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.
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.
Kenner is a 1969 American drama film directed by Steve Sekely and written by Robert L. Richards and Harold Clemins. The film stars Jim Brown, Madlyn Rhue, Robert Coote, Ricky Cordell, Charles Horvath and Prem Nath. The film was released on April 23, 1969, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Kenner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
I see stars
So far away that
I'm looking up when I'm down
Time man
Nothing that you say
Can melt me like him
His words make me swim
Twilight from the screen he sees
Into my past