But for much of this century they were essentially a preparation for serious adult roles: baby dolls and toy kitchens for girls, erector sets, toy trucks and train sets for boys.

ECONOMIST: Toys

Hasbro has a huge share in most big toy retailers, and whenever aged baby boomers go into a store they go nuts coveting all the cool stuff that never existed in the 1950s.

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Billy, the playful computer-generated baby who appears in the short film Tin Toy, helped Richmond, Calif.

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Because of time constraints, for all Billy's realistic baby behavior, his creators were unable to capture "the fatty tissue that squishes when a baby moves, " says William Reeves, technical director for Tin Toy.

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