BRYAN, Ohio (AP) — Andre Cassagnes, the inventor of the Etch A Sketch toy that generations of children drew on, shook up and started over, has died in France, the toy's maker said. Cassagnes
died Jan. 16 in a Paris suburb at age 86, said the Ohio Art Co., based
in Bryan in northwest Ohio. The cause wasn't disclosed Saturday."Etch A Sketch has brought much success to the Ohio Art Company,
and we will be eternally grateful to Andre for that. His invention
brought joy to so many over such a long period of time," said Larry Killgallon, president of Ohio Art.
Then
an electrical technician, Cassagnes came upon the Etch A Sketch idea in
the late 1950s when he peeled a translucent decal from a light switch
plate and found pencil mark images transferred to the opposite face, the
Toy Industry Association said. Ohio Art saw his idea at the Nuremberg Toy Fair
in 1959. The toy, with its gray screen, red frame and two white knobs
that are twisted back and forth to create drawings, was launched in 1960
and became the top seller that holiday season. More than 100 million
have been sold worldwide since. Though
passed over in popularity for video games and gadgets, the toy has a
steady market, the company has said. It got a big jump in sales after
Etch A Sketch was featured in the first two "Toy Story" movies, and Ohio
Art capitalized on a much-publicized gaffe by a Mitt Romney
aide during last year's presidential election, who was asked about his
candidate's views during the primary season versus the general election. He likened the campaign to an Etch A Sketch: "You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again."Democrats and Republicans alike seized on the remark as evidence that Romney was willing to change his positions for political gain. A
