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by Kim Infanti '06, G'16
Roger Schlaifer ’67 vividly recalls Christmas Eve 1980.
His extended family had left for the evening, and his wife Susanne couldn’t wait to show their eldest daughter Jessica her featured Christmas present. She gave Roger a sneak peek.
“She opened the box and I saw these shiny big eyes looking up at me, and it was the ugliest doll I’d ever seen,” Schlaifer recalls. He pointed that out and remarked to his wife that he didn’t think Jessica even played with dolls.
Susanne didn’t speak to him for the rest of the night.
Inside that box was Lavinia Merle. When Jessica pulled the doll out on Christmas morning, she was deliriously happy. Schlaifer’s dismay from the night before quickly melted away.
It turns out Lavinia Merle was one of the “Little People” – and all of Jessica’s friends had one. It got her dad’s wheels turning. Fast forward to the Fall of 1981, and Schlaifer had secured a meeting that would eventually make him the worldwide licensing agent for Little People. Part of the deal was coming up with a new name for the homely dolls.
The name he chose? You’ve likely heard it. Cabbage Patch Kids. And they would be everywhere – dolls, children’s apparel, bedding, books, and entertainment galore. Schlaifer made sure of it. Thanks to his involvement, Cabbage Patch Kids saw $4.5 billion dollars in sales in six years.
Schlaifer looks back fondly on his years in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, where he completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Professor Don Trousdell had the most formative impact on Schlaifer’s storied career.
“Do you get bored doing illustrations?” Schlaifer recalls Trousdell asking him one day. His young student acknowledged that he most certainly did.
“Then you should not be illustrating,” Trousdell responded. “Stop illustrating and focus on what you do best which is come up with ideas.”
Schlaifer’s billion dollar ideas will be featured this Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on The History Channel’s 8-part series “The Toys That Built America.” The series chronicles the untold stories and rivalries that gave rise to the modern toy industry.