Charles Breskin
Modern Plastics
Inducted 1973
Charles A. Breskin (1903 – 1988) was the publisher of the first widely-read plastics magazine in the U.S. As publisher of Modern Plastics and other publications, Breskin shaped the direction and identity of the industry and patterns of 20th-century American consumer culture.
In 1934, Breskin bought the magazine Plastic Products. At the time, Breskin was already the publisher of Modern Packaging, an attractive publication devoted to promoting packaging innovations designed to appeal to wary Depression-era consumers. Breskin hired a noted graphic designer to create a slick magazine, and in September 1934, the new Modern Plastics was born. The magazine touted plastics as a material that could help attract consumers of everything from radios to clocks to electric shavers. In 1936, Breskin recruited Gordon Kline as technical editor of the magazine, a position Kline held for more than 50 years before retiring during the late 1980s.
Breskin was a charter member of SPI, the Society of the Plastics Industry (now PLASTICS), and the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). Breskin also established and endowed a Chair in Organic Chemistry at Brandeis University and established the School of Plastics at Boys Town, Jerusalem.
Charles noted on his Induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame: “In a career in plastics covering over 40 years, I have been predicting year after year that we would be entering the “plastics age,” and I truly believe that the time has come. Our growth will continue to be phenomenal. Plastics as a design material now play a dominant role in every industry worldwide, as important as steel, rubber, copper, wood, etc. — all the so-called traditional materials. Thus, plastics have become important in our total environment.
Plastic pioneers have often been accused of promoting “blue sky” or indulging in constant dreaming. Well, often, dreams are the yeast of accomplishments. In the case of the plastics industry, the past is the prologue to the future.
I remember attacks on the plastics industry by the well-established older industries. Remember when the Chinese industry launched an extensive campaign against melamine dinnerware? Melamine was pictured as a carrier of germs with dire results for public health. But we have now overcome all this vilification. Most plastics antagonists have jumped on the bandwagon and are now in the plastics business. We in plastics have met these challenges before. I have great confidence in this still young and dynamic industry, and I am confident the great people in the industry will provide outstanding leadership.”
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic management, Plastic sales