Meet the creator of GI Joe, the toy action figure that put Hasbro in Pawtucket on the map. In the mid 1960s, Hasbro launched one of the most successful toys in the history of its company: G.I. Joe. Its meteoric rise to its seemingly overnight fall because of the antiwar sentiment that swept the nation to its eventual evolution into the small action figures that are part of almost every boy's toy chest today. An exhibit of his designs will be on display in the Slater Mill Gallery through September 27. Slater Mill Gallery, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket. free and open to the public.
About Don Levine ….The Father of GIJOE
For more than three decades, boys the world over have played with GIJOE, the hugely successful moveable
fighting man. Despite predictions that "a boy'll never play with a doll,", GIJOE and the many accessories
spun off from the original toy have racked up an incredible $2.6 billion in sales since it's introduction in
1964. Don Levine, the "father of GIJOE," has written GIJOE The Story behind the Legend. Mr. Levine
sheds some interesting light on the amazing success of this beloved American icon.
Raised in Forest Hills, Queens, and Great Neck, Long Island, Don Levine was a tennis enthusiast who
played Junior Davis Cup in high school. He attended Syracuse University where he earned his degree in
business administration. Drafted into the U.S. Army, he was part of the invasion force landing at Inchon in
September 1950.
After his discharge from the Army, Levine joined two partners to form an advertising agency. Looking for
a steadier paycheck, he joined a firm that manufactured plastic notebooks, scrapbooks, diaries and school
supplies for large retailers such as F.W. Woolworth, J.C. Penny and Sears. This is the beginning of his
fascination with product development. He got an idea for a line of plastic notebooks, diaries and
scrapbooks featuring little-girl colors. He called it Ponytail. But his bosses didn't particularly like the idea.
When he took his idea to some of the major retailers, his boss promptly sacked him. Through luck and
serendipity, he met Merrill Hassenfeld, the head of Hassenfeld Toys which would later become Hasbro --
the toy manufacturing giant -- who had heard of Levine's success with the Ponytail line. A meeting at the
Hassenfeld headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, led to an offer of a permanent position with the
company and in 1956, Mr. Hassenfeld made him an offer to create a new company along the lines of his
Ponytail enterprise. Hasbro wanted to get into the burgeoning teen market.
By 1963, Levine was vice-president and director of marketing and development of Hasbro Toys when he
conceived and organized the manufacture and introduction of GIJOE. The popular action figure would
make Don Levine a legend in the toy business. In 1975, Don Levine left Hasbro to form his own
successful toy development company. He developed Kenya, which is currently one of the best-selling dolls
in the world. He is married and the father of three children and two grandchildren. He and his wife, Nan,
live in Providence. |
