The MASK ’87 Invitational Flag

The MASK 87 Invitational Flag

This is an invitation for The MASK ’87 Invitational, Kenner’s release party for the 1987 MASK product line.  The party took place at Kenner’s year-round showroom in Manhattan’s Toy District.  MASK stands for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand and the toy line ran from 1985-1988.

The invitation is made of sewn white nylon and the details are screen printed on.  It measures 15″ wide by 12″ tall and reads:

JOIN US IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE FOR COCKTAILS AND HORS D’OEUVRES

RACE- THE MASK ’87 INVITATIONALDATE- OCTOBER 15, 1986
START TIME- 4:30 P.M.
CIRCUIT- FIFTH FLOOR KENNER SHOWROOM
1107 BROADWAY NY NY
TO ENTER- RSVP: XXXX XXXXXX (212)337-8632

If you are a fan of MASK, be sure to check out Albert Penello’s great The MASK Page.

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Kenner Collector’s history of Kenner toys exhibit at Cincinnati public library

Just in Time for Holidays Kenner Library Exhibit

Edit: Just a reminder that this is the last full weekend to check out the Kenner toy exhibit at the Cincinnati library!  The exhibit will run until January 16th.

Kenner Collector is proud to present a new exhibit called Just in Time for the Holidays: Kenner Toys, located on display at the main downtown branch of The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.  The exhibit features Kenner toys and historical items spanning the entire life of the company, beginning with the late 1940’s all the way through to the company’s final days in Cincinnati.  The exhibit will officially open on November 20th, and run through January 16th of next year.

This will be a great chance to see lots of fun and rare Kenner toys and collectibles from the glory days of the beloved Cincinnati based company.  See your favorite toy lines from your childhood including Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, Easy-Bake Oven, and many more!  Some of the rare items on display include Kenner’s first toy, the Bubbl-Matic gun, the infamous Daddy Saddle, and the Pigtail Play-Wig, just to name a few!

Kenner Collector Cincinnati Library Exhibit

Kenner Collector Cincinnati Library Exhibit

The library is located at 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.  The exhibit is on the third floor of the main library, in the Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room.  Check the website for hours.  You can even visit the famous Kroger building (home of Kenner from 1976 to 1992) while you are there!

Kenner Collector Cincinnati Library Kroger Building

The Gooney Crew responsible for the display:

KennerCollector Cincinnati Library Group

Pictured from left to right: Josh Blake, Joe Ilagan, Dan Flarida, and Steve Meister

The Kenner Collector toy exhibit is only one part of the Kenner and toy related activities the Cincinnati library has planned over the next couple months.  From the library:

Another Kenner exhibit, Beloved Toys, will be located on the first floor in the Popular Library Exhibit Area and will take a fun look as people’s childhood memories of their favorite Kenner toys. On other floors in the Library, display cases will contain Kenner toys catalogs from 1966 to 1990, depicting the company’s marketing strategies of their products throughout the decades. Also featured will be a special case that explores the origins of Star Wars toys, with images of the first prototypes created by Kenner and presented to Star Wars filmmakers in March of 1977. Images are provided by Jim Swearingen , the principal conceptual designer for Kenner’s original line of Star Wars toys.

Smaller displays will focus on other Cincinnati toy companies like, Doepke Toys, which made toys of steel in the 1940s and 50s, Stuart Toys, which produced western miniatures and science sets in the 1950s and 1960s, and Poynter Products, which made humorous toys such as the Thing Coin Box and Uncle Fester’s Lightbulb. Both toys were featured on the 1960s’ show The Adams Family.

There will also be toys on display by Bang Zoom Design, a Cincinnati product invention company that carries on the spirit of toy making here in the Queen City. Bang Zoom, based in Eden Park since 1991, has made many designs for toy lines including Elmo, Monsters University, and Dora the Explorer.

Finally, learn the origins of three toys that got their start here in the Greater Cincinnati area: the Magic Eight Ball, Uno Cards, and Pound Puppies. All exhibits start on Friday November 20th and run until Saturday Jan 16th.

Also, save December 12th on your calendar for Kenner Day at the Cincinnati Library!

On Saturday December 12th the Main Library will host a day-long symposium with Kenner employees and executives who will give an insider’s look into this innovative company. Also showing will be the documentary Plastic Galaxy The Story of Star Wars Toys which examines the history and pop-culture impact of Kenner’s Star Wars toy line.

Complete details can be found here at the Library website.

 

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Kenner Internal Video: Sentimental Journey

[pro-player]http://www.kennercollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/kenner-goodbye-1.flv,http://www.kennercollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/kenner-goodbye-2.flv[/pro-player]

When Kenner closed their doors in Cincinnati in 2000, it was an end of an era.  Hasbro had obtained Kenner in 1991 and after 9 years, the time to close the Cincinnati office had come.  Many employees would move on to Hasbro’s Rhode Island headquarters, some would retire, and some would find themselves looking for new opportunities.

On December 2nd, 2000, Kenner held a farewell party at the Regal Cincinnati Hotel. The partygoers were treated to this 25 minute video, which summarizes Kenner’s storied history, famous products and the people who made them.  It’s a bittersweet tape to watch for Kenner fans and those who worked there, but it demonstrates how proud they all were of their history and how sad they were to see it coming to an end.

If you worked at Kenner, or if you are in this video, contact us using the icon on the right of this page, or leave a comment below. We would love to hear about your memories and experiences at Kenner.

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New toys for Christmas 1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQbCSCn-5k&feature=youtu.be

News story from 1976 showing the hot toys for Christmas.  Fun to see Kenner’s Stretch Armstrong, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman getting some love.

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Kenner Star Wars designer Jim Swearingen’s display at Cincinnati library

Kenner Collector Cincinnati library Swearingen

If you are visiting the downtown Cincinnati library’s Just in Time for the Holidays: Kenner Toys exhibit or spending the entire day at the library for the December 12th Kenner Symposium, be sure you check out Jim Swearingen’s vintage Star Wars images display.

Check out this interview by the University of Cincinnati’s UC Magazine for more information about Jim.

Kenner Collector Cincinnati library Swearingen

The display shows images of some early Kenner Star Wars prototypes, and some historical moments associated with the company during the early Star Wars years.

Kenner Collector Cincinnati library Swearingen

Be sure to check out all of the exciting Kenner related exhibits while you are at the library!

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You never forget your first Easy-Bake Oven!

Kenner Collector Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas

How awesome is this picture?  I’m so jealous of Michele over on The Old Granite Step blog.  Not only does she have wonderful memories of being with her family for Christmas, but she also has this picture of when she received her Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas in 1965!

The picture was posted last year, but thanks to Light Bulb Baking for sharing it again!

Image property of The Old Granite Step.

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Celebrating Kenner’s Star Wars toys and the company’s strong connection to Cincinnati

Kenner Collector Kenner Toys Cincinnati Early-Bird Kit

Cincinnati.com has posted a great article detailing the iconic history of the Kenner toy company and the many ways the company impacted Cincinnati and the toy industry as a whole.  There are some great photos in the article that even some seasoned collectors may have not seen before.  Who wouldn’t love to open a newspaper today and see a Shillito’s ad for the Star Wars Early Bird Kit!?

Kenner Collector Kenner Toys Cincinnati Millennium Falcon

The article is primarily Star Wars focused, but there is enough good information in there to make it worth your time even if you collect non-Star Wars lines.  We also get a nice nod to our Kenner toys exhibit which will be on display at the main branch of the Cincinnati library until January 16th, 2016.

Kenner Collector Kenner Toys Cincinnati X-Wings

Images property of Cincinnati.com.

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Kenner Toy Symposium on December 12th at main branch of the Cincinnati public library

Kenner Collector Pre-Toy Fair Cincinnati

Our Kenner toy exhibit on display at the main branch of the Cincinnati library was just one piece of the Kenner goodness taking place there!  On Saturday, December 12th, the library will be hosting a day-long Kenner Toy Symposium that will run from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  There will be Kenner toy commercials shown, discussion panels with ex-Kenner employees, a screening of Brian Stillman’s excellent Star Wars toy documentary Plastic Galaxy, and so much more.

This will be a great chance to meet and interact with legendary Kenner employees like Corky Steiner, the son and nephew of Kenner’s founders, Star Wars toy creators Jim Swearingen, Tom Osborne, Mark Boudreaux, and many more!  If you are at all interested in learning about how your favorite Kenner toys were made, or the inner workings of the greatest toy company of all time, you cannot miss this event!

The complete schedule for the day is below:

Kenner Toy Symposium —Saturday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m. –5:30 p.m.

In celebration of the exhibits and upcoming release of The Force Awakens, the Main Library will host a special day-long symposium with former Kenner employees. All events will take place in the Main Library’s Reading Garden Lounge. No registration is required.

Kenner History, 10 a.m.–noon

Corky Steiner, the son and nephew of Kenner’s founders, will retell the history of the company through 50 years of vintage Kenner toy commercials wrapped into two 20-minute segments. The segments will be followed with a Q&A session featuring former Kenner executives.

The Phases of Kenner Toys, 1–3:15 p.m.

Take an in-depth look at the various phases of the Kenner Toy company from the 1950s to ‘90s. Session will feature actual video interviews with the leadership that guided Kenner in the post Steiner era from 1972 to its closing in 2000. A Q&A session with Kenner employees will follow.

  • 1950–1970s: A family business to General Mills management
  • 1970s–1980s: General Mills to Tonka
  • 1990s–2000: Hasbro’s acquisition of Kenner and Hasbro’s consolidation of its various entities to their Rhode Island general offices in 2000.

Plastic Galaxy Screening, 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys, directed by Brian Stillman, examines the history and pop-culture impact of Kenner’s of Star Wars toy line.

Panel discussion with Star Wars toy designers, 4:30–5:30 p.m.

Moderated by director Brian Stillman, this panel discussion will feature original Star Wars toy designers Jim Swearingen and Tom Osborne.

To get all of the details in one place, visit the library’s dedicated Kenner Toys website.

 

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Starting Lineup collector Joe Curcio on NFL Films Presents

nfl

I’m excited to share something that fellow Kenner Collector and friend Joe Curcio is involved in.  Back in the spring, NFL Films contacted Joe about his Kenner Starting Lineup football collection, and wanted to meet with him to do an interview.  NFL Films actually visited him first for a pre-interview, visited one of his ice cream shops, and then went back for the full TV interview.

Unproduced, production quality prototypes

The interview was about a 5 or 6 hour process, and Joe thinks it was one of the greatest things he has ever experienced with his Starting Lineup collection.  Well, the time has come and the air date is set.  Even though Joe doesn’t think it will be a super long interview since it’s only a half hour show, I can’t wait to check it out!

The name of the show is “NFL Films Presents” and the title of this episode will be “The Long and Short of It”

Thursday, November 19th, 10:30 a.m. Eastern time on Fox Sports 1
Friday, November 20th, 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Fox Sports 1
Saturday, November 21st, 10:30 a.m. Eastern time on NFL Network.

Unproduced, hand-painted prototype

Support your fellow Kenner Collector and check it out!  Also, check out an interview we did with Joe back in 2011!

 

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Kenner Fall ’78 Star Wars supplement

Many collectors have seen various vendor catalogs, typically called ‘Toy Fair’ catalogs because they were sent out around Toy Fair to promote the new and existing lines to vendors.  These catalogs contain nice photos of the toys, descriptions, case packing information, ordering numbers, box measurements, store display suggestions and more.  Often, Kenner would supplement these annual catalogs with inserts or additional fliers when the occasion warranted it.

For collectors, the toy fair catalogs are fairly easy to obtain, particularly for the Star Wars years from 1977-86.  Supplements are quite another story.  I’m not particularly sure that we are even aware of all that may have been produced over the years.  This entry showcases a little known insert focused on Star Wars merchandising plans from Fall of 1978.

Click to view images of each page (use controls at bottom of enlarged image to navigate):
[nggallery id=1]

The interior pages describe the TV marketing campaign underway and Kenner’s investment of four million dollars into television ad spending, including one million alone into the ‘new Star Wars commercial featuring R2-D2 and C-3PO’ set to air during the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (November, 1978).

Kenner naturally, and rightfully, trumpets their success with Star Wars toys at this early stage, indicating their unprecedented support in marketing and developing their license for the most popular movie of all time.  They declare their plans to feature Star Wars ads for not only the sponsored Holiday Special, but also during other family specials like Puff the Magic Dragon, Bugs Bunny, How the West Was Won and Snoopy Come Home.  As they say in the supplement, “Kenner is reaching virtually every kid in America with a gigantic TV campaign…”

The supplement goes on to note that four million Star Wars catalogs will be distributed to Burger Chef restaurants to further promote the license.  Finally, “Cheerios” joins the Force, with special poster premiums and Kenner rebates, supported by a newspaper ad campaign designed for the comic section.  In all, seven other cereals would also include various Kenner rebates and Star Wars premiums inside.

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