Sunday, October 25, 2026
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education
525 Versailles Drive
Centerville, OH 45459

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

Discover the untold story of first-generation Jewish American toymakers who helped manufacture “the century of the child.” In 1902, Morris and Rose Michtom stitched together the first Teddy Bear in the back room of their Brooklyn candy store, sparking the Ideal Toy Corporation and a booming toy world created by fellow immigrant pioneers like Hasbro, Mattel, and Lionel Trains. In Playmakers, Michael Kimmel traces how Jewish founders, designers, and storytellers shaped an idealized American childhood—from Barbie and G.I. Joe to Superman and Mr. Potato Head. He reveals how outsider tenement life fueled a culture of imagination, acceptance, and endless fantasy.

No Cost. Please bring a new toy for donation to FLOC – For Love of Children to be distributed in the community this holiday season.

Questions? Contact Stacy Emoff at semoff@jfgd.net.

In partnership with Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History.