History of French American Reeds.
Mario eagerly began to market the clothespins, and they became extremely successful. With the war in Europe, consumer goods were incredibly hard to come by and the people were eager to buy the clothespins. The clothespin market grew to the point that millions were produced daily. There was not even enough time to package them due to the fact that some retail stores would come every morning and fill large barrels with clothespins. This led the Maccaferris to establish Mastro Plastics Corporation, which would produce all of Maccaferri’s plastic creations that were to come. Once World War II was over, consumer goods became available and interest in the plastic clothespin fell; however, Maccaferri had already began to turn his attention towards his newest project: plastic tiles. As the soldiers returned to the States, houses were built at an alarming rate. Maccaferri improved the design and added the beveled edges to the plastic wall tile mold and began to produce millions of bath and kitchen tiles. All of the homes that were erected across the United States began to use the Maccaferri tiles.
Mario would return to the origins of his plastic creation, the musical world, for his next undertaking. Maccaferri next sought to integrate the plastics and musical world to a greater degree with the invention of a plastic instrument. The first plastic instrument Mario tried was the plastic ukulele. Mario encountered an initial problem when he began his endeavor: insufficient capital. Mario contacted Sonfield, an executive at RCA whom he knew through his connections with musical distributors. Mario asked for a $5,000 loan, and in return, Sonfield would receive the profit of the first 100 cases shipped each week. Mario hinted to Sonfield that he couldn’t guarantee that the idea would work or that he would repay the loan; nonetheless, Sonfield accepted. This was wise decision on Sonfield’s part because soon he would pull in the profits of the deal. Maccaferri began working and in 1949, the Islander plastic ukulele was invented.
The popularity of the ukulele would grow as a result of Mario’s ingenious ability to foresee what the American market would support. The popularity of Hawaiian music at the time and Arthur Godfrey lead to the popularity of the plastic ukulele among the kids of the Baby Boomers. Arthur Godfrey was an acclaimed radio entertainer and the host of two top rated television shows. A characteristic of Godfrey’s shows was his comedic songs played on a ukulele. Godfrey obtained the Islander Ukulele and endorsed it on his show as "a very good instrument that costs only $5.95." The next day Mario’s phone rang continuously. When Mario attempted to pay Godfrey for supporting his product, Godfrey refused. According to Maria Maccaferri, the ukulele would not have gone over quite as well in any other country, and Mario was well aware of this fact. Their homeland of France did not have the same interests in Hawaiian music and television icons, nor were there as many children there. There were many young consumers in America whose parents, the Baby Boom generation, were willing to buy the ukuleles for the cheap price. Almost every child in America had a plastic ukulele, and from 1949 until 1969, 9 million ukuleles were sold. The plastic ukulele was just the beginning of Mario’s career of making plastic instruments.
