Lynn Pressman Raymond
Encyclopedia
Lynn Pressman Raymond was an American
business executive who joined her husband Jack Pressman in developing and growing the Pressman Toy Corporation
, and was an innovator in creating and licensing toys based on hit television programs and professional athletes in her two decades as president of the firm following her husband's death in 1959.
as Lynn Rambach, and grew up in Brooklyn
, where she graduated from Erasmus Hall High School
. Starting as a secretary at Abraham & Straus
after completing high school, where she moved up the ladder to higher posts in advertising and training. She moved to McCreery's department store on Fifth Avenue where she moved up to a senior merchandising post. At McCreery's she set up promotional stunts that included having an employee dressed in an usher's uniform carry in with great fanfare to a fashion show a series of empty hat boxes that were said to contain the latest fashions fresh from Paris.
in 1928 which became a nationwide bestseller and was still a mainstay for decades. In the late 1940s he dissolved his partnership with his original partner, and appointed Lynn as vice president of the business her husband reestablished as Pressman Toy Company after she succeeded in convincing her husband to bring her into the business.
Seeing the anxiety of her children on visits to the doctor due to ill health or for vaccinations, she created the Doctor Bag in 1956—which included a stethoscope, syringe and other pretend medical supplies—to help kids deal with their fears. A Nurse Bag followed shortly thereafter, and this was extended with a Ken Doctor Bag and a Barbie Nurse Bag licensed in 1962. With the rise of The Mickey Mouse Club, first broadcast in 1955, a series of toys were licensed from the Walt Disney Company, including Mouskatennis table tennis
, a Mickey Mouse
Counting Jump Rope and Fun Tray, a board game based on the Davy Crockett
television series and other toys inspired by Disney. Other games featured tie-ins to the Lone Ranger and Superman
.
Jack Pressman's deteriorating health led Lynn to assume more responsibility in managing the firm, and she took over as president following his death in 1959. She had all of her company's toys made in the United States and set up a policy prohibiting sale of rifles and other military gear at a time when toy guns were a childhood staple, stating in the mid-1960s that "under no circumstances will I ever knowingly manufacture a bayonet, a hand grenade or any of the dreadful weapons that can destroy life as playthings for children". As a woman running a company, she received the cold shoulder from the bank her husband had dealt with, but was able to get by with credit from a bank located in her building.
She used her fashion sense and marketing skills to create more appealing packaging for games and was an early user of television to advertise the firm's products. She had a knack for understanding games offered to the firm and offering ways to simplify and improve game play. She brought in an elephant in front of the Toy Center
at 23rd Street
and Broadway
for the annual toy fair to promote two new memory games. She signed Roger Maris
at the height of his fame to promote Pressman's Big League Action Baseball, later signing Tom Seaver
and Carl Yastrzemski
.
Inspired by a letter from the anti-war Westchester Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Raymond oversaw the creation of a series of Pen Pal Dolls, each approved by UNICEF, which included a pen, stationery and information about the doll's country including a simple dictionary, with the name and address of a girl in one of 20 countries around the world.
.
A resident of Manhattan
's Upper East Side
near the Whitney Museum of American Art
, Raymond died at her apartment at age 97 on July 22, 2009. She was survived by a daughter from her first marriage (which had ended in divorce) and two sons from her marriage to Jack Pressman, as well as five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Jack Pressman died in 1959; her marriage to Dr. Martin Gray ended with his death in 1970, and her fourth husband, Michael Raymond died in the 1990s.
She played minor roles in a number of films produced by her son, including in his 1987 film Wall Street. She was hired for a Juicy Couture
print ad when she was 94 years old. Her son James Pressman succeeded her as the company's president in 1979.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
business executive who joined her husband Jack Pressman in developing and growing the Pressman Toy Corporation
Pressman Toy Corporation
Pressman Toy Corporation is a toy manufacturer based in New York City which was founded in 1922 by Jack Pressman. It currently focuses on family games and licensed products. Its slogan is "Games people play...
, and was an innovator in creating and licensing toys based on hit television programs and professional athletes in her two decades as president of the firm following her husband's death in 1959.
Early life and career
She was born in Woodhaven, QueensWoodhaven, Queens
Woodhaven is a middle-class neighborhood located in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.Woodhaven is bordered on the north by a public park, Forest Park, and Park Lane South. Woodhaven also borders Richmond Hill to the east, and Ozone Park to the south at Atlantic Avenue...
as Lynn Rambach, and grew up in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, where she graduated from Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....
. Starting as a secretary at Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, in 1929 it became part of Federated Department Stores, which eliminated the A&S brand shortly after its 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company...
after completing high school, where she moved up the ladder to higher posts in advertising and training. She moved to McCreery's department store on Fifth Avenue where she moved up to a senior merchandising post. At McCreery's she set up promotional stunts that included having an employee dressed in an usher's uniform carry in with great fanfare to a fashion show a series of empty hat boxes that were said to contain the latest fashions fresh from Paris.
Pressman Toys
Her second marriage was to "Marble King" Jack Pressman in 1942, who had founded the predecessor company in 1922 and had built the business up on the success of his acquisition of the rights to the game Chinese checkersChinese checkers
Chinese checkers is a board game that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners...
in 1928 which became a nationwide bestseller and was still a mainstay for decades. In the late 1940s he dissolved his partnership with his original partner, and appointed Lynn as vice president of the business her husband reestablished as Pressman Toy Company after she succeeded in convincing her husband to bring her into the business.
Seeing the anxiety of her children on visits to the doctor due to ill health or for vaccinations, she created the Doctor Bag in 1956—which included a stethoscope, syringe and other pretend medical supplies—to help kids deal with their fears. A Nurse Bag followed shortly thereafter, and this was extended with a Ken Doctor Bag and a Barbie Nurse Bag licensed in 1962. With the rise of The Mickey Mouse Club, first broadcast in 1955, a series of toys were licensed from the Walt Disney Company, including Mouskatennis table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, a Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
Counting Jump Rope and Fun Tray, a board game based on the Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)
Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
television series and other toys inspired by Disney. Other games featured tie-ins to the Lone Ranger and Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
.
Jack Pressman's deteriorating health led Lynn to assume more responsibility in managing the firm, and she took over as president following his death in 1959. She had all of her company's toys made in the United States and set up a policy prohibiting sale of rifles and other military gear at a time when toy guns were a childhood staple, stating in the mid-1960s that "under no circumstances will I ever knowingly manufacture a bayonet, a hand grenade or any of the dreadful weapons that can destroy life as playthings for children". As a woman running a company, she received the cold shoulder from the bank her husband had dealt with, but was able to get by with credit from a bank located in her building.
She used her fashion sense and marketing skills to create more appealing packaging for games and was an early user of television to advertise the firm's products. She had a knack for understanding games offered to the firm and offering ways to simplify and improve game play. She brought in an elephant in front of the Toy Center
Toy Center
The Toy Center, also known as the International Toy Center, is a complex of buildings in the New York City borough of Manhattan that for many years has been a hub for toy manufacturers and distributors in the United States. It consists of two buildings located between 23rd Street and 25th Street...
at 23rd Street
23rd Street (Manhattan)
23rd Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is one of few two-way streets in the gridiron of the borough. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided at Fifth Avenue, in this case at Madison Square Park, into its east and west sections. Since...
and Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
for the annual toy fair to promote two new memory games. She signed Roger Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
at the height of his fame to promote Pressman's Big League Action Baseball, later signing Tom Seaver
Tom Seaver
George Thomas "Tom" Seaver , nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1967-1986 for four different teams in his career, but is noted primarily for his time with the New York Mets...
and Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
.
Inspired by a letter from the anti-war Westchester Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Raymond oversaw the creation of a series of Pen Pal Dolls, each approved by UNICEF, which included a pen, stationery and information about the doll's country including a simple dictionary, with the name and address of a girl in one of 20 countries around the world.
Personal
Raymond described herself as having "bad hair" and was a big fan of wearing distinctive hats from among the hundreds of designs she owned that were created by milliner Mr. JohnMr. John
John P. John was an American milliner. According to the New York Times, "in the 1940s and 1950s, the name Mr. John was as famous in the world of hats as Christian Dior was in the realm of haute couture".-Biography:...
.
A resident of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
near the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, Raymond died at her apartment at age 97 on July 22, 2009. She was survived by a daughter from her first marriage (which had ended in divorce) and two sons from her marriage to Jack Pressman, as well as five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Jack Pressman died in 1959; her marriage to Dr. Martin Gray ended with his death in 1970, and her fourth husband, Michael Raymond died in the 1990s.
She played minor roles in a number of films produced by her son, including in his 1987 film Wall Street. She was hired for a Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture is a contemporary line of both casual and dressy apparel based in Arleta, Los Angeles, California founded by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor in 1996...
print ad when she was 94 years old. Her son James Pressman succeeded her as the company's president in 1979.