Toy Riots

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2019

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After the heavy first half of this season, I wanted us to take a little break together and have some fun. We will be covering the volatile toy riots of the 1980s and 90s, from Cabbage Patch Kids to Tickle Me Elmo to Beanie Babies to Pokemon. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to when adults created a market for these toys out of thin air, with pointless plush selling for tens of thousands of dollars, and we’ll even hear a little from my Grannie about her personal mission to find a precious Tickle Me Elmo. I’ll explore just what it is about these fad toys that have led adults to fight each other in the aisles, to break each other’s arms, to create smuggling rings, and even commit murder, sometimes trampling the very children the toys were made for. Thanks to my Grannie Sheila Haagenson! American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Produced and edited by Clear Commo Studios Research and cowriting assisted by Riley Smith Co-Produced by Miranda Zickler Show art by Roache Voice Acting by Will Rogers Become a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly! Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	At John Lewis, we know family moments aren't precious from celebrating their first birthday.
0:07.0	To keeping them entertained this summer.
0:12.0	We've got stylish kids wear and the latest toys and tech to let them get creative.
0:18.0	Plus get free next day click and collect when you spend over £30.
0:23.0	Discover more in store, online or on our app.
0:27.0	John Lewis for all life's moments.
0:40.0	On this season we'll be exploring our bizarre beliefs, unfounded fears and fantastical thinking,
0:45.0	how they shape our psychology and culture and how much of our past we can find in the present.
0:50.0	I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith and this is American hysteria.
0:56.0	I mean you could take these in the Chicago area right now and ask about anything you want.
1:00.0	You can't find it!
1:02.0	Somebody in the crowd yelled,
1:05.0	there's the almost and they rushed us.
1:09.0	I don't like them. I don't like their faces, but I want one.
1:24.0	I remember my first beanie baby vividly.
1:27.0	Bones the dog, a simple light brown stuffed animal filled with beans instead of fluff.
1:33.0	After a quick scan of the tag, I tore it off immediately.
1:37.0	The heart shaped tag that contained a unique birthday and a poem for each animal.
1:42.0	The hearts that would eventually fill the hopeful eyes of American kids and adults alike.
1:47.0	There was a kind of love in ripping off a tag,
1:51.0	an initiation into a time-honored plush intimacy.
1:55.0	Queue the madness of the lights and sounds of chucky cheese on a weekend afternoon,
	...

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