Kay Kamen

{{infobox person

|name=Kay Kamen

|birth_name=Herman Samuel Kominetzky

|birth_date={{birth date|1892|1|27}}

|birth_place=Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1949|10|28|1892|1|27}}

|death_place=São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal

|occupation=Merchandising executive

|known_for=Work with The Walt Disney Company
Promoting Mickey Mouse

}}

Herman "Kay" Kamen (born Herman Samuel Kominetzky;{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Derek|title=Hit Makers: How Things Become Popular|date=7 February 2017|publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=9780241216057|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgUvDQAAQBAJ&q=Kay+Kamen&pg=PR118}} January 27, 1892 – October 28, 1949){{cite web|url=https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/kay-kamen/ |title=Disney Legends: Kay Kamen |publisher=D23}} was an American merchandising executive, noted primarily for his work with the Walt Disney Company. He promoted merchandise in association with the Walt Disney Company including Mickey Mouse – the most popular cartoon character of the early 1930s.{{cite web|title=Selling Mickey: The Rise of Disney Marketing |url=https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/selling-mickey-rise-disney-marketing|accessdate=25 May 2019}}

Early life

Kamen was born January 27, 1892, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Russian-Jewish parents. He spent his early life working as a merchant and an advertising man. Kamen was the youngest of four children. He did not finish high school and spent time in a juvenile penitentiary. His first work was selling mink hats in Nebraska in his twenties. He appeared to be a good salesman.

Career

In his thirties Kamen founded a marketing company based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company's specialization was developing products based on movies and negotiation of merchandising agreements for a number of prominent animated figures.

In 1932, Kamen contacted Walt and Roy O. Disney with a proposal to handle licensing of their characters. They were receptive and invited him to come to the studio and make a presentation. Sensing a major opportunity, Kamen immediately withdrew his life savings from the bank and sewed the money into his coat for the two-day train trip to Los Angeles the same day and stayed awake for the entire trip for fear of having his coat stolen. Upon arriving at the Disney Brothers' office, Kamen spread the money on their desk and promised them that amount plus 50% of the revenue he would generate with the merchandising license.{{cite news|last=O'Reilly|first=Terry|authorlink=Terry O'Reilly (broadcaster)|date=16 July 2016|title=Movie Merchandising|url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/movie-merchandising-1.3462981|accessdate=27 February 2016|work=Under the Influence|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}

As a result, Kamen (although briefly delayed by him falling asleep while the Disneys were privately conferring over the offer) secured the licensing agreement for all Disney merchandising, a contract his firm would hold for the next two decades.{{cite book|title=The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life |author=Steven Watts |date=9 May 2013 |page=149 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0826273000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0826273009}}{{cite web|title=1932|url=http://kpolsson.com/disnehis/disn1932.htm|accessdate=13 November 2012}} sources:
*Walt Disney - An American Original, by Bob Thomas, 1994. Page 107.
*Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles, by Cecil Munsey, 1974. Page 108.
*Building a Company - Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire, by Bob Thomas, 1998. Page 70.
*Walt Disney - The Triumph of the American Imagination, by Neal Gabler, 2006. Page 197. Kamen's firm quickly monetized Mickey Mouse's image, providing a much-needed line of cash to the struggling Disney firm through its Walt Disney Enterprises division. The following year, Kamen's firm developed the Mickey Mouse watch, which was produced by Ingersoll-Waterbury and soon became the bestselling watch in the United States.{{cite AV media |people= Sarah Colt, Tom Jennings and Mark Zwonitzer |year=2015 |title=Walt Disney: He Made Believe |medium=television documentary |publisher=American Experience }}{{cite book|title=The Disneyization of Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0761967656 |isbn=0761967656 |author=Alan Bryman |year=2004 |page=83}} The success of the Mickey Mouse watch not only provided much needed revenue to the Walt Disney company, but it rescued the Ingersoll-Waterbury watch company from certain bankruptcy.

By 1948, revenue of licensed Disney products totaled more than $100 million.

Kamen and WDE developed product lines for many of Disney's films and franchises, particularly Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Kamen died in the 1949 Air France Lockheed Constellation crash on São Miguel Island, in the Azores at the age of 57.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4428671/atlantic_airline_crash_kills_48/#|title=Atlantic Airline Crash Kills 48|work=Albany Democrat-Herald|location=Albany, Oregon|date=28 Oct 1949|page=1|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=25 February 2016}}

Kay Kamen

Early life

Career

References

Further reading