Brooklyn's George Weiss, 84, Actualizes Dream By Selling His First Invention

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As the old saying goes, if at first you don't succeed try, try again. That's exactly what an 84-year-old Brooklyn man has done to accomplish his dreams.

After working all his life as a wallpaper hanger, George Weiss' passion for inventing things finally paid off with a big hit.

At 84, Weiss has finally sold his first invention -- a word game called "Dabble." His granddaughter has grown up trying out all his creations.

"He really is a genius. You know he might not be Albert Einstein, but the things that just come to his head, I hope that I can someday have half the creativity he has," Jennifer Litt told CBS 2's Cindy Hsu.

Weiss' basement is full of hundreds of his inventions, including an intricate child-proof medicine bottle and a double pooper scooper for cat lovers.

Weiss showed Hsu a filing cabinet filled with hundreds of patents and rejections letters he has received over the last 50 years. Cheering him on despite some of the disappointments has been the love of his life, Faye. The two were married in 1949.

"She was absolutely not pretty. She was Beautiful," Weiss said.

Now, Weiss' wife is battling Alzheimer's Disease at Crown Nursing Center.

"It breaks my heart that my grandma can't celebrate in his success now finally. But I know that she, on some level, understands what's happening," Weiss' granddaughter said.

Weiss said he spends hours with Faye everyday at the nursing center. When he gets home he works on his inventions so he has plenty to tell her when he sees her the next day.

"She'll smile at me, she'll know my name sometimes. Sometimes she won't," Weiss said. "So the success is the life we had together really more than any games that come along. That's really the success. That we had a good marriage, really exceptionally good."