The inventor of the Etch-A-Sketch, the toy that has frustrated wannabe child artists the world over since 1959, Andre Cassagnes died in Paris last month at the age of 86. Cassagnes, formerly an electrical technician, came up with the idea way back when after seeing that markings made by aluminium powder could be seen through a translucent plate, and that you could manipulate them around to make doodles if done so in the right way.
The Etch-A-Sketch was one of the most popular toys in the US for decades before making a resurgence after featuring in Toy Story (even though no one can draw the way they make out you could draw in Toy Story. You'd be lucky if you could draw a circle decently, and then you'd have to worry about not shaking it at all so you could show it off to someone, which never happened).
