American kids growing up in the early 20th century had a choice of games they could play on the floor: Tiddlywinks or marbles. The former were originally called Tiddledy Winks and were made by the Transogram company, headed by first-generation American Jew Charles Raizen. As it happened, Jack Pressman, the “Marble King” of the United States who kept business booming even during World War I, was also an American Jew born to immigrant parents.
In fact, many Jewish names appear in the narrative of childhood in America during the 20th century. The chosen people — especially first-generation ones — figured prominently in the ranks of those who invented, designed and distributed toys; who wrote and illustrated children’s books and comic books; even those who addressed childhood through the emerging field of psychology.
A new book puts all the puzzle pieces together: “Playmakers,” by Michael Kimmel, an emeritus professor of sociology at the State University of New York.
“Everywhere I looked, there was like this parade of Jews,” Kimmel told The Times of Israel. “Virtually all but one of the major, major toy industries in the first few decades of the 20th century were founded by first-generation Jews … How come I never read this before?”
