Dinhofer says it was not only the first twisted straw, but also the first plastic drinking straw on the market. It provided an alternative to the glass and paper straws being sold at the time, and it sold more than 5 million pieces, one of which would influence the design of BOM. Recounting his first business meeting with Marks, Dinhofer states that he brought a pile of his links over and started playing with them. They are in Dinhofer’s possession today and are red, S-shaped links, each made from a 1/4-inch plastic rod with a pinched end for connecting. As he watched Marks play with the links, Dinhofer thought to himself, “Monkeys!” “I told [Marks] he had a winner,” says Dinhofer. “I would develop it and he should sell it. We signed an agreement that night.” Asked why he chose monkeys, Dinhofer responds, “What else would you make them? Monkeys came to my mind instantly.” Dinhofer modeled the monkey’s arms after his Sip-n-See cowboy straw, which had s-shaped arms just like a link. “Our first step,” Dinhofer explains, “was to have a patent search made. Many linking games were disclosed, but nothing with animals.” Dinhofer admits that while none of those patented toys were successful, he still believed in their idea. It would take Dinhofer three months to go from a sketch to a functional monkey—in other words, likable and linkable. “We had to have 10 to 15 perfect pieces in order to see how they played,” he says. The biggest challenge in designing them was the monkey’s balance. After that, Dinhofer researched monkey photographs and made numerous sketches until he got the toy’s cute face down on paper. Dinhofer selected a body that he liked from another of his sketches, and then invested in a professional model maker. Under his supervision, A. Santore, of A. S. Plastic Model Company, carved one perfect sample. Dinhofer then found a company that would make a beryllium mold from Santore’s monkey and run sample
FEBRUARY 2015
Original drawing of the head for Barrel of Monkeys
monkeys from it. Looking at Dinhofer’s first run of monkeys, they look identical to Lakeside Toys’ 1965 debut version. The only difference between Dinhofer’s monkeys and ones sold today is that shortly after the toy’s release, more hair was added to their bodies. As for the name, “More fun than a barrel of monkeys” was a common phrase during the ’60s that dated back to at least the 1800s; however, that was not where Dinhofer and Marks got the name for their toy. “I also have one package with the name Chimp to Chimp on it,” discloses Dinhofer. Chimp to Chimp was BOM’s initial name, and like BOM, it featured 12 monkey playing pieces. Twelve monkeys seemed just right to Dinhofer, since too many links would require actually lifting the children higher to accommodate the growing chain of monkeys; a situation that wasn’t necessarily ideal. “Three to 12 year olds had to stand to link all 12,” says Dinhofer. When asked if Chimp to Chimp monkeys came in a cardboard tube similar to Lakeside’s 1965 version, Dinhofer says, “Lakeside had more experience at $1 [retail prices]. I had designed very expensive packaging. It was much more expensive than the cardboard can that Lakeside used, and much more expensive to load.” Once Chimp to Chimp was shopped to retailers, Dinhofer says that Marks showed to Woolworth’s, which was then the
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