鈥楶laymakers鈥� underscores the serious business of making toys
鈥淧lay is the work of the child,鈥� educator Maria Montessori famously asserted. As Michael Kimmel makes clear in 鈥淧laymakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America,鈥� this wasn鈥檛 always so. For centuries, life for most children was mostly work 鈥� and little play.聽
That was certainly the experience of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to America between 1881 and 1924, fleeing pogroms and the miserable conditions inside the Russian Empire鈥檚 Pale of Settlement. Taking up 500,000 square miles, the Pale included what are now parts of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Moldova.聽
Kimmel contends that the very nature of American childhood changed in the mid-20th century 鈥� thanks in large part to these Yiddish-speaking immigrants. Crammed into squalid urban tenements in 鈥渁 land of both unimaginable riches and entirely familiar bigotries,鈥� he writes, these new Americans imagined an 鈥渋dealized childhood鈥� that had eluded them. Barred from many professions, they created their own opportunities in newly developing areas, such as entertainment and toys.
Why We Wrote This
In the early 20th century, Jewish people fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe flocked to the United States. With many professions closed to them, the 茅migr茅s created toys and comics, and formed companies like Hasbro and Mattel. Their inventions spoke to the idealized childhoods that had eluded them.
Although Kimmel insists that his aim in writing 鈥淧laymakers鈥� was not to present a 鈥渢riumphalist parade of extraordinary Jews,鈥� the procession of Jewish innovators who march through this book is indeed impressive. 聽
Much has been written about the men who established Hollywood鈥檚 studio system 鈥� Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, the Warner brothers. But it is less widely known that Jewish immigrants and their offspring also dreamed up America鈥檚 most iconic comic book heroes 鈥� Superman, Spider-Man, Li鈥檒 Abner, Popeye, Archie 鈥� and produced thousands of popular toys, including teddy bears, Shirley Temple dolls, Barbie, and Mr. Potato Head.聽
The companies that created these classic playthings were founded by the three Hassenfeld brothers (Hasbro); Elliot and Ruth Handler (Mattel); Joshua Lionel Cowen (Lionel trains); Morris Michtom (Ideal). They all came from Eastern Europe.聽
鈥淧laymakers鈥� started as a family memoir about the Ideal Toy Corp., which was founded in 1907 by the author鈥檚 maternal great-great uncle. But Kimmel, a professor emeritus of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University, became fascinated by the bigger picture, and by questions about why and how these Jewish 茅migr茅s were 鈥渁ble to create such a large part [of] the material culture of American childhood.鈥澛�
He begins with his great-great uncle鈥檚 story, a familiar saga of immigration. Moshe Michael Charmatz was born in Minsk in 1869, and with his family鈥檚 help, staged his own death to avoid conscription into the czar鈥檚 army. He fled to Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania), where he became a rabbinical student, met his future wife, and changed his name to Morris Michtom (鈥渞hymes with victim鈥�), perhaps after the Talmud鈥檚 six Psalms of David known as the Miktam. In 1888, he made his way to the Netherlands and on to America, where he and his wife, Rose, eventually opened a candy and newspaper shop in Brooklyn, New York. In 1902, Michtom was so charmed by a cartoon depicting President Theodore Roosevelt鈥檚 refusal to shoot an injured bear on a hunting expedition that he asked Rose to stitch together a stuffed replica of the winsome creature to display in their store window. The cuddly teddy bear changed their lives and helped launch the American toy business.
Kimmel, the author of numerous books on men and masculinity, including 鈥淕uyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men,鈥� also explores how playthings became increasingly gendered: babydolls for girls and action figures such as G.I. Joe for boys. From there it is several hops, skips, and jumps to grown-up dolls for girls (most notably, Ruth Handler鈥檚 Barbie for Mattel) and electric trains and airplane-building kits, which aimed at promoting father-son bonds.聽
鈥淧laymakers鈥� is overstuffed with stories about winning ideas in an industry that demanded new hits every season. Reading about the development of Hula-Hoops, Chatty Cathy and Patti Playpal dolls, Easy-Bake Ovens, Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth, Lite-Brites, and Ant Farms 鈥� and the ads that plugged them on children鈥檚 TV shows 鈥� is nostalgia-inducing, particularly for baby boomers. But reading the backstory of toy after toy starts to feel overwhelming. 聽
Kimmel doesn鈥檛 just stick to toys and their creators. His purview extends to blacklisted writers who found refuge in children鈥檚 books, debates between the merits of disciplinary versus progressive child-rearing, and Senate hearings about whether comic books and TV discouraged reading and encouraged juvenile delinquency.聽
A chapter on Superman is particularly engaging. The comic strip was created in the 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two friends who met in high school in Glenville, Ohio. Both were sons of shtetl immigrants. 鈥淪uperman was Jewish,鈥� Kimmel declares. The narrative, he explains, is essentially a classic refugee tale about a baby named Kal-El (鈥淎ll that God is鈥� in Hebrew) who was 鈥渃onveyed by a form of Kindertransport鈥� to an alien land because 鈥渉is people were about to become extinct.鈥澛�
Clark Kent is a misfit outsider who yearns for acceptance and assimilation. Kimmel quotes Jules Feiffer for this knockout punch: 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 Krypton that Superman really came from, it was the planet Minsk.鈥澛�
Superman ushered in a golden age of comics, 鈥渃reated in large part because a slew of young Jewish artists had been frozen out of the higher sorts of artistic endeavors,鈥� he writes. 鈥淏y creating these hypermasculine superheroes, a whole bunch of scrawny, bullied, young Jewish artists asserted their masculinity. Comic books were indeed the revenge of the nerds 鈥� with yarmulkes!鈥� 聽
Exuberantly researched and written, 鈥淧laymakers鈥� is sprinkled with well-chosen illustrations. Although Kimmel鈥檚 overflowing, somewhat repetitive toybox of a book cries for some winnowing, it also sparks plenty of wonder 鈥� along with a fresh understanding of the serious business of play.
