I didn't know what was gonna happen.

I didn't know if it was gonna smell or what.

So that was pretty good.

It's one of those things that is very iconic,

in its simplicity.

Just like boom, boom, boom, boom.

S.S. Adam's best ideas came from home.

His wife was pretty irate at him not being able

to completely close a jam jar.

So he thought, "Wouldn't it be great if when she opened it,

there was the snake inside?"

[Narrator] The snake nut can sells for 50 cents a pop,

and it's an instant hit.

One of the amazing things about this particular invention

around for over 110 years, it hasn't changed.

It's as funny today as it was back then.

This was always

the hardest part.

How do you get it back in?

It's like you make the prank and then you have to, (laughs)

I hope someone's entertained by this.

[Narrator] The snake can secures his place at the top

of the prank toy market, but not for long.

Other entrepreneurs

see the potential.

And by 1914, Adams is

no longer the only name.

This other guy, Irving Fishlove comes in,

is like, "Well, I got some pranks. too."

So there was an actual prank war going on.

(cash registers ding)

[Narrator] By 1910, the burgeoning prank toy industry

is making S.S. Adams rich, which doesn't go unnoticed.

So even though S.S. Adams

was coming up with these ideas,

like the stink bomb

and the itching powder,

because he was basically just using chemicals

that were already made, but just mixing 'em a certain way,

he wasn't able to patent these ideas

because he wasn't technically creating anything new.

That opened the

door for competition.

Something he did not want.

[Narrator] Competition that could now

find buyers nationwide, thanks to Johnson Smith and Company.

(funky music)

Alfred Johnson Smith created a small catalog

and started selling

all kinds of things.

Johnson Smith Company did not invent any toys,

but they were the catalog for every novelty,

prank, magic toy there was.

They take existing pranks,

and market them very well in a fancy catalog,

with great descriptions,

artwork, and a storyline.

When the Johnson Smith catalog comes out,

just by turning a page,

a child's imagination

would reel at ways to become

the life of the party.

In 1914, when it starts, it's at 64 pages.

By the 1920s,

it's over 600 pages.

[Narrator] The catalog inspires a new wave

of toy innovators, including one,

by the name of Irving Fishlove.

H. Fishlove and Company was founded in 1914,

by a Ukrainian immigrant.

His name was Heim Fishlove.

He passes away in 1924, and Irving takes over the business.

Irving is not really an inventor,

but he does love pranks,

and he's got an eye for quirky humor.

Fishlove started out by creating tiny little gag boxes.

[Narrator] Inside he places something funny,

he finds in dollhouses.

Fishlove took a look at those little nice toilets,

little metal toilets, and he said, "I can use those."

And from that point on, he created hundreds

of gag boxes using the same little toilet.

(toilet flushes)

He basically proves that you

can repurpose doll toilets,

for just about anything.

[Narrator] As Fishlove's stock rises,

S.S. Adams knows he needs something new to stand out.

But rather than toilet humor,

he looks to something a bit more shocking.

S.S. Adams, just before the Depression in the late 1920s,

created a little item that fits in the palm of your hand.

Brilliant, simplistic, and

also a good use of technologies.

You put a ring on your finger,

and you give someone an

unsuspecting handshake and buzz!

(ring buzzes)

You expect like some sort of electric shock,

'cause that's how they portray it in cartoons and in movies.

But it's really just like a vibration.

It's like barely a shock.

(ring buzzes)

The Joy Buzzer is ubiquitous,

and it gets the S.S. Adams company through the Depression.

For 11 years, it sold like crazy.

(ring buzzes)

Everyone wants one. Comedians, presidents, heads of state.

(ring buzzes)

[Narrator] Riding high on the success of the Joy Buzzer,

Adams is eager to keep his hot streak going.

JEM Rubber Company came up with this idea,

of the Whoopee Cushion, a little rubber device

that you put air in, put it on a seat, you sit down on it

and it makes it sound like you gave a little toot.

(cushion toots)

So they sent the idea to S.S. Adams.

They're like, "Listen here, Mr. Adams,

we got a great idea for you.

It's called a Whoopee Cushion.

People think you're toot when you sit on it."

And S.S. Adams was like, "Oh.

(cushion toots)

That just does not seem like the type of pranks we do here,

that's a little bit more lowbrow for us."

(cushion toots)

So the JEM Company pivots,

and they go to Johnson Smith and Company.

And Alfred took one look at that,

and said, "Oh yeah, I want that."

And in 1932 in their biggest catalog ever,

they introduced the Whoopee Cushion.

(cushion toots)

They released a rubber version in their catalog

for 25 cents, and an upgraded version,

with better quality rubber and fabric for $1.25.

And the Whoopee Cushion became one

of the biggest sellers of all time.

And now it's this pop culture iconic thing,

that we still talk about to this day.

So this is a lesson for you, never pass on a poot.

(cushion toots)

[Narrator] The explosive success propels

the gag business to new heights,

and soon prank toys are everywhere.

(dramatic music)

By 1940, there are 4,000 magic and toy novelty shops,

in the United States doing business

of about $3 million a year.

[Narrator] But with another world war on the horizon,

the funny business could be going bust.

(tense music)

(gentle music)

(explosion booms)

[Franklin Delano Roosevelt] December 7th, 1941,

a date which will live in infamy.

After World War II,

the climate in the United

States really changes.

On the one hand, a prank toy like a cherry bomb,

is not something any veteran wants to hear.

(small explosion)

There's a kind of prudishness,

or greater traditionalism that sets in,

such that like putting Whoopee Cushions

on your colleague's chair is no longer really considered

appropriate behavior.

And so with that, you see a kind of decline

in the adult prank toy market.

(upbeat music)

[Narrator] Until 1949,

when up and coming inventor, Eddy Goldfarb

thinks of something revolutionary to revive it.

Inspired by a magazine advertisement

for the Tooth Garage,

which was a place to

store your dentures,

Goldfarb decides he's going to create chattering teeth.

What essentially just looks like a pair of dentures

that you wind up and then they chatter on their own.

I don't know why it

connects, but it does.

[Ashley] He then shows them to his friend Marvin Glass.

Glass is a toy design legend,

and it's because of him

that Yakity-Yak ended up

coming to market.

Glass absolutely loves these things.

(teeth chattering)

And Marvin thought,

"This is awesome."

And so he decided to sell it to Fishlove.

(upbeat music)

The Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth are huge.

Comedians love it, kids love it, they're for everybody.

They're making everyone laugh, genius.

(teeth chattering)

And so he decides to expand the chattering toy line,

and we end up with Schmo, a walking bowler hat.

We end up with Mr. Bones, which is a chattering skull,

and a pair of chattering wigs.

Just making that one mechanism,

but redressing it over

and over and over again.

That's a design genius and manufacturing genius move.

[Narrator] Not to be outdone,

Adams has a few more tricks up his sleeve.

In the 1950s, Adams

comes up with a pen

that squirts disappearing ink,

and a stick of gum that snaps your finger

when you take a slice out.

(toy snaps) (person groans)

He came up with some of my favorites,

the bug in the ice cube.

I got every adult in my life with that bad boy.

In 1958, Fishlove strikes again with the Hypo-Phony.

A syringe that makes it look like

you're giving or taking blood.

We think about the '50s, as the, "I Like Ike,"

super-conservative America,

where rock and roll is the demon,

but the fake hypodermic needle,

that's good old clean fun.

What? (laughs)

If there's one thing I think of

when I think of toys for kids, it's a hypodermic needle.

The whole thing is just, (laughs) over-the-top fun.

[Narrator] But the Hypo-Phony has nothing

on Fishlove's next smash hit.

In 1959, Fishlove starts experimenting

and he comes up with his magnum opus, Whoops.

- Whoops! - Whoops.

The fake vomit, I remember ordering from a magazine,

I mean, everybody needed the fake vomit to get their parents

or to leave it there for the high school janitor to see.

What sets theirs apart from others

is how realistic it looks.

The recipe is still a proprietary secret to this day.

I imagine it's stored next to the Coke recipe,

and also KFC's 11 herbs and spices, in Fort Knox.

[Narrator] In its first year alone,

Fishlove sells a hundred thousand units.

S.S. Adams decided

that he has to have this huge seller, too.

So Adams creates his own fake vomit called Glop.

(vomit squishes)

There were a tremendous amount of copycats,

but the two that were steady sellers were, of course,

the Glop and the Whoops.

Ultimately with fake vomit, the joke doesn't land,

unless it looks realistic.

Wow, this is not where I thought the show was gonna go.

[Narrator] As the 1950s end,

Adams and Fishlove are still thriving,

but there's a flood of unexpected competition

that threatens them both.

When overseas companies start making cheaper knockoffs,

the American market has to scramble to compete.

[Narrator] In America, Adams and Fishlove

are still the reigning kings of prank toys,

but trouble brews,

as the industry goes global in the 1960s.

As overseas production begins mainly in Hong Kong, Japan,

and China, it really does hurt the American industry,

because all their items

are now being duplicated

by the millions for a

fraction of the cost.

And so what happens there is,

that you have cheap knockoff

versions everywhere.

When S.S. Adams' patent for the Joy Buzzer expires,

he actually has to order them

overseas to keep up with demand.

But they just weren't as good,

so we're sort of watering

down the classics there.

[Narrator] Unfortunately, only a few years later,

in 1963, Adams dies at the age of 84.

He leaves behind this wonderful legacy to his heirs,

who will go on to continue for many more decades.

[Narrator] Not long after, in 1968,

Fishlove also passes away.

His son Howard, heads up the business for another 17 years,

then sells to Fun, Inc. in 1985.

But thanks to one novelty store, their influence lives on.

The one place that feels like it was actually made

for S.S. Adams' and Fishlove's products,

is this prank paradise in every American mall.

And it's called Spencer Gifts.

In the '80s, if you needed a prank toy,

that's where you went.

Spencer Gifts was just

an amazing place to go to.

It was like a funhouse.

I remember getting dirty

Mad Libs at Spencer's Gifts.

They have all the gag gifts,

all the fun stuff you could possibly get somebody.

What Spencer Gifts did was legitimize fun.

Spencer Gifts had everything. They had rubber chickens,

lava lamps, Whoopee Cushions.

It feels so '80s to me,

but they're exactly the same thing now.

[Narrator] Today, there are fewer than 150 specialty joke

and magic shops left in America.

But prank toys aren't going anywhere.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here,

and say that prank toys are alive and well.

And because of high-tech innovation, they keep evolving.

[Narrator] Including one classic gag

that's found new life with the push of a button.

(machine farts)

(machine farts)

Oh, nice.

That was a nice tight one, I like that one. (laughs)

Oh, Fishlove

would be so proud.

Wireless, remote-controlled

fart machines.

(machine farts)

Ooh.

This is the remote- controlled fart machine

that came out in 1993.

So the Whoopee Cushion has gone digital.

This is magic, now this is magic in your hand,

because now you can place it anywhere.

You can place it under anyone's seat.

I could do a lot of damage with this.

(machine farts)

There is that universal-

(machine farts)

thing about that moment.

(machine farts)

A little strenuous.

You might have to check yourself after that.

About that noise, about the effect that it has on us.

(machine farts)

It is funny and it always will be.

(dramatic music)

[Narrator] From the simplest gadgets

to the most sophisticated tech,

prank toys have given us years of laughter.

I wanna see the person who combines the Joy

Buzzer and the fake vomit.

I don't know how that would work, but I'm interested.

The surprise, the fun, it's taking people out

of their normal environment.

There's something about that feeling

we got from those prank toys.

There's just some energy about, "I got you!"

Then it's like, "Oh, okay,

now we can laugh about it."

Every kid thinks

they are the first one

to sneak a fake poo or some fake vomit.

(liquid squishes)

They reflect where we were, where we've come from,

and how just ingenuity, entrepreneurship,

and a playful imagination can

create millions of dollars,

and make a whole lot of people happy

(machine farts)

or grossed out.

(toilet flushes)