The body pieces had very sharp points. One time my brother stepped on the mouth and it got impaled in his heel. He was screaming while all the family members came to help. But no one could keep a straight face because it looked so silly with him sticking his foot up and this stupid red mouth was smiling at everybody.

It's "Potato", Mr. Quayle.

I don't remember this personally, but I heard that the original Mr. Potato Head (1950s) was just the body parts; you had to provide your own potato!

I "DO" remember using a real potato for the body!BARELY!My mom worked in the potato fields so we had a lot of potatos to pick from. I have just lately found a Mr Potato Head Game at a garage sale, box and all. I had to buy it so it can sit in my house along with all the other things that keep me young!

I had one of these in the late '60s, and yes, you used a real potato.

Mr. Potato Head first became available in 1952. For the first eight years, kids had to use a real potato (later cucumber). The body and face pieces only were sold in a box. The federal government forced Hasbro to make major changes in 1964. The original body parts were sharp pins you'd stick into the vegetable. Kids were jabbing themselves (it took eight years to figure it out?). The new Mr./Mrs. Potato Heads had plastic heads and safer facial/body parts. Found a 1961 TV commercial which aired on "Captain Kangaroo" over CBS, listing two dollars as the price for both Mr. and Mrs. parts in the same box (Hasbro Kid appears). Found a commercial with the new Potato Head features, airing on the "Casper the Ghost" cartoon show (2/20/65, ABC). This Hasbro commercial block included one for G.I. Joe action figures.9GR