Even eBay’s Nutcracker Buying Guide page erroneously identified that of the two types of nutcrackers, decorative and steel tool, “both types are functional.” One site claimed to sell several nutcrackers that are “functional” but the rest of the English translation was so poor and the nutcrackers were so cheap, I was certain they were not.
#Crack doll crack#
They probably crack nuts, they’re nutcrackers, right?Īnd so on. Not just decorative, like, for putting on your mantle. No, functional, like, they can actually crack nuts. Sure they have tons at Kohls! And they’re on sale! Message boards read something like this:ĭoes anyone know where I can find a functional Nutcracker for my daughter? When I found others desperately searching for the same, it was like coming upon others with the a similar rare condition. (Some people call this “research.” This is insulting to anyone who has ever performed actual research.) My requirements were simple: a nutcracker that resembles the soldier nutcracker from the ballet that can crack nuts in its mouth. None of this concerns a six-year-old boy whose whole world consists of cracking things open to see what’s inside. Genetic engineering of nuts to enhance pest and disease resistance in the past decades has increased the size of nuts, so many nuts don’t fit in the cracking mechanism (the soldier’s mouth) any more.
Additionally, nuts are bigger than they used to be, says Wagner.
It was the perfect storm: increased demand for nutcrackers and decreased demand for cracking nuts. Cheap labor satisfied American demand for ornamental nutcrackers and could quickly produce them in American-friendly and -marketable images such as cowboy-wranger and Mickey Mouse that the original skilled woodworkers in Erzhebirge-which was now under Russian control and didn’t enjoy much creative freedom-could not. Intense demand for nutcracker dolls as decorations, combined with mechanical shelling of nuts that allowed nut meat to be sold pre-shelled and pre-packaged, changed that. “Before 1940, I don’t know of any nutcrackers that didn’t crack nuts,” says Wagner, whose collection includes more than 6,000 nutcrackers. Wagner says that the ballet’s acclaim, combined with American soldiers returning home from Germany after World War II with souvenirs in hand, made nutcrackers a must-have collectible.īrowse more than 5,000 antique nutcrackers at the Nutcracker Museum in Neuhausen, Germany. The first American production of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet The Nutcracker, based loosely on Hoffman’s book, occurred in 1940 and was immediately popular. Nutcrackers in the shapes of animals and people were popular at parties, as cracking nuts was a light task to engage guests over conversation after dinner (a tradition I intend on resurrecting). Hoffman wrote the story The Nutcracker and the King of Mice. (Although woodworkers made nutcrackers of many character shapes much earlier than that.) Around the same time in 1816, E.T.A. shell battle for so long, but cracking nuts has a slow-food loveliness to it.Īccording to Arlene Wagner of the Nutcracker Museum, nutcracker soldiers were made in the Erzgebirge region of Germany around 1800. Machines now shell our nuts because really, who can be bothered with the effort and mess of fumbling with snacks when we’re doing something as important as, say, watching TV? And how are we supposed to be on our computers while we’re using our hands to crack nuts? Mechanical separation is intoxicating to we who fought the man vs. Nuts are more popular than ever, with reams of studies touting their health benefits.īut nutcrackers of any kind, even the standard two-pronged lever, fell out of fashion as society moved toward less work and quick reward. My search for a functional soldier nutcracker is as perplexing as the actual cracking of the nut was to mankind for millennia, before we created tools to violently bash through the seemingly impenetrable shell and get to the sweet-meat reward inside. Contact him at keep this terror train moving with 7 Horrific Boogeymen Used to Scare Kids Around The World and The 5 Most Horrific Ways People Have Tried to Discourage Sex.Īnd stop by Linkstorm to because we have more stuff there that will make you cry.Īnd don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get sexy, sexy jokes sent straight to your news feed.ĭo you have an idea in mind that would make a great article? Then sign up for our writers workshop! Do you possess expert skills in image creation and manipulation? Mediocre? Even rudimentary? Are you frightened by MS Paint and simply have a funny idea? You can create an infograpic and you could be on the front page of Cracked.Please be respectful of copyright. Cezary Jan Strusiewicz is a freelance online journalist and Japanese-English-Polish translator.
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