Subject:
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Re: A quick LEGO History
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:22:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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2218 times
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1970 was a very tumultuous year at TLG.
A lot of bad things were in progress at the same time....
1) the USA Samsonite license fiasco.
2) the death of Hanne Christiansen.
3) a new law passed by the Italian parliament.
In October of 1969 on their way to Give Denmark to see a movie, KKK and his
younger sister Hanne were in a car full of young adults (ages in early 20's).
And tragedy struck on that rainy night. The car went off the road, KKK was
critically injured, and poor Hanne died.
Like any father, Godfredt Kirk Christainsen was struck with grief over the loss
of his youngest child, Hanne. And KKK was critically injured, and required a
long hospital stay. It appears that the oldest child Gunhild was not in that
car that night.
The driver of the vehicle has never been disclosed, but rumor around Billund has
it that it was the son of a Copenhagen department store magnate.
Godfredt had a difficult period ahead of him. His depression nearly caused him
to sell TLG. But eventually KKK recovered from his injuries. Word has it that
to this day KKK refuses to talk about that rainy night. Godfredt also recoverd
from his grief (or as much as any father can after losing a child), because he
had to deal with other pressing issues, such as the problems with Samsonite and
with Italy.
Here is a picture of Hanne taken for a LEGO brochure in 1959, age about 9 or 10.
This was taken 10 years before her untimely death in 1969 (Eric Strand Image):
http://home.comcast.net/~strandee/germany_dollhouse/dollhouse_3.htm
Besides the problem with Samsonite, TLG also had to deal with a new law passed
by the Italian Parliament circa 1970, that forbade the import of toys. So in
order to get around this problem, TLG set up a subsidiary in Italy called
Minitalia. They produced their first sets in 1971.
For some reason TLG did not use the "tube bottom" bricks for their first
Minitalia sets. TLG had another patent for bricks involving "X" bottom bricks.
These were produced for the Minitalia line in 1971-72, but soon added tube
bottom bricks to the Minitalia lineup. Why the switch? Perhaps TLG was worried
about their famous "tube bottom" patent in the Italian market.
By 1973 Minitalia sets contained tube bottom bricks, and by 1974 TLG sales
returned to Italy due to the relaxation of the toy import laws. The remainder
of the Minitalia line was sold until supplies were exhausted. From 1974-75 both
Minitalia and LEGO were sold in Italy, until Minitalia quietly disappeared from
Italian toy store shelves.
Here is an example of early (x bottom) and later (tube bottom) Minitalia bricks
(from Luca Giannitti's excellent Minitalia website):
http://www.lucajuventino.altervista.org/lego/minitalia_EN.htm
And the rest is history...
Gary Istok
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: A quick LEGO History
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| (...) This makes me wonder whether the design of the 2x2 round tile is a vestige of the "X" bottom design, or if it came about some other way. It certainly enhances the usefulness of those tiles. And, thank you Gary for your enlightening posts; I (...) (17 years ago, 3-Jan-07, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: A quick LEGO History
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| (...) So, out of curiosity, why is this usually called the starting date? I always hear it quoted that Lego started in 1932, but I'm not sure why people quote that rather than 1895 or 1916. From what I know (from 50 Years of Play book): 1895 - (...) (17 years ago, 24-Dec-06, to lugnet.general)
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