Creator Record

Metadata

Name

Monaco, Arto

Dates & places of birth and death

Born, November 15, 1913; Elizabethtown, NY
Died, November 21, 2003; Upper Jay, NY

Nationality

American

Occupation

artist, theme park designer, toy designer, and cartoonist.

Notes

After graduating from Pratt, he worked at Hollywood, MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Disney Studios for about four years, until enlisting in the army in 1941.
He worked for Warner Brothers Studio in Hollywood for a short time. While working in Hollywood, Arto moonlighted as an interior decorator, working for Fannie Brice, Ray Milland, Charlie Chaplin, and others. He worked for Hasbro, Mattel, and Ideal Toy Company, designing prototype models for games, toys, and educational activities.
He enlisted into the Army in 1941. While in the army, he developed training aids; he helped set up the first Training Aids Division M in Aberdeen, Maryland. He set up a German village for training soldiers for street fighting with an old movie set from 1925. It was called Annadorf, in San Claus, California. It is west of Santa Clarita Mountains.
In the early 1950s, he set up his own business with his brother, Jim Monaco, and wife Glad in an old hotel of his father. Arto Monaco Toys made wooden and educational toys. When his theme park closed in 1979, he went back to designing toys and parks. He did freelance work for movie studios over the years.
Arto assisted with the designing of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.