Toying with Enduring Imagination: Chicago Toy & Game Group Announce 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award
Turning an individual idea into an entertaining toy or game requires more than an innovative mind – it calls for a champion of creativity. On November 22, 2013, the Chicago Toy & Game Group will honor the pioneers of the toy and game industry with the Toy & Game Inventor of the Year (TAGIE) Awards. Included in this elite company is the recipient of the notable Lifetime Achievement Award, a closed category judged by experts. It is a privilege for the Chicago Toy & Game Group to acknowledge the 2013 beneficiary of the Lifetime Achievement Award, a man renowned for the twinkle of curiosity in his eye: Howard Morrison, co-founder of Big Monster Toys.
Born in 1932 on the north side of Chicago, Mr. Morrison spent his childhood tinkering with mechanical and building toys such as Erector Sets. A budding hands-on entrepreneur at a young age, he inherited an in-home workshop where he crafted wooden toy wheelbarrows and yarn dolls to sell to the neighborhood. Upon graduating from Chicago’s Senn High School, he pursued a varied college education at the University of Illinois at Chicago; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Deforest Trade School for Industrial Electronics; Illinois Institute of Technology, as well as the University of Wisconsin. His studies embraced architecture, liberal arts, and electrical engineering.
Beginning his career in electronics, Mr. Morrison ventured to Underwriters Laboratories to test electrical products for safety. He followed with eleven years at a small firm specializing in custom test equipment for industrial applications. His tenacity for creating top-notch toys emerged when he took a position with Strombecker Corporation (TootsieToy) in 1963 and later with Marvin Glass and Associates (MGA) in 1967, becoming a partner in 1969.
One of Mr. Morrison’s early standouts with MGA was the Super Sonic Power Racers product line for Kenner Toys, a best-seller for more than a decade after its 1970 debut. MGA remained a key player in the industry until 1988, when the company disbanded. Mr. Morrison and two longtime partners then joined forces, forming Breslow Morrison Terzian & Associates (BMT Toys). BMT, later updated to Big Monster Toys, remains a toy invention powerhouse today – according to one estimate, 70% of all children in the U.S. have played with a product from the company.
While Mr. Morrison retired from BMT in 1997, his legacy lives on through his innovative products. His most popular toy was “Simon,” one of the earliest and all-time bestselling handheld electronic games. In the 1980s, Mr. Morrison produced Bingo the Talking Bear for Hasbro, followed by Bubba the Bear, another mechanical, interactive character that would be a hit for Tyco, and later sold by Mattel. He was also the creator of the “Inchworm” ride-on toy by Hasbro Romper Room.
“I can say without hesitation that if it hadn’t been for some of the products Howard created, there would have been no BMT, and there would have been no toy inventing culture in Chicago,” said Rouben Terzian, partner at BMT and MGA for a combined 33 years. “We owe a lot to Howard.” Sean Mullaney, a designer at BMT, notes “Howard Morrison showed me how fun the toy business could be.”
The Chicago Toy & Game Group will toast the mind of Mr. Morrison, along with several other winners, at the Grand Ballroom of Chicago’s Navy Pier on November 22, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more information of the sixth installment of the TAGIE Awards, visit http://www.tagieawards.com.
ABOUT THE TAGIE AWARDS
Founded in 2008, the Toy & Game Inventor of the Year Awards celebrate the people behind the playthings through an elegant dinner and awards ceremony for toy and game industry leaders. Bringing together inventors, designers, manufacturers, retailers, the public, and the media, the TAGIE Awards are hosted in conjunction with the Toy & Game Inventors Conferences, the playCHIC toy inspired fashion event and the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. In praising creative minds from around the world, the evening also pays homage to masters of invention who differentiate themselves with an exceptionally innovative spirit for fun, philanthropy, inventor advocacy, creativity, and humanitarianism.
ABOUT THE CHICAGO TOY & GAME GROUP
The Chicago Toy & Game Group, Inc. is a family of toy industry initiatives designed to encourage and promote the power of play and invention in social, educational, and professional environments. The Chicago Toy & Game Group consists of the Chicago Toy & Game Fair; International Toy & Game Inventor and Industry Conference; International Summit for Professional Inventors; playCHIC Fashion Show; Toy & Game Inventor Awards; National ChiTAG Networking Events; Games for Educators; and Discover Games. For more information, visit www.ChiTAG.com, join in the conversation on Facebook, or follow the fun on Twitter @ChicagoToyNGame.
For more information on the TAGIE Awards, please contact Kim Morrison of Skirt PR
at 773-661-0700 or kmorrison@skirtpr.com.
