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My uncle was Arthur M. Dritz. He was one of the Dritz from John Dritz & Sons of sewing fame and invented many things including games. Do you know where I could learn more about his games?
I am a non traditional older college student and would like to research and write a paper about him. Can anyone tell me anything about him?
Thanks in advance,
Deb Shaw
Debshaw@aol.com
Dshaw692@Flagler.edu
Hello Deb,
How nice it is to hear from relatives and descendants of people in the game industry! During decades of collecting, I have come across many games marked “Arthur Dritz.” In my 1992 book, “Games: American Games and Their Makers, 1822-1992,” I state (page 66) under the listing for American Toy Works, “Many of their games are marked with the name Arthur Dritz, an inventor who provided products for other Long Island companies, such as Game Makers Inc. and Vitaplay Toy Co.”
American Toy Works seemed to be in production from 1895 through the 1940s, and had various addresses over time in the Long Island City area: 51 Bowery Street; 56 Allen Street; 7-8 Chatham Square (±1932). Around 1947 the company was at 41-59 Wyckoff Ave. in Brooklyn. The American Toy Manufacturing Co. was also located at the Chatham Square address around 1932, so it might have been a slightly different name for the same company.
Many of the Arthur Dritz games had the same look to them — that is to say, the same style of artistic design. That made me wonder whether he was not only a game inventor but also an artist and designer. Perhaps your family history research might reveal the answer to this.
Sometime in May I will put photos of a few Arthur Dritz games on this website. Good luck with your research! And I look forward to reading the results.
–Bruce Whitehill