Toy Manufacturers of America "Hall of Fame" Plaque for Albert Steiner: I stumbled across this and it's companion, a similar plaque for former Kenner president Bernie Loomis,while roaming around the upper floors of Toy Center, the New York headquarters for the Toy Manufacturers of America and the principal home of the annual New York Toy Fair. I take it that, every year, the TMOA inducts a new person into their "hall of fame," and commemorates the event with a plaque like the one you see here. All of the plaques hang together in a hall inside of the Toy Center building. The plaques are metal, with black text and imagery.

Steiner was one of the founders of Kenner, the Cincinnati-based toy company that made its mark with Playdoh and Easybake, but became immortal with Star Wars. Although he died in 1977, the year that Star Wars debuted, the groundwork he helped lay made the Star Wars toy line possible. His image is accompanied on the plaque by one of the Easy Bake Oven, one of Kenner's signature products. To the left of the oven can be seen the old Kenner logo, the "goony bird."

Having spent so long collecting Kenner Star Wars toys and in investigating the situation at Kenner during the Star Wars era, I got a real kick out of seeing Steiner's plaque hanging beside those of such industry innovators as Louis Marx and Walt Disney.