Betty James

Published on Tuesday 25 November 2008 20:59

Businesswoman who named the Slinky toy

Born: 13 February, 1918, in Pennsylvania.

Died: 20 November, 2008, in Philadelphia, aged 90.

BETTY James was the head of a toy company who came up with the name Slinky for the stair-walking spring that has delighted children for more than 60 years. She ran James Industries after her husband, the inventor Richard James, left it and his family in 1960.

Paging through a dictionary in 1944, Mrs James put her finger on the word slinky because she thought it best described the sinuous and graceful movement and the soft sound of the expanding and contracting metal coil her husband had fashioned.

Mr James was an engineer at a shipbuilding company in Philadelphia in 1943 when a torsion spring fell off a table and flipped end over end on a ship's deck. "I think I can make a toy out of this," he told his wife.

The Jameses made 400 Slinkys and, just before Christmas 1945, persuaded Gimbels department store in Philadelphia to let them set up a ramp in the toy department. Not only could a Slinky perform serial somersaults down the ramp, but it could turn a child instantly into a faultless juggler. At $1 each, those first 400 sold out in 90 minutes.

So far, more than 300 million Slinkys, including rainbow-hued plastic models and Slinky Dogs, have been sold, enough to circle the earth about 150 times, if stretched, which they shouldn't be.

Mrs James was president of James Industries from 1960 until 1998, when the company was acquired by Poof Products, a foam sports ball manufacturer.

Betty Mattas was born in 1918, the only child of Claire and Irene Mattas. She attended Pennsylvania State University until she met and married Mr James. They ran the company together for 14 years.

As successful as Slinkys have been for 63 years, there have been slumps. In 1960, with sales down, Mr James joined what his wife considered a religious cult and moved to Bolivia, leaving her with six children and the company. Mr James died in 1974.

To a degree, Slinky Dog came to the rescue. The original version – a waggling spring between a plastic head and tail – was quite successful.

Then, in 1995, a new Slinky Dog was bred. It was modelled after the version featured in the Disney computer-animated movie Toy Story, about toys that come to life to battle a bully who likes to torture toys. More than 800,000 of the new Slinky Dogs were sold that year, and revenue jumped 25 per cent.

In 2001, Pennsylvania legislators named Slinky the official state toy, and Mrs James was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.

Having raised six children largely on her own and enjoying a gaggle of grandchildren, Mrs James was adamant about keeping the original Slinky affordable. In 1996, when the price ranged from $1.89 to $2.69, she said in an interview: "So many children can't have expensive toys, and I feel a real obligation to them. I'm appalled when I go Christmas shopping and $60 to $80 for a toy is nothing. With 16 grandchildren you can go into the national debt."

Mrs James is survived by three sons, three daughters, 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.