Eddy Goldfarb

Eddy Goldfarb, born Adolph Goldfarb on September 4, 1921, is an American toy inventor who created more than 800 toys. He is most famous for inventing Yakity Yak Talking Teeth, Battling Tops, KerPlunk, Stompers, and Vac-U-Form. A short film about his life, *Eddy's World*, won awards.

Goldfarb grew up in Chicago, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Romania. He had an older brother, Bernard, and a younger sister, Bunny (Bernice). As a small child, he was curious about how things worked. When he was about five, his father Louis brought home a radio that didn’t work. Louis gave it to Eddy, who took it apart to study it; he later called it one of the best toys he ever had. Louis worked as a tailor and also sold goods from a pushcart on Maxwell Street. He died in 1933 at age 44. After that, 12-year-old Eddy, his brother, and their mother Rose all worked to support the family. Eddy delivered newspapers and groceries, but his favorite job was as a soda jerk at Schuster’s Drug Store. There, his friends stopped calling him Adolph—because of Adolf Hitler’s rise—and started calling him Eddy, a name that stuck.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Eddy enlisted in the Navy. He trained as a radar technician and volunteered for submarine duty, joining the crew of the USS *Batfish* while it was still under construction. He was on its first crew when it went to sea. He could bring only one sea bag, which he filled with clothes, books, and a spool of magnet wire he used to build tiny motors. He also kept a sketchbook of his invention ideas and decided that to be an independent inventor, he should focus on one industry—toys.

After the war, Goldfarb returned to Chicago. He met Anita at a dance and proposed the next day; they married nine months later. Anita agreed to support him for two years while he pursued his dream of becoming an independent inventor.

His first major sold invention was Yakity Yak Talking Teeth, a simple gag item that became a cultural icon. He partnered with promoter Marvin Glass, and together they brought the teeth to novelty distributor Irving Fishlove. At the 1950 Toy Fair in New York, Goldfarb had three toys on display: Yakity Yak Talking Teeth (with Fishlove), Busy Biddy Chicken, and Merry-Go-Sip (both with Topic Toys). All three were hits, launching his career.