The first toy ever advertised on television was Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head.
Frank A. Bennack Jr. and Maureen Reidy of The Paley Center for Media called this historic moment to mind to an audience of toy industry professionals, media figures, and philanthropists to kick off The Paley Honors: A Gala Tribute to Hasbro’s Centennial on Monday.
The gala, held at Cipriani 42nd street in New York City, was a celebration punctuated by milestones in the toy giant’s lifespan. From the Mr. Potato Head advertisement to Mattel’s 1996 bear hug offer to acquire Hasbro, the night was one full of fond, triumphant remembrances.
The evening was the first honors given by The Paley Center for Media, a media preservation and archivist organization, in three years.
After a cocktail reception, a seated dinner was held while various media figures gave speeches and shared the impact of Hasbro and its intellectual properties (IP), complemented by several video montages highlighting its history.
One of the first to speak was Maurice Dubois of CBS2 News, who touched on the family origins of the company.
“The ‘Has’ and the ‘bro’ in Hasbro is essential to the company’s story history and its impact on our culture. It refers to the three innovative Hassenfeld Brothers who immigrated to this country in the early 1900s,” Dubois said. “They founded the original family business that’s grown into the Hasbro that we know today. The company evolved from textiles to pencils to school supplies to toys.”
Later in the evening, Peter Cullen, the actor who has voiced Optimus Prime in Hasbro’s Transformers franchise for decades, discussed joining the Hasbro community, and spoke to the impact of the blockbuster IP.
“That was the beginning of an incredible relationship with a great family,” he said of his hiring. “There, I would meet the creative people in the design rooms, making the models, coming up with new characters.” Cullen continued, saying “To the children out there, they learn something from Optimus Prime. They learned compassion, understanding, sensitivity, sincerity, service, courage, till all are one.”
Former Hasbro CEO Alan Hassenfeld, grandson of one of the founders, kept remarks light: “How do you get to be the head of a toy company? There’s only one word: it’s called nepotism,” he said.
And while the gala itself was a celebration of Hasbro, The Paley Honors was specifically awarded to Hasbro Chief Executive Officer Chris Cocks. Upon accepting the Paley Honors, Cocks spoke of his personal journey to top dog at Hasbro.
“My experience [growing up] with Hasbro was more than just a consumer. The inventor of Play-Doh literally lived down the street from me, and I remember at the age of 13, I knocked on the door of a senior vice president of Hasbro at the time, a guy named Howard Bollinger, and I pitched him on a new product line and at the age of 13, I was one of Kenner’s youngest-ever inventors signing an NDA for an action figure line with him,” he said. “It didn’t get made. It didn’t get made. I think Alan was the CEO at the time, too. So I have a bone to pick from you, Mr. Hassenfeld.”
But Cocks concluded the evening where Hasbro began: “Finally, and frankly most importantly and heartfelt, I want to acknowledge Alan and the Hassenfeld family and the incredible legacy that they’ve brought, without whom, there would be no Hasbro.”
