The Toymakers: The Making of An Anerican Icon

The story of the creation and eventual marketing of what would become a true American icon, told by the author who spent seven years inside the toy industry. Set in the mid-1950’s, a series of events finds two California college students suddenly plunged into the toy manufacturing business with a line of toys that quickly gains nationwide popularity. Then, a spectacular idea is born and with it a succession of fast moving behind the scene forces work to pry the idea from its creators’ hands and into the clutches of devious shadowy interests. From product concept through development to manufacture and marketing, this is a story that will inform the reader about the inside and sometimes nefarious intricacies of the toy business while following an ever changing flow of events and an intriguing scheme that eventually leads to a conclusion one might not have expected. The book draws on actual events, supplemented with plausible accounts to present a fictionalized but representative narration of the toy industry of the middle twentieth century.