For our first week of free, the hubs and I visited the Main Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to view the current exhibit "Just in Time for the Holidays: Kenner Toys," celebrating Cincinnati-based Kenner Toys and its contemporaries.
The exhibit is spread out over the library's three floors, with display cases celebrating the origins of Star Wars toys, toy designers Mark Boudreaux and Jim Swearingen, toy photographer Kim Simmons, toys that originated in Cincinnati and smaller displays of three toy companies based in Cincinnati during the same time as Kenner.
Bub-L-Rocket was one of the first toys Kenner produced
The exhibit spans the 1940s to the 1990s and is curated by local collectors Dan Flarida and Josh Blake of Kenner Collector.
I was a tween when the first Star Wars movie came out in 1977, and like so many other kids, couldn't get enough of it. I saw it in the cinema 11 times during its first run and am not embarrassed to admit that all my other toys - including Barbie - went untouched and unplayed-with after I received my first Star Wars toys. I had no idea at the time that those toys were conceived, designed and produced just down I-75 in Cincinnati.
The first 12 Star Wars figures designed by Kenner
Jim Swearingen was the first at Kenner to read the Star Wars script and led the team in development of the toys. The exhibit shares images from his collection of the early days of Star Wars toys, including photos of Swearingen with George Lucas and letters and memos between the two.
These aren't the droids you are looking for
Steve and I already knew Pound Puppies were invented here (actually in Franklin, about an hour north of Cincinnati) but were surprised to learn that the card game Uno was invented in Cincinnati and even more surprised to learn that the Magic 8-Ball originated here.
Mighty Tiny - the World's Smallest Record Player
The exhibit also highlights other Cincinnati-based toy companies, including Doepke Toys, creator of the Jag Sports Car model, Stuart Toys, maker of the Bronco Buster, and Poynter Products, maker of the Mighty Tiny Record Player (seen above). It also celebrates product invention company Bang Zoom Toys, a company that has designed for many toy lines, including Elmo, Monsters University and Dora the Explorer.
Just in Time for the Holidays continues at the Main Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County through January. 16, 2016.
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