Henry Orenstein

Henry Orenstein, born Henryk Orenstein (ca. 1925- ), convinced George Dunsay, Hasbro's Vice President of R&D in 1983, to acquire a license for releasing Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change toys on the North American market after a Hasbro representative had discovered the toys at Tokyo Toy Fair. He has also been incorrectly credited for coming up with the name Transformers in the past, which was actually the idea of Jay Bacal.

Orenstein shares the original patent for the Generation 1 rubsigns with George Dunsay.

Personal life

Born in Hrubieszów, Poland, as the second-youngest son of a Jewish family, Henryk Orenstein spent most of World War II in five different concentration camps. Together with his three brothers, he registered for a special squad of Jewish scientists and mathematicians, called the "Kommando", even though he was no actual genius at mathematics. The project's goal was to develop a special gas that could paralyze enemy tanks, but Orenstein himself assumes that the whole project, despite having been personally approved by Heinrich Himmler, was most likely a sham, thought up by German scientists who then ended up supervising the group so they could avoid military service. One of Orenstein's brothers later died as a result of an Allied air strike against the camp he was held at.

After having been rescued by Soviet troops, Orenstein emigrated to the United States in 1947, changed his first name to "Henry" and soon opened his own grocery store, which he eventually sold off. He subsequently became president and CEO of Topper Toys (aka the Deluxe Reading Company), where he invented many successful toys such as the Johnny Lightning cars, the Johnny Seven OMA and the Dawn dolls. Overall, Orenstein held over 100 patents in the toy field. However, in 1973, Topper Toys/Deluxe Reading filed for bankruptcy, and according to some sources, Orenstein was convicted of embezzlement and fraud.

Subsequently, Orenstein went on to work for Hasbro, where he ended up introducing the toys that would later become the original Transformers to then Hasbro CEO Stephen Hassenfeld. Aside from this and the creation of the rubsign, his contribution to the Transformers brand is marginal at best.

Following his stint at Hasbro, Orenstein, already close to the age of 70, discovered the world of poker. Finding television broadcasts of poker games "boring", he invented the hole card camera, a table level camera which allows television audiences and announcers to view players' hands and hidden cards. This innovation led to a boom in poker tournaments and television shows, some of which were launched by Orenstein himself. As a result, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Lejb and Golda Orenstein Building, an eleven-story building for low income families in New York City, is named after Henry Orenstein's parents who died in the Holocaust. Henry Orenstein himself paid for air conditioners in all apartments and security. Another Lejb and Golda Orenstein Building is located in Kiryat Ono, Israel, which was also largely funded by Henry Orenstein.

Orenstein also authored two books, his autobiography I Shall Live: Surviving Against All Odds, 1939-1945 (1987, reissued in 2010 as I Shall Live: Surviving the Holocaust 1939-1945 and as an e-Book I Shall Live: Surviving the Holocaust Against All Odds) and Abram: The Life of an Israeli Patriot (1999), a biography of Abram Silberstein, who fought in the British Army during World War II.

Notes

The Transformers fandom first learned about Orenstein's existence via a newspaper article published in 2005. The writer of the article exaggerated Orenstein's involvement in the creation of the Transformers brand by implying that Orenstein himself had "invented" the Transformers, a misconception subsequently repeated by several other articles about the man. The original article even featured a photo of a somewhat bewildered Orenstein holding 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, a figure created nearly 20 years after his stint at Hasbro. Some fans have misinterpreted the hyperbole on behalf of the article's writer as the delusions of an old man who genuinely believes he has created the concept of Transformers toys.

External links

• Henry Orenstein at Wikipedia
• Sports Illustrated article on Topper Toys' Johnny Lightning cars, dated 1970
• Jewish News Archive profile of Henry Orenstein, dated 2005
• Gambling Planet story on Henry Orenstein, dated 2009
• Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom at Google Books