- Source: Marvin Glass and Associates
Marvin Glass and Associates (MGA) was a toy design and engineering firm based in Chicago. Marvin Glass (1914–1974) and his employees created some of the most successful toys and games of the twentieth century such as Mr. Machine, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Lite Brite, Ants in the Pants, Mouse Trap, Operation, Simon, Body Language, and the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle.
History
Marvin Glass and Associates was founded in 1941. Its founder, Marvin Glass, was an entrepreneur and the creative force behind Marvin Glass and Associates. His salesmanship and uncanny ability to spark creativity in the designers he employed was unparalleled. In 1949, he licensed a "novelty item" to H. Fishlove & Company called Yakity Yak Talking Teeth. This item was invented by Eddy Goldfarb, who worked with Marvin Glass for a very short time after World War II.
The first big hit for Marvin Glass was Mr. Machine, a toy invented by a former watchmaker named Leo Kripak. A child could take Mr. Machine apart and put him back together. It was licensed to Ideal Toys and became such a hit that Lionel Weintraub, its president, made it his company mascot and featured it in many of Ideal's early TV ads. The company became so successful that Marvin Glass got his company logo printed on every package for the items it invented and licensed.
The organization's general counsel, James F. Coffee, and accountant Ernest Sonderling, were the architects of the successful business model whereby the designs and inventions were patented and licensed to various toy companies and manufacturers who would pay running royalties based on sales. Outside counsel, chairman and founder of the Intellectual Property Department at McDermott Will & Emery, Robert J. Schneider, was responsible for procuring the patents and protecting them from infringement. Mr. Schneider is currently co-chair of the Intellectual Property Department of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP.
Joseph M. Burck was a senior designer at Marvin Glass through the mid-1960s to early 1980s and invented or designed many of MGA's hottest items such as Inch Worm, Lite-Brite, Astrolite, Which Witch, Masterpiece, SSP Racers, Chu-Bops, and the Evel Knievel line of toys (Burck was Knievel's personal guest at the infamous Snake River Canyon jump.) Burck holds 10 US patents for items developed by MGA. Time Magazine named Lite-Brite one of the top 100 toys of all time.
Marvin Glass died in 1974. Two years later, managing partner Anson Isaacson, partner Joseph Callan and designer Kathy Dunn were shot and killed and two others seriously wounded at the company's offices in Chicago. The perpetrator was 33-year old Albert Keller, a designer suffering from paranoid delusions who then killed himself.
MGA was contracted by Bally-Midway to design coin-operated video games during the 1980s. Some of the games produced by MGA during this era include Tapper, Domino Man and Timber.
The company continued in operation until 1988. Several partners from Marvin Glass and Associates subsequently started Chicago-based Big Monster Toys.
Designs by manufacturer
= Unknown
=1969 Sketch a Toon
= Amurol
=1980 Chu-Bops
= Aurora
=1972 Skittle Horseshoes
1973 Flip It
= Cardinal
=1969 Finders Keepers
= Fisher-Price Toys
=1988 Smoochees
= Gilbert
=1965 James Bond 007 Action Toys
1965 American Flyer All Aboard Sets
= Hasbro
=1963 Ambush!
1967 That Kid Doll
1967 Lite Brite
1969 AstroLite, Astro Sound
1971 Inchworm, Alley Up
1973 Super Sunday Football
1974 Ricochet Racers
1988 C.O.P.s and Crooks
= Hubley
=1962 Golferino (See also Milton Bradley)
= Ideal
=1960 Mr. Machine
1961 Robot Commando
1962 Gaylord, Bop the Beetle, King Zor
1963 Mouse Trap
1964 Crazy Clock
1965 Fish Bait
1964 Clancy the Great
1965 Tigeroo Bike Siren
1966 Babysitter Game
1967 Careful
1968 Little Lost Baby
1969 Ants in the Pants
1970 Mr. Mad
1973 Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle
1977 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Puppets & Trolley
1985 Rocks Bugs and Things
1959 Tic Toy Clock
= Irwin
=1963 Dandy the Lion
1964 Interior Decorator Set
= Kenner
=1970 The Wall Walker
1970 SSP
1971 Smash Up Derby
1972 Blythe Doll
1975 Hugo Man of Thousand Faces
= Lakeside
=1970 Brink Ball
1970 Mad Marbles
= Marx
=1961 Great Garloo
1963 Penny the Poodle
1964 Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
1964 Perils of Pauline (board game)
1972 Bops 'n Robbers
1973 Silly Sammy
= Matchbox
=1972 Big M-X
1974 Fighting Furies pirate action figures
= Mattel
=1961 PopZaBall
1981 4 wheel drive toy used in Attak Trak (Masters of the Universe)
= Milton Bradley
=1963 Jungle Hunt
1964 Time Bomb
1965 Mystery Date
1965 Operation
1966 Mosquito (game)
1967 Fang Bang
1968 Sand Lot Slugger, Bucket of Fun
1969 Dynamite Shack
1970 Snoopy and the Red Baron; Which Witch?
1971 Stay Alive
1974 Body Language
1974 Trip Hammer
1978 SIMON
= Parker Brothers
=1968 Situation 4
1970 Mind Maze, Rattle Battle, The Tiny Tim of Beautiful Things, Twiddler
1971 Gnip Gnop, Masterpiece
1974 Tug Boat
= Schaper Toys
=1963 King of the Hill
1966 Thing Ding
1967 Clean Sweep
1968 Big Mouth
1969 Ants in the Pants
1972 Don't Blow Your Top
1974 Jack Be Nimble
= Whitman
=1969 Humor Rumor
References
External links
Video: WBBM Channel 2 Chicago News Feature story and interview of Marvin Glass (1972)
Working at the Marvin Glass Studio - Recollections of a Former Employee by Erick Erickson
Marvin Glass page at Boardgame Geek
Photo: Marvin Glass (center) won't unveil a new toy to a buyer unless he signs a promise not to copy it. Left, engineer John Parks of Glass's staff.
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Latto-latto
- Marvin Glass and Associates
- Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
- Tapper (video game)
- Mouse Trap (board game)
- Simon (game)
- Howard J. Morrison
- Inchworm (toy)
- Ants in the Pants (game)
- Masterpiece (game)
- Gnip Gnop
