Part of the U.S. Army-Navy Screen Magazine, “The Sergeant Shows ‘Em How” shows how Master Sgt. Arto Monaco received the Legion of Merit for his innovative work training U.S. troops. As seen in the film, Monaco and the U.S. Army Bureau of Ordnance repurposed an old movie set to create a replica of a German village, so that troops could be trained in urban warfare. In an Ordnance Training Center in Santa Anita, California, Monaco had a large number of training aids created out of wood and cardboard, to show troops how different machinery and weapons operate and are maintained.
Arto Monaco was born November 15, 1913 in Elizabethtown, New York. He died November 21, 2003 in Upper Jay, New York. He was an artist, theme park designer, toy designer, and cartoonist. Arto is buried in Mountain View Cemetery located in Upper Jay. His mother was Ida Martin. He is the son of Louis B. Monaco, an Italian immigrant; Italian restaurant owner and entrepreneur. In 1941, he married Glad Burrell of Au Sable Forks, New York.
Rockwell Kent helped him go to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he graduated in 1937. While at Pratt, he was given a job for Hays Committee in NYC that rated movies. John Steinbeck and Lewis Milestone had a house in Jay, NY and they encouraged him to go to Hollywood.
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.
As a Master Sergeant, he moved to camp Santa Anita, a horse track turned army base. He was awarded the Legion of Merit in recognition of his leadership October 22, 1943.
Shortly after WW2, he was asked by his old colonel, Bill James, to work help refurbish Lake Arrowhead Resort, Lake Arrowhead, California, as a Swiss-style resort village.
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 also assisted with the designing of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
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