by Mary Pilon
Thousands of landlords Lorena A. Hickok to Harry Hopkins, report, August 6, 1933. Accessible online (http://explorepahistory.com/odocument.php?docId=1-4-1DF) or at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
One day, the Darrows’ youngest son Charles Darrow Jr., author interview, November 11, 2012. Scarlet fever symptoms: PubMed Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001969/. This is also consistent with the recollections of Mimi Simson (one of Franklin Alexander’s daughters).
It was during this dark period Lyn Russek, author phone interview, February 6, 2011. Mimi Simson, author phone interview, February 1, 2011.
While he was publishing Anspach, Monopolygate. This was Anspach detective work, unearthed decades after the settlement between Rudy Copeland and Parker Brothers in 1936. David Sadowksi, author phone interview, May 5, 2012. Charles Darrow Jr., author interview, March 30, 2013.
Unclear whether Ralph Anspach discovered that the documents were missing during his Anti-Monopoly research, and sure enough, forty years later, I couldn’t find them either. The specifics of what happened to them are unclear.
Darrow hired The use of Patterson and White as the printer comes up multiple times in the documents related to the Anti-Monopoly case, perhaps most notably in Esther Darrow’s deposition.
On May 31, 1934 Manager, Milton Bradley Game Department, to Charles Darrow, May 31, 1934. The letter is currently in the possession of Charles Darrow Jr., Darrow’s grandson, who was kind enough to share it with me.
8. Parker Brothers, from Depression to Boom
“The cry was raised against the great corporations.” Speech of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrcommonwealth.htm. Given at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California. Sept 23, 1932.
On October 24, 1929 Morris Dickstein, Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010).
Parker Brothers continued to pay dividends to its investors While board game executives anticipated a plunge in consumer spending on games, and their own company balance sheets may have been disastrous, it’s worth pointing out this was a golden age for cinema, theater, and other fields of entertainment. And, of course, Monopoly was a blockbuster in 1935, a time when the U.S. economy was still dark. For more, see Morris Dickstein, Dancing in the Dark.
Across town James J. Shea Jr., The Milton Bradley Story (New York: Newcomen Society in North America, 1973).
In the fall of 1931 “Table Gossip,” Boston Globe, September 27, 1931. George Auerbach, “Game Business No Child’s Play,” New York Times, December 7, 1958. Ellen Wojahn, The General Mills/Parker Brothers Merger.
The ability of average Americans The “Princes of Property” quote is attributed to Roosevelt in 1932, shortly before he would be sworn in as president of the United States. Speech, Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, September 23, 1932.
In 1933, George Parker Randolph Barton, author phone interview, November 13, 2012. Philip Orbanes, The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2004).
In Philadelphia, far from Barton’s office Benjamin Hunneman to Robert Barton, April 15, 1935, Anspach archives.
Traveling from Boston The letters between Barton and Darrow, which are part of the Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. documents, date this meeting to around March 1935.
One year later Associated Press, “Monopoly Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary,” the Day, February 8, 1985. Hat tip to Stephen Pavlisko for pointing this one out to me.
As the Parker Brothers catalog Photocopies of the 1935–1936 pages of the Parker Brothers catalog are part of the discovery documents for Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. and are now part of the Anspach archives. “Monopoly Sales 1935–1974: Summary by Years Showing Sales of Monopoly Game Equipment,” discovery documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. The 1936 Parker Brothers catalog makes mention of Stock Exchange: Anspach archives. Stock Exchange rules: http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/StockExchangegame.pdf.
An outside artist, Dan Fox Philip Orbanes, “Meet Dan Fox,” Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors Quarterly 10, no. 1 (?June 4, 2013). Author phone interviews with Herb Fox and Elizabeth Fox-Wolfe, November 18, 2014.
Reports emerged Roy Bongartz, “Pass and Go and Retire,” Saturday Evening Post, April 11, 1964, 26–27.
Some crazed players Also tapping into fan fervor and in a clever publicity move, in March 2014, Hasbro launched a campaign to have fans vote on their favorite “house rules,” to be incorporated into a special edition of the game. Mary Pilon, “Can’t Play by the Rules? It’s Fine by Mr. Monopoly,” New York Times, March 25, 2014. Meanwhile, some players have made the effort on their own, perhaps most notably with “Needlessly Complex Monopoly,” a rule set devised by a group of recent college graduates to better reflect the post-financial-crisis sense of malaise. You can read the rules, which include things like joint ventures, insurance, and air rights, here: http://needlesslycomplexmonopoly.com/.
Parker Brothers wasn’t the only one “Off the Record” column, publication unknown, Anspach archives. “Charles B. Darrow Dies at 78; Inventor of Game of Monopoly,” New York Times, August 29, 1967. The New York Times wrote that Darrow’s first royalty check was for seven thousand dollars in 1935 and that in the time between his invention of the game and his death, forty-five million sets had been sold.
One journalist after another Emma Dashevsky, “Another Germantown ‘First,’ ‘Monopoly’ Invented Here,” Germantown Bulletin, February 13, 1936.
Before long, Parker Brothers “Play with a Purpose,” Chicago Historical Society, available at http://chicagohistory.org/static_media/pdf/historylab/chm-historylabpc01.pdf. Researchers David Sadowski and Chris Williamson deserve full credit for piecing together the mystery of the metal tokens. Sadowski writes about the tokens, and other aspects of the game’s history, extensively in his self-published book, Passing Go.
In a letter with the signature Robert B. M. Barton to Charles B. Darrow, Esq., part of the discovery documents for Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. and now part of the Anspach archives.
The Parker Brothers vice president Benjamin Hunneman to Robert Barton, as quoted in Robert Barton to Charles Darrow, April 15, 1935, discovery documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc.
Darrow never submitted Robert B. M. Barton, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., May 8, 1975.
Darrow had obtained Per Ralph, via e-mail and author interview, “It mattered not when copyright symbol was attached by Darrow, rather when he first published. Darrow tells Barton this was Aug 1933. He may have told the P&A office Oct 24th as this was filing date, most applications (copyright, trademark, patent) are retroactive enforceable to the filing date as this is the date of invention? Does statutory bar begin with date of invention or in copyright first publication? The symbol attached did not matter until 1978.” This was a critical finding in Ralph’s case. More on that later.
Rumors floated David W. Knapp to R. M. Barton, September 13, 1935. Discovery documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. R. M. Barton to David Knapp, September 17, 1935. Court documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc.
Next came Easy Money Vincent Martin, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., September 10, 1975.
Perhaps a bigger threat Inflation information is generously indexed online by Thomas Forsyth: http://landlordsgame.info/rules/infl-r.html.
Barton also visited Louis Thun, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., June 17, 1975.
George told Lizzie Barton deposition, May 8, 1975. Lizzie’s 1904 patent by then had likely slipped into the public domain, meaning that Parker Brothers would only need to purchase the 1924 one. #1,509,312 Anspach archives. “And Now It’s the Pastim
e of America’s ‘Rugged Individualists.’” Washington Post, January 28, 1936.
Two days after the ink Lizzie Magie to “Mr. Parker,” November 8, 1935, Anspach archives.
Much to Lizzie Magie’s dismay The three games are advertised in the 1939–1940 Parker Brothers catalog under the heading “Three Games by Elizabeth Magie Phillips (Famous Originator of Games).” Anspach archives. Perhaps this is as good of a place as any for a shout-out to the Norman Seldin song “Monopoly Woman”: http://www.reverbnation.com/storminnormanseldin/song/8606682-monopoly-woman.
After the Landlord’s Game’s disappointing return For more on the patterns of women being silenced throughout history, see the work of Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard, namely her lecture, “Oh Do Shut Up Dear!” http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n06/mary-beard/the-public-voice-of-women.
The craze over Monopoly Victor Watson, The Waddingtons Story: From the Early Days to Monopoly, the Maxwell Bids and into the Next Millennium (London: Northern Heritage Publications, 2008).
9. Conflict, Intrigue, Revenge
“He had it handed to him on a silver platter” Eugene Raiford to Mr. Vince Leonard, January 2, 1964, discovery documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc.
Daniel Layman, the fraternity boy Dan Layman, deposition. Time changed its story on February 3, 1936, refuting the notion that Charles Darrow had created the game and acknowledging Lizzie
Darrow’s sale of the game Dorothy Harvey Leonard, Game Researchers’ Notes, no. 8, American Game Collectors Association, Bartlesville, OK, August 1990. Arden Craft Shop Museum and Swarthmore University. Cyril Harvey, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., February 4, 1975.
One Tuesday night Eugene Raiford to Mr. Vince Leonard, January 2, 1964, discovery documents, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc.
Years later, when Jesse Dorothea Raiford, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., February 4, 1975.
Charles Todd didn’t hear Charles E. Todd, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., February 6, 1975.
On the other side For more information about the indoctrination of youth by Hitler, see “Indoctrinating Youth,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007820. For more information about the specific games, see BoardGameGeek.com.
In his letter, the agent Lloyd R. Shoemaker, The Escape Factory: The Story of MIS-X, the Super-Secret U.S. Agency Behind World War II’s Greatest Escapes (New York: St. Martin’s, 1990). Shoemaker’s book includes a lot of detail on the POW escape mechanisms used by the Americans, and he makes several references to the use of Monopoly boards. Fact sheet, including a photograph of a cribbage board x-rayed, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (aafha.org). Hat tip to Stephen Pavlisko, who has spent an incredibly long amount of time researching the POW-smuggling history and was nice enough to share his thoughts and paper trail with me. Alan Duke, “Table Tennis as an Escape Aid.” Hat tip, Stephen Pavlisko. Also in Clayton Hutton, Official Secret (London: Max Parrish, 1960).
In America, military officers Shoemaker, The Escape Factory.
Milton Bradley turned James J. Shea Jr., The Milton Bradley Story.
Clank, clank, clank Letter to Mr. Watson, March 26, 1941. Also in Victor Watson, The Waddingtons Story.
The Germans were aware German flyer, via Stephen Pavlisko. Another choice quote: “The escape from prison camps is no longer a sport!”
It would be virtually impossible Researcher Mark Seaman at the Imperial War Museum in London “confirmed the escape kits were built into games and sports equipment smuggled into prison camps during World War II,” according to an Associated Press story from January 16, 1985. It’s worth noting that this also coincided with Waddingtons’ fiftieth anniversary of publishing Monopoly, raising suspicion that the tale was more commercially motivated than historically accurate. “Asked whether anyone was able to escape using the aids hidden in recreational gear, Seaman replied, ‘It’s difficult to say.’ ‘’ No byline. “Escape Devices Hidden Under Boards Smuggled into Camps: Monopoly Not a Game to WWII British POWs,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1985.
The board games with their smuggled Associated Press, no byline. “Escape Devices Hidden Under Boards Smuggled into Camps: Monopoly Not a Game to WWII British POWs,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1985.
With over one million “Monopoly Sales 1935–1974: Summary by Years Showing Sales of Monopoly Game Equipment,” part of the discovery documents for Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc. and now part of the Anspach archives.
As Parker Brothers ascended “Re-elected President of Toy Manufacturers,” New York Times, September 21, 1940. “Elected to Presidency of Toy Manufacturers,” New York Times, December 10, 1952.
With the introduction of television Paul M. Connell, Merrie Brucks, and Jesper H. Nielsen, “How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood,” The Journal of Consumer Research, March 2014.
The Parker men Alexander R. Hammer, “Advertising: Yule Rush on for Parker Brothers,” New York Times, June 7, 1959.
Monopoly was still the company’s unofficial flagship game In the post Charles Darrow–Monopoly boom, Parker Brothers and rival firms were creating other perennial classics. In the 1950s, Selchow and Righter found success selling Scrabble, a word game credited to the unfortunately surnamed Alfred Mosher Butts. For more, see Stefan Fatsis, Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players (New York: Penguin Books, 2002). In the late 1940s, Parker Brothers acquired Cluedo, a British murder mystery game that was supposedly invented by a musician to pass the tedious wartime hours. And at one point, there were issues trying to locate its credited inventor. See Robert McG. Thomas Jr. “Solved! Prof. Plum and Cohorts in the Clear.” New York Times, December 1, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/world/solved-prof-plum-and-cohorts-in-the-clear.html. Around the same time, Candyland is said to have been developed in polio wards as a tool to raise spirits.
10. The Case for Anti-Monopoly
“I start out with the idea” John Droeger, author interview, November 7, 2011.
Ralph Anspach pushed “Scorecard,” Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1976, 10.
“If anything, I’m pro-business …” Robert Duffy. “Game to Bust the Trusts,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 8, 1974. John Marshall. “Little Guy Who Beat Monopoly Is At It Again.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Section B. November 8, 1988. John Droeger, author interview, November 7, 2011.
At twelve forty-five Ralph Anspach, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., March 22, 1974. Ralph Anspach, author phone interview, October 26, 2011.
Sometime later, Ralph sat Marvin Kaye, A Toy Is Born (New York: Stein and Day, 1973). Mark and William Anspach, author interview, New York City, November 2, 2011.
Startled and saddened John Droeger, author phone interview, October 27, 2011. Ralph Anspach, author interviews, 2009 to 2014. Charles Burress, “Joanna Droeger—S.F. Restaurateur Invented Mud Pie,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 2004.
Trademark lawyers use Marty Schwimmer (trademark attorney), author phone interview, May 21, 2012. For more on trademark law, Harvard Law School has a great summary here that’s far more readable than most texts produced by aspiring lawyers: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm.
On the scorching morning Ralph Anspach, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., June 12, 1975.
Given the attitudes about women A fascinating digression could be made here on these mostly lost women physicists and mathematicians. NYU’s Bobst Library has more information about the program, which was sponsored by the Chance-Vought Aviation Company.
It was good to know Ralph Anspach, author interview, February 19, 2013. John Droeger, author phone interview, October 27, 2011. Ralph Anspach, author phone inter
view, October 26, 2011.
Ralph’s sons Ralph Anspach, author interview, February 19, 2013. Ruth Anspach, author interviews, New York City, November 4 and 10, 2011.
Much to Ralph’s amazement Dan Layman, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., January 17, 1975.
Finally, Ralph and Droeger Alice Armstrong Mitchell, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., May 19, 1976. Just a reminder for those trying to keep the Quaker family trees straight: Joanna Raiford McKain is Ruth Raiford’s niece, the daughter of Dorothea and the late Jesse Raiford. In 1933, Joanna was eight years old.
11. Anspach Connects the Dots
“All the ancient histories” Voltaire, “Jeannot et Colin,” available in translation at http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4772/pg4772.html.
As the Anti-Monopoly trial Frederic Moritz, “‘Monopoly’ Game Monopolizing Market?,” Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 1974.