The Christmas Tree Twinkler, Photo by Bob Trube © 2019
On Christmas Day, we were visiting with my son and his wife. While we were there, he gave me the box of ornaments you see above. Mutual friends, whose son works with my son, passed along this box of ornaments, which had belonged to one of their parents, knowing of our interest in all things Youngstown (yes, we are getting a reputation!).
So I thought I would look into the history of The Christmas Tree Twinkler (or as some people call them, spinners). In the process, I found a fascinating account of the man who invented it, the Plakie Toy Company in Youngstown who manufactured it, and the Hoover family who started the company which lasted until 1992.
John Garver grew up on a farm outside Youngstown, learning to tinker as he had to repair farm implements. After college in Indiana, he returned to teach at Boardman High School. He continued to tinker. Eventually he had ten patents to his name including the patent for The Christmas Tree Twinkler (you can see his patent drawings in this Popular Mechanics article). He created the dual brake pedal used in driver training vehicles and machines that could throw tennis balls, footballs, and baseballs (he even wrote a book on baseball cybernetics).
A Birdcage Twinkler. Photo by Bob Trube © 2019
The Twinkler was a simple idea: mount a spinner on a pin inside a hollow plastic cylinder within a decorative birdcage or star. Place it above a Christmas tree light (one of the old C7 lights that generated a bit of heat) and the heat would set the spinner in motion, hence the twinkling. The idea for the star apparently came from his wife, who was cutting star cookies and suggested putting a spinner in the middle. He patented it in 1954, took it to one of his classes, and mentioned that he was interested in marketing his invention.
It turns out that one of his students was Dean Hoover, son of Frank and Dorothy Hoover, who had a toy company called Plakie Toys based in Youngstown. In 1932, Frank Hoover returned to Youngstown after a stint of working in steel plants in Detroit. He started out manufacturing custom gearshift nobs for manual transmissions. By 1935, his business began to struggle with the rise of the automatic transmission. By then he had married and had an infant son Dean. One day, he spotted his infant son having a great time shaking some plastic squares strung on a chain, and the idea for a plastic toy company was born. The company name, Plakie, came from “play key.” During the war, they diverted to wood toys because plastic was scarce. Right after the war, his father purchased one of the first blow mold machines in the world, and the business was off and running.
A Twinkler set. Photo by Bob Trube © 2019
So Plakie was a natural fit for manufacturing John Garver’s invention. They began selling them at Strouss, selling as many as 1,000 in a day. Eventually they were manufacturing over three million of them a year. They had a few problems. The biggest was that if the ornaments were too close to the lights, the plastic would melt (it is kind of amazing in light of this to receive a full intact set!). There were problems with the machine that cut the pins, which were sometimes dull, preventing the spinner from twirling.
The big problem was the advent of artificial trees, which could be flammable. Cooler midget lights were invented, but they did not get hot enough to make the spinners move. Still, it is estimated that there could be as many as ten million of these still out there, probably stashed away in attics. They are a collectible and I found them selling online for anything between $15 and $50.
Frank Hoover died in 1960. Dorothy took over the company at that time and shifted the focus of the company to cloth products for children–blankets, crib sheets, cloth toys, cloth covered book, dolls, and dust ruffles. The companies sales grew to $4 million a year during this time. Eventually production costs and competition led the company to close its doors in 1992.
John Garver lived until 2015. He actually kept working on a Twinkler design using anodized aluminum until his death in 2015.
I don’t remember these ornaments from my childhood. I would have been fascinated back then, and I delight in their designs even now. They are one more point of Youngstown pride–both invented and manufactured in the Mahoning Valley.
A Star Twinkler. Photo by Bob Trube © 2019
Bob on Books 
What fun! Mr. Garver came to our 50th high school class reunion in 2014. He was such an interesting person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He sounded like he would be from what I read.
LikeLike
What an interesting article!!! First I remember the box at my grandma’s house and the ornament. !!! Mr Garner was my chemistry teacher at Boardman High. I did not know this back story at all. Thank you for your research and sharing. I no longer live in Youngstown either but Youngstown is part of who I am! I am sharing this article with several family members!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I’ve already had a number write on FB about having him as a teacher, and about having ornaments or having family who worked for Plakie. I really didn’t know any of this until we received this gift-so fun to discover these things about our home town!
LikeLike
My sister sold these ornaments for a junior achievement project when the patent was still pending. The metal was not colored and stars were the only shape available. We had two of them, and one was somewhat melted. My oldest daughter had that one and somehow lost it. I managed to purchase two of the kind you have in star designs at the Arms Museum this year. They were pricey, but both were so touched. Now we each have one in our homes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lynn, your ornament might be very valuable. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d be curious what they were going for at the Arms Museum. I saw that they originally sold for 29 cents, but now are anywhere from $15 to $50 online.
LikeLike
I remember Plakie Toy Company. I appreciate the article. My favorite Youngstown memory and is one I visit regularly is Handel’s custard. We go to the Stow store that is near our home in Kent. Chocolate pecan or snappy turtle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Handel’s is a universal favorite! We have one in Columbus. Nothing like it! Thanks for reading and writing a note!
LikeLike
We had about a dozen and shared with our grand parents inStruthers
We lived in new Middletown
I loved watching them and imagined how one could covert the spinners to fishing lures
Never figured it out
They are and will be fun
Even with a specially rigged center piece made with a coat hanger and a cut down single bulb window candle they still twinkle!😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved your recollections!
LikeLike
I have several of these ornaments – one is on my tree right now, and it does spin using the mini lights! They were on my family’s tree when I was growing up, and they are still fun to watch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like if you get the light positioned just right, they do! Thanks for writing!
LikeLike
I have mentioned before that John Garver was my Driver’s Ed teacher. One of the earliest classes he had. I never knew he invented the double brake system. Thank heavens he did, he used it once when I was driving!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So many have stories of him as a teacher!
LikeLike
Thanks for the article. I am a big fan of the twinklers.We have 14 on our tree.
Had the pleasure of meeting John Graver a few times playing tennis at Volney Rogers.
He was a very good tennis players.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, Bill, thanks for the note! Good to hear from you.
LikeLike
Pingback: Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown – Plakie Toy and the Hoover Family | Bob on Books
Both sets of my grandparents from New Castle, Pa, had some of the Twinklers on their Christmas trees. What a great piece of local history!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad to have this history! I found a few of the round ones at a garage sale in SE Kansas and never knew what they were (beyond really cool ornaments)!
LikeLike
They are cool as is the story behind them. Thanks for stopping by!
LikeLike