Backstory: Classic toys 'R' still us

The first thing I noticed about the American International Toy Fair is that it's very serious business. No one under 18 is allowed: They're banned, verboten, little personae non grata. Even infants can't cross the threshold to sample any of the 5,000 new cuddly bears, talking dolls, flying missiles, lifelike puppets, and action-packed video games overflowing New York's Javits Convention Center this week.

This is where "Play Meets Profit," say the brochures. So how could anyone get any work done with a bunch of kids running around?

The severity of this decree was brought home at the entrance when I heard an alert from a nearby gate crackling from the security guard's walkie-talkie: "We have an underage...."

I wondered if they'd send for King Kong, who was getting his picture taken with a middle-aged buyer at a nearby booth. Or would one of the Jedi Knights wandering the convention center, light saber in hand, come and whisk it away? I mean, what's one to do with an "underage," anyway?

But no more kidding around. This is serious. The $21 billion toy industry faces tough times. Sales have been declining for the past two year. Toys "R" Us is about to close 75 stores. FAO Schwarz is bankrupt. Kids are abandoning their toys at younger and younger ages, pleading for XBoxes instead of shiny red Flexible Flyers.

Toy analysts say it's not just technology's fault, but the industry's. In its race to integrate high tech into toys, it has in many cases forgotten a most fundamental thing: how to play.

"Play starts with a box, with the discovery of pots and pans. If everything has bells and whistles and does everything for them from the time a child is very young, [his] own imagination is not going to be very stimulated," says Stevanne Auerbach, a.k.a. Dr. Toy and author of "Smart Play, Smart Toys: How to raise a child with a high PQ." (PQ, by the way, is Play Quotient - kind of like your IQ, but with a smile.) "The more you play, the more playful you become."

Now, I want to be clear. I don't have any kids. And worse, when I was one, I was content to play with a Matchbox car in the sand by the side of the road. (I built little cities, complete with highways, bridges, and skyscrapers made of twigs.) But, for reasons beyond my control - two, in fact: nephews Owen and James, 9 and 5 - I have in my later years become a toy connoisseur. In fact, my family now affectionately refers to me as "Auntie Mame." There's not a corner of the FAO Schwarz store on Fifth Avenue that I haven't scoured for "just the right present."

So as I set out on this journalistic venture through the aisles of 1,500 toy manufacturers, inventors, and wholesalers from more than 30 countries, I was determined to understand what's working in the toy world, what's not and why. However, I was woefully aware I'd be hampered by the absence of the two best experts I know - Owen and James - who are "underage." Still, I managed to get an education on the importance of the classics - dolls, balls, yarn, and bubbles.

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