#MARX PLAYSETS SERIES#

Marx produced tin dollhouse furniture from the 1920s through the 1970s. Retailing initially for less than ten dollars, they have become one of the main subset-collecting categories within Marx. They were not successful.Дuring the 1950s, Marx introduced its boxed playsets, many of which featured a licensed television character. MarxвЂ™s Elegant Models, miniature vehicles made in Japan and designed to compete with Matchbox and Hot Wheels, were introduced in the 1960s and made through the 1970s. A number of futuristic cars were produced. Marx continued to add to its vehicle line, keeping pace with new models of cars and trucks. In the early 1950s, Marx introduced it вЂњFix-AllвЂќ series, vehicles that could be taken apart and reassembled. Plastic cars included models from Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Studebaker, Talbot, Volkswagen, and others.

#MARX PLAYSETS SERIES#

The first Marx vehicle series was marketed in 1950.

Louis Marx and Company was one of the earliest American toy companies to make plastic toys. Metal gas and fire stations enhance the play value of Marx vehicles. Marx toys such as Studebaker trucks, were well represented in mail-order catalogs such as Sears Roebuck & Company. The 14 1/2вЂќ 1935 G-Man pursuit car was the largest Marx made. Other lithographed forms included airplanes, luxury liners, rocket ships, tanks, and tractors. Marx crazy cars such as the Funny Flivver and Joy Riders were extremely popular. Windup toys featuring a toy going around a fixed track included the Honeymoon Express, Mickey Mouse Express, and Subway Express. Marx produced a wide range of licensed character toys such as Amos вЂnвЂ™ Andy, Charlie McCarthy, and Popeye. In addition to Alabama Coon Jigger, the Merrymakers was another early success. Toy types ranged from cars, motorcycle, trains, and trucks. Marx dominated the lithograph tin toy market prior to 1940. Leading categories include action figures, lithograph tin, playsets, toy trains, and vehicles. Marx distributed/made a wide variety of toys. Louis Marx died in 1982 at the age of 85. Eventually, most action figure prototypes and playsets were sold to Chuck Saults and a few to Gene Sacala. Jay HorowitzвЂ™s American Plastic Equipment purchased the Marx toy assets. By 1980, Dumbee-Combex Marx closed the Glen Dale, West Virginia plant and filed for bankruptcy. In early 1976, Dunbee-Combex Marx, a British conglomerate, bought the remaining American and English Marx operations. In 1976, Quaker Oats closed the plants in Erie and Girard. Also, Quaker Oats made a decision not to involve Marx in the growing electronic toy market. Quaker Oats expected a synergy to develop between the two companies. Quaker Oats owned Fisher-Price at the time. In 1972, Marx sold his company to Quaker Oats and retired at age 76. Growing labor costs made it difficult to compete with cheap Japanese imports.

Toys produced in Japan were marked under the Linemar brand. Marx started producing some of its toys in Japan in the mid-1950s. In January 1946, Fortune Magazine dubbed Louis Marx вЂњThe Toy King,вЂќ a title reconfirmed by Time Magazine in 1955. The Girard plant was acquired in 1934 via the purchase of the Girard Model Works, a producer of toy trains.Д«y 1950s, Marx was the largest toy manufacturer in the world. MarxвЂ™s revenues grew during the Depression as the company established factories in Girard and Erie, Pennsylvania, Glen Dale, West Virginia, and Swansea Wales in England. Although some earlier toys were sold under the Marx brand, they were made by outside manufacturers. Louis and David Marx were millionaires by 1922. Marx identified six key qualities for a successful toy-comprehensibility, familiarity, play value, skill, sturdiness, and surprise. More than eight million of each were sold within two years. The companyвЂ™s first toys used former Strauss molds to produce the Alabama Coon Jigger and Zippo The Climbing Monkey toys. In 1919, brothers Louis and David Marx, who previously worked for Ferdinand Strauss, founded Louis Marx and Company to produce quality toys at affordable prices.

Marx playsets