Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America

by Michael Kimmel

A unique, illuminating story of the first–generation Jewish American toymakers who literally manufactured “the century of the child.”


In 1902, Morris and Rose Michtom invented the Teddy Bear in the back room of their Brooklyn candy store. Together, they launched the Ideal Toy Corporation into a prewar market rife with other first–generation American Jewish the Hassenfield brothers of Hasbro, Ruth Moskowicz and Elliot Handler of Mattel, and Joshua Lionel Cowan of Lionel Trains. In Playmakers, Michael Kimmel documents the creation of the idealized American childhood in the twentieth century—an idea developed but not experienced by its creators, whose parents often were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe. From Barbie and G.I. Joe to Popeye, Superman, and Mr. Potato Head, Kimmel follows Jewish toymakers as they climbed the ladder of success alongside Jewish comic book creators, children’s authors, parenting experts, and child psychologists. Playmakers shows how the overlapping experiences of being a Jew and a child in twentieth–century America—an outsider looking in, a person desperate to be accepted—created childhood as we know it today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Jewish, Cultural, Business

432 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2026

Reviews

[Logan Kedzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Or how the Jews saved Christmas.

I find it hard not to be facetious about this book. The quick take review is that it is a book by an academic (well, former) that started as a family memoir on an interesting character and grew into something else. There is a host of great interstitial material here as the author puts together the sociological picture, but the mission creep around that initial framing makes the whole weaker than its parts.

As ideas about human psychology and Progressive political thought developed in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, further fueled by Capitalism and the changing nature of work and the workforce, it meant an increased focus on children and childhood. While childhood may not have been invented, the notion of of adolescence was, while the scope and need for a specific project around children to create good adults gained focus and intent. The material aspects of this were apparent from the beginning, but supercharged by the largess of the United States in the post-war economic boom. Once the economy could create childhood, it could then fashion them into a new market, outright or by proxy.

Into this gap came European Jewish immigrants, with the archetype as the first-generation immigrant, having grown up without much in the way of material goods, first wherever they came from under the deprivation or strife that got their families to immigrate in the first place, then in the relative poverty of the immigrant communities that their families moved into. As those children grow up, they turn into the manufacturers, both materially and intellectually, of all the stuff that makes up our image of childhood and children.

So, think of a toy, a cartoon, a comic book, a children's book: whatever you thought of, an American Jew was central to it coming into existence.

The business history here is strong. The stories about toys that did not become famous are great. Some of the moments of depth on a person, such as with Maurice Sendak, are good enough to be their own articles. And on that note, this book pairs well with Where the Wild Things Were in general, containing many of the same phenomena but under a different analytical lens. And that meshes with the overall scope of the project, providing interesting while not definitive take on the sociology of the culture of the United States through the years, with what pushed and pulled on that.

The weakness here is the desire to score points. The deeper dives are rare in comparison to the cataloging of each and every Jewish American immigrant or child of immigrants who contributed to the cultural makeup of the United States. This horizontal approach clouds more than it clarifies. It starts being a listicle.

This methodology subverts the thesis. Instances where the creators themselves considered Jewishness central to the project are given a similar weight to ones relying on the sophistry of a stoned collegiate to infer some sort of immigrant Jewish origin. It gets to '...tails you lose' territory: Fredric Wertham or Roy Cohn are out to sublimate their Jewishness by appealing to the elites and become a tool for Antisemitism; Theodor Seuss Geisel, got his career because people thought he was Jewish. My eyes about rolled out of my head in the discussion of Black dolls as a Jewish creation.

By mixing it all up, by treating useful citations on one creator with armchair psychoanalyst inferences about another creator, the useful history is snowed over.

There is a certain contradictory quality to the thesis, but what surprised me the most is the big-C Conservative conclusion. Maybe it is an inevitable flaw in these sort of books, where if the narrative is not 'well, that happened,' there has to be a cause, and that cause ends up benign essentialism. The conclusion here is that European Jewish immigrants to the United States were culturally disposed to perform as the scarequote "model minority," having assimilation as a core value due to their own history. Therefore, when a space was created, they could project that assimilation fantasy in a way that out-competed whites on whiteness. And I am not sure what to do with that, other than the way that I feel it is not where history as a study has been heading lately.

My thanks to the author, Michael Kimmel, for writing the book, and to the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, for making the ARC available to me.

[Zoe Zeid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew many Jews invented some of our most famous toys/books/comics, but I didn't know how many! This was an interesting analysis about why first generation Jews created some of our most iconic toys. The timeline was a bit jumbled, but content was still good. I never thought about how Jewish owned/created department stores had such a big hand in creating the Christmas magic and commercializing it. Definitely recommend the audiobook!

[Luv2TrvlLuvBks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This extensively researched book shines a spotlight on the ingenuity first generation Jewish Americans played. Their talent and efforts find their way in the comic heroes that grace the screen, the comforting teddy bears that snuggle with children, and the iconic dolls (see: Barbie) who have a generational reach.

Using the framework of time, the Author tracks the societal changes America experienced from the restrictions on child labor to the the move of women from the kitchen to the office. Ironically, the latter created a fear of emasculation of men and the consequential growth of certain toys targeted to boys and girls. Besides this, the reader will be astounded by some facts. The colors of pink and blue, traditionally affiliated with girls and boys, was actually the opposite back then. The characters of famed superheroes like Superman or expressions used in the comic world have Jewish origins.

If you are the reader who believes that you never stop learning, this is a good read to choose. If you are the reader who desires a deeper understanding of Jewish American's contributions to this country's cultural phenoms, this is the book for you.

Thank you W. W. Norton & Company for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#Playmakers #NetGalley

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book looks at the history of the toy industry in America and the fact that the majority of the entrepreneurs that started it were of a Jewish background. Specifically, they were mostly Yiddish-speaking Jews who had immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. While the title of the book implies that it focuses on the toy industry, the book also takes a very in depth look at everything from comic books to baseball cards to children's books.

While I enjoyed learning about the history of the toys - some of which I played with when I was growing up in the 70s - I thought the book spent more time on the lives of the people and the history of Jews in America, than it did on the toys themselves. I think if the book would have focused more on the toys, it would be more appealing to a broader audience. However, it's very well written and researched and worth a read if the subject is something that interests you. I think it's particularly suited to people in the baby boomer generation who grew up with a lot of these toys.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Catherine Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feeling a little bamboozled because I thought this was going to be more of profiles/backstories of how specific, iconic toys of the 20th century came into existence, but this was more about the psychology of child development and the Jewish immigrant experience (from approximately 1880-1930). The first chapter is literally all about how the teddy bear was invented, which was exactly the kind of format and content I thought the rest of the book was going to be yet was not.

It's also a bit misleading to say this is all about the "toy industry" because a good deal of time was spent discussing the comic book industry and children's books. Those can be interesting to learn about, but those don't fall under the "toy" umbrella.

And then my last big critique: this needs another round of edits for basic grammar and vocabulary errors that were too frequent for a finished product. Not to mention that things got a little repetitive, at times. More than once or twice, the same fact would be reiterated nearly verbatim after having been established the page or chapter before. Some fine-tuning would have been good.

[Craig Beyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Kimmel has written an engaging and amazing sociological history of his family and other families centered around the Jewish immigrants who created toys for children and created an industry. Sounds dull; it is anything but dull! Those pioneers invented famous toys including Teddy Bears, Barbie, GI Joe, pogo sticks, plastic model ship kits and many other toys. The whole comics industry came from the creative artists, also immigrant Jews, who could not get hired—despite their talents—by anti-Semitic companies and institutions because of quotas. Kimmel book describes the connection between toys and comics through the action figure toys that came from the comics—Superman, Bat Man, Captain America, and many others. It’s a fascinating story with many interactions among the Jewish immigrants and their very successful struggles to support their families. Highly recommended to anyone interested in toys and comics.

[Janis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Kimmel, author of Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America, is himself a descendant of a toy-making family. In telling their story, he goes down numerous rabbit holes—exploring topics such as immigration, child development, department stores, children’s literature and its authors, media tie-ins to television and film, directors and producers, antisemitism, the Red Scare and blacklisting, New York City neighborhoods, and more. At times, he nearly lost my attention, but I ultimately found most of the detours worthwhile and was glad I finished the book.

[Rena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit too discursive. Anything that distracts from the wondrous biographies of the toys brought my reading energy down. Yes, some contextual history helps, and I think the author spent too many words on what is background. Still there are juicy tidbits, like the dark (and unknown to me) backstory of the teddy bear - who used it as an emblem and why. And the swapping of gender colors - pink and blue - a bit more about that would have been welcome. Overall, a fun read as anything centered on toys should be. Silly Putty forever!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

What great fun this book is! Immigrant and first generation Jews created the toy, comic book, children’s book, department store, movie and TV industries. In fact, they created modern American childhood.Kimmel does a superb job of telling the story and illuminating why and how these people were able to do what they did. His last chapter wraps it up quite well. Remembering playing with these toys, reading these comics, watching these movies, and knowing I’m Jewish just makes me that much prouder. Wonderful book!

[Apilrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader's edition from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was extremely well done, insightful and thought out. I picked it up mainly because of the Teddy bear named after Roosevelt. I learned so much from this book, but will say it was heavier than I expected and I would have to put it down for a bit and come back to it. Highly recommend it though- was an excellent read

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much more than expected: I thought I would be reading a book about toymakers, but it was also about immigration, assimilation, the creation of childhood as a developmental step, toys, comic books, children's books, parenting advice, plastic models, the gendering of toys, and anti-Semitism. Exhaustively researched, I appreciated his attention to the social history of sexism, racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. It was just a delight to remember all those toys and dolls of my childhood (and to remember I spent my summers on the Aurora Plastics assembly line). One issue: why are there so very many typos? The copy editor must not like prepositions because many of them were just plain missing.

[Michael]

TERRIBLE. I was expecting light reading on the pioneers of the toy industry. Instead I was bored to sleep by psychological analysis by an author who clearly needed to spend more of his childhood playing with toys.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s not a bad book but I DNF due to so much heaviness on the Jewish history. It is interesting but it was more than I was expecting. I was anticipating more history on the toys themselves. The timeline also seemed to jump around which made it hard to follow for some aspects of the book.

[Patrick Macke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really just wanted to learn about the toys, but this is not a book about toys it is a Jewish coming to America story ... As a running list of Jewish accomplishments it is impressive, but not a "toy" book; buyer beware

[Stuart Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining account of how and why, in the first half of the 20th century, mostly immigrant, first-generation eastern European Jews met great success by creating the toy industry and contributing to the redefinition of Americanchildhood.

[S Ninn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joy

[Ethan Dobres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Zoe Zeid, whose review of this book inspired me to read it! It was incredibly interesting but a bit all over the place.

[sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at the Jewish entrepreneurs who led toy companies. Focus on antisemitism and economic reality that pushed them to create toys of our childhood

[Tom Hansen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Expected a celebration of the legendary Ideal Toy Co. instead it reads like a dull, wandering term paper …

[David Tull · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who's ever been interested in childish things and who we have to thank for many of them.

[madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book about toys, we spent a lot of time not talking about them

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting take on the Jews who created the ideal American childhood as outsiders who wanted something better. A little melancholy in that respect. But very interesting.

[Barb Wiseberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew?
Well researched!!!

[Rachel]

Toys, comic books and comic strips: Immigrant Jews played a large role in the development of all three industries in the United States. In his “Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America” (W. W. Norton and Company), Michael Kimmel notes that Jewish immigrants – the ones who never experienced a carefree childhood – helped create the modern version of childhood that came into being during the 20th century. He boldly claims that his work “is the story of the creation of the idealized childhood that these poor, often Yiddish-speaking, tenement-dwelling children of immigrants from Russia and eastern Europe never got to live for themselves. They imagined a world where other children could have the experiences they lacked – and in doing so, they transformed America.”
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/feat...