The striking cardinal nature of the chart of the United States, centered on a core of planets in the zodiac sign of Cancer, underscores the entrepreneurial nature of its citizens. Certainly an impressive array of American personalities can be named among the ranks of those who have achieved financial success through bold and original action, one of them being Mr. Potato Head.
Iconic Mr. Potato Head, the Sponge Bob of his day, was officially launched by Hasbro on May 1, 1952. Uranus was in Cancer at the time, hitting the stellium of Cancer planets in the Sibley chart of the birth of our nation and challenging the U. S. Saturn in Libra. This was certainly the time to shake things up and funky Mr. Potato Head was ready to take on the toy world with his unique way of interfacing plastic and vegetable matter. Originally conceived in 1949, toy manufacturers at that time were sensitive to a public that just emerged from WWII, food rationing and commodity shortages. They felt that Mr. Potato Head, with an original design that called for a real potato for the body was a waste of food and could not be marketed. However on the day of his official launch, Uranus, the planet of the unusual was within three degrees of the U. S. Sun breaking down the original objections to his construction.
True to his Uranian nature, Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television and sales hit one million within the first year. This is especially significant since there were only 16.2 million children alive from the ages of 6 to 11 and 21 million from the ages of birth to 6 years n 1952 and in spite of the relatively pricey nature of the spud. The price of 98 cents was a bit of a stretch for most families where the median income was $70 per week before taxes.
Having become a toy chest staple in a relatively short time, Mr. Potato Head expanded the franchise to reflect a family theme so typical of the United States Sun in Cancer. According to Wikipedia: “in 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family with accessories reflecting the affluence of the fifties that included a car, a boat trailer, a kitchen set, a stroller, and pets called Spud-ettes”.
Those that share the position of 10th house Saturn of the U. S. horoscope Chart can find themselves thrust in the public eye for many years, and Mr. Potato Head is no different. During his 57 year career, not only has he continued to be popular among the pre-teen set, he has expanded into roles in cartoons, movies, television and video games. He even has been immortalized as one of Disney’s Audio-Animatronic characters in Disney World and Disney Land. As Saturn prepares to enter the zodiac sign of Libra yet again in 2010 we can look forward to new dimensions being explored of this enduring icon of American childhood and culture.
Picture printed under a Creative Commons License from Wikipedia
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