One-Man Crusade to Build the Toy World of Sid and Marty Krofft

NEW YORK — Six months ago, Hugo Stevenson was a food delivery guy in the San Fernando Valley with a good idea, but no clue how to run a business. Two months ago, life wasn't improving. Stevenson was broke and $90,000 in debt. But last month he was standing in a showroom at Toy Fair here with the rights to turn Sid and Marty Krofft's creatures--from Krofft-created TV shows like "H.R. Pufnstuf," "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" and "The Bugaloos"--into toys.

How does a start-up company with one employee compete with the toy industry's big guns?

Persistence, the kindness of friends and a singular obsession, by Stevenson's account.

"I'm a toy-aholic," he concedes. "I would rather buy toys than food."

The Kroffts, who have not granted a license for their characters in 24 years, turned down Sony Signatures, Tiger Electronics and Harvey Entertainment before giving Stevenson the license to create action figures and bean-stuffed toys in the image of the brothers' classic TV characters. There were two caveats--he had to make it to this year's Toy Fair to keep the license, and he had to cede a percentage of the royalties to the Kroffts.

"They simply wanted to give a friend a chance," says Stevenson, who dubbed his new Woodland Hills-based company Living Toys.

For six months, the 29-year-old entrepreneur worked day and night. The effort paid off.

"The first day [of Toy Fair]," Stevenson says, "we did a $500,000 sale to one buyer." Smaller neighborhood stores wrote Living Toys checks for $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000, Stevenson says. But in the weeks since Toy Fair, Stevenson has closed deals with Musicland, the Wherehouse and Diamond Comic Distributors. Interactive CD-ROM companies and other major toy companies and distributors are in negotiations with Living Toys. Thus far, in the month that Living Toys has been making deals the tiny company has reached $2.5 million in sales.

Because of Stevenson's success, the heirs to Rand McNally have invested in the company and the Kroffts decided to buy a 25% stake too.

"No one is going to hand it to you," Stevenson says. "Unless you take the risk, success will always elude you."

The road to Toy Fair didn't begin with the Kroffts. Stevenson, who moved to Los Angeles in 1993 after college, put himself in the toy business to help promote "Hugo's Hideaway," a children's show he developed in between his day job as a production assistant and his night job delivering food for neighborhood restaurants.