USA, New York, Bronx

 

Another darling gift from Clarissa. This set was sold by Russ Berry. He was a very prolific manufacturer of gifts. The following is from his web site:

"Russell Berrie grew up in the East Bronx. He traced his early ambitions to memories of sitting around the table... feeling left out as his father... and brothers talked business.

'I wanted very badly to be a success and to show my father and brother that I could do as well as they could,' he recalled. 

When he was 10, he launched his first entrepreneurial venture, collecting discarded scorecards after games at Yankee Stadium. He would take the scorecards home, clean them up and sell them at the next day's game.

Russ landed his first full-time job in 1956, as a salesman for a toy company. As he got to know the business, he identified a growth opportunity in the market for impulse gifts; inexpensive trinkets that shoppers might buy on a whim, after seeing them displayed on a shelf or near the check-out line. When Russ's bosses declined to pursue his ideas, he struck out on him own, starting Russ Berrie and Company in ... Palisades Park, New Jersey in 1963."

There's more I could say, but I just like knowing a little something about manufacturers and artists. I remember "Russ" products such as stuffed animals and gifts in a Hallmark store that were affordable.

Donated to Mesa Temple Visitors' Center Collection.