I used to have Fort Apache, and the Alamo. Davy Crockett things, like coonskin hats. On the shelves behind him, ranks of toy soldiers stand at attention. To his left are parked dozens of model sports cars. Children race from one toy to the next, eyes bulging.
Old men stoop over the shelves and recognize youthful playthings.
A few bars of polka music from an extraordinary carousel, drift down the hall. Kreofsky sits calmly enjoying his creation, clearly a man obsessed with joy and child's play. Donn Kreofsky was 3 years old when polio swept through his hometown of Plainview, Minnesota. He and his 7-year old brother were among the many children infected with the virus. The boys were quarantined and everything they had touched- toys, schoolbooks, desks, was burned to stop the spread of the contagion.