Roger Schlaifer Coca-Cola, Rushton Toys and IBM. In 1978 Schlaifer branded an early jogging-shoe roller-skate as Hot Rollers and licensed the Hot Roller brand for kids’ apparel, skates and fashion accessories which sold at stores such as Bloomingdales, Belk’s and Mervyn’s. Building on the success of his licensing Hot Rollers, in 1981 Schlaifer proposed an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Xavier Roberts’ company, Original Appalachian Artworks, for the rights to "Little People" soft sculpture dolls and Babyland General Hospital. Schlaifer rebranded the "Little People" dolls as Cabbage Patch Kids. In addition to signing up Coleco Industries on August 9, 1982, as its
Little People of America Little People of America Little People of America (LPA) is a non-profit organization which provides support, resources, and information to individuals with dwarfism and their families. LPA was founded in 1957 by Billy Barty when he informally called upon people of short stature to join him in a get-together in Reno, Nevada. The original association was known as "Midgets of America." The name was later changed to "Midgets and Dwarfs of America" when the people with dwarfism complained that there were more dwarfs than midgets. "Little People" became the accepted term because, again, the people with dwarfism said there were