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Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world?April 26, 2009
Whether you agree with Mary or not, the speech was filled with toy industry history that may be unfamiliar to many of us. Because so little of our history is written down, it is even more important to preserve her comments. Fortuantely, I was able to get a transcript of Mary’s speech. Below are some excerpts. Enjoy!
The toy and game inventing business…was born in the 1940’s with Marvin Glass, who ran his business in the Alexandria Hotel… Marvin started a partnership with Eddie Goldfarb that produced a few hits like Yakkety Yak Talking Teeth (Known as False Chattering Teeth today), but the partnership folded. Their personalities were just too different. Eddie a family man and to say Marvin was a womanizer was an understatement. He was friends with Hugh Hefner and his Evanston mansion was featured in Playboy in a pictorial with bunnies playing games.
Marvin’s first big hit was Mr. Machine – a 17” talk walking robot. Then came MouseTrap (inventor - Gordon Barlow who lives in Highland Park) and the string of 50 hot games from 1962 to 1972. Hands Down, Operation (John Spinello still lives here), Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, Mystery Date, Toss Across, Lite Brite (Burt Meyer in the western suburbs), Ants in the Pants (Jeff Breslow), Simon, and many others that are still on the shelf today.
Marvin was a strong personality, loyal to those in his inner circle, but paranoid of outsiders. There were no windows, thick soundproof walls, security cameras at his LaSalle Street studio – it was the Pentagon of Playthings. Ironically Marvin himself never invented a toy or game, but invented the business of toy and game inventing and was the only inventor to ever achieve recognition outside the industry. He was the spark, the motivation, the driving force. … Marvin died in 1974 and MGA disbanded in 1988. Spin-offs from Marvin Glass Studio include:
Meyer/Glass…the world’s current largest toy and game inventing company, Big Monster Toy in the West Loop. It is estimated that 78% of households have a Big Monster Toy on their shelves such as Cosmic Catch, Bullseye Ball, Guesstures and many more. … Lissa, the inventor of Pretty Pretty Princess works there and is with us this evening. Rehkemper - Steve and Jeff Rehkemper won Toy Inventors of the Year last year at our TAGIE Awards and have had many products nominated and win Toy of the Year like Air Hogs [and] Rubik’s Revolution. …
Len Stubenfoll and John Fertig from Fertig Stubenfoll Design designers of Lucky ... What was that about? Do they sell well in Texas? Lund and Company inventors of TMX Elmo, the fastest selling toy in history, Fireball Island and many others. Bruce is involved in inventing alternative fuels as well as toys. And we have independent inventors here tonight as well like Dianne, Kim, Jennifer Rapp Peterson, Mary Kay Russell, Jeff Jurgenson and others. … And Chicago isn’t just the Capital on the inventing side; we have a long and rich history of manufacturers and still in business today: In 1876 - Tootsietoy® was founded and is America's Oldest Toy Company with brands such as Mr. Bubbles®, Timeless Bubbles™, Suzy Homemaker® and more. Frank Lloyd Wright’s son invented Lincoln Logs here in 1916, Radio Flyer, America’s Little Red Wagon was started by Antonio Pasin in 1917… Cadaco was founded in 1936 with hits like Tripoley, Ethan Allen’s All-Star Baseball and Skip-Across and today are still selling games and magic sets. Learning Resources founded by Rick Woldenberg around 1985 - manufacturer of hands-on educational materials for classrooms worldwide and learning toys. Ty, Inc, makers of Beanie Babies was founded here in 1993 by Ty Warner. RC2 - Founded in 1989 by racing champions Robert Dods, Boyd Meyer and Peter Chung with racing die-cast replicas and NASCAR products. They acquired Learning Curve which was founded in 1993 and Ertl founded over 60 years ago. VTech, although founded in Hong Kong in 1976 with approximately 30,000 employees worldwide, have their US offices here in Chicagoland. Noah’s Ark founded in 2004 by Dina Kriescher… with make your own stuffed animals. Posted by Richard Gottlieb on April 26, 2009 | Comments (19)
April 26, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mary Couzin commented: Wow, Richard, I didn’t know you would write about my speech, let along post outtakes. Thank you! It was such a special evening with so many people sharing stories. Steve Rehkemper thinks someone should write a book about Marvin Glass alone. My speech was an outline, so the part of Meyer/Glass is misleading in what you posted. They were a spinoff from Glass, but disbanded a couple of years ago. Many of the people in attendance worked there, so I mentioned them. There is so much more I could post here, the speech was 15 minutes long and it was the streamlined version! It should be noted that ASTRA and the American Library Association are also based in Chicago and strong supporters of our industry. Bruce Lund put forth the idea of having our Chicago Mayor Daley name us Toy and Game Inventing Capital of the World and I am working on that.
April 26, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Anna M Lewis commented: After reading your transcript, hearing Mary speak, or having a three hour lunch with Mary (Hey, time flies when you're talkin' toys), how could you NOT agree that Chicago is THE Toy and Game Capital of the World?
April 26, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mary Couzin commented: Mostly importantly, a big thanks should go out to Dianne Lauble for organizing the event, Patti Becker for flying out to join us and doing such a tremendous job growing WIT (on 5 continents now), Regina Donovan for an inspiring speech, Kim Vandenbroucke helping that night and Cindy Boor and Pat Zeman for the cute ducks!
April 26, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Anna M Lewis commented: Oh, and also, Zizzle is here. Zizzle was launched in January 2005 with electronic IZ®, by Roger Shiffman (creator of Furby®)
April 26, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Colleen McCarthy-Evans - Toying with Gam commented: I am a believer! Thanks Richard and Mary for bringing this content to all of us!
April 27, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Nate Scheidler commented: I'm working on growing the largest boardgame group in the nation, possibly even the world here in Chicago. Chicagoboardgames.com recently hit its 1000th member, and I'm running a huge promotion this month to get people into events and celebrate!
April 27, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Nate Scheidler commented: I'm working on growing the largest boardgame group in the nation, possibly even the world here in Chicago. Chicagoboardgames.com recently hit its 1000th member, and I'm running a huge promotion this month to get people into events and celebrate!
April 27, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Kim Vandenbroucke commented: Thanks Mary for the shout out! It was a great event and it was really interesting to hear Pauline Camberis speak about her experience working with Marvin Glass back when he began inventing toys and games. As I am still a "newbie" to the industry (although I worked at Meyer/Glass for a couple years), hearing the rich history that Chicago has within the toy and game industry it's not a surprise that we are still a hub for great invention. We here in Chicago should all be proud of our roots. Whether or not you've worked for one of the spin-offs of Marvin Glass and Associates, they still shaped the industry to make it what it is today. So as Mary always says "Onward and Upward" and let's get Chicago on the map as the Toy and Game Capitol of the world. It's got my vote.
April 27, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mary Kay Russell commented: Thanks for posting this Richard. I had the pleasure of hearing Mary’
April 27, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mary Kay Russell commented: Thanks for posting this Richard. I had the pleasure of hearing Mary's speech at the Women In Toys event, and I also enjoyed listening to other women share their anecdotes about working with and learning from some of our industry's brightest minds ... right here in Chicago. As a Chicago game inventor myself, I was so inspired! The Windy City definitely has my vote for Toy Capital of the World! Huge thanks to Patti Becker and Dianne Lauble for bringing us all together for the wonderful WIT event!
April 30, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mark Salzwedel commented: Chicago to me comes a close second to New York, I'm afraid. Mary and Nate do some fantastic work, but the history and presence here is a bit more substantial. Our game INVENTOR group has over 50 members, including the heads of Smirk &
April 30, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mark Salzwedel commented: Chicago to me comes a close second to New York, I'm afraid. Mary and Nate do some fantastic work, but the history and presence here is a bit more substantial. Our game INVENTOR group has over 50 members, including the heads of Smirk & Dagger, Z-man Games, and more independent designers and self-publishers. The biggest of a dozen game groups in NYC has 1,330 members at last count, and single meetings often have attendance of 50+ gamers. And although ChiTag is probably one of the biggest consumer shows in the USA, it is still dwarfed by the world's second biggest trade show (Toy Fair, after Essen). Great game packagers in both cities (Carol Rehtmeyer, Matt Nuccio, etc.).
May 1, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mike Hirtle commented: What Mary was referring to was the world of professional inventors who dedicate themselves to making a living by inventing. As Head of Global Inventor Relations for the world's biggest game company, I can speak with authority in saying that Chicago was the birthplace of professional toy and game inventing and to this day is the center of this activity. There are many excellent inventors in New York, California, and other places, but Chicago clearly leads the way.
May 1, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mark Salzwedel commented: I know there may be a temptation to view Hasbro's experience as a bellwether for the entire toy and game industry, but we can probably look at some more objective measures. The International Toy Center until recently was the world's largest showroom for toys and games. Was it in Chicago? Nope. New York. The biggest professional Toy Association is headquartered in Chicago? Nope. New York. TIA's list of PROFESSIONAL designers on their web site lists dozens of individuals: 3 in the Chicago metro area, 14 in the NYC metro area. I don't think they'd appreciate the implication that they're not professionals! I know I don't. I run Strategic Space in Manhattan on 73rd Street: strategic-space.com -- and I assure you I work full time! :-P
May 1, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mary Couzin commented: My case is for Chicago as Inventing Capital of the World, which may not be clear from the title of this blog. You are broadening it to the whole industry, not just inventors. Chicago hosts the largest Conference for Toy and Game Designers and the ONLY Awards Dinner for Toy and Game Designers - the TAGIE awards. It is also home to the largest co-op of Independent Board Game Designers - DiscoverGames.com. Tim Walsh's book on the history of toy and game industry, Timeless Toys, has the largest percentage of pages from Chicago designers - about 10% of the book. Earlier this week Imagination Entertainment, Spin Master and Hasbro were all in Chicago making the rounds of professional inventors. There is no other city with the number of professional toy and game design companies as Chicago. They all make regular trips here.
May 1, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? MAtt Cucino commented: Isn't Hong Kong the capital of the toy and Game industry?
May 1, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Mark Salzwedel commented: Selchow & Righter (Scrabble, Parcheesi) started in New York in 1867. Crayola started in 1903 in New York City. Erector sets first launched in 1913 in New York City. Ultimate Frisbee developed in 1967 in suburban New York. Shall I go on? New York's history in toys and games is even longer.
May 22, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Jinny commented: Hi,
June 3, 2009
In response to: Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? Curt Covert commented: I was only recently made aware of this discussion thread and the fact that I was somehow pulled into it. Let me please clarify and distance myself from previous comment made here.
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Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world? According to Mary Couzin it is. Mary has a passion for two things: The city of Chicago and toys. It is therefore no big surprise that she would stake a claim for Chicago as the center of the toy universe in an April 23, 2009 speech to a Chicago Women In Toys conference.