In 1953, the Hassenfelds released set #2004, which included Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head in the same box together! Obviously appealing to both boys and girls, this set was very popular. That may explain why many of these sets survive today. The box was released in two versions. One featured black and white pictures on the front, which were later updated to color photographs.

(left to right)
Set #2004 w/black and white cover photos-Hassenfeld Bros., ca. 1953, ca. 1953
Set  # 2004-Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head-Hassenfeld Bros., ca. 1953

    Another one of the 1950s joint sets was #2006, which introduced  brother Yam and sister Sweet Potato.  (Some early advertising refers to them as son and daughter instead of brother and sister.) Included in this set were over 100 pieces. And speaking of pieces... the styrofoam heads, which were included simply to display a few of the head pieces, remains present in older sets more often than the face pieces. Although these sets are fairly common today, it’s difficult to find them with the cardboard inserts intact.

    Hasbro apparently realized that the multi-character sets were a hit with kids, and continued throughout the 1950s with even more combined play sets. Following the release of the Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Hasbro released the Super Fun Pack, which included Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and their new Pets! Children of the 50s could now make “animal” potato heads as well as the standard “human” potato heads. The normal face pieces were joined by an assortment of snouts, ears, noses and beaks. They were popular enough to justify debuting other Spudettes sets at the 1955 toy fair.

   Make no mistake, Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head were still kings in this toy line. But Hasbro experimented briefly by concentrating exclusively on these characters from the animal kingdom. Hasbro changed the name from plain Pets to Spudettes, excluded Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head,  and released several Spudette stand alone sets. Hasbro gave them the names Bushy Bear, Dinkey Donkey, Kitten Head, Puppy Pet, Homey Bunny, and Piggly Wiggly! The Spudettes were sold in a variety of packages. And interestingly, each set contained some of the characters, but no set contained all of the characters! If you want to collect all of the Spudettes and Pets, be prepared to buy more than one set. Below is a circus theme box variation and a theater stage variation. Hasbro made sure that these boxes, like the earlier Potato Head store front boxes, were just as much an accessory as the face pieces.

Set #2008-Potato Head Spud-ettes-Hassenfeld Bros., ca 1950s

Set #2010-Potato Head Spud-ettes-Hassenfeld Bros., ca 1950s
 

(left to right)
Set #59x31-Spudettes in carded bag -Hassenfeld Bros.,-1950's
Set #4031-Spudettes in carded bag -Hassenfeld Bros.,-1950's
 

Set #69x31-Spudettes in single box-Hassenfeld Bros.,-1950's
 

The 1950s Spudette insert shows all of the different characters, even though they were never all included together in a single set.