Mego Catalog Library: 1982 Soars With Eagles

Soar with the Eagles was Mego's tagline for it's 1982 catalog which in some ways is ironic because it was also the company's Swan song.

To understand exactly what had happened one would have to look first into the financials, Mego was borrowing money at alarmingly high interest rates, their sales for the year previous were the lowest in nearly 5 years.

In a 1981 letter to shareholders Martin Abrams explains why "An overproliferation of electronic merchandise by the entire industry, and a slowdown in consumer demand caused retailers enter this year with excessive inventories" he adds " As a result, the retailers sharply curtailed their purchases during the year, which resulted in our ability to reach, what we considered to be, a very conservative forecast."

Mego made a great deal of staff changes, they closed their Bohemia, NY assembly facility and downsized their staff. The year previous Mego borrowed $52.5 Million from the General Electric Credit Company

Of course, none of this would matter after Martin Abrams and two other executives were indicted for defrauding the shareholders of $100,000 over ten years. Many believe this was an attack at union corruption and not at Mego but it was the final straw for the world's greatest toy company.

By the Summer of 1982, it was over, the Senior VP of Finance Laurence Usdin told the New York Times that despite sales of 73.7 million, the company was over 50 million in debt.

Undaunted, Martin Abrams would attempt to ressurrect Mego in 1983 but for now, gaze into the final catalog that was still full of promise and elicited these words from its President "The Company's inventory has been reduced and the product line is now comprised of a higher proportion of less expensive and more stable items, which the Company believes is being well received."

All Scans were donated by Rob Chatlin.