July 22: Chinese Checkers and Other Funtastic Toys

Lynn Pressman Raymond, a manufacturer and marketer of “funtastic” toys that included the Doctor Bag and the Nurse Bag, the Beanie and Cecil beanbag, Giant Pickup Sticks, Action Baseball, the Mickey Mouse Counting Jump Rope, and tie-in games to Shari Lewis’ puppets, the Davy Crockett television series, and much more, died at the age of 97 on this date in 2009. In 1942 she married Jack Pressman, America’s “Marble King” who licensed and distributed the game of Chinese Checkers in America, and became a partner in his business, Pressman Toys, which she headed as CEO for twenty years after his death. Raymond refused to sell cap pistols, toy guns, or other military-themed toys, stating that “under no circumstances will I ever knowingly manufacture a bayonet, a hand grenade or any of the dreadful weapons that can destroy life as playthings for children.” She also created a series of Pen Pal Dolls, each approved by UNICEF, which included a pen, stationery, a simple dictionary, and the name and address of a girl in one of twenty countries around the world. Raymond insisted, however, that her company’s products be made in the USA. She was pioneer in advertising toys and games on television, and in creating tie-ins to popular television shows and celebrities. “When I took over the business when Jack died, the bank threw me out. It was because I was a woman; that’s the only reason.” —Lynn Pressman Raymond Watch a commercial for Pressman’s very cool but politically incorrect “headshrinker” toy from the 1960s: