Marx Toys

You may not know it, but if you over the age of 35 you probably played with Marx toys. If not, and your under the age 35, you've probably seen toys made from the Marx molds in drug stores and walmart. Louis and David Marx founded their company in 1919 and quickly rose to dominate the toy market through sales of a climbing monkey and a train set.

The company grew by leaps and bounds throughout the 1920s, and even in the depression. The company, dominated by Louis, held true to its motto of "more for less" and their revenues showed it. In the post war period they launched a series of boxed sets using the new plastics industry for a base. These play sets included the Alamo, Fort Commanche, Navarone, and others. Highly detailed plastic pieces were a standard. His Johnny West playsets were a hallmark along with toy trains and cars.

Marx toys were rocking.

The company's downfall began when Marx refused to advertise on television. In fact he refused to advertise at all, spending 312.00 in 1952, compared to Matel's half a million. As importantly he ignored the growing electronic toy market (for this alone he should be held up as hero, as any parent with a child and their never ending clackety clacking noise machine toys). 

The company fell in the 1970s and Marx sold it to Quaker Oats who owned Fisher Price. Marx had become a victim of the changing market, much as Borders did in the past few years. The molds for the toys were sold or locked up but some floated around Great Britain, where they resurfaced, and were used to make replicas of the marx greats. These have been sold and resold again.

Here's a small sampling: