Remco Industries, Inc. was a toy company in the United States founded in the 1940s. It was best known for toys marketed and sold in the late 1950s and early 1960s, like the 'Johnny Reb Cannon', 'Mighty Matilda Atomic Aircraft Carrier', 'Remco Voice Control

Kennedy Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

' (which featured model airplanes of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, 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". The company's slogan was "Every Boy Wants a Remco Toy...And So Do Girls!"

History

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 Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.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. In the mid-1960s, Remco acquired several licenses for

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

groups and TV shows and proceeded to make a variety of toys. Some of these were ''

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

'', '' the Monkees'', ''

Lost In Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'', '' The Munsters'', ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' and ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

''. However, the company often paid little heed to faithfulness to the property: ''Star Trek'' for instance, the merchandise Remco released for that series 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." The most derided of Remco's licensed toys for ''Star Trek'' is a white helmet with a red rotating light and siren with either Kirk or Spock's name on it. 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 uniformly 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

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

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1974. The company was known by toy collectors for their many

Universal Monsters Universal Classic Monsters (also known as Universal Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters) is a media franchise based on a series of horror films primarily produced by Universal Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although not initially concei ...

figures produced during the 1980s. These figures were a continuation of the license and figures first produced by AHI during the 1970s.

Steel Tec Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

was distributed by Remco Toys, Inc. of New York, New York, from 1992 to 1997 and was a division of parent company Azrak Hamway International. In 1997, Jakks Pacific acquired Remco from Azrak-Hamway.

Toys

1950s

*1950s Space Commander Walkie Talkies *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) *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

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 *1963 Barracuda Submarine *1963 USMC Bazooka *1963 Super Car *1964 Mr.Kelly's Car Wash *1964

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

Figures *1964

Hamilton Invaders The Hamilton's Invaders was a 1964 series of plastic toys of giant insect type monsters, toy soldiers and vehicles. The toyline was conceived and marketed by Remco on television during the early 1960s, inspired by the giant insect (see List of n ...

*1964 Project Yankee Doodle *1964 Monkey Division *1964 Lyndon B. Johnson Doll *1964 Senator

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

Doll *1964 Blippo Building Blocks *1964

Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anothe ...

*1965 Bulldog Army Tank *1965 Duffy's Daredevils *1965 Kennedy Airport Air Traffic Control Center *1966

Wrist Radios *1965 Screaming Mee Mee-e Rifle *1966

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

Robot *1966 Pussy Meow Doll *1967 Mighty Mike Motorized Trucks *1967 Polo Pony *1967 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Sub sets *1967

Astro Cruiser *1968 Land of the Giants Space Sled *1968 Astro Train *1968 Boeing

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

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 *1969 Tumbling Tom Boy Doll *1969 Frustration Ball

1970s

*1970 Speedrail Monorail *1970 Dune Buggy Wheelies *1970 Jumpsy Doll *1970 Mister Brain *1970 Monkees Figures *1971 Mighty Casey Backyard Railroad *1971 Finger Ding Paper Dolls *1971 Baby Laugh a Lot *1973

Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

Doll *1975 Magic Magic Magic Board Game *1975

Utility Belt *1976

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series, created by Sidney Sheldon that starred Barbara Eden as a sultry, 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman, as an astronaut with whom she falls in love and eventually marrie ...

Bottle *1976 McDonaldland Playset and figures *1977 System 7 Rifle *1978 Energized

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

*1978

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

Makeup Kit *1978

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

Candy Factory *1978 Bill Cosby's Kids *1979 the Incredible Hulk Instant Muscles

1980s

*1980

Figures *1981 Dukes of Hazzard *1982

Sgt. Rock Sgt. Franklin John Rock is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Sgt. Rock first appeared in ''Our Army at War'' #83 (June 1959), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. The character is a W ...

for DC *1982

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

for DC *1983 Crystar Action Figures *1984 Conan Action Figures *1984

Mighty Crusaders The Mighty Crusaders is a fictional superhero team published by Archie Comics. The team originally appeared in ''Fly-Man'' No. 31, #32 and No. 33 before being launched in its own title, ''Mighty Crusaders''. Written by Superman co-creator Jerry ...

Action Figures *1984 Zybots *1985

AWA Remco Action Figures The AWA Remco Action Figure Line was an action figure toyline based on the wrestlers of the now defunct American Wrestling Association Promotion, or AWA. They were made by the toy company Remco from 1985 to 1986. The toys were made of a solid plasti ...

Wrestling Figures *1985 Firffels The "Original" Two-feature Creature *1986

Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in the '' Karate Kid'' franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue and ...

Action Figures *1987 My Sweet 16 Play Cosmetics

1990s

*1991 Wilbur the Water Pup *1992

Motorized Construction Set Katty Zion
"Steel Tec"
''Katty Zion'' *1992 Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots ''Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots'' is a two-player action toy and game designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1964. It features two dueling robot boxers, Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, mechanically ...

*1994

Swat Kats ''SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron'' is a 1993–1994 American animated television series created by Christian and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. The series takes place in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City, which is p ...

action figures {{div col end

References

External links

1969 Remco Toy Catalog

Another Remco list of toys and small article
Toy companies of the United States Defunct toy manufacturers Toy soldier manufacturing companies Defunct companies based in New Jersey