Remco

Remco is an American toy company. Founded in the 1949[1] as Remco Industries, Inc., it is known for toys integrating technology and innovation from their inception.

This article is about the 20th-century toy company. For the given name, see Remco (given name).
Remco
IndustryToy Manufacturing
Founder
Key people
Marvin Azrak, Ezra Hamway
ProductsToys
OwnerRemco Industries (previous), Azrak-Hamway(previous), Jakks Pacific (previous)

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, they produced the 'Johnny Reb Cannon', 'Mighty Matilda Atomic Aircraft Carrier', 'Remco Voice Control Kennedy Airport' (which featured model airplanes of American, TWA and United Airlines, a record player and an album which played a voice giving landing and take-off instructions) and the tethered 'Electronic Falcon Plane' that "flies itself".

Starting in the late 1960s, 1970s, 1980s & 1990s it was known for licensed products from major brands like Star Trek, Superheroes from Marvel and DC comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars and creation of the wrestling action figure with their AWA Remco Action Figure line.

The company's slogan in its early TV commercials was, "Every Boy Wants a Remco Toy...And So Do Girls!"[2]

History
Caravelle electronic transmitter / receiver, c. 1962.

Remco was founded by two cousins, Isaac "Ike" Heller and Saul Robbins. Armand Daddis soon joined the two as the company gradually moved from simple 'walkie-talkies' to a variety of sophisticated remote control toys. The name Remco comes from the two words "Remote Control". Originally located in Newark, NJ, the company later moved to nearby Harrison, New Jersey.

The boxes and toys were printed with just the company name and the city on them, but there were a few more clues as to the company's physical location on packaging. A street address listed on the back of the 1960 light bulldog tank box is "113 North 13th Street, Newark 7, NJ." The address on the instruction sheet for factory service return of the 1966 Lost in Space Robot is "Cape May St., Harrison, NJ." The Harrison location is now occupied by the Red Bull Arena, while the Newark location is now occupied by a furniture outlet.

Remco Motor Action Kit Toy Phonograph

In the mid-1960s, Remco acquired several licenses for popular culture groups and TV shows and proceeded to make a variety of toys. Some of these were the Beatles, the Monkees, Lost In Space, The Munsters, Batman and Star Trek. However, the company often paid little heed to faithfulness to the property. For example, the merchandise Remco released for Star Trek was usually generic toys from previous unrelated lines and had decals of the series simply placed on them, which is a technique called "label slapping."[3] One popular toy in the early 1960s was the 24 inch long functioning scuba diver with mask, knife, utility belt, rifle, walkie-talkie, air tanks, and floating location buoy.

From the 1980s through the 1990s, Remco made a variety of generic diecast and plastic trucks and other vehicles, usually made about four inches long. Vehicles were attractive and sturdy, though not uniform in scale, and included a tanker truck, fire truck, delivery van, cherry picker truck, skid steer, Jeep, and many more. A few vehicles were larger, like the seven inch long "Tuff Ones" "Recyclable Waste Management Corp." truck with opening side doors for "cans", "glass", and "paper".

Bankruptcy & Sale

Remco filed for bankruptcy in 1971 and was acquired by Azrak-Hamway International, Inc. (AHI), a toy company, in New York City in 1974.

The company is known by toy collectors for their many Universal Monsters figures produced during the 1980s. These figures were a continuation of the license and figures first produced by AHI during the 1970s.

In 1997, Jakks Pacific acquired Remco and AHI's Child Guidance from Azrak-Hamway.[4] Under Jakks Pacific, the brand was absorbed into its other products.

Toys

1950s
  • 1950s Space Commander Walkie Talkies [5]
  • 1953 Medicine Chest
  • 1955 Big Max (magnetic robot that picked off iron slugs from battery operated conveyor belt and placed them into slots)
  • 1957 Firebird 99 battery powered dashboard game.
  • 1957 Pom Pom Gun, battery powered double-barrel cannon.
  • 1958 Giant Wheel Cowboys'n Indians Game
  • 1958 Giant Wheel Thrills'n Spills Horse Race Game
  • 1959 Coney Island Penny Machine (Combination crane game and coin bank)[6]
  • 1959 Flying Fox Airliner
  • 1959 Little Red Spinning Wheel
  • 1959 Movieland Drive-In Theater (consisted of cars, a drive in board with car spaces, a place to list "Featured Movies" along with blue and white double-bill cards that slid into the marquee; the "movie" was a film strip that projected by a battery operated light bulb onto a 4"x6" screen that attached to the drive in. Titles included Heckle and Jeckle, Have Gun Will Travel, Mighty Mouse, Farmer Al Falfa)
  • 1959 Yankee Doodle Secret Rocket Test Center [7]

1960s

  • 1960 Frogman the US Navy Commando
  • 1960 Light Bulldog Tank #706 Montgomary Ward
  • 1960 Whirlybird Helicopter
  • 1961 Hippopotamus Electric Puzzle Game called Happy Hippopotamus Game
  • 1961 Johnny Reb Cannon
  • 1961 Mighty Matilda Aircraft Carrier
  • 1961 Shark Remote Control Race Car
  • 1961 Baby Laugh-A-Lot
  • 1962 Fascination Pool Game
  • 1962 Arthur Showboat Theater Playset
  • 1962 Littlechap Dolls
  • 1962 Caravelle Radio Transmitter and Receiver[8]
  • 1963 Barracuda Submarine
  • 1963 USMC Bazooka
  • 1963 Super Car
  • 1964 Mr.Kelly's Car Wash
  • 1964 Beatles Figures
  • 1964 Hamilton Invaders
  • 1964 Project Yankee Doodle
  • 1964 Monkey Division
  • 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson Doll
  • 1964 Senator Barry Goldwater Doll
  • 1964 Blippo Building Blocks
  • 1964 Munsters
  • 1965 Bulldog Army Tank
  • 1965 Duffy's Daredevils
  • 1965 Kennedy Airport Air Traffic Control Center
  • 1966 Batman Wrist Radios
  • 1965 Screaming Mee Mee-e Rifle
  • 1966 Lost in Space Robot
  • 1966 Pussy Meow Doll
  • 1967 Mighty Mike Motorized Trucks
  • 1967 Polo Pony
  • 1967 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Sub sets
  • 1967 Star Trek Astro Cruiser
  • 1968 Land of the Giants Space Sled
  • 1968 Astro Train
  • 1968 Boeing United Airlines 727 Toy Airplane (4.7 ft long)
  • 1969 Baby Sister Grow-A-Tooth
  • 1969 Pan Am Dual Control Jet Cockpit
  • 1969 Kitty Karry-All (The Brady Bunch)
  • 1969 Tru-Smoke Trucks[9]
  • 1969 Tumbling Tom Boy Doll
  • 1969 Frustration Ball[10]

1970s

1980s

1990s

References
  1. Fox, Margalit (2015-03-11). "Isaac Heller, Co-Founder of Remco and Toymaker to a Generation, Dies at 88". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  2. "You Can Tell It’s Mattel… It’s Swell!", Tim Forbes, American Heritage
  3. "Star Trek". The Toys that Made Us. 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  4. https://www.facebook.com/greg.hatala.3 (2013-12-10). "Made in Jersey: Remco Toys - remote control toys were 'controlled' nearby in NJ". nj. Retrieved 2023-06-08. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); External link in |last= (help)
  5. Coopee, Todd. "Space Commander Walkie Talkies from Remco". ToyTales.ca.
  6. "The Magic Market", Time, Dec. 14, 1959
  7. Coopee, Todd. "Yankee Doodle Secret Rocket Test Center from Remco (1959)". ToyTales.ca.
  8. Coopee, Todd. "Caravelle Radio Transmitter and Receiver". ToyTales.ca.
  9. Coopee, Todd. "Mini Tru-Smoke Diesel Mod-Pad Carrier from Remco". ToyTales.ca.
  10. Coopee, Todd. "Frustration Ball from Remco". ToyTales.ca.
  11. Coopee, Todd. "Mister Brain, the Tru-Smoke Robot". ToyTales.ca.
  12. Coopee, Todd. "The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior from REMCO (1982)". ToyTales.ca.
  13. Coopee, Todd. "The Karate Kid from Remco (1986)". ToyTales.ca.
  14. Katty Zion, "Steel Tec", Katty Zion
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