Ideal Toy Company

The logo that the company used in 1982

**Ideal Toy Company** was an American toy company that was founded by Morris Michtom and his wife. They would enjoy at least 104 years of manufacturing toys before it all came crashing down in 1997.

## **Summary**

The Ideal Novelty and Toy Company was first founded by Morris and Rose in 1903 which was the year they invented the Teddy bear. After Mr. Richtom's death in 1938, the company changed its name to the Ideal Toy Company and his nephew, Abraham Katz, became chief executive. During World War II, the company's value rose from $2 million to $11 million as the dolls they sold during the post-World War II baby boom era were so popular that they began selling dolls under license in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Key Ideal employees from the 1950's to 70's were Lionel A. Weintraub, the son-in-law of Katz, who joined in 1941 and rose to become president, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer; and Joseph C. Winkler, who joined later on in 1956 and became vice president by 1971.

In 1951, Ideal partnered with its competitors the American Character Doll Company and the Alexander Doll Company to establish the United States-Israeli Toy and Plastic Corporation. The company was created to produce material for toys in Israel and the U.S. Ideal CEO Abraham Katz was named president of the new company, though upon filing for bankruptcy in 1968, ITC acquired the dyes, patents and trademarks of ACDC; including their "Tressy" Gro-Hair doll. In late 1971, Ideal joined the New York Stock Exchange; valued at $71 million, and was one of the U.S.' top three companies. By 1970, Ideal had outgrown its manufacturing complex in Hollis, Queens and wanted to build a new plant in College Point (later became the site of Shea Stadium), but was unable to strike a deal with the Lindsay administration. Consequently, the company opened a new facility in Newark, New Jersey, in the early 1970s, while continuing to operate its factory in Hollis.

Ideal had earnings of $3.7 million in fiscal year 1979–1980, but lost $15.5 million in fiscal year 1980–1981. (Sales both years averaged around $150 million.) Trying to maximize profits on the Rubik's Cube craze, Ideal filed civil suits in May 1981 against dozens of distributors and retailers selling knockoff cubes. In May 1981, Joseph Winkler was named Ideal's president, succeeding Lionel Weintraub, who remained chairman and CEO. The following year, ITC moved its headquarters from Queens to Harmon Meadow, New Jersey and was later sold to CBS Toys for around $58 million, who later on in 1987, would auction them off to View-Master International and was in turn, bought out by Tyco Toys of Mt. Laurel in 1989. Finally, the remainder of its properties were bought out by Mattel in 1997 and that year, Ideal Toy Company officially went bankrupt.

Ideal's United Kingdom assets were sold to Hasbro, which has since released Mouse Trap and KerPlunk under its MB Games brand. Other toys that originated with Ideal continue to be marketed and sold by other companies, including Rubik's Cube by Hasbro and Magic 8-ball by Mattel. The Ideal trademarks, and most toy molds not purchased by Hasbro or Mattel, were purchased by Jay Horowitz of American Plastic Equipment, who later transferred all rights to American Plastic Equipment's subsidiary, American Classic Toys. Mr. Horowitz licensed the trademark and toy rights to Plaza Toys, to be used on its Fiddlestix building sticks products, and eventually sold the mark and toy rights in January 2011 to Poof-Slinky. In January 2014, the Ideal brand and toy rights became part of a new company, Alex Brands, after the May 2013 acquisition of Alex Toys by Propel Equity Partners. In early 2019, Jay Horowitz of American Classic Toys, entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Juna Group to represent select Ideal brands - not included in the sale to Poof-Slinky - in all categories outside of toys and playthings, worldwide.

## **Action Figures**

Besides the Teddy bear, Mouse Trap board game and Rubix Cube, some of the most notable products that Ideal released throughout their centennial lifespan include Disney dolls, a Judy Garland doll made for the original theatrical release of *Wizard of Oz*, the Shirley Temple doll, Evel Knievel toys, Snoopy toys, the "drink-and-wet" Betsy Wetsy doll, *Dick Tracy* dolls, the Tammy dolls, one of the first major produced dolls to introduce an African-American counterpart; The Game of Jaws, based on Steven Spielberg's game-changing 1975 blockbuster; and more. Though there have also been a few toylines that they never got to produce before their 1997 demise and are each categorized down below:

* *The Monster Squad*
* *The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.*

## **Reference**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal\_Toy\_Company