EDDIE GOLDFARB The person who brought the world its first chattering teeth (!) also designed the games where you'll "Win...or Get Wet!"

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an inventor. I was born in Chicago and, from my earliest school days I began designing everything from rockets to rotary engines. My first toy inventions were action figures (made of cardboard!) and divers that worked quite nicely in the cola bottles we had at hand.

I joined the Navy when W.W.II started. I was involved in top security assignments involving radar and volunteered for submarine duty where I spent the rest of the war at sea in the Pacific. In that kind of environment, I relied even more on my imagination and spent whatever spare time there was inventing and planning for the future.

I knew early on that I wanted the freedom that comes with being an independent inventor. I also knew that, to insure success, I would have to specialize in one industry: preferably one where the end product would not take too long to develop. I always liked children and believed that I could come up with many ideas that they would enjoy. When the war ended I was ready to begin!

At that time, it's quite possible that I was the ONLY independent toy designer (versus designers who were on staff at the various toy companies). This new way of licensing toy concepts--from an outside inventor on a royalty basis--was received with mixed reviews. I might add that many of companies who were most receptive are still in business today, proving that our industry was and always will be PRODUCT driven!

I was the first American to receive the I.D.I.O.T. (International Designers & Inventors of Toys) award from the United Kingdom and European inventor community.

I have had over 500 items on the market and have several hundred patents in all toy categories: dolls, games, RC, preschool, hobby, craft, boys and girls toys and arcade games.

Some of the my first products were:

• Yakkity Yak Teeth:

• Busy Biddy:

• Merry Go Sip:

Other items that have been huge successes for us have been:

• Battling Tops
• Kerplunk
• Shark Attack!
• Stompers
• Quiz Whiz
• Numbers Up
• Giant Bubble Guns
• Milky the Cow
• Baby Beans

We are very excited about our latest items with Pressman: Hydro Strike! and Hydro Zap!

Being a toy inventor has been a great and rewarding career. I've been extremely fortunate to have had wonderful associates throughout my career. Also to have had my family- daughters, Lyn and Fran, son and partner, Martin, and wife, Anita, be an integral part of my professional life. I have two seven-year-old grandsons, Rene and Guthrie, who already enjoy what we are doing and-who knows?-may become our third generation of toy designers!