Iconic toy creator, American entrepreneur, and co-founder of "Uncle Milton Industries."
Milton Levine served as a combat engineer in World War II, building bridges with his unit in France and Germany. In France, at a USO show, he met his future wife Mauricette Schneider, a French citizen and Holocaust survivor who was entertaining troops on the piano. They married in 1945 and were together for 65 years until his passing. They had a son and two daughters, all of whom they put through college with the profits from his business.
In 1946 he teamed up with his brother-in-law, Joe Cossman, to form a mail-order novelty company. Together they successfully mass marketed toy shrunken heads (for decorating the rear-view mirrors of cars), and balloon animals. One of their most popular gadgets was the Spud Gun, which harmlessly fired pellets plucked from potatoes. The Spud Gun was advertised for decades in comics books and is still sold today. Levine bought out Cossman in 1965 and renamed the company Uncle Milton Industries.
Levine's most successful product was conceived in the mid-1950s. Decades earlier, as a boy playing on his uncle's farm, Levine would collect ants into a jar and watch them work. Years later, at a 1956 Fourth of July picnic, Levine watched an army of ants invade the event and was drawn back to his childhood on his uncle's farm. He was thus inspired to create the now famous and iconic "Ant Farm", a commercial version of a "formicarium" that had been invented in the late 19th century. Levine devised a simpler, inexpensive consumer version that looked much an American mid-western farm (a look it has to this day). The original Ant Farms were sold for $1.29 and were contained in 6 x 9 inch frames. Business boomed after advertisements in after-school programs prompted thousands of sales a week. Levine thought of the name of the company by saying, "Someone said that if I've got all these ants, then I must be the uncle."
There were a number of difficulties to be solved when shipping living creatures. Levine and Crossman had to set up a two-stage sales process. Customers first bought the Ant Farm and then obtained 25 live ants by mailing in an enclosed coupon. This was to bypass the fact that the ants would die if left for months on a storage shelf waiting to be shipped. Additionally, early Ant Farms used a glue whose fumes sometimes killed the ants. The specimens contained in the farm are a species native to the southwestern US. The company had to obtain permission from each state to ship live ants (they still can't be shipped to Hawaii, where ants are deemed an infestation menace). Ant visibility was another problem. The original Ant Farms were filled with beach sand, which, as Levine recalls, "was fine, except it was the same color as the ants." White-ish volcanic soil was soon substituted to provide better contrast.
Likewise, ant suppliers sometimes proved to be a temperamental lot. One salesman showed up at Levine's office with a jar full of ants, began arguing over payment terms, "and then he got mad, opened the jar onto my desk, and they were all over the office," said Levine.
Despite those problems, the Ant Farm was a fast hit in the fad-crazy 1950s. Although fads typically die out quickly, the Ant Farm survived due to Levine's cleverness. For starters, he understood the value of television exposure. He made an upscale mahogany-and-glass Ant Farm for Dick Clark. He also appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Shari Lewis Show, the latter of which featured the surreal scene of Levine discussing the finer points of ants with Lewis's puppet alter ego, Lamb Chop. Levine even went so far as to plant his son in children's show audiences, where the hosts would notice him holding an Ant Farm and get sucked into discussing it. Levine also had the acumen to move the Ant Farm beyond the toy market and into schools, where teachers began using it as an educational tool.
At the time of his death, over 20 million units had been sold, with a growth rate of about 30,000 units per month. In 1991 he said about his business success, "Most novelties, if they last one season, it's a lot. If they last two seasons, it's a phenomenon. To last 35 years is unheard of."
"Uncle Milton's Ant Farm" is an icon of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It continues to entertain and educate millions of people around the world today, and is still selling thousands of units per month.
Another lesser known but iconic toy known to comic book readers of the 1950s to the 80s is his "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set." Investing in plastics after World War II, Levine and Crossman saw the development of, and sale of a set of soldiers, tanks, ships, cannons, jeeps and airplanes. It sold for just $1.25 in the 1950s, and was still only $1.98 in the 1980s when it went off the market. The toys are called 'combat flats' because they are mostly 2-dimensional flat figures (like the toys in a Cracker Jack box, who manufactured the figures for Levine and Crossman). At first kids were disappointed upon opening the box, but soon their imaginations took over and disappointment turned to fun and pleasure. The ad for the set was printed in tens of millions of comic books from the 1950s to the 80s, and except for the price was virtually unchanged over nearly 40 years. It is forever embossed on the memories of comic book readers of that time. The "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set" has now become a beloved and sentimental novelty on the comic book and toy collector market. The Spud Gun and Toy Soldier set were both featured in Kirk Demarais' 2011 book, "Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!"
"Uncle" Milton died of natural causes at the age of 97.
His Los Angeles Times obituary of January 18, 2011, said of him: "Born in Pittsburgh, PA, son of Harry and Mary Levine, beloved husband of sixty-five years to Mauricette Levine, loving father of Harriet, Steven, and Ellen Levine, adoring grandfather of Andrea, Michelle, and Brandon Levine, dear brother of Pearl Cossman and Ruth Shriber; Milton passed away peacefully in Thousand Oaks, CA."
"Known by almost everyone as Uncle Milton, he was a self-made, successful entrepreneur who, upon returning from Europe (Army 1st Sgt.), co-founded a toy company in 1946, and made his mark as co-creator of the famous Ant Farm. He was a leader in his community and was a proud Mason and Shriner. He was loved and admired by his family, friends and colleagues."
"He was intelligent, honest, generous, optimistic, and cheerful. He had a wonderful sense of humor and always kept a positive outlook. His motto was Procrastination is the secret of failure; Perseverance is the secret of success. Milton will be forever missed by all who knew him."
Milton Levine served as a combat engineer in World War II, building bridges with his unit in France and Germany. In France, at a USO show, he met his future wife Mauricette Schneider, a French citizen and Holocaust survivor who was entertaining troops on the piano. They married in 1945 and were together for 65 years until his passing. They had a son and two daughters, all of whom they put through college with the profits from his business.
In 1946 he teamed up with his brother-in-law, Joe Cossman, to form a mail-order novelty company. Together they successfully mass marketed toy shrunken heads (for decorating the rear-view mirrors of cars), and balloon animals. One of their most popular gadgets was the Spud Gun, which harmlessly fired pellets plucked from potatoes. The Spud Gun was advertised for decades in comics books and is still sold today. Levine bought out Cossman in 1965 and renamed the company Uncle Milton Industries.
Levine's most successful product was conceived in the mid-1950s. Decades earlier, as a boy playing on his uncle's farm, Levine would collect ants into a jar and watch them work. Years later, at a 1956 Fourth of July picnic, Levine watched an army of ants invade the event and was drawn back to his childhood on his uncle's farm. He was thus inspired to create the now famous and iconic "Ant Farm", a commercial version of a "formicarium" that had been invented in the late 19th century. Levine devised a simpler, inexpensive consumer version that looked much an American mid-western farm (a look it has to this day). The original Ant Farms were sold for $1.29 and were contained in 6 x 9 inch frames. Business boomed after advertisements in after-school programs prompted thousands of sales a week. Levine thought of the name of the company by saying, "Someone said that if I've got all these ants, then I must be the uncle."
There were a number of difficulties to be solved when shipping living creatures. Levine and Crossman had to set up a two-stage sales process. Customers first bought the Ant Farm and then obtained 25 live ants by mailing in an enclosed coupon. This was to bypass the fact that the ants would die if left for months on a storage shelf waiting to be shipped. Additionally, early Ant Farms used a glue whose fumes sometimes killed the ants. The specimens contained in the farm are a species native to the southwestern US. The company had to obtain permission from each state to ship live ants (they still can't be shipped to Hawaii, where ants are deemed an infestation menace). Ant visibility was another problem. The original Ant Farms were filled with beach sand, which, as Levine recalls, "was fine, except it was the same color as the ants." White-ish volcanic soil was soon substituted to provide better contrast.
Likewise, ant suppliers sometimes proved to be a temperamental lot. One salesman showed up at Levine's office with a jar full of ants, began arguing over payment terms, "and then he got mad, opened the jar onto my desk, and they were all over the office," said Levine.
Despite those problems, the Ant Farm was a fast hit in the fad-crazy 1950s. Although fads typically die out quickly, the Ant Farm survived due to Levine's cleverness. For starters, he understood the value of television exposure. He made an upscale mahogany-and-glass Ant Farm for Dick Clark. He also appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Shari Lewis Show, the latter of which featured the surreal scene of Levine discussing the finer points of ants with Lewis's puppet alter ego, Lamb Chop. Levine even went so far as to plant his son in children's show audiences, where the hosts would notice him holding an Ant Farm and get sucked into discussing it. Levine also had the acumen to move the Ant Farm beyond the toy market and into schools, where teachers began using it as an educational tool.
At the time of his death, over 20 million units had been sold, with a growth rate of about 30,000 units per month. In 1991 he said about his business success, "Most novelties, if they last one season, it's a lot. If they last two seasons, it's a phenomenon. To last 35 years is unheard of."
"Uncle Milton's Ant Farm" is an icon of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It continues to entertain and educate millions of people around the world today, and is still selling thousands of units per month.
Another lesser known but iconic toy known to comic book readers of the 1950s to the 80s is his "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set." Investing in plastics after World War II, Levine and Crossman saw the development of, and sale of a set of soldiers, tanks, ships, cannons, jeeps and airplanes. It sold for just $1.25 in the 1950s, and was still only $1.98 in the 1980s when it went off the market. The toys are called 'combat flats' because they are mostly 2-dimensional flat figures (like the toys in a Cracker Jack box, who manufactured the figures for Levine and Crossman). At first kids were disappointed upon opening the box, but soon their imaginations took over and disappointment turned to fun and pleasure. The ad for the set was printed in tens of millions of comic books from the 1950s to the 80s, and except for the price was virtually unchanged over nearly 40 years. It is forever embossed on the memories of comic book readers of that time. The "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set" has now become a beloved and sentimental novelty on the comic book and toy collector market. The Spud Gun and Toy Soldier set were both featured in Kirk Demarais' 2011 book, "Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!"
"Uncle" Milton died of natural causes at the age of 97.
His Los Angeles Times obituary of January 18, 2011, said of him: "Born in Pittsburgh, PA, son of Harry and Mary Levine, beloved husband of sixty-five years to Mauricette Levine, loving father of Harriet, Steven, and Ellen Levine, adoring grandfather of Andrea, Michelle, and Brandon Levine, dear brother of Pearl Cossman and Ruth Shriber; Milton passed away peacefully in Thousand Oaks, CA."
"Known by almost everyone as Uncle Milton, he was a self-made, successful entrepreneur who, upon returning from Europe (Army 1st Sgt.), co-founded a toy company in 1946, and made his mark as co-creator of the famous Ant Farm. He was a leader in his community and was a proud Mason and Shriner. He was loved and admired by his family, friends and colleagues."
"He was intelligent, honest, generous, optimistic, and cheerful. He had a wonderful sense of humor and always kept a positive outlook. His motto was Procrastination is the secret of failure; Perseverance is the secret of success. Milton will be forever missed by all who knew him."
Iconic toy creator, American entrepreneur, and co-founder of "Uncle Milton Industries."
Milton Levine served as a combat engineer in World War II, building bridges with his unit in France and Germany. In France, at a USO show, he met his future wife Mauricette Schneider, a French citizen and Holocaust survivor who was entertaining troops on the piano. They married in 1945 and were together for 65 years until his passing. They had a son and two daughters, all of whom they put through college with the profits from his business.
In 1946 he teamed up with his brother-in-law, Joe Cossman, to form a mail-order novelty company. Together they successfully mass marketed toy shrunken heads (for decorating the rear-view mirrors of cars), and balloon animals. One of their most popular gadgets was the Spud Gun, which harmlessly fired pellets plucked from potatoes. The Spud Gun was advertised for decades in comics books and is still sold today. Levine bought out Cossman in 1965 and renamed the company Uncle Milton Industries.
Levine's most successful product was conceived in the mid-1950s. Decades earlier, as a boy playing on his uncle's farm, Levine would collect ants into a jar and watch them work. Years later, at a 1956 Fourth of July picnic, Levine watched an army of ants invade the event and was drawn back to his childhood on his uncle's farm. He was thus inspired to create the now famous and iconic "Ant Farm", a commercial version of a "formicarium" that had been invented in the late 19th century. Levine devised a simpler, inexpensive consumer version that looked much an American mid-western farm (a look it has to this day). The original Ant Farms were sold for $1.29 and were contained in 6 x 9 inch frames. Business boomed after advertisements in after-school programs prompted thousands of sales a week. Levine thought of the name of the company by saying, "Someone said that if I've got all these ants, then I must be the uncle."
There were a number of difficulties to be solved when shipping living creatures. Levine and Crossman had to set up a two-stage sales process. Customers first bought the Ant Farm and then obtained 25 live ants by mailing in an enclosed coupon. This was to bypass the fact that the ants would die if left for months on a storage shelf waiting to be shipped. Additionally, early Ant Farms used a glue whose fumes sometimes killed the ants. The specimens contained in the farm are a species native to the southwestern US. The company had to obtain permission from each state to ship live ants (they still can't be shipped to Hawaii, where ants are deemed an infestation menace). Ant visibility was another problem. The original Ant Farms were filled with beach sand, which, as Levine recalls, "was fine, except it was the same color as the ants." White-ish volcanic soil was soon substituted to provide better contrast.
Likewise, ant suppliers sometimes proved to be a temperamental lot. One salesman showed up at Levine's office with a jar full of ants, began arguing over payment terms, "and then he got mad, opened the jar onto my desk, and they were all over the office," said Levine.
Despite those problems, the Ant Farm was a fast hit in the fad-crazy 1950s. Although fads typically die out quickly, the Ant Farm survived due to Levine's cleverness. For starters, he understood the value of television exposure. He made an upscale mahogany-and-glass Ant Farm for Dick Clark. He also appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Shari Lewis Show, the latter of which featured the surreal scene of Levine discussing the finer points of ants with Lewis's puppet alter ego, Lamb Chop. Levine even went so far as to plant his son in children's show audiences, where the hosts would notice him holding an Ant Farm and get sucked into discussing it. Levine also had the acumen to move the Ant Farm beyond the toy market and into schools, where teachers began using it as an educational tool.
At the time of his death, over 20 million units had been sold, with a growth rate of about 30,000 units per month. In 1991 he said about his business success, "Most novelties, if they last one season, it's a lot. If they last two seasons, it's a phenomenon. To last 35 years is unheard of."
"Uncle Milton's Ant Farm" is an icon of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It continues to entertain and educate millions of people around the world today, and is still selling thousands of units per month.
Another lesser known but iconic toy known to comic book readers of the 1950s to the 80s is his "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set." Investing in plastics after World War II, Levine and Crossman saw the development of, and sale of a set of soldiers, tanks, ships, cannons, jeeps and airplanes. It sold for just $1.25 in the 1950s, and was still only $1.98 in the 1980s when it went off the market. The toys are called 'combat flats' because they are mostly 2-dimensional flat figures (like the toys in a Cracker Jack box, who manufactured the figures for Levine and Crossman). At first kids were disappointed upon opening the box, but soon their imaginations took over and disappointment turned to fun and pleasure. The ad for the set was printed in tens of millions of comic books from the 1950s to the 80s, and except for the price was virtually unchanged over nearly 40 years. It is forever embossed on the memories of comic book readers of that time. The "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set" has now become a beloved and sentimental novelty on the comic book and toy collector market. The Spud Gun and Toy Soldier set were both featured in Kirk Demarais' 2011 book, "Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!"
"Uncle" Milton died of natural causes at the age of 97.
His Los Angeles Times obituary of January 18, 2011, said of him: "Born in Pittsburgh, PA, son of Harry and Mary Levine, beloved husband of sixty-five years to Mauricette Levine, loving father of Harriet, Steven, and Ellen Levine, adoring grandfather of Andrea, Michelle, and Brandon Levine, dear brother of Pearl Cossman and Ruth Shriber; Milton passed away peacefully in Thousand Oaks, CA."
"Known by almost everyone as Uncle Milton, he was a self-made, successful entrepreneur who, upon returning from Europe (Army 1st Sgt.), co-founded a toy company in 1946, and made his mark as co-creator of the famous Ant Farm. He was a leader in his community and was a proud Mason and Shriner. He was loved and admired by his family, friends and colleagues."
"He was intelligent, honest, generous, optimistic, and cheerful. He had a wonderful sense of humor and always kept a positive outlook. His motto was Procrastination is the secret of failure; Perseverance is the secret of success. Milton will be forever missed by all who knew him."
Milton Levine served as a combat engineer in World War II, building bridges with his unit in France and Germany. In France, at a USO show, he met his future wife Mauricette Schneider, a French citizen and Holocaust survivor who was entertaining troops on the piano. They married in 1945 and were together for 65 years until his passing. They had a son and two daughters, all of whom they put through college with the profits from his business.
In 1946 he teamed up with his brother-in-law, Joe Cossman, to form a mail-order novelty company. Together they successfully mass marketed toy shrunken heads (for decorating the rear-view mirrors of cars), and balloon animals. One of their most popular gadgets was the Spud Gun, which harmlessly fired pellets plucked from potatoes. The Spud Gun was advertised for decades in comics books and is still sold today. Levine bought out Cossman in 1965 and renamed the company Uncle Milton Industries.
Levine's most successful product was conceived in the mid-1950s. Decades earlier, as a boy playing on his uncle's farm, Levine would collect ants into a jar and watch them work. Years later, at a 1956 Fourth of July picnic, Levine watched an army of ants invade the event and was drawn back to his childhood on his uncle's farm. He was thus inspired to create the now famous and iconic "Ant Farm", a commercial version of a "formicarium" that had been invented in the late 19th century. Levine devised a simpler, inexpensive consumer version that looked much an American mid-western farm (a look it has to this day). The original Ant Farms were sold for $1.29 and were contained in 6 x 9 inch frames. Business boomed after advertisements in after-school programs prompted thousands of sales a week. Levine thought of the name of the company by saying, "Someone said that if I've got all these ants, then I must be the uncle."
There were a number of difficulties to be solved when shipping living creatures. Levine and Crossman had to set up a two-stage sales process. Customers first bought the Ant Farm and then obtained 25 live ants by mailing in an enclosed coupon. This was to bypass the fact that the ants would die if left for months on a storage shelf waiting to be shipped. Additionally, early Ant Farms used a glue whose fumes sometimes killed the ants. The specimens contained in the farm are a species native to the southwestern US. The company had to obtain permission from each state to ship live ants (they still can't be shipped to Hawaii, where ants are deemed an infestation menace). Ant visibility was another problem. The original Ant Farms were filled with beach sand, which, as Levine recalls, "was fine, except it was the same color as the ants." White-ish volcanic soil was soon substituted to provide better contrast.
Likewise, ant suppliers sometimes proved to be a temperamental lot. One salesman showed up at Levine's office with a jar full of ants, began arguing over payment terms, "and then he got mad, opened the jar onto my desk, and they were all over the office," said Levine.
Despite those problems, the Ant Farm was a fast hit in the fad-crazy 1950s. Although fads typically die out quickly, the Ant Farm survived due to Levine's cleverness. For starters, he understood the value of television exposure. He made an upscale mahogany-and-glass Ant Farm for Dick Clark. He also appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Shari Lewis Show, the latter of which featured the surreal scene of Levine discussing the finer points of ants with Lewis's puppet alter ego, Lamb Chop. Levine even went so far as to plant his son in children's show audiences, where the hosts would notice him holding an Ant Farm and get sucked into discussing it. Levine also had the acumen to move the Ant Farm beyond the toy market and into schools, where teachers began using it as an educational tool.
At the time of his death, over 20 million units had been sold, with a growth rate of about 30,000 units per month. In 1991 he said about his business success, "Most novelties, if they last one season, it's a lot. If they last two seasons, it's a phenomenon. To last 35 years is unheard of."
"Uncle Milton's Ant Farm" is an icon of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It continues to entertain and educate millions of people around the world today, and is still selling thousands of units per month.
Another lesser known but iconic toy known to comic book readers of the 1950s to the 80s is his "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set." Investing in plastics after World War II, Levine and Crossman saw the development of, and sale of a set of soldiers, tanks, ships, cannons, jeeps and airplanes. It sold for just $1.25 in the 1950s, and was still only $1.98 in the 1980s when it went off the market. The toys are called 'combat flats' because they are mostly 2-dimensional flat figures (like the toys in a Cracker Jack box, who manufactured the figures for Levine and Crossman). At first kids were disappointed upon opening the box, but soon their imaginations took over and disappointment turned to fun and pleasure. The ad for the set was printed in tens of millions of comic books from the 1950s to the 80s, and except for the price was virtually unchanged over nearly 40 years. It is forever embossed on the memories of comic book readers of that time. The "100 Piece Toy Soldier Set" has now become a beloved and sentimental novelty on the comic book and toy collector market. The Spud Gun and Toy Soldier set were both featured in Kirk Demarais' 2011 book, "Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!"
"Uncle" Milton died of natural causes at the age of 97.
His Los Angeles Times obituary of January 18, 2011, said of him: "Born in Pittsburgh, PA, son of Harry and Mary Levine, beloved husband of sixty-five years to Mauricette Levine, loving father of Harriet, Steven, and Ellen Levine, adoring grandfather of Andrea, Michelle, and Brandon Levine, dear brother of Pearl Cossman and Ruth Shriber; Milton passed away peacefully in Thousand Oaks, CA."
"Known by almost everyone as Uncle Milton, he was a self-made, successful entrepreneur who, upon returning from Europe (Army 1st Sgt.), co-founded a toy company in 1946, and made his mark as co-creator of the famous Ant Farm. He was a leader in his community and was a proud Mason and Shriner. He was loved and admired by his family, friends and colleagues."
"He was intelligent, honest, generous, optimistic, and cheerful. He had a wonderful sense of humor and always kept a positive outlook. His motto was Procrastination is the secret of failure; Perseverance is the secret of success. Milton will be forever missed by all who knew him."
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