Marvin Glass and Associates (MGA) was a toy design and engineering firm based in Chicago. Marvin Glass (1914–1974) and his employees created some of the most successful toys and games of the twentieth century such as Mr. Machine, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Lite Brite, Ants in the Pants, Mouse Trap, Operation, Simon, Body Language, and the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle.Sharon M. Scott, Toys and American Culture: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2010), , pp. 131-132. Excerpts available at Google Books.Stephen Van Dulken, American Inventions: A History of Curious, Extraordinary, and Just Plain Useful Patents (NYU Press, 2004), , p. 38.Excerpts available at Google Books."Glass still makes toys at age 57", UPI in Hendersonville Times-News, April 22, 1971.
History Marvin Glass and Associates was founded in 1941. Its founder, Marvin Glass, was an entrepreneur and the creative force behind Marvin Glass and Associates. His salesmanship and uncanny ability to spark creativity in the designers he employed was unparalleled. In 1949, he licensed a "novelty item" to H. Fishlove & Company called Yakity Yak Talking Teeth. This item was invented by Eddy Goldfarb, who worked with Marvin Glass for a very short time after World War II.
The first big hit for Marvin Glass was Mr. Machine, a toy invented by a former watchmaker named Leo Kripak. A child could take Mr. Machine apart and put him back together. It was licensed to Ideal Toys and became such a hit that Lionel Weintraub, its president, made it his company mascot and featured it in many of Ideal's early TV ads. The company became so successful that Marvin Glass got his company logo printed on every package for the items it invented and licensed.
The organization's general counsel, James F. Coffee, and accountant Ernest Sonderling, were the architects of the successful business model whereby the designs and inventions were patented and licensed to various toy companies and manufacturers who would pay running royalties based on sales. Outside counsel, chairman and founder of the Intellectual Property Department at McDermott Will & Emery, Robert J. Schneider, was responsible for procuring the patents and protecting them from infringement. Mr. Schneider is currently co-chair of the Intellectual Property Department of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP.
Joseph M. Burck was a senior designer at Marvin Glass through the mid-1960s to early 1980s and invented or designed many of MGA's hottest items such as Inch Worm, Lite-Brite, Astrolite, Which Witch, Masterpiece, SSP Racers, Chu-Bops, and the Evel Knievel line of toys (Burck was Knievel's personal guest at the infamous Snake River Canyon jump.) Burck holds 10 US patents for items developed by MGA. Time Magazine named Lite-Brite one of the top 100 toys of all time.
Marvin Glass died in 1974. Two years later, managing partner Anson Isaacson, partner Joseph Callan and designer Kathy Dunn were shot and killed and two others seriously wounded at the company's offices in Chicago. The perpetrator was 33-year old Albert Keller, a designer suffering from paranoid delusions who then killed himself."Chicago Man Kills 3, Shoots Himself", UPI in Milwaukee Journal, July 28, 1976.
MGA was contracted by Bally-Midway to design coin-operated video games during the 1980s. Some of the games produced by MGA during this era include Tapper, Domino Man and Timber.
The company continued in operation until 1988. Several partners from Marvin Glass and Associates subsequently started Chicago-based Big Monster Toys.
Designs Year Product Manufacturer 1959 Tic Toy Clock Ideal 1960 Mr. Machine Ideal 1961 Great Garloo Marx 1961 PopZaBall Mattel 1961 Robot Commando Ideal 1962 Bop the Beetle Ideal 1962 Gaylord Ideal 1962 Golferino Hasbro 1962 King Zor Ideal 1963 Ambush! Hasbro 1963 Dandy the Lion Irwin 1963 Jungle Hunt Milton Bradley 1963 King of the Hill Schaper Toys 1963 Mouse Trap Ideal 1963 Penny the Poodle Marx 1964 Clancy the Great Ideal 1964 Crazy Clock Ideal 1964 Interior Decorator Set Irwin 1964 Perils of Pauline Marx 1964 Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Marx 1964 Time Bomb Milton Bradley 1965 American Flyer All Aboard Sets Gilbert 1965 Fish Bait Ideal 1965 James Bond 007 Action Toys Gilbert 1965 Mystery Date Milton Bradley 1965 Operation Milton Bradley 1965 Tigeroo Bike Siren Ideal 1966 Babysitter Game Ideal 1966 Mosquito Milton Bradley 1966 Thing Ding Schaper Toys 1967 Careful Ideal 1967 Clean Sweep Schaper Toys 1967 Fang Bang Milton Bradley 1967 Lite Brite Hasbro 1967 That Kid Doll Hasbro 1968 Big Mouth Schaper Toys 1968 Bucket of Fun Milton Bradley 1968 Little Lost Baby Ideal 1968 Sand Lot Slugger Milton Bradley 1968 Situation 4 Parker Brothers 1969 Ants in the Pants Ideal / Schaper Toys 1969 Astro Sound Hasbro 1969 AstroLite Hasbro 1969 Dynamite Shack Milton Bradley 1969 Finders Keepers Cardinal 1969 Humor Rumor Whitman 1969 Sketch a Toon Unknown 1970 Brink Ball Lakeside 1970 Mad Marbles Lakeside 1970 Mind Maze Parker Brothers 1970 Mr. Mad Ideal 1970 Rattle Battle Parker Brothers 1970 Snoopy and the Red Baron Milton Bradley 1970 SSP Kenner 1970 The Tiny Tim of Beautiful Things Parker Brothers 1970 Twiddler Parker Brothers 1970 The Wall Walker Kenner 1970 Which Witch? Milton Bradley 1971 Alley Up Hasbro 1971 Gnip Gnop Parker Brothers 1971 Inchworm Parker Brothers 1971 Masterpiece Parker Brothers 1971 Smash Up Derby Kenner 1971 Stay Alive Milton Bradley 1972 Big M-X Matchbox 1972 Blythe Doll Kenner 1972 Bops 'n Robbers Marx 1972 Don't Blow Your Top Schaper Toys 1972 Skittle Horseshoes Aurora 1973 Flip It Aurora 1973 Silly Sammy Marx 1973 Super Sunday Football Hasbro 1974 Body Language Milton Bradley 1974 Evel Knievel Stunt Gamehttps://patents.google.com/patent/US3984105A/en Ideal 1974 Fighting Furies pirate action figures Matchbox 1974 The Inventors Parker Brothers 1974 Jack Be Nimble Schaper Toys 1974 The Miss America Pageant Parker Brothers 1974 Planet of the Apes Milton Bradley 1974 Ricochet Racers Hasbro 1974 Trip Hammer Milton Bradley 1974 Tug Boat Parker Brothers 1975 Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces Kenner 1975 Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture kit Milton Bradley 1974 Electronic Table Tennishttps://patents.google.com/patent/US3993309A/en?inventor=Breslow&before=priority:19741231&after=priority:19740101 Ideal 1977 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Puppets & Trolley Ideal 1978 Laser Attack Milton Bradley 1978 Simon Milton Bradley 1979 Maniac Ideal 1979 Super Simon Milton Bradley 1980 Chu-Bops Amurol 1981 4 wheel drive toy used in Attak Trak (Masters of the Universe) Mattel 1982 Stuff Yer Face Milton Bradley 1985 Rocks Bugs and Things Ideal 1988 C.O.P.s and Crooks Hasbro 1988 Smoochees Fisher-Price Toys
References
External links Video: WBBM Channel 2 Chicago News Feature story and interview of Marvin Glass (1972) Working at the Marvin Glass Studio - Recollections of a Former Employee by Erick Erickson Marvin Glass page at Boardgame Geek Photo: Marvin Glass (center) won't unveil a new toy to a buyer unless he signs a promise not to copy it. Left, engineer John Parks of Glass's staff.