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Kenner Products

Kenner Products was an American toy company founded in 1947. Throughout its history the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines, including the original series of Star Wars action figures. The company was closed by its corporate parent Hasbro in 2000.

History

Founded in 1947 in Cincinnati, Ohio by brothers Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, the company was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, just north of Cincinnati's Union Terminal. It was a pioneer in the use of television as a medium for advertising toys across the United States, beginning in 1958.

In the early 1960s, Kenner introduced its corporate mascot, The Kenner Gooney Bird, which would be used in both its company logo ("It's Kenner! It's fun!") and TV ads, in both animated form and puppetry. One commercial was produced by Muppets creator Jim Henson. The Bird was phased out by 1974.

The company was purchased by General Mills in 1967. In 1970, General Mills merged its Rainbow Crafts division into Kenner Products, bringing Play-Doh into the Kenner product line. In 1985, General Mills would spin-off both its Kenner and Parker toy divisions to form Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. The following year Kenner Parker sold off its Lionel Trains division.

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.

Live to film

Initially, the show was broadcast live, but starting in the summer of 1953, some episodes were filmed in advance. Beginning with the 1956-1957 season, all of the shows were filmed.

Between October 1951 and March 1952, the hour-long show was aired at 9 pm. In April 1952, the running time was reduced from an hour to 30 minutes. The series moved to 9:30 pm in the 1955 fall season.

Pilots

Two episodes served as pilots for later NBC Western series: The Restless Gun with John Payne (March 29, 1957 pilot) and Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson. The Restless Gun pilot was based on the radio series The Six Shooter, and Payne's character had the same name, Britt Ponset, as the radio character; that name was changed to Vint Bonner when the actual series began, possibly to prevent confusion with Bret Maverick in Maverick, which debuted in 1957.