Milton Dinhofer was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a successful importer who already had two toy successes to his credit. He created the first full-size wearable toy space helmet which made the covers of both "The Saturday Evening Post" (November 8, 1952) and "Collier's" magazine (April 18, 1953). He also designed and brought to market Sip-n-See. Sip-n-See was the first mass-produced twisted plastic drinking straw and sold over 6 million units. The straws had different characters on them, and it was the s-shaped arms of his cowboy straw that inspired the shape of the monkeys's arms.